The station opened on 14 June 1847 as the southern terminus of the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway from Stratford. The service was later extended beyond Stratford to Palace Gates. In 1963 diesel traction replaced steam and the service was cut back to Stratford with peak-hour trains to Tottenham Hale.
North London line
The route became an extension of the North London Line in 1979. From the 1980s onward, only one track of the double track line was used through the Connaught Tunnel under the Royal Docks and on to North Woolwich, where the station building and a platform were closed and replaced by a minimalist entrance and passenger shelter on the south side. In 1985 the line from North Woolwich was electrified on the third rail system under British Rail, with the service running round inner north London to . Prior to closure, the typical service frequency Monday to Saturday was every 30 minutes during the daytime, increasing to every 20 minutes in the evening and every 30 minutes all day Sunday. For a period of about 18 months, from May 1994 until October 1995, the line from North Woolwich to Stratford closed temporarily during the Jubilee Line extension which involved reconstruction on the platforms at West Ham and Canning Town stations. A replacement bus was in place during this time. From 1984 until 2008 the original station buildings and one disused platform served as the North Woolwich Old Station Museum, dedicated to the history of the Great Eastern Railway. The building was then owned by the Passmore Edwards Museum Trust and run by the London Borough of Newham - on its closure most of the collection was dispersed and the building passed to the Trust's successor, the River Lea Tidal Mill Trust.
Station closure
The station and the line to Stratford closed on 9 December 2006 to allow conversion of the North London Line between Stratford and to a Docklands Light Railway line. At closure the station was served by Silverlink. The local area was also better served by the new DLR extension to London City Airport and Woolwich Arsenal, which connected public transport across the Thames for the first time.
Future
will use the Connaught Tunnel and nearby NLL route by 2021, with a new tunnel under the River Thames near the site of North Woolwich station. This prevents any future use of the railway - preventing two earlier schemes for using the short section of railway track near the station:
The North Woolwich Old Station Museum mentioned above.
