~ 1 ~
Rails through Finchley
While reading up for this talk I came across this poster on the front of a book, and I think it is as good an
introduction to this talk as any. [Slide 01] It shows a way from Finchley to town via the tram to Golders
Green then by Hampstead Tube. In the 1920s and 30s there were many more ways of getting into London
by rail than there are today; None of these routes to the city are now available in their entirety. A hint of
changes can be got if you wonder why a large viaduct across the Dollis Brook would be considered
economic for travelling just one stop, if you walk along disused tracks, or, looking at early ordnance survey
maps consider why the railway through Finchley is marked as the Edgware Line, when we know it as the
Barnet Branch. This talk will chart the rise and fall of rails through Finchley.
[Slide02] The talk is in four parts, starting with the railway, Finchley’s first rails; then the ephemeral
tramways, around for about 30 years; we’ll follow the development of the tube railway leading to the
Northern Line and see how these developed into the system we have today.
Part 1. Finchley gets a railway [Slide 03]
Railways started appearing in London from 1838 onwards. [Slide 04] We’ll use this map of railways before
1855 (from the same book) to set the scene. The Northern Heights were always seen as a challenge; The
London & North Western Railway (in red) avoided them, as had the Romans. Notice the Great Northern
Railway along the eastern edge. The East &West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway, built to link
the LNWR to the docks, (later renamed the North London Railway), is also part of our story; notice that the
Midland Railway to St Pancras has not yet arrived.
An early proposal to conquer the heights in 1844 with a line from Willesden to Hornsey with a branch from
Hendon via Finchley to Barnet came to nothing.
But in 1860, (As George Wilmot relates The Railway in Finchley) The Reverend Thomas Reader White,
Rector of Finchley, was greeted by an enthusiastic clamour when he announced (with the support of the
Vestry) the possibility that the railway was coming to Finchley. At that time, the horse-drawn omnibuses
into town took one and a half hours, and unless you booked, you were not guaranteed to get a seat. So
now let us look at the original proposal for a line through Finchley.
In 1861 two proposals were promoted in the Commons. One, from the North Metropolitan Junction
Railway, did not present their plans in time and not much is known about it, the other was by the newly
formed Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (EH&L). [Slide 5] Their route took the line from Edgware
through Burnt Oak, with a station where it crossed Parson Street and another one on Regent’s Park Road
near Holly Park and another on Ossulton Way near Brim Hill; thence to Highgate, to a steep 1000 yard
tunnel with a bend, and on a viaduct to Tufnell Park and a terminus near King’s Cross. This route did not
satisfy the Commons Committee principally because of the tunnel. By placing a terminus near Kings Cross,
a potential rival to the Great Northern Railway, the GNR’s interest was aroused and they got involved. The
next proposal, on the current alignment, was approved. Instead of going into town, it took the railway
from Highgate to a junction with the GNR at Seven Sisters Road (now Finsbury Park). The GNR were
engaged to run the railway and provide the trains, staff, signalling and maintenance in return for half the
profits, having subscribed to one third of the capital.
In 1863 while the railway was under construction, the Great Northern Railway’s arch rival the Midland
~ 2 ~
Railway gained approval to extend their main line southwards to St Pancras through Mill Hill. Mill Hill being
only seven miles from town on their route compared with eleven via the EH&L line this was a great threat
to their profits. Catchment was very important to all railway projects and the EH&L cast around for
extensions into untapped territory.
[Slide 06] This slide shows the new Midland Railway (in blue) and proposed branch lines intended to
extend catchment. In 1864 EH&L successfully beat the Tottenham and Hampstead Railway in securing a
branch line from Highgate to Alexandra Palace
They also put forward a proposal for a branch line from Church End Finchley up to Barnet. There were two
other competing schemes for Barnet to beat first
A strange scheme by GNR from Potters Bar via Hadley; they relinquished powers for a New Barnet-
High Barnet branch to compete
A scheme by The Midland Railway from Cricklewood which follows Ballards Lane and High Road on
the eastern side. It went under Church End in a tunnel; trains for the station would need to reverse
up a branch onto the Edgware line
The EH&L scheme was the most logical and, having the backing of local residents, won through in 1866.
Great Northern takes over in 1867 and the line opens
Because costs of building the Edgware Line were higher than expected, (partly as a result of slippages at
Finsbury Park) GNR took them over before they opened.
The Edgware line opened in 1867 It was double track and 18 trains each way from Finsbury Park to
Highgate; single track and 10 each way onward to Edgware.
Finchleians having complained about delays in construction were soon complaining about the service!
Now let’s digress a moment [Slide 07] Here is a map of the Metropolitan Line in 1867 (not very clear, I’m
afraid so I’ve added the key names to the original.)
The widened lines connection 1868
In 1863, as a result of cooperation between the GNR and GWR, London’s first cut and cover underground
railway, the Metropolitan, opened between Bishops Road (Paddington) and Farringdon and with links for
the GNR terminus at Kings Cross. Extension to Moorgate was immediately initiated.
A second pair of tracks called the widened lines was added to separate Metropolitan trains from GNR’s
own. These were soon taking Finchley’s trains to Moorgate, and to Ludgate Hill. Some trains went on to
Loughborough Junction and Victoria
Notice another line on the map I have coloured green, which would later take Finchley’s trains to Broad
Street (more on this later).
Notice in passing the projected line from Baker Street to Hampstead. This and an extension to Highgate via
Spaniards never materialised. [Slide 08] Here is an artist’s impression of the Widened Lines. The train on
the right is a GNR northbound from Ludgate Hill. Behind the other, Metropolitan, train are the Widened
Lines. Now let us return to the two branch lines off the Edgware line
~ 3 ~
The branch to Barnet opened 1872 [Slide 09]
The first branch to open was the double track from Church End to High Barnet in 1872. From the start
there were 23 trains each way per day. The intervening single track was made up to double in stages
The line from Church End to Edgware remained single track and now operated as a shuttle service with
just one through train to the City each day
The line included all the stations we know today except for West Finchley, which arrived in 1933
You could be forgiven for thinking this station was older than this – it is! It was second-hand.
The branch line to Ally Pally opened 1873 [Slide 10]
The other branch line, to Alexandra Palace, opened at the same time as the palace on 24 May 1873 It was
extremely popular – nearly 60,000 passengers visited on the bank holiday but on 9 June calamity, the
palace burned down! To help combat the flames, the GNR sent two of their own fire engines by rail and
these arrived before the local ones
Some traffic was generated by people coming to see the ruins but then the line closed until the palace was
rebuilt. On reopening there were 90,000 passengers on the bank holiday but there was a derailment at
Copenhagen tunnel, north of Kings Cross. Trains backed all the way up the line and many passengers
walked home.
The fortunes of the branch line closely followed those of the palace, despite the growth of Muswell Hill
commuters, and a new station at Cranley Gardens (1902)
Now we must return to the E&WID&BR, fortunately renamed the North London Railway!
The Broad Street connection, 1874 [Slide 11]
The GNR was principally a main line company with an emphasis on freight. It wasn’t prepared for all these
low-return passenger trains clogging up its main line station and tunnels, with consequent delays. It
therefore approached the North London Railway with a view to diverting some trains to its new London
terminus at Broad Street. (This was busier than Paddington and Euston combined.) The North London
Railway was dominated by its main customer, the L&NWR who drove a hard bargain – only if you give us
right of access to your network, was the reply. A rail link was thus constructed from around Finsbury Park,
through a tunnel under Highbury Fields to the NLR line at Canonbury and the distinctive NLR trains started
to appear on Finchley’s rails, such that eventually there were almost as many trains to Broad Street as to
Moorgate and Kings Cross combined; and yet the bottlenecks continued to disrupt the service.
A railway accident 1881
In 1881 the tunnel was the location of one of the railways most serious accidents. [Slide 12] I quote from
George Wilmot’s book: “The 8.35 a.m. train from Finchley which had left Finsbury Park bound for Broad
Street on the newly opened section of line was stopped by signals at the south end of Canonbury
tunnel. It was a minute before nine o'clock on a snowy 10th December. Three or four minutes later
this Finchley train was knocked forward slightly by a crash in the rear. Delighted at the break from the daily
monotony, a number of passengers eagerly clambered out of the train to find that the 8.58 a.m. from
Finsbury Park had run into the rear. They were ordered into the train by the driver who had
received cautionary permission to proceed into Canonbury. The Finchley train arrived there
~ 4 ~
without damage giving its passengers a lively morning talking point.
Unhappily the incidents were only just beginning. The standing 8.58 a.m. from Finsbury Park was
struck violently in the rear by the 8.43 a.m. from Enfield. Hardly had some of the passengers alighted
from the Enfield train under the escort of a guard and crossed to the other side of the tunnel when a
fourth train approached. In spite of the efforts of this guard the fourth train crashed with great
impetus into the third train. The engine and carriages reared up and crashed against the walls of
the tunnel. The guard, Harry Catherall, ran back the 500 yards to Finsbury Park signal box and was
in time to stop a fifth train from entering the tunnel under clear signals.
The signalman at Finsbury Park who was so busy sending train after train to death and destruction
into the tunnel was neither drunk nor insane. He had not been taken ill. He was not fatigued. Unhappily, as
a real relief signalman, he had confused the bell code messages from Canonbury (a box under the auspices
of the North London Company) and had interpreted the code "line blocked" as "train able to proceed
under caution"…. Six persons were killed and 127 injured as a result of the collisions. Six weeks later there
was a severe accident at Hornsey when a sudden dense fog combined with errors of judgement was the
contributory cause.”
There were of course other accidents, including several people killed at crossings. As a result of litigation at
least one new foot bridge on a footpath by Manor Cottages (no longer in use) and a subway at Manor Park
Road were built.
On one occasion coming into Edgware the driver forgot to apply the brakes with drastic consequences.
The railway and Finchley develop around the turn of the century [Slide 14]
As time progressed Finchley developed, its population reaching 11,000 in 1881, 16,000 in 1891, 22,000 in
1901 and 40,000 in 1911; the number of passengers increased as did the freight – carrying materials for
house construction and coal.
There were 36 trains each way in 1876 and this number rose to around 60 in the thirties as saturation
point was reached (see graph) however the population continued to grow. Delays at bottlenecks increased
in line with the number of trains, and a change to electric was considered by GNR and its successor GNER
to increase efficiency, but funds were elusive.
Attempts were made gradually to improve the track layouts and provision of sidings. (To change the
engine of the Edgware shuttle at Church End originally took the signalman 47 lever movements each time
until the junction was modified in 1896). The railway remained Victorian and therefore limiting in capacity.
Finchley residents continued to complain about the high fares, the delays (especially at peak times), the
lack of shelters for passengers and bicycles, poor lavatories (damp, ladies locked in etc.). Coal deliveries
were scheduled outside of rush hour to help.
The Edgware line remained a sleepy backwater, for some obscure reason known locally as 'the Pig'. Its
relaxed atmosphere was hardly affected by the addition of a wooden halt at The Hale in 1906. The single
platform on the north side was constructed just west of the Midland main line bridge in an optimistic
attempt to divert some traffic from the new suburb that was growing around the Midland Railway's Mill
Hill station. A goods yard was added at The Hale in 1910, when a booking office was placed on an extended
platform and a man was posted to look after both goods and passenger business.
~ 5 ~
Two new ways to the City from Finsbury Park
From the turn of the century (1900) tube railways were beginning to open Two of these were intended as
alternative ways for GNR passengers to get into town from Finsbury Park
[Slide 15]The Great Northern & City (shown here, opened in 1904) was intended to allow GNR rolling stock
to continue into the City, bypassing the widened lines. The tube tunnel was made a whopping 16ft
diameter to allow this. Sadly the two companies couldn’t agree terms so the connection was never made.
Through tickets were available, though. Note the original wooden rolling stock.
The other line was the Great Northern and Strand to Aldwych, opened 1906 as part of the Piccadilly.
Finally let’s look at some engines
Engines and Engineers
The trains were pulled by suburban well or side tank engines.
When the Edgware line first opened in 1867 Patrick Stirling had just taken over from Archibald Sturrock as
Chief Locomotive Engineer of the GNR. [Slide 16] This Sturrock 0-4-2 well tank engine is similar to the
Barnet train and Widened Lines train shown previously. Note the tall funnel and characteristic regulator
and absence of steam dome. Stirling introduced similar but more powerful versions, some with side tanks.
Stirling was succeeded in 1895 by Henry Ivatt. During Ivatt’s tenure the railways were experiencing large
increases in traffic, resulting in a need for engines more powerful than before. Ivatt pushed British
locomotive design by being the first to introduce both the 4-4-2 (Atlantic) wheel arrangement from
America (shown here) [Slide 17], and the Walschaerts valve-gear to Britain. (The valve-gear that put the
chuff-chuff in engines when leaving a station.) His engines had a large steam dome.
[Slide 18] Here is an Ivatt N1 0-6-2T at Church End station. Note the relatively rural background!
[Slide 19] In 1906 the GNR tried out Ivatt rail buses (carriage and engine mounted on a single chassis) but
they were found to be inflexible as they weren’t powerful enough to pull an extra carriage. [Slide 20]
Here’s another.
Ivatt was succeeded in 1911 by Nigel Gresley, probably Britain’s most famous designer. In the 1920s
Gresley took Ivatt’s N1 0-6-2 and developed it into the N2, improved all round and with a shorter funnel
like this one [Slide 21] at Cranley Gardens (note also in passing, the station building!) and this one [Slide
22] at the newly built EF station.
Railways Re-organised in 1923
In 1923 the railways were reorganised by the government: Great Northern became part of LNER while the
North London Railway became part of LMS, thus both LNER and LMS had trains running on our rails.
However there wasn’t any great improvement in the service.
Gresley was chosen as the LNER’s first Chief Mechanical Engineer until he died in 1941. His most famous
design was the Mallard.
The North London Railway had designs by William Adams (as previously illustrated) Later, as part of
Midland Railway/LMS, they were by Fowler (Class 3F 0-6-0T) [Slide 23]. Here’s one emerging from
~ 9 ~
adjustments were such that it only took five and a half minutes to process a tram. For those with split
shifts they installed a “very nice all-electric canteen” where meals could be obtained at cost price and a
club room with billiards etc, and a drying room for wet clothes. There was a ‘traverser’ to move trams
between bays, shown here. [Slide 36]
The map shows the tram lines inked in red. The original layout of the junction between Ballards Lane and
the High Road involved the trams in inconvenient reversing, so in 1935, as part of the modernisation
programme, a round-about was built, involving the construction of Kingsway. The Gaumont Cinema ended
up in the freed up space. [Slide 37] Here is a view of Kingsway looking towards Woodhouse Road before
the cinema was built.
The end of the trams 1938 [Slide 38]
Many tram companies were experiencing a decline as a result of competition by motor buses and the
rising costs of maintaining track. With their modernisation programme, the MET seemed to be bucking the
trend, but this was about to be stopped in its tracks!
A London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) was set up to take responsibility for all buses, trams and
tubes in London and In July 1933 they took over from the MET. Despite applying the London Transport
livery to the trams it soon became clear their days were numbered.
The routes through Finchley were to be replaced by trolley buses (sometimes called diddlers), over a
period of two years. This required changes to the overhead wires, and the provision of turnarounds since
trolleybuses were not designed to travel in both directions.
The last tram to leave Barnet did so at midnight on 5 March 1938. A crowd of some 500 gathered to see it
off; some in evening dress; cars were hooting. On arriving at Tally Ho it did a final two laps round the
Gaumont Cinema. When it finally stopped, crowds of people proceeded to take anything that could be
unscrewed as a souvenir.
68 Felthams were sold to Leeds, at £500 each; the remaining trams were scrapped. Removal of the tracks
took many years, although the process speeded up during the war as metal was needed for armaments.
Less than thirty years later the trolley buses were to meet the same fate, yielding to the Routemaster.
Part 3: the development of the Hampstead Tube
[Slide 39] Within a year of the last tram leaving, the tube finally arrived in Finchley. The story of the
development of the tube is fascinating so we must go back to the beginning.
Tower Subway 1868
[Slide 40] Four years before the Barnet Branch Line opened, London had its first tube railway. Inspired by
Marc Brunel’s tunnelling shield for the Rotherhithe tunnel, Barlow and Greathead developed a circular
shield for use with cast iron circular segments.
The result was the single 1,340ft long 7ft wide tube tunnel railway under the Thames from Pickle Herring
Street to Tower Hill called the Tower Subway.
The 14-seater car ran on 2ft 6inch rails and was cable driven. The economics did not stack up and it was
unreliable; it soon changed to a foot tunnel before closing when Tower Bridge opened. [Slide 41] Here’s
~ 10 ~
the entrance by the Tower; I’d passed it many times without realising its significance. (Two views)
[Slide 42] Here is a picture of a circular tunnelling shield in action.
City & South London Railway (Stockwell to King William Street) 1890
[Slide 43] This project learned from the previous mistakes. It had twin tunnels of 10ft 2in diameter
allowing sufficient passenger carrying capacity to be viable. An early switch from cable power to electric
was fortuitous as it enabled the lines to be easily extended as time went on.
Shortly after opening in 1890, plans were in hand to extend the line to Moorgate, to iron out track
difficulties at King William Street, replacing it with a new station at Bank, diverting via London Bridge
station with a new tunnel under the Thames and extending southward to Clapham Common (1900). 11ft
6in tunnels were used this time.
Further extensions took the tube northward to Angel (1901) then Euston (1907) and southward to Morden
(1926)
[Slide 44] Mather & Platt built the locomotives. This slide shows the rolling stock at the time of the
extension to Euston (which would become Euston Bank Branch). The carriages before these had just slit
windows and were nick-name ‘padded cells’.
Tube Mania
[Slide 45] As a result of the success of the C&SLR, many other schemes were applied for, as this table
shows.
Approved
Opened
Waterloo & City
1893
1898
Central London
1891
1900
Great Northern & City
1892
1904
Baker Street & Waterloo
1893
1906
*
Brompton &Piccadilly Circus
1897
1906
*) joined in
Great Northern & Strand
1899
1906
*) 1902
Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead
1893
1907
*
Capital was in short supply at that time and many projects began to founder and were taken over.
Those in red were acquired by Charles Tyson Yerkes an American financier with experience of city railways
in Chicago. looking to invest in London. He formed them into the Underground Electric Railways of London
(UERL). The one that concerns us is the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (previously named
Hampstead, St Pancras & Charing Cross).
Yerkes bought up the powers to build the CCE&HR for £1,900 in 1900.
It was to be a line from Hampstead Heath Street to Charing Cross, with a short branch line to Euston and St
Pancras.
[Slide 46] This shows the map submitted for approval – notice that the branch line only goes to Euston
and not St Pancras because the Midland Railway would not cooperate.
~ 11 ~
The powers had to be extended three times for lack of funding and during this waiting time a few
improvements were made.
Further changes
[Slide 47] The main route was diverted along Eversholt Street to incorporate the branch line, (which is why
you can hear a sharp bend when approaching Euston from the north).
A station was added at Camden Town with a new branch line to Kentish Town to capture main line
passengers. This was later to have profound implications for Finchley.
Finally, the terminus at Charing Cross was realigned and a station was added at Leicester Square to
interconnect passengers with the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway.
Apparently, on acquiring the CCE&HR Yerkes went for a drive along the route northwards and continued
on to Golders Green. He decided to extend the line there, knowing that development would follow. It was
a shrewd move, as it enabled him to put his depot on a green field site and simultaneously reduce the
maximum gradient of the line at Hampstead.
When the supplier of the cable system went bust Yerkes changed to electric power.
Yerkes also extended the branch line to Archway (called Highgate). Permission was refused to extend
further to Bishops Road Highgate on a technicality.
A new station was added on Tottenham Court Road by Goodge Street.
The extension to Golders Green spurred Henrietta Barnet into initiating Hampstead Garden Suburb.
The CCH&HR opens 1907
[Slide 48] This map of 1908 shows the configuration of the railway when it first opened. Sadly Yerkes did
not live long enough to witness it. Finchleians could now travel into the West End having first taken a tram
to Golders Green, as shown on our opening slide.
By now, most of the station names were as we know them today, although HIGHATE is actually Archway.
From its opening, a two-minute service was operated at peak hours from Charing Cross to Camden Town
and split equally between the two branches. Off peak was two-and-a-half minutes.
A meeting of all parts of the UERL empire met one month after this opening to start standardisation, and
as you will have noticed from the map this included colour-coding and the logo UndergrounD.
Notice (in passing) the Great Northern and Strand and the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus lines had already
been joined to make the Piccadilly line in 1902.
[Slide 49] The carriages were made in America, shipped to Manchester, fitted and taken by Midland
Railway to London. Finally horse-drawn trailers took them to Golders Green.
Motors were made by British firm Thomson Houston.
Power for all Yerkes’ empire was generated at Lots Road Chelsea and distributed by cables along the
network. Power for the Hampstead Tube entered at Charing Cross by way of the District Railway.
~ 12 ~
Hampstead Tube Extensions 1909
Within two years the first extension was made southward to Embankment to allow for interchange with
the District Railway and Bakerloo lines, also in the UERL. It included a large reversing loop under the
Thames and a single, northbound, Embankment platform. We’ll see a diagram later.
Further acquisitions 1911, 1913
The UERL (UndergrounD) didn’t make the returns expected of it, partly because of competition from the
development of the motor bus. When the price of London General Omnibus Co (LGOC) shares dropped in
1911 (as a result of a law suit by Daimler objecting to the LGOC making their own buses), UERL stepped in
and took them over, forming what became known as the Combine. [Slide 50] The LGOC roundel here
would go on to become London Transport’s other logo. In 1913 the remaining independent underground
railways were snapped up. The Great Northern & City became part of the Metropolitan group and the
C&SLR and the Central Railway became part of the Combine. The MET and London United tramways (LUT)
and their subsidiaries also joined the combine that year.
Marriage with C&SLR 1922-24
The marriage of the Hampstead Tube and the C&SLR (although purchased in 1913) had to wait for the war
to finish and extra finance to be secured and did not begin until 1922. It involved the widening of the
whole length of the C&SLR tunnel and the replacing of its antiquated rolling stock. . [I have a 2 minute
movie clip of the upgrading work if you are interested]. Most of this was done while retaining the
passenger service, until a train in November 1923 caused a weak section of the ‘roof’ to cave in. Within 15
minutes the tunnel was blocked as 650 tons of gravel descended from Newington Causeway. A gas main
caused an explosion but was put out by a ruptured water main.
The two lines met at Euston but their orientations did not allow connection there. Anyway, had they been
able to do so there would have been a bottleneck as the two lines reduced to one for the short section
Euston to Camden Town. So the C&SLR was extended north to Camden Town and separately connected to
each of the original branch lines in such a way as to avoid the bottleneck. [Slide 51] This involved creating a
further four tubes, making six tubes extending about half a mile under Camden High Street, and was done
without interrupting the Hampstead Tube service. Notice the operator’s control panel, how complicated it
is. When the upgraded line reopened in 1924 Finchleians had new ways to reach Moorgate.
A strike at the Lots Road Power Station in 1924 resulted in the temporary closure of much of the line.
When it reopened South Kentish Town (previously Castle Road) remained shut as an experiment to speed
up traffic and never reopened.
Another connection in 1926
[Slide 52] With the C&SLR now fully compatible and having previously extended the Hampstead Tube to
Embankment, it was now decided to extend further and connect it to the C&SLR a second time; this time
at Kennington, with a new reversing loop there. This slide shows the original reversing loop in red, and the
new arrangement at embankment in yellow. The future Northern Line was taking shape. Plans to connect
with the Bakerloo at Waterloo were vetoed by the Southern Railway. (A maintenance link was made
between the C&SLR and the Piccadilly near Kings Cross)
~ 13 ~
Part 4: The breakthrough of the tubes
London Passenger Transport Board 1933
Most of London’s transport was effectively nationalised in 1933 by the National Government, and run by
the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) on a hands-off, profit-making basis. It included the Combine,
the Metropolitan, the independent tram companies and bus companies. In entered into a coordination
agreement with the main line companies’ suburban services. It had a clear policy: The Underground was to
be extended further into the suburbs and beyond; petrol buses were to be replaced by diesel and bus
services expanded; as we have seen, trams were to be replaced by trolley buses.
New Works Programme 1935
The LPTB embarked on a massive capital investment programme that extended services and reconstructed
many existing assets, mostly under the umbrella of the 1935–1940 New Works Programme. This lent
government money to the LPTB on very good terms. It was to include major electrification, integration of
the old Great Northern and City and extensions from Edgware to Bushey. The underground map of 1947
shows the projected extensions. [Slide 53] There was also a low priority scheme for consideration to
relieve congestion: a new line from Finchley Central to Clapham Junction via Golders Green, Childs Hill,
Baker Street and Knightsbridge, never adopted.
Northern Line reaches East Finchley 1939
Part of the programme was to extend the Hampstead Tube northwards from Archway (Highgate) via a new
station under the LNER Highgate station and on to East Finchley where a brand new station was to be built
to serve both the tube line and the LNER line. [Slide 54] This was achieved by 1939, by which time (in 1937)
the tube had been renamed Northern Line (through a competition) and electrification of the LNER tracks
was continued to High Barnet and Mill Hill East the following year. The new Highgate station below the old
mainline station did not open until 1941. The remaining works were put on hold as a result of the war and
eventually dropped. The extra track from Church End to Mill Hill East was laid however, and promptly
taken up again for armaments.
On opening there were tube trains every ten minutes from High Barnet and every 5 minutes from Finchley
Central.
Decline of steam [Slide 55]
Just before the tube arrived there were 57 passenger steam trains a day from High Barnet and 26 on the
Edgware branch but by 1941 all steam passenger services west of Park Junction Highgate had been
withdrawn. The Finsbury Park – Alexandra Palace service continued, gradually reducing until on 3rd July
1954 the last passenger train, with eight gas-lit coaches full of railway enthusiasts and local residents set
off from Finsbury Park. It wasn’t a trouble-free journey as a result of a coupling fracture but arrived back
only 35 minutes late.
Freight traffic was still reasonably buoyant in 1938 even though there was less house building; there were
still 9 trains a day in 1956, but this lessened and freight services were gradually withdrawn, (Mill Hill Gas
Works closed in 1956 and coal switched to road transport in 1960) finally stopping in 1962. Rails on the
redundant tracks were removed in 1964.
[Slide 56] This map shows the position today. The routes marked in green are now walkways; those in
~ 14 ~
purple have disappeared, while those in black have become part of the Northern Line.
And finally, some miscellaneous incidents [Slide 57]
In 1935 an RAF plane crashed on the Edgware line north of Colindale. The resulting short circuit set the
signal box on fire and it was completely destroyed. Hard work by engineers resulted in automatic through
running being introduced within hours.
In 1959 a train of 27 empty trucks ran out of control near Highgate, all the way to Finsbury Park.
The train, hauled by a Class N2 tank locomotive left Mill Hill East Sidings soon after 1 p.m. and was the
first up freight train of the day. Beyond East Finchley the driver found that the wheels were not
responding to the hand brake. In spite of the exemplary efforts on the part of driver, fireman and
guard, the train could not be brought under control at any time down the long slope. The greasy rails,
fouled with wet leaves defied their efforts to halt the train. At Finsbury Park, some empty coaching
stock was being shunted in the path of the runaway train and a collision was inevitable. Happily, only
minor injuries resulted to the train crew but extensive damage was wrought on carriages and trucks.
In 2003 a derailment of a north-bound Barnet train occurred in the Camden Town junction. The last car
collided with the wall between two tunnels at the crossover and was torn from the rest of the train. The
next car scraped along the wall, losing a door and its rear pillar. This caused a complete suspension of
Northern Line services. With great speed, replacement services were set up, sixty buses running within
three hours, increased to 150. The derailment was traced to a faulty switchblade, undetected since
installed in 1965. Services resumed within ten days after track replacement and complete rewiring of the
junction.
Finally
This story leaves a lot out, especially regarding the tube. There have been many arduous station
modernisation programmes, the provision of escalators, the interlinking with the Victoria line at Euston.
There have also been a whole host of plans that, for reasons of cost or practicality never took off –
extensions as far south as Sanderstead, a branch to Victoria, relief lines and so on.
Most of the material used in this talk has come from the books listed in the bibliographyoverleaf. For
this reason these notes are for personal study only and not for publication.
Tony Roberts January 2012
~ 15 ~
Rails through Finchley – Bibliography
Barnet & Finchley Tramways
Robert J Harley
Middleton Press
1997
London's Local Railways
Alan A Jackson
Capital Transport Publishing
1999
Lost Railways of Middlesex
Mike Hall
Countryside Books
2003
Moving Millions A Pictorial History
Theo Barker
London Transport Museum
1990
of London Transport
No Need To Ask
David Leboff Tim Demuth
Capital Transport Publishing
1999
Early Maps of London's Underground Railways
North London Trams
Robert J Harley
Capital Transport Publishing
2008
Rails to the people's Palace and
Reg Davies David Bevan
Hornsey Historical Society
2006
the Parkland Walk
The Hampstead Tube
Antony Badsey-Ellis
Capital Transport Publishing
2007
A History of the first 100 years
The Last Link
Mike Horne
London Underground Ltd
2007
The first 30 years of the Hampstead Railway
The Northen Line
Mike Horne
Capital Transport Publishing
2009
The Railway in Finchley
George Wilmot
Library & Arts Committee LBB
1973
A study in suburban development
The Story of London's Underground
John R Day and John Reed
Capital Transport Publishing
2010
Under The Wires at Tally Ho,
David Berguer
The History Press
2010
Trams & Trolleybuses of North London 1905-1962
Acknowledgements are also due to Google and WikiPedia