Walthamstow Central is a London Underground and London Overground interchange station in the town of Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, north-east London. It is the northern terminus of the Victoria line following Blackhorse Road and is the second of five stations on the Chingford branch of the Lea Valley lines operated by London Overground since 2015, from London Liverpool Street between and . The two lines have separate platforms at different levels. The station is in Travelcard Zone 3. It linked to station on the Gospel Oak to Barking line by a broad footpath, Ray Dudley Way. Walthamstow Central is the closest tube station to Walthamstow Market, the longest outdoor market in Europe. History The station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) as Hoe Street in 1870 when a line was opened from to a temporary station called Shern Hall Street which was east of the Hoe Street station. The line to London, that the Chingford branch uses today was opened two years later in 1872 from Hall Farm Junction to Bethnal Green, with the branch also being extended north to Chingford in 1873. The GER amalgamated with several other railways to create the London and North Eastern Railway at the beginning of 1923. In 1948 the railways were nationalised and responsibility for operating the station fell to British Railways (Eastern Region). The line was electrified in the late 1950s with electric services commencing on 12 November 1960. Early services were formed of Class 305 EMUs but initial technical problems with these saw replacements by Class 302 and Class 304 EMUs. The station became an interchange station and the eastern terminus of the Victoria line with London Underground services starting on 1 September 1968; when station's present name was adopted. When originally approved in 1955, the terminus of the line was to be at Wood Street, a plan dropped in 1961 before construction of the line. The platforms for the Victoria line (like all stations on the Victoria line) are underground. On 31 May 2015, the station's Abellio Greater Anglia services were transferred to London Overground Rail Operations. Description General description The underground station, like many stations on the Victoria line, was built to a low budget. White ceiling panels were never fixed to the ceilings above the platforms; instead the steel tunnel segments were painted black and used to support the fixtures and fittings,