Fenchurch Street to Blackwall

This line originally proceeded for a considerable distance under a covered way, lit by sash windows. This was considered necessary at the time of the construction of the Blackwall Railway, to prevent accidents by horses taking fright from the noise and smoke of the engines, as they dart over the bridges crossing the streets of London. The first bridge crossing the Minories is a specimen of these enclosed viaducts. Through the windows we have a glimpse of the Tower of London; but soon emerge from the covered, way amid roofs of houses and chimnies. We then pass the sugar-baking establishments of Goodman’s Fields, which was a dairy farm in olden times. At the old theatre, now burnt down, Garrick the tragedian and Braham the singer made their debût. The London Docks, Wapping (what Englishman can forget, the inimitable Incledon’s “Wapping Old Stairs?”) St. George’s-in-the-East, a neighbourhood densely crowded with a busy, clingy, working, or sea-going population. On the left we pass Shadwell Church, and also St. Mary’s Church and Schools. We then continue our course nearly parallel to the Commercial Road, crossing by a stone bridge the north side of the Regent’s Canal Dock, the terminus of the Regent’s Canal. We next arrive at Stepney Station, and begin to breathe more freely, after having left behind the regions of smoke and gigantic chimneys.

Stepney

At this point is a short link connecting various systems of railway communication viz: North London, Eastern Counties, and Tilbury, and along which we now direct our course. On the left, but at some distance from the railway, is …

We next descend into a deep cutting, and, passing under the Bow Road, arrive at the junction station on the main line of the

North London Railway

Fenchurch Street and Bow to Camden and Chalk Farm

London and Blackwall continued

Having returned to Stepney the stations of Limehouse, West India Docks, and Poplar, are respectively passed, and the train stops at

Blackwall

There is a fine pier here, whence packets run to and from Gravesend, in conjunction with the trains of the Blackwall railway. Fine views of the shipping in the river, Greenwich, Isle of Dogs, and the country round. Opposite …