The Docks were so big that it required its own passenger railway.

 On 4 August 1853 the Eastern Counties Railway (later the Great Eastern railway) obtained an Act for a line from the North Woolwich branch to the shore of the River Thames in Gallions Reach, a scheme which was abandoned in 1858.

The need for a passenger service was due to the sheer scale of the dock area, from the west end of Victoria Dock to the east end of Albert Dock was three miles and so some form of transport for the workers was required. Secondly, Albert Dock handled passenger vessels and a means of transport to and from the quays was considered useful for the passengers, for which the dock company built a hotel at Gallions.

When Albert Dock was authorised in 1875, the London & India Dock Co. was empowered to build, on its own land, a 1m 61ch line from the Great Eastern Railway (GER) at Albert Dock Junction, 34 chains east of Custom House. It ran parallel with quayside lines on the northern boundary of the dock, to a riverside terminus at Gallions Reach to serve the P&O liners expected to berth there. Known as the Royal Albert Dock Passenger Line, it opened to Gallions for parcels traffic only on 14 October 1878 using locomotives hired from contractors Lucas & Aird, but the line was not ready for passengers when Royal Albert Dock opened on 6 May 1880.

The railway was principally intended to benefit the local workforce: the dock company was obliged to provide trains every morning of the week along the whole length of the railway, calling at all intermediate stations, not later than 7.00am nor earlier than 6.00pm, for the convenience of artisans, mechanics and daily labourers (both male and female) at fares not exceeding one penny per passenger.

Gallions Station

Gallions Station opened in November 1880. It was sited to the north of Gallions Road, half way along the north side of the dock entrance adjoining Gallions Hotel, the original station was known as Galleon, Galleons or Gallions. The name was sometimes suffixed or prefixed with "Royal Albert Dock". The second station was also known as R A Docks, Gallions, or Gallions Royal Albert Dock.

The second station was re-sited 275 yards north-east and opened 12 December 1886, when the line was diverted in connection with nearby dock alterations and consisted of a single island platform. The substantial wooden buildings included a booking office, reached by a footbridge from Gallions Road. The north face of the island platform (Platform 1) was used exclusively by GER services, whilst the south face (Platform 2) was originally dedicated to the dock company's own trains.

The station was remodelled in 1926, the platform being altered and the original elaborate wooden platform building was replaced by a much smaller one also constructed largely of wood. At the same time the platform was shortened slightly at the western end and extended in concrete to the east. On the afternoon of Saturday 7 September 1940, the line was put out of action by bombing and the passenger service withdrawn from 8 September and the station closed.

Gallions Station survived more or less intact, except for damage to the building's roof, but by the mid-1960s all that remained was the derelict island platform and an empty signal post, near the site of the former signal box

The area is now part of Royal Quay, a development of waterside apartments, and marina and is close to Gallions Reach Station on the Docklands Light Railway.

Albert Dock Coal Jetty

Beyond Gallions the line joined the dock's freight lines and ran onto a 500 yard long tidal pier serving the Albert Dock Coal hoists. It opened on 12 December 1886. During World War One, from the beginning of 1918, a special service to Gallions was provided for the many munitions workers, who were conveyed by ferry from the jetty to a temporary pier at Woolwich Arsenal. Two paddle steamers were employed; the Red Cross chartered from the Port Sanitary Authority at Dartford and John Herron a Wallasey Ferry steamer. The service ceased at the end of the war.

Later the sidings were leased to Cory Brothers who had their own locomotives at the jetty. The first of twelve locomotives arrived in 1927 and during the late 1940s five were employed there at one time. The coal jetty could hold around one hundred wagons and loading was fast enough to need a locomotive permanently in use. The loaded wagons were taken direct from the jetty by a PLA locomotive to Victoria Dock exchange sidings for handing over to the railway company. The traffic finished in 1971 when the PLA ceased rail traffic from the Docks. The area has been developed as a waterside community sweeping away any remains of the jetty and sidings.

(Acknowledgements: Photo: J E Connor Collection. Text: Abridged from an article in the Journal of the Great Eastern Railway Society. For complete article, images and sources, etc., see Journal No. 132, October, 2007 pp 32-42. Photo and text used with permission)