Hackney Downs is a London Overground and National Rail station in Hackney Central and serves the old common land of Hackney Downs in Lower Clapton in the London Borough of Hackney, it is on the Lea Valley lines and West Anglia Main Line. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and has a direct passenger link to Hackney Central station, providing interchange with the North London line of the Overground network. On the London Overground, Lea Valley Lines the station is between and either (on the branch) or (on the / branch). Main line trains, operated by Greater Anglia, call at Hackney Downs between Liverpool Street and . Its three-letter station code is HAC and it is in Travelcard zone 2. The station was originally named Hackney Downs Junction until 1896. History Great Eastern Railway (1872-1922) The station was opened on 27 May 1872 when the Great Eastern Railway opened the first part of its new line from Enfield Town to Stoke Newington. This was an exercise to provide new routes to the expanding suburbs of northeast London and to give a faster journey time to Enfield, whose trains at that time were routed via Stratford and Angel Road. Just under a month later, another line opened linking Hackney Downs to Coppermill Junction just south of Tottenham Hale on what was then the main line to Cambridge. This new route offered a reduction in journey time for Cambridge and Shern Hall Street station in Walthamstow on the Chingford line services but also relieved congestion at Stratford railway station. The route to Edmonton (on the existing Enfield branch line) fully opened on 1 August 1872 and the Chingford line was opened in November 1873. When the station opened it had two platforms and two centre roads. The station layout was changed in 1894 when the line between Bethnal Green and Hackney Downs was increased from two tracks to four tracks. The layout was changed to a four platformed station and had two signal boxes. London & North Eastern Railway (1923-1947) After the Railways Act 1921 the country's railways were grouped into four companies, with effect from 1 January 1923. At Hackney Downs the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) took over operations of the GER services. The semaphore signalling was replaced by single searchlight signals which were able to display three-aspects (Green, Yellow or Red) through different a changeable