Disused London stations 1981-2023


David Bosher

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<h4><a href='/locations/H/Hornsey_Road'>Hornsey Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/T/Tottenham_and_Hampstead_Junction_Railway'>Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>Shortly after the diversion in January 1981 of the Kentish Town to Barking service, from Kentish Town to Gospel Oak along a line that had been freight only since 1925, a train from Gospel Oak to Barking heads east past the site of Hornsey Road station, in April 1981. This closed as a WWII economy on 3rd May 1943, as did Junction Road on the same line. Another, further east at St. Anns Road near South Tottenham, had closed on 9th August 1942, for the same reason but the three stations never reopened after 1945. The GOBLIN, as the line became nicknamed from 1981 by the initials of the two termini stations, was taken over by TfL and became part of the London Overground network in 2007 but remained diesel-worked until belatedly electrified in 2019. 1/51</p><p>/04/1981<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/U/Upper_Sydenham'>Upper Sydenham</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/C/Crystal_Palace_and_South_London_Junction_Railway'>Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>The southern portal of Crescent Wood Tunnel, on the abandoned Crystal Palace High Level line, closed in 1954 and seen here 50 years later. The platforms of the former Upper Sydenham station were either side of where I was standing to take this pic; all that remains of the station is the station house at street level, seen in the top right hand corner. 2/51</p><p>//2004<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/P/Palace_Gates_Wood_Green'>Palace Gates Wood Green</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/P/Palace_Gates_Branch_Great_Eastern_Railway'>Palace Gates Branch (Great Eastern Railway)</a></small></p><p>Track-bed of abandoned Palace Gates branch in north London, closed to passengers on 7th January 1963 and to freight on 5th October 1964, looking towards the demolished bridge over Park Avenue south-east of the site of the demolished Palace Gates (Wood Green) station, now occupied by a housing estate, on a snowy 21st December 2009. Much of this line has now been demolished completely, this short embankment being one of its few remaining memorials. Ironically, if Crossrail 2 ever gets built, a branch of this from Seven Sisters to New Southgate will, more or less, follow the route of this old line but presumably below ground. However, with the continued delays to Crossrail 1, don't hold your breath for Crossrail 2 to happen anytime soon. 3/51</p><p>21/12/2009<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crouch_End'>Crouch End</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>Crouch Hill bridge at Crouch End on the ex-GNR 'Northern Heights' line, which almost became part of the LUL Northern Line, looking towards Finsbury Park, on a snowy 2nd December 2010. Crossing the bridge is a TP type bus on route W7 from Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill Broadway which has been the only way the residents can reach the populous north London suburbs of Crouch End and Muswell Hill from Finsbury Park since the line closed in 1954. (Other bus routes are available but not on this corridor.) And notwithstanding that over £1 million was spent on the aborted electrification project before 1939, with conductor rails laid all the way to Alexandra Palace and station platforms reconstructed to adjust to tube train height. Money that was all totally wasted. 4/51</p><p>02/12/2010<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crouch_End'>Crouch End</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>View north along the ex-GNR 'Northern Heights' line from Crouch Hill bridge at Crouch End, on a snowy 2nd December 2010. The building on the left was intended to be an electrical substation for the conversion of the line into a branch of the London Underground Northern Line on which over £1 million was spent before 1939. WWII halted its progress and the works were not resumed after 1945 and the line closed instead in 1954 but stayed open for freight until 1964 and for empty stock workings until 1970. The building is now a community centre and the trackbed part of two separate sections of the Parkland Walk footpath. 5/51</p><p>02/12/2010<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/N/Noel_Park_and_Wood_Green'>Noel Park and Wood Green</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/P/Palace_Gates_Branch_Great_Eastern_Railway'>Palace Gates Branch (Great Eastern Railway)</a></small></p><p>The site of Noel Park & Wood Green station on the former Seven Sisters to Palace Gates branch in north London that closed to passengers in 1963 and to freight in 1964, seen here on 9th December 2010. The site is now part of the vast Wood Green shopping city, as ghastly and indistinguishable from all the others that disfigure towns and cities up and down the UK. Sadly I never got to ride on this line but I do remember the station before it closed, a squat grey-stone building beneath the bridge that carried the line across Wood Green High Road. For several years after closure, it became a shop selling cheap secondhand goods but the whole station, including the derelict platforms on the embankment, were swept away in the 1970s to make way for the shopping city, The only clue nowadays to the fact there was ever a railway here is the lowering of the roadway down from the pavement for 100 yards or so which was necessary to give enough headroom for double-decker trams, then trolleybuses and buses to pass beneath the line. 6/51</p><p>09/12/2010<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/H/Hackney_Central'>Hackney Central</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/East_and_West_India_Docks_and_Birmingham_Junction_Railway'>East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>View looking east from Hackney Central station, opened in 1980 and part of London Overground since 2007, with on the left the main entrance building to the original Hackney station, on 11th December 2010. This opened in 1850 and closed after devastating war damage in this part of east London in 1944, which led to the end of the Broad Street to Poplar service although the line stayed open for freight. On the right are remains of the platform (with wall) that was used by trains from Poplar to Dalston Junction and Broad Street. The 1980 platforms are set back slightly further west from the eastern ends of the original 1850 station's platforms and accessed from a new entrance on the eastbound side, behind where I was standing to take this photo. 7/51</p><p>11/12/2010<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/H/Hackney'>Hackney</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/East_and_West_India_Docks_and_Birmingham_Junction_Railway'>East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>Remains of the former Broad Street bound platform at Hackney station (1850-1944), seen from Hackney Central station, opened in 1980 and set slightly back west from the original station, on 11th December 2010. Now served by London Overground trains to and from Stratford and Richmond or Clapham Junction. Connections exist at Canonbury and Highbury & Islington stations for the southward branches of the LO system to New Cross, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon, at Gospel Oak for the GOBLIN line to Barking and at Willesden Junction for the London Euston to Watford Junction LO service. 8/51</p><p>11/12/2010<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/H/Homerton'>Homerton</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/East_and_West_India_Docks_and_Birmingham_Junction_Railway'>East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>This partially demolished interior side wall is all that remains of the entrance to the original North London Railway's Homerton station, seen here on 11th December 2010. The line here was opened by the convolutedly-named East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway in 1850 but renamed to the simpler North London Railway in 1853. It was not until 1868 that the NLR opened Homerton station and it survived until 1944 when heavy war damage precipitated the end of the Broad Street to Poplar service. For 35 years after, this section through Hackney remained an important freight route (and still does) and was suddenly reopened to passengers in 1979 with trains running to Stratford via the link with the GER at the former Victoria Park station. New stations were opened at Hackney Central and Hackney Wick in 1980 and Dalston Kingsland and Homerton in 1985, from the eastbound platform of the latter this photo was taken. However, I first travelled on the line on a RCTS railtour in October 1967 when still in my teens and which also traversed the now abandoned and built-over section of the NLR through Old Ford while the Bow to Poplar section was revived for the Docklands Light Railway in 1987. 9/51</p><p>11/12/2010<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Alexandra_Palace_1st'>Alexandra Palace [1st]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/M/Muswell_Hill_Railway'>Muswell Hill Railway</a></small></p><p>The former entrance building to the first-named Alexandra Palace station, terminus of the GNR branch from Highgate and Finsbury Park, dwarfed by the huge bulk of the palace itself on the left and above, in snowy conditions on 20th December 2010. The steps to the left were designed wide to enable crowds of visitors to be swept off the trains and into the palace as quickly as possible but haven't been used, I think, since the line closed. The pre-war scheme to convert the line into a branch of the Northern Line was begun but, despite being nearly completed at the outbreak of WWII, was left in abeyance and then not proceeded with after 1945 and the line, once promised a bright new future, closed instead in 1954. With so much work completed at a cost of more than £1 million, this is a shameful blot on London Transport's otherwise rich history. The station entrance building (all that survives, the island platform in the cutting below the palace walls having been demolished) was derelict and boarded up for very many years but has now been renovated and is in use as a community centre and given the name CUFOS: Community Use For Old Station. 10/51</p><p>20/10/2010<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Alexandra_Palace_1st'>Alexandra Palace [1st]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/M/Muswell_Hill_Railway'>Muswell Hill Railway</a></small></p><p>A closer look at all that remains of the first Alexandra Palace station, now a community centre, on 20th December 2010. Much more conveniently-sited for the palace than the present station of that name (the former Wood Green) on the GNR main line which is right at the bottom of the steep hill on which 'Ally Pally' stands, it was opened by the Muswell Hill Railway (absorbed into the GNR in 1911) in 1873 and, by rights, should still be open as the terminus of one of LUL's Northern Line branches. It closed in 1954 despite work on the electrification project having been almost completed just prior to WWII with third rails laid and lineside cabling installed all the way and platforms at stations adjusted to tube train height. What a waste. 11/51</p><p>20/12/2010<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/B/Brockley_Lane'>Brockley Lane</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/G/Greenwich_Park_Branch_Crystal_Palace_and_South_London_Junction_Railway'>Greenwich Park Branch (Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway)</a></small></p><p>These derelict steps are all that remain of the entrance to the former LC&DR Brockley Lane station, seen here on 15th October 2011. This was on the Greenwich Park branch that opened from Nunhead to Blackheath Hill in 1871 but was not completed to Greenwich Park, one stop further, until 1888. Brockley Lane was added in 1872. The entire line was closed as a WWI economy on 1st January 1917 but in 1929 the western section from Nunhead to a point just east of the former Lewisham Road station was reopened and electrified together with a new spur into the main Lewisham station. For many years, this was served only by peak hour passenger trains to and from London Victoria but now is open full-time. Although Brockley Lane and Lewisham Road stations were on the reopened section, they both remained closed while the rest of the Greenwich Park branch was abandoned and is now completely built over. Latter day plans to reopen Brockley Lane to interchange with nearby Brockley station have not come to fruition. 12/51</p><p>15/10/2011<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crouch_End'>Crouch End</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>Platform remains at Crouch End station, looking towards Alexandra Palace, in heavy snow on 5th February 2012. Opened by the Edgware, Highgate & London Railway (later absorbed by the GNR) in 1867, this line almost became part of the LUL Northern Line with over £1 million being spent on the project before 1939. After the war, the scheme was not proceeded with even though conductor rails had been laid all the way and the platforms at Crouch End, seen here, reconstructed to adjust to tube train height. Steam trains continued to ply up the gradients from Finsbury Park until the line, once promised a bright new future, was closed instead, on 5th July 1954. 13/51</p><p>05/02/2012<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/B/Bishopsgate'>Bishopsgate</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/L/London_to_Colchester_Eastern_Counties_Railway'>London to Colchester (Eastern Counties Railway)</a></small></p><p>The former Eastern Counties Railway viaduct of 1840 that led into and out of the line's original terminus, opened in 1840 as Shoreditch and renamed Bishopsgate the following year, seen here looking east from the new London Overground Shoreditch High Street station on 13th November 2012. The station became a goods station in 1876 after the extension to Liverpool Street was fully opened by the GER and which dived down beneath the original terminus and on which two low level platforms were opened. These closed as a First World War economy in 1915 and never reopened although one platform is still well maintained for use as an emergency exit. The original terminus which became Bishopsgate High Level survived as a goods station until severely damaged by fire in December 1964 and in which two railway workers tragically lost their lives. See image <a href='/img/71/235/index.html'>71235</a> 14/51</p><p>13/11/2012<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/B/Bishopsgate'>Bishopsgate</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/L/London_to_Colchester_Eastern_Counties_Railway'>London to Colchester (Eastern Counties Railway)</a></small></p><p>The former Eastern Counties Railway viaduct of 1840 that led into the original terminus opened as Shoreditch in 1840 and renamed the following year and which became a goods station from 1876 onwards after Liverpool Street station was fully completed, having partly opened the previous year. The viaduct fell into disuse after a disastrous fire, in which two railway workers sadly lost their lives and which rendered the goods station no longer viable, in December 1964. This view from outside the new London Overground Shoreditch High Street station, opened in April 2010 (out of view on right) is on 13th November 2012. See image <a href='/img/71/224/index.html'>71224</a> 15/51</p><p>13/11/2012<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/P/Palace_Gates_Wood_Green'>Palace Gates Wood Green</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/P/Palace_Gates_Branch_Great_Eastern_Railway'>Palace Gates Branch (Great Eastern Railway)</a></small></p><p>North side abutment to former bridge over Park Avenue, London N22, that once carried the Seven Sisters to Palace Gates (Wood Green) branch of the GER, into Palace Gates station (now demolished, its site today a housing estate). This closed to passengers in 1963 and to freight in 1964, seen here on 13th November 2012. 16/51</p><p>13/11/2012<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/P/Palace_Gates_Wood_Green'>Palace Gates Wood Green</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/P/Palace_Gates_Branch_Great_Eastern_Railway'>Palace Gates Branch (Great Eastern Railway)</a></small></p><p>Surviving abutments that supported the bridge carrying the former Seven Sisters to Palace Gates (Wood Green) branch in north London over Park Avenue, just to the south of the site of Palace Gates (Wood Green) station, looking south-west on 13th November 2012. The line opened in 1878 and was closed to passengers in 1963 and to freight in 1964. This old bridge is one of the few surviving memorials to the line. However, if Crossrail 2 should ever get built - and don't hold your breath - the proposed New Southgate branch will virtually follow exactly the route of the old Palace Gates line but presumably below ground. 17/51</p><p>13/11/2012<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/S/Shadwell_and_St_Georges_East'>Shadwell and St George's East</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/B/Blackwall_Railway'>Blackwall Railway</a></small></p><p>This is all that remains at platform level of the former Shadwell & St. George's East station, closed in 1941, looking east from the DLR's Shadwell station, opened in 1987, that occupies most of the old station site, on 6th April 2013. The boarded up entrance building still survives at street level. 18/51</p><p>06/04/2013<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/S/Shadwell_and_St_Georges_East'>Shadwell and St George's East</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/B/Blackwall_Railway'>Blackwall Railway</a></small></p><p>Derelict entrance to the former Shadwell & St. George's East station, originally two stops east of Fenchurch Street, seen here on 6th April 2013. The station was closed as a WWII economy in 1941 and never reopened after 1945. Most of its site at track level is now occupied by the island platform of the DLR's Shadwell station, opened in 1987 with a short piece of platform of the old station still in evidence on the south side of the viaduct just to the east. 19/51</p><p>06/04/2013<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/J/Junction_Road_London'>Junction Road [London]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/T/Tottenham_and_Hampstead_Junction_Railway'>Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>The site of the eastbound platform of Junction Road station, on what is now the London Overground Gospel Oak to Barking Line, on 3rd August 2013. The Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway had opened on 21st July 1868 but Junction Road was not opened until 1st January 1872 and closed as a WW2 economy on 3rd May 1943. Some years ago there was a proposal to reopen this station, with a pedestrian subway linking it to the nearby Tufnell Park station on the LU Northern Line and although both Islington and Camden Councils were supportive of this scheme, nothing happened. Since there has been substantial housing development in the vicinity of Junction Road in recent years, a new station here would be very useful. 20/51</p><p>03/08/2013<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Coborn_Road_2nd'>Coborn Road [2nd]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/L/London_to_Colchester_Eastern_Counties_Railway'>London to Colchester (Eastern Counties Railway)</a></small></p><p>The former entrance to Coborn Road station in east London, on the ex-GER main line into and out of Liverpool Street, seen here on 3rd August 2013. This station was opened on 1st February 1865 as Old Ford and renamed Coborn Road on 1st March 1879 and then re-sited slightly to the west on 2nd December 1883. As part of transport economies during WWI, Coborn Road, Globe Road and Bishopsgate Low Level, along with Cambridge Heath and London Fields stations on the Enfield Town line, were closed on 22nd May 1916. Globe Road and Bishopsgate Low Level never reopened but Coborn Road, Cambridge Heath and London Fields were reopened on 5th May 1919. The latter two are still open today but Coborn Road closed permanently on 8th December 1946, five days after the first stage of the opening of the eastern extension of the LUL Central Line from Liverpool Street to Stratford rendered it redundant. The main line platforms at the ex-GER Bethnal Green station also closed on the same day, superseded by the opening at the same time of the nearby LUL Central Line station. 21/51</p><p>03/08/2013<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/S/Shoreditch_NL'>Shoreditch [NL]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/North_London_Railway'>North London Railway</a></small></p><p>Remains of the North London Railway station at Shoreditch opened with the Broad Street branch on 1st November 1865 and closed after heavy war damage on 3rd October 1940, seen here from a passing London Overground train on 15th February 2014. This is all that is left at platform level of the station but up until closure of the Broad Street branch in 1986, the disused central island platform was still in position. That was swept away during the reconstruction of the line as part of the London Overground which opened in April 2010 with a new section of track linking it to the former LUL East London Line to enable trains to run through from north to south London. The new section includes a station at Shoreditch High Street, further south and which was preferred to rebuilding the original 1865 NLR station. (I travelled on the very first train south from Dalston Junction to New Cross back in 2010 and I still have fond memories of riding the line in the 1960s, 70s and 80s into and out of the moribund eyesore that the once great Broad Street station (now demolished) had sadly become.) 22/51</p><p>15/02/2014<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crouch_End'>Crouch End</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>Platform remains at the former Crouch End station, near where I live, on the GNR's Northern Heights branch, looking towards Alexandra Palace, on 3rd July 2014, the 60th Anniversary - if it can be called that - of the last day of passenger trains on the line. This was earmarked for electrification and incorporation into the LUL Northern Line as part of the 1935 New Works Scheme but after the war, despite over £1 million being spent with conductor rails laid all the way and the platforms at Crouch End adjusted to correspond to tube train height, the scheme was never completed and the line once promised a bright new future closed instead in 1954. A shameful blot on London Transport's otherwise rich history. 23/51</p><p>03/07/2014<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crouch_End'>Crouch End</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>Sign at former Crouch End station detailing the history of the GNR Northern Heights line, and the sad failure to incorporate this section into the LUL Northern Line, seen here on 3rd July 2014, 60 years to the day after the last passenger train. Although tube trains did get to High Barnet and Mill Hill East (from Archway), the rest of the electrification of these former steam lines was shamefully abandoned. 24/51</p><p>03/07/2014<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crouch_End'>Crouch End</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>View from the site of the former Crouch End station, looking towards Finsbury Park, along the old GNR Northern Heights line, opened in 1867 and closed in 1954, after almost becoming part of the LUL Northern Line. It is now the Parkland Walk footpath which is totally unlit at night. This view is on 3rd July 2014, 60 years to the day since the line closed to passengers. Had it not been for WWII, tube trains would now be running along here and passengers would simply take them for granted. I live in Crouch End and I must say it would be very useful to have a station again instead of having to go everywhere on buses which often come along full up and also get stuck in traffic jams, plus the interchange with National Rail and London Underground services at Finsbury Park is not exactly convenient. There have been many suggestions in recent years to rebuild this line as a Docklands Light Railway style line or a tramway but they have all fallen on deaf ears. 25/51</p><p>03/07/2014<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/H/Homerton'>Homerton</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/East_and_West_India_Docks_and_Birmingham_Junction_Railway'>East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>This is all that remains of the entrance to the original Homerton station, opened by the North London Railway in 1868 and closed with the eastern section of the NLR from Dalston Junction to Poplar in May 1944 after heavy war damage. Passenger services along this section of the line in Hackney in east London resumed in 1979 with new stations opening in 1980 at Hackney Central, more or less on the site of the NLR's Hackney station that had also closed in 1944 and Hackney Wick, just east of the site of Victoria Park station that had closed a year earlier in 1943. A new station at Homerton, with an entrance on the south side of the line (left of this view) and on the site of the 1868 station and now part of London Overground, opened in 1985 (see my photo image no. 71749). This view was taken on 28th January 2017. 26/51</p><p>28/01/2017<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/H/Haggerston_1st'>Haggerston [1st]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/North_London_Railway'>North London Railway</a></small></p><p>Remaining side platform at the original North London Railway Haggerston station on the Broad Street branch of 1865, added to the line in 1867, closed after war damage in 1940 and seen here on 15th December 2014. The derelict island platform on the west side of the viaduct was still in situ for many years and I can remember speeding past it on the rattly old 501 slam door units as a boy in the 1960s and well into my youth too. The line and Broad Street station closed in 1986 but most of it was reopened in 2010 and linked by a new stretch of track at Shoreditch to the former LUL East London Line. A brand new station at Haggerston situated just to the north of the 1867 station was opened at the same time. 27/51</p><p>15/02/2017<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Angel_Road'>Angel Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/Northern_and_Eastern_Railway'>Northern and Eastern Railway</a></small></p><p>The barren wastes of Angel Road station on the Lea Valley Line, due to close on 19th May 2019, looking north on 29th March 2019. 28/51</p><p>29/03/2019<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Angel_Road'>Angel Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/Northern_and_Eastern_Railway'>Northern and Eastern Railway</a></small></p><p>317 343 from London Liverpool Street, speeding past the soon-to-be-closed Angel Road station on the Lea Valley Line, on 29th March 2019. 29/51</p><p>29/03/2019<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Angel_Road'>Angel Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/Northern_and_Eastern_Railway'>Northern and Eastern Railway</a></small></p><p>317 652 with the last northbound train of the morning to call at Angel Road station, the 0930 Stratford - Bishop's Stortford, seen departing, eight minutes late at 09.52 on 29th March 2019. There won't be anymore northbound trains calling until mid-afternoon and even the 09.52 southbound was five minutes late too. Soon there will be no trains calling at this station as closure has been set for 19th May and replacement with the still under construction Meridian Water station, just to the south. Surprisingly, two people actually alighted from this northbound train. 30/51</p><p>29/03/2019<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Angel_Road'>Angel Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/Northern_and_Eastern_Railway'>Northern and Eastern Railway</a></small></p><p>Blink and you'll miss it. The unobtrusive 'entrance' to Angel Road station on the Lea Valley Line in north London takes some finding as there are no directions to it whatsoever from surrounding streets and it was only by sheer perseverance that I found it. I did ask a gentleman if he knew the way but he looked at me as if I was speaking Swahili so he was no use. And even when you've found this entrance, there are tons of steep steps to go down and then a walk alongside the line for several hundred yards until you reach the station itself. No wonder its been London's least-used station for many years but its all set to end on 19th May 2019 when the station is closed and replaced by the new Meridian Water station, just to the south, assuming there are no delays a la Crossrail. This view is on 29th March 2019. 31/51</p><p>29/03/2019<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Angel_Road'>Angel Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/Northern_and_Eastern_Railway'>Northern and Eastern Railway</a></small></p><p>The soon to be closed Angel Road station on the Lea Valley Line, on 29th March 2019. This station was opened as Edmonton by the Northern & Eastern Railway on their line from Stratford to Broxbourne on 15th September 1840 and was renamed Water Lane on 1st March 1849 when the Eastern Counties Railway, to which the N & E was leased, opened a branch north-west to Enfield Town and which had a better-sited station at Edmonton. These lines became part of the Great Eastern Railway on 1st January 1862 and it was the GER who renamed the station Angel Road on 1st January 1864. The route to Enfield via the N & E line from Stratford was extremely circuitous and in 1872 the GER opened their 'cut-off' lines to Enfield and Chingford as well as the Lea Valley Line from a new junction at Bethnal Green, east of Liverpool Street. A new high level station at Edmonton was provided (later Lower Edmonton and now Edmonton Green) for Enfield trains with just a shuttle between Angel Road and Edmonton surviving until withdrawn by the LNER on 7th September 1939 which saw the closure of the low level 1849 station at Edmonton. The line remained open for freight and diversions but was eventually abandoned on 7th September 1964 and part of the route is now a footpath while the low level station at Edmonton is now lost to a massive road roundabout. 32/51</p><p>29/03/2019<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Angel_Road'>Angel Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/Northern_and_Eastern_Railway'>Northern and Eastern Railway</a></small></p><p>317 661 to London Liverpool Street speeding past the little-used - and soon to be never used at all - Angel Road station on the Lea Valley Line in north London, on 29th March 2019. Its closure is set for 19th May 2019 when its replacement station at Meridian Water, just to the south, will open. (NB: continued delays meant that Meridian Water did not open until Monday, 3rd June 2019 with Angel Road finally closing for good the previous Friday, 31st May.) 33/51</p><p>29/03/2019<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/A/Angel_Road'>Angel Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/Northern_and_Eastern_Railway'>Northern and Eastern Railway</a></small></p><p>The now closed Angel Road station, where nameboards and shelters have already been removed, seen from its replacement station at Meridian Water on the latter's opening day, Monday, 3rd June 2019. 34/51</p><p>03/06/2019<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/H/Highgate_Road_High_Level'>Highgate Road High Level</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/T/Tottenham_and_Hampstead_Junction_Railway'>Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>The site of the westbound platform at Highgate Road (High Level), seen from a London Overground GOBLIN service to Barking, soon after departing from Gospel Oak, on 16th September 2019. This station was opened by the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway with the line in 1868 and closed as a First World War economy in 1915. The low level platforms on the 1870 spur down to Kentish Town remained open until 1918. Although the high level platforms closed in 1915, the line between Gospel Oak and the quaintly-named Junction Road Junction, where the spur from Kentish Town joined the THJR, did not close to passengers until 1925 when the service to Chingford, via a route impossible today, was withdrawn. It reopened to passengers in April 1981 when trains from Barking were diverted to Gospel Oak from Kentish Town. 35/51</p><p>16/09/2019<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/S/Seven_Sisters'>Seven Sisters</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/B/Bethnal_Green_to_Edmonton_and_Lea_Valley_Line_Great_Eastern_Railway'>Bethnal Green to Edmonton and Lea Valley Line (Great Eastern Railway)</a></small></p><p>Through these trees at Seven Sisters can be discerned a small surviving section of the embankment that once supported the North Woolwich bound platform on the Palace Gates branch which diverged here from the Enfield Town line, seen from the latter's surviving northbound platform from which this view was taken on 1st January 2020. The branch closed to passengers on 7th January 1963, along with the stations at West Green, Noel Park & Wood Green and Palace Gates (Wood Green) and to freight on 5th October 1964. The branch was nonsensically left out of the belated 1960 electrification of the Enfield Town and Chingford Lines which became part of London Overground on 31st May 2015. Had sense prevailed, the branch could now be part of this north London electrified system too although should Crossrail 2 ever materialise, the proposed New Southgate branch will more or less follow the route of the old Palace Gates branch. But don't hold your breath that this will happen anytime soon. 36/51</p><p>01/01/2020<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/S/Stroud_Green'>Stroud Green</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>View from Stroud Green viaduct on the former GNR Northern Heights line, now a footpath, with on the left the old Stroud Green station building, now a community centre, on 31st March 2021. The line closed to passengers in 1954, the project to electrify and convert it into a branch of the London Underground Northern Line never being completed. The bus that is swinging round from Ferme Park Road onto Stapleton Hall Road to pass beneath the viaduct is T 208 on route W3 to Finsbury Park station, buses being the only way to get to the populous suburbs of Stroud Green, Crouch End and Muswell Hill for the past 67 years. 37/51</p><p>31/03/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crouch_End'>Crouch End</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>View from the east end of the remains of Crouch End station, looking towards Finsbury Park, on 1st April 2021. The footbridge in the background was once used by peak hour commuters to save them a longer walk home from the main entrance (now demolished) on Crouch End Hill bridge at the opposite end of the station. It has been retained to give pedestrians on the Parkland Walk footpath, on the line's trackbed, access to the surrounding streets. Had it not been for World War Two, this part of the ex-GNR's Northern Heights lines would now be a branch of the London Underground Northern Line. Over £1 million was spent on the line before 1939 but it was never completed after 1945. Steam trains continued to run until 1954. 38/51</p><p>01/04/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crouch_End'>Crouch End</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/Edgware,_Highgate_and_London_Railway'>Edgware, Highgate and London Railway</a></small></p><p>This building, alongside an abandoned section of the Northern Heights line at Crouch End (where I live), was intended to be an electricity substation for the extension of Northern Line tube trains from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace but the scheme was never completed and the line closed in 1954. The building is now a community centre, seen here during an afternoon stroll from Stroud Green to Highgate along the trackbed, now the Parkland Walk footpath, on 1st April 2021. (The top storey is a recent addition, as is that piece on the side, see my pic (image 72977) from December 2010.) 39/51</p><p>01/04/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/P/Palace_Gates_Wood_Green'>Palace Gates Wood Green</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/P/Palace_Gates_Branch_Great_Eastern_Railway'>Palace Gates Branch (Great Eastern Railway)</a></small></p><p>View along the trackbed of the former Palace Gates branch. with a makeshift footpath cutting diagonally across (the line went off to the left), towards the site of Palace Gates Wood Green station, marked by the houses, on 8th May 2021. This closed to passengers on 7th January 1963 and to freight on 5th October 1964. When the line was in use, a pedestrian subway was available to cross the line but that has long been filled in and replaced by a level walkway in front of where the station used to be. 40/51</p><p>08/05/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/W/Walworth_Road'>Walworth Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/M/Metropolitan_Extensions:_Herne_Hill_to_the_Metropolitan_Railway_London,_Chatham_and_Dover_Railway'>Metropolitan Extensions: Herne Hill to the Metropolitan Railway (London, Chatham and Dover Railway)</a></small></p><p>The site of Walworth Road, just south of Elephant & Castle, seen from a Thameslink service to Sutton, on 15th May 2021. This station opened as Camberwell Gate on 1st May 1863 and was renamed in 1865. It was closed as a WWI economy on 3rd April 1916, intended to be only temporary, but it never reopened after 1918. 41/51</p><p>15/05/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Camberwell'>Camberwell</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/M/Metropolitan_Extensions:_Herne_Hill_to_the_Metropolitan_Railway_London,_Chatham_and_Dover_Railway'>Metropolitan Extensions: Herne Hill to the Metropolitan Railway (London, Chatham and Dover Railway)</a></small></p><p>The remains of Camberwell station, seen from a Thameslink service to Sutton, on 15th May 2021. This was opened by the LC&DR in 1862, but passenger numbers fell when new electric trams started to serve this south London neighbourhood in the early 20th Century. WWI hastened its demise and it closed on 3rd April 1916 but, somewhat surprisingly, stayed open for goods traffic until 18th April 1964. In 1935, as part of the LPTB's 'New Works' programme, an extension of the Bakerloo Line from Elephant & Castle was mooted with a proposed terminus under Camberwell Green but after 1945 this was not proceeded with. Camberwell is one of the busiest suburbs in London without a station even though trains speed through its midst with passengers unable to board or alight from them and instead are entirely dependant on buses. The recent proposed extension of the Bakerloo Line to Lewisham (delayed due to covid) opted to go via Old Kent Road leaving Camberwell still in limbo although in July 2020 a new Thameslink station here was shortlisted for reopening as part of a third round of a New Stations Fund. We wait with bated breath. 42/51</p><p>15/05/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Coborn_Road_2nd'>Coborn Road [2nd]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/L/London_to_Colchester_Eastern_Counties_Railway'>London to Colchester (Eastern Counties Railway)</a></small></p><p>The remains of the north side platform at Coborn Road, a mile or so from Liverpool Street, seen from the 10.18 service to Clacton-on-Sea, on 1st June 2021. This station was one of several closed in 1916 as a WWI economy, the others being Bishopsgate Low Level and Globe Road on the main line and Cambridge Heath and London Fields on the Enfield Town, Chingford and Cambridge lines. Bishopsgate Low Level and Globe Road never reopened but the other three all reopened in 1919. However, Coborn Road closed again in 1946 when the first stage of the LUL Central Line extension from Liverpool Street to Stratford rendered it redundant. 43/51</p><p>01/06/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/H/Hornsey_Road'>Hornsey Road</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/T/Tottenham_and_Hampstead_Junction_Railway'>Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>The site of Hornsey Road station, looking west towards Gospel Oak, seen through the upstairs side windows of a TfL New Routemaster bus on route 91 to Crouch End, on 6th August 2021. This section of line opened as the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway in 1868 with Hornsey Road being added in 1872. It closed as a WWII economy on 3rd May 1943 but never reopened and was demolished soon after the war. Until 1960, steam-hauled summer excursions from St. Pancras to Southend Central came this way, afterwards leaving only a DMU shuttle service between Kentish Town and Barking that Beeching wanted to shut in 1963. It survived and in 1981 trains were diverted at the western end from Kentish Town to Gospel Oak along a line that had closed to passengers in 1925. The line is also very busy with freight while the London Overground passenger service was belatedly electrified in 2019. 44/51</p><p>06/08/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/M/Maiden_Lane_NLL'>Maiden Lane [NLL]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/East_and_West_India_Docks_and_Birmingham_Junction_Railway'>East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>This graffiti-scarred bridge (how do the culprits get up there?) across York Way to the north of Kings Cross carries the London Overground line that opened with the extension of the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway in December 1850 from Highbury & Islington to Camden Town (renamed Camden Road 100 years later in 1950). The name was changed to the simpler North London Railway in 1853 and in 1887 the NLR opened Maiden Lane station on the embankment to the west of this bridge (left of picture) and it retained that name even after the thoroughfare was changed to York Road and has since been changed again to York Way. This station only lasted 30 years, closing as a WWI economy in 1917 and never reopened. Remains of the platforms and some of the buildings were still visible in the 1960s but have now disappeared although there are some scant remains of the entrance at street level. This view is through the front upstairs windows of a TfL 'New Routemaster' bus on route 390 to Archway about to pass under the bridge on 3rd September 2021. 45/51</p><p>03/09/2021<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/S/Silvertown'>Silvertown</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/N/North_Woolwich_Railway'>North Woolwich Railway</a></small></p><p>View from class 345 unit on an Elizabeth Line service from Paddington to Abbey Wood, now on the alignment of the former North Woolwich line, just emerged from the revived Connaught Tunnel and passing the site of Silvertown station, on the First Day of Service, Tuesday, 24th May 2022. The new line utilises the old North Woolwich line from Custom House to just west of the old North Woolwich terminus where it descends into new tunnels to pass beneath the Thames to Woolwich and Abbey Wood. Despite industry and new housing here in Silvertown, no Elizabeth Line station has been provided but nearby is London City Airport station on the DLR's Woolwich Arsenal branch. 46/51</p><p>24/05/2022<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/M/Maiden_Lane_NLL'>Maiden Lane [NLL]</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/E/East_and_West_India_Docks_and_Birmingham_Junction_Railway'>East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>View from 378 230 with a London Overground service from Stratford to Clapham Junction passing the site of the North London Railway's Maiden Lane station, on the baking hot afternoon of Saturday, 6th August 2022. The line here opened in 1851 but Maiden Lane was not opened until 1887 and retained that name even when that thoroughfare was renamed York Road and is now York Way. It only lasted 30 years, closing as a WWI economy in 1917 and never reopened. The wide space between the two sets of tracks marks the site of its demolished island platform and the two side platforms have also disappeared. This station is not to be confused with the GNR's temporary Maiden Lane terminus that opened in 1850 and served for only two years before King's Cross was ready in 1852. 47/51</p><p>06/08/2022<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/W/Westbourne_Park'>Westbourne Park</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/G/Great_Western_Railway'>Great Western Railway</a></small></p><p>View of Westbourne Park station, from the ex-12.35 Heathrow Terminal 4 to Abbey Wood Elizabeth Line train, on Sunday, 6th November 2022. The Hammersmith & City Line had opened jointly between the Metropolitan and Great Western on 13th June 1864 with Westbourne Park added on 1st February 1866. On 30th October 1871, the GWR provided a station here with the H & C station re-sited to provide an interchange. However, the GWR platforms had a 30mph speed restriction and in 1990, when the Heathrow Express was about to be inaugurated, BR decided this was unacceptable but, instead of modifying the platforms, closed and demolished them. This view looks to the surviving H & C station with, in the foreground, the site of the demolished main line platforms. On the bridge, the building shows the blocked off staircase entrance to the former down main line platform, now in the disused part of the station. 48/51</p><p>06/11/2022<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/H/Honor_Oak'>Honor Oak</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/C/Crystal_Palace_and_South_London_Junction_Railway'>Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>Why would anyone take a photo of a block of south London flats? Simply because this is where the Crystal Palace High Level branch used to run on an embankment and the nearest block, seen from a route 363 bus on Wood Vale on 14th January 2023, is on the site of Honor Oak station. The line opened on 1st August 1865 by the LCDR, 11 years after the LBSCR first served Crystal Palace. Honor Oak was added on 1st December 1865 and closed with this electrified line from Nunhead on 20th September 1954. Three quarters of a mile away to the east (left of photo) Honor Oak Park station remains open with National Rail Southern trains and London Overground trains since 2010 when it was transferred to Transport for London control. 49/51</p><p>14/01/2023<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/U/Upper_Sydenham'>Upper Sydenham</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/C/Crystal_Palace_and_South_London_Junction_Railway'>Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>South of the former Lordship Lane station, the old Crystal Palace High Level branch opened in 1865 entered a cutting in the well-wooded slopes of Sydenham Hill and then the 400 yards long Crescent Wood Tunnel, emerging briefly below Wells Park Road before entering the 439 yards long Paxton tunnel, named after the designer of the Crystal Palace (which burned down in 1936) for the final haul to the commodious High Level terminus. Between the two tunnels, Upper Sydenham station was opened on 1st August 1884 and lasted for 70 years until the line's closure on 20th September 1954. Its entrance building survives to this day, seen here on the bitterly cold afternoon of Saturday, 14th January 2023, now in residential use, and is the most significant memorial to this long abandoned London suburban line. 50/51</p><p>14/01/2023<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p> <h4><a href='/locations/C/Crystal_Palace_High_Level'>Crystal Palace High Level</a></h4><p><small><a href='/companies/C/Crystal_Palace_and_South_London_Junction_Railway'>Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway</a></small></p><p>The site of Crystal Palace High Level station, opened in 1865 and closed in 1954, looking north towards the bricked-up southern portal of Paxton tunnel, on 14th January 2023. Old photos show this to have been on a grand scale but it had fallen into a dilapidated state long before its closure. Alan A. Jackson in his excellent London's Local Railways said it was one of the creepiest places in London, especially at night with rats and mice outnumbering the passengers. Delightful. After 1954, the station continued to stand and was left to deteriorate further while local bigwigs argued over what to do about it and then, when they could think of nothing else, allowed its demolition in 1961. 51/51</p><p>14/01/2023<br><small><a href='/contributors/David_Bosher'>David Bosher</a></small></p>
>