This photo of an old lady travelling on the Epping to Ongar tube line in the 1980s has always been one of my favourite photos, although I’m not entirely sure why.
I can see why people may be a little unimpressed with the composition – you can’t see her face for a start! – but there’s something I like about the way it all hangs together.
The photo was taken with my old Olympus OM10 35mm camera, with the 50mm f1.8 lens wide open.
Travelling from Epping to Ongar station was always a rather strange experience, with the old tube stock rattling along a single track past open fields.
Journeying through past remote stations like Blake Hall (which boasted the lowest passenger numbers of any stop on the London Underground network at just 6 a day), the rural line terminated at Ongar in the deepest Essex countryside.
The line closed for good in 1994, although it has recently reopened as a preserved railway.
I posted up a large photo feature on the line last year: Epping to Ongar railway reopens: steam, archive photos, Blake Hall and Sham 69.
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