stock, has been preserved by Cravens Heritage Trains. It made a return to the reopened heritage railway in 2014, to mark the 20th anniversary of the line's closure by London Underground. One unusual feature of the line is its continuing nominal importance to the London Underground. In 1971/72 the London Underground was remeasured in kilometres. The then most easterly point, Ongar, was chosen as the zero point, and remains so to the present. Purchase and reopening The line was purchased by Pilot Developments (later Epping Ongar Railway Ltd) in 1998. The Ongar Railway Preservation Society entered a £325,000 offer for the line, but Pilot Developments convinced London Underground to accept its slightly higher offer after the bidding deadline. Independent politician Martin Bell described the deal as "the most controversial land deal in the constituency for years", alleging a conflict of interest with local politicians. The line was reopened by the Epping Ongar Railway Volunteer Society on Sunday 10 October 2004, providing an hourly service between Ongar and North Weald. The line was shortly after extended to Coopersale, although there are no boarding or alighting facilities there. Between 22 January and 9 April 2006 the line was shut down for engineering works. This involved general station maintenance, rolling stock maintenance and track maintenance. Ongar station remained closed for engineering works and general maintenance and reopened on 28 May 2006 without the use of the station buildings. On Easter weekend 2007, the railway had the most visitors on a single day since reopening, on the Sunday and Monday. The Teddy Bears' Picnic, Anniversary of Reopening and Halloween events are also popular. At the end of 2007, as a result of the awarding of planning permission for the Ongar residential development, the railway was sold to a new private owner who was committed to bringing steam back to the line. Following the change of ownership in 2007, it was decided to suspend train operations and to concentrate on improving the track. This was done in order to undertake the major engineering works to secure its long-term future and facilitate the return of steam to the line, including restoration of station buildings, run-round loops, full signalling, and coal and water facilities. There have been major changes to the Ongar and North Weald stations. Ongar The goods yard area (derelict since the 1960s) was purchased by David Wilson Homes, which has built a small collection