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The railway running out of Ongar was opened in 1865, as an extension to the Stratford to Loughton line and ran under various guises and ownerships until 1994.

By this time, it was part of the Central Underground line, but the section from Ongar to Epping had been operating at a loss for several years and the decision was taken by London Transport to close it.

The society hope to return steam to the line

However, nearly 10 years to the day of its closure, trains began once again to run along the six mile stretch of track, thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of the Epping Ongar Railway Volunteer Society (EORVS).

Until this year, the EOVRS have run a tourist line every Sunday, but this year have taken the decision to close the line once again in order to put their resources towards bringing the line up to a standard that will allow them to, amongst other things, return steam to the line.

Head of signals, Simon Hanney, explains some of the work the 40 working members of the society are doing.

"First of all, we're laying the passing loop at North Weald and a few bits and pieces at Ongar, so we can move the steam engine from one end of the coaches to the other and also to allow two trains to pass each other," he says.

North Weald Station is undergoing extensive work

"Obviously we need to do work on restoring the carriages and wagons, so we're pushing forward our carriage and wagon restoration.

He continues: "In order to move these trains around and allow them to pass over the tracks safely you need signals and the associated signal box equipment, which is critical to safety and also to maintain a punctual service."

The society are also hopeful of being able to restore the line to a sufficient standard that may allow them to once again provide a passenger service through to Epping, to complement the local transport infrastructure.

Simon explains: "The railway will hopefully undertake two purposes. First of all, steam trains will bring in tourists and boost the local economy. It will also form part of the local transport link and hopefully take cars off the A414.

The route was part of the Central line until 1994

"As part of that we would dearly like to be able to build a new station very close to the Epping Station or, if the rolling stock meets the required standards and the necessary safety measures are taken, perhaps we might have some sort of facility where we can actually run into Epping."

There are currently around 130 members of the society, of which around a third give up their Sundays and Tuesdays to help bring the line and its two stations back to their former glory.

Vice-Chair of the group, Eddie Veckranges, explains why they readily give their time.

"We are railway enthusiasts, we've always liked the railways as youngsters," he says.

"When this line opened as a volunteer group it gave us the chance to [be involved] as a hobby - and an enjoyable one, and also to give back something to the community.

Levers in the North Weald signal box

"And also, just hopefully, restore something that I think will do a lot of good for the local area."

Another volunteer, Jackie Kelly, has been keeping a pictorial record of the restoration work and says the team have worked wonders so far.

"It has changed a lot at North Weald," she says. "We've seen a lot of changes there with the signal box being painted and done up and North Weald station altogether is a better place to come to - the toilets work now which is something quite exciting!!"

She adds that whilst working on a preserved railway line might seem something for the boys, there are plenty of women in the society that get stuck in too.

Volunteers give up their time all year round

"It does tend to be catering and the admin jobs that the women get involved in," she says.

"But that's not to say that the women haven't done track work and things like that and up until recently we had a lady who was very involved with track and train maintenance."

For more information on the work the group are doing and how you can get involved, click on the link below.