Muswell Hill railway station was in

Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Fi ...

in North London, just north of the junction of Muswell Hill and Muswell Hill Place. Nothing remains of the station and Muswell Hill Primary School now occupies its former site. In the 1930s, plans were made to electrify the line and transfer the mainline service to London Underground's

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, t ...

, but these were abandoned after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The station closed for passengers in 1954 and goods in 1956.

History

Extract of 1900 Map showing Edgware Highgate and London Railway

The

Muswell Hill Railway The Edgware, Highgate and London Railway was a railway in North London. The railway was a precursor of parts of London Underground's Northern line and was, in the 1930s the core of an ambitious expansion plan for that line which was thwarted by ...

(MHR) opened the station on 24 May 1873 as ''Alexandra Park (Muswell Hill)''. It was the intermediate station on the MHR's branch line from the Great Northern Railway's (GNR's) station at

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

. The line was constructed to bring passengers to

and the branch line opened at the same time as the Palace. Following a fire at the Palace, the line was closed from 1 August 1873 to 1 May 1875 with the station being given its final name when reopened. The other intermediate station on the line, , did not open until 1902. In 1911, the line was taken over by the GNR. After the 1921 Railways Act created the ''Big Four'' railway companies, the line became part of the

London & North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It op ...

(LNER) from 1923. In 1935, London Transport planned, as part of its ''

Northern Heights plan The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

'', to take over the line from LNER together with the LNER's routes from

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...

and

High Barnet Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a suburban market town in north London, forming part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of Charing Cr ...

. The line was to be modernised to use electric trains and amalgamated with the Northern line. At Finsbury Park, the line was to be connected to the Northern line's Northern City branch so that services from Muswell Hill would have continued to

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, bu ...

. Advanced works modernising the track began in the late 1930s being interrupted by the Second World War. Works were completed from Highgate to High Barnet and Mill Hill East with that section incorporated into the Northern line. Works on the tracks between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace were halted, with the LNER continuing to operate the line. In 1942, LNER were reduced to rush hour only operations because of wartime economies. After the war, no work was undertaken as maintenance works and reconstruction of war damage on the existing network had the greatest call on LPTB funds. Funds for new works were severely limited with priority given to the completion of the western and eastern extensions of the Central line to

West Ruislip West Ruislip is a station on Ickenham High Road on the borders of Ickenham and western Ruislip in the London Borough of Hillingdon in Greater London, formerly in Middlesex. It is served by London Underground (LU) and National Rail trains on ...

, Epping and Hainault. Despite being shown as under construction on underground maps as late as 1950, work never restarted on the unimplemented parts of the Northern Heights plan.

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British ...

(the successor to the LNER) closed the line temporarily from 29 October 1951 until 7 January 1952, before the last passenger services between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace ran on 3 July 1954. The line continued to be used for goods services until 14 June 1956 when it was closed completely. The track was removed with platforms and station buildings demolished. Most of the trackbed between Muswell Hill and Finsbury Park is now the Parkland Walk.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links