Travel the rainbow line and find a pot of gold

The May 2006 issue of the Acton Historian devotes a whole page to promoting a day out along the North London Line before it is truncated at Stratford, never again to wander through docklands to its Thameside terminus at North Woolwich Station. On Saturday 26 August 2006, members and other visitors can meet at Acton Central Station at 9.45am, then catch the 10.07am to Richmond, before travelling back through Acton Central and on to Willesden Junction, Finchley Road & Frognal, Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, Stratford and Custom House to North Woolwich, to name just a few of the stations with evocative names which grace this wonderful railway line.

Until 1985 it was two separate lines with trains from Richmond running to the old Broad Street Station, which used to adjoin Liverpool Street Station, and from North Woolwich to Camden Road in North London. When Broad Street closed the two lines were amalgamated.

The survival of the line and its predecessors is a miracle in itself. Trains are cancelled and often overcrowded, but for anyone who knows and loves London, the line offers vistas to delight the eye as it travels through time and past views unchanged in a hundred years, before ambling though the future world of London's docklands and reaching its berth besides the Thames.

From there, it's a minute's walk to the Woolwich Free Ferry, the Woolwich Thames Foot Tunnel and, best of all, North Woolwich Old Station Museum, which is open Saturday and Sunday afternoons, 1-5pm, admission free (also Mon-Fri afternoons during school summer holidays), with its exhibition about the history of railways in North East and East London and railway memorabilia — truly, a pot of history treasure at the end of a rainbow journey from Richmond to North Woolwich.

Later this year, the Stratford to North Woolwich section will be replaced by a new extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), which follows the same route. This will almost certainly happen no later the November 2006, so if you want to experience this unique railway line before it closes you have only a few months.

This is living local history which deserves to celebrated and remembered — which is why Acton History Group's day out on 26 August is worth reporting. This is not history for nerds - it's history for everyone.

The North Woolwich Old Station Museum could also do with your support. It's been living under bit of a cloud for the last few months and its future at the Old Station site may be in doubt. The museum operates under the auspices of the London Borough of Newham and, as we understand it, the lease on the Old Station has come to an end and discussions are ongoing. In the end, the museum may have to be moved. Watch this space for more information.

Acton History Group, Secretary, David Knights, 30 Highlands Avenue, Acton, London W3 6EU, tel 020 8992 8698, email: info@actonhistory.co.uk, web: www.actonhistory.co.uk.

North Woolwich Old Station Museum, Pier Road, North Woolwich, London E16 2JJ, tel: 020 7474 7244, email: leisure.heritage@newham.gov.uk, web: www.newham.gov.uk (then click Leisure & Culture to get Museums and Galleries).