Urbex: the exploration of off-limits components of the manmade environment. Mild Urbex = venturing inside little-frequented structures in a less illicit manner.
Mild Urbex - the Stevenage Road Underpass
The River Roding forms a hard border along the eastern edge of Newham, aided and abetted by the North Circular and a line of pylons. Drivers are unable to cross this divide for over a mile between Ilford and Barking, and just one forbidding footbridge dares intrude inbetween. The District line then only makes things worse, separating the liminal estates of Little Ilford and Wall End so that anyone living here must feel quite cut off. A single road crosses underneath the railway, or looks like it might possiblydo so on a map, otherwise there'd really be no way through. I approached from the south past a single gasholder at the centre of a vast former recreation ground. Residents of Stevenage Road have this bleak fenced-off expanse as the view from their front window, and the East Ham railway depot out the back.
Rounding the last bend a Low Bridge suddenly came into view, brightly painted lest any driver fail to notice, supporting a single arc of westbound track. Wedged between the lines I found a Network Rail van and the entrance to the aforementioned depot, watched over by a checkpoint denizen in a tiny kiosk. No mild urbexing would be taking place beyond her steely glare. But the underpass ahead seemed open, at least for those on two feet or two wheels, its ceiling low enough to whip the top off a disobedient truck. I girded my loins, stepped beneath a c2c train parked in the depot above me and entered this curving concrete cavern.
The darkspace bends right with a central cycle lane and broad pavements to either side, not that it seemed feasible two different travellers would ever be here at the same time. I was struck by how clean this stygian backwater was, the sole scrap of litter a recently-discarded bottle. The white-tiled walls were free from the graffiti wars I might have expected to break out on the contested E6/E12 border. Trains could be heard but not seen. Eventually a small gap opened up above me, revealing a brief view of electric gantries silhouetted against the misty sky, and then it was back into the last stretch of striplit gloom.
Emerging on the far side I looked up just in time to see an Overground train pass over, this being the point where the line from Gospel Oak finally merges with the mainline. A District line train was next, destination Upminster, the driver drawing her train to a halt on the bridge and purposefully opening the cab door. A hand emerged holding a large cup, its undrunk contents duly emptied onto the side of the tracks before the door slowly closed again. Before turning to enter Barrington Road I noted the brick lozenge on the edge of the playing fields, this a ventilation shaft serving High Speed & Eurostar trains burrowing below. My mild urbex expedition had been an exhilarating experience, at least by the very low standards 2021 has to offer.
