Romford station opened on 20 June 1839 as the eastern terminus of the Eastern Counties Railway from Mile End. Both stations acted as temporary termini, with the line extending east to Brentwood and west to Bishopsgate (Low Level) in 1840. On 7 June 1893 the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway opened a second station in Romford, on a branch line to Upminster. The two stations were combined in 1934. Romford is first recorded in 1177 as Romfort, which is formed from Old English 'rūm' and 'ford' and means "the wide or spacious ford". The naming of the River Rom is a local 'back-formation' from the name of the town; and the river is elsewhere known as the Beam. The ford most likely existed on the main London to Colchester road where it crossed that river. The original site of the town was to the south, in an area still known as Oldchurch. It was moved northwards to the present site in the later medieval period to avoid the frequent flooding of the River Rom. The first building on the new site was the parish church of Saint Edward the Confessor. The town developed in the Middle Ages on the main road to London and the regionally significant Romford Market was established in 1247. The early history of Romford and the immediate area is agricultural and it is recorded as being the location of a number of mills used to grind corn. The area was a focus of the leather industry from the 15th to the early 19th centuries and there is record of a wide range of industries such as cloth making, weaving, charcoal burning, metal working and brewing.
Train services are currently operated by Abellio Greater Anglia which operates long- and medium-distance services between Liverpool Street and the East of England, TfL Rail which runs the suburban "metro" route between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, and London Overground which operates the "push and pull" service between Romford and Upminster. Crossrail will partially open in 2017, with the full route to Reading and London Heathrow Airport opening in 2019. Typically, platform 4 is for trains to Liverpool Street and platform 5 for trains to Shenfield. It is in Travelcard Zone 6. The station has payphones, wi-fi, cash machines, toilets, help points, boarding ramps and waiting room.
Connections: National Rail. London Overground. London Buses routes 5, 66, 86, 103, 128, 165, 174, 175, 193, 247, 248, 252, 294, 347, 365, 370, 375, 496, 498, 499, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 674 and 686 and night routes N15 and N86 and LSP route 575 all serve the station.
