| Summary : Debden railway station opened in April 1865 as an intermediate station on the Great Eastern Railway's Loughton-Ongar extension; this steam line became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1921. The Central line extension as set out in the 1935-40 New Works Programme projected the extension over this LNER route. However, the further extension of the Central line from its new eastern terminus at Loughton was not clear cut. Considerable high level discussion was devoted to the merits of the further extension to the Central line from Loughton to Epping, but the presence of some new housing estates, including a large new London County Council estate at Debden with over 4000 housing units, and the partly completed electrification, swung the decision in favour of continuing. Debden (originally named Chigwell Road) opened as an intermediate station on 25th September 1949. A new ticket hall at Debden came into use in 1974, again serving a large housing estate. |