Edgware railway station

Edgware was a London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) station located on Station Road in Edgware, north London. It was opened in 1867 and was in use as a passenger station until 1939, then as a goods yard until 1964.

Edgware
Map of Edgware from 1937 showing the LNER station (bottom) and Underground station (top)
Edgware Location of Edgware in Greater London
Location	Edgware
Owner	Great Northern Railway
Number of platforms	1
Key dates
22 August 1867	Opened
11 September 1939	Closed to passengers
1 June 1964	Closed to goods
Other information
WGS84
London transport portal

It is not to be confused with the London Underground's Edgware Underground station, served by the Northern line, situated approximately 200 metres to the north-east of the site of the old Edgware railway station.

History

Map of Great Northern Railway's Edgware, High Barnet and Alexandra Palace branches, 1900

The station was built as the northern terminus of the single track Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (E&HLR) and was opened on 22 August 1867 by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) (which had taken over the EH&LR) in what was then rural Middlesex.[1] The line ran from Finsbury Park to Edgware via Highgate.[n 1] At opening the previous station on the line was Mill Hill (now Mill Hill East). In 1906 Mill Hill (The Hale) station opened between them.

At first, services ran from Edgware to Finsbury Park, King's Cross and, via Snow Hill tunnel, to Ludgate Hill, Blackfriars and Loughborough Road on the south of the Thames. After 1869, trains terminated at Moorgate. Services could also run from Finsbury Park via the North London Railway to Broad Street after the Canonbury-Finsbury Park link opened in 1875. 14 trains a day ran from Edgware to King's Cross.[3]

In 1923, the line became part of the LNER after the 1921 Railways Act created the Big Four railway companies. In 1924 the London Underground's Hampstead Tube was extended north from Golders Green to its own station north of the LNER's.[1][n 2]

In 1935, the London Passenger Transport Board planned to take over the LNER's Edgware, High Barnet and Alexandra Palace branches as part of the "Northern Heights" part of the "New Works Programme". The track would be electrified and modernised for use with electric trains and amalgamated with the London Underground's Morden-Edgware line to form what is now the Northern line.[n 3] The integration of the line meant the closure of Edgware railway station and the connection of its track to the Underground station, which was to be expanded to take the additional traffic.[n 4]

Works began in the late 1930s and were at an advanced stage when they were interrupted and halted by the Second World War. The section of line between Finchley Central station and Edgware was closed to passenger services on 11 September 1939.[1][n 5]

After the war a shortage of funds and the introduction of the Metropolitan Green Belt led to the cancellation of the unfinished Northern line elements of the "New Works Programme" in 1950.[5][n 6] The goods yard at Edgware continued to operate with British Rail trains running from Finsbury Park until 1 June 1964 when it was completely closed.[1] Today, the track has been removed and the platforms and station buildings have been demolished. The site of Edgware railway station is now occupied by a shopping centre called The Broadwalk Centre, alongside part of whose car park runs a small stretch of the former trackbed, leading to the still-standing bridge over the Northern line tracks into the Underground station.

Notes and references

Notes

1. Branches from Finchley Central to High Barnet and Highgate to Alexandra Palace opened in 1872 and 1873 respectively.[2]
2. The Underground line's tracks passed under those of the LNER just east of the station.[1]
3. The single track Edgware branch was to be provided with a second track from Finchley Central junction to the point of diversion into the Underground station.[1]
4. The Underground line was also to be extended from Edgware to Bushey Heath in Hertfordshire with three new stations at Brockley Hill, Elstree South and Bushey Heath.
5. On the Edgware branch of the line, only the works on the section from Finchley Central to Mill Hill East were completed. That section reopened with Underground services on 18 May 1941 as a one-station spur.[4]
6. The extension of the line to Bushey Heath was no longer viable as the new housing developments that it would have stimulated and served could no longer be constructed on land designated as Green Belt.

References

1. Brown 2015, p. 12.
2. Brown 2015, pp. 13-14.
3. "London local train services of thirty five years ago". Railway Magazine. December 1907. p. 488. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
4. Brown 2015, p. 13.
5. Beard 2002, p. 126.

Bibliography

• Beard, Tony (2002). By Tube Beyond Edgware. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-246-7.
• Brown, Joe (2015) [2006]. London Railway Atlas (4th ed.). Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-3819-6.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Terminus		London and North Eastern Railway Edgware, Highgate and London Railway		Mill Hill (The Hale) Line and station closed