Northwood is a station on the Watford branch of the

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the lin ...

, in

Travelcard Zone 6 Fare zone 6 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, National Rail services (since 2007), and the El ...

. The station is located just off the main road through the town, Green Lane. The line serves as the sole continuous link between the town of Northwood and London, key for a region known as

Metro-Land Metro-land (or Metroland) is a name given to the suburban areas that were built to the north-west of London in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex in the early part of the 20th century that were served by the Metropol ...

. The station is located on a four-track section of the Metropolitan line. The two platforms are on the slow lines. There are no platforms on the fast lines, as fast services do not stop at this station.

History

The station was opened on 1 September 1887 on the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

's extension from the previous terminus at

Pinner Pinner is a London suburb in the London borough of Harrow, Greater London, England, northwest of Charing Cross, close to the border with Hillingdon, historically in the county of Middlesex. The population was 31,130 in 2011. Originally a med ...

, en route to

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and th ...

. Northwood was rebuilt in the 1960s so that platforms would be on the Watford slow lines rather than the Amersham fast lines. In the original

Crossrail Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway l ...

plans, Crossrail would have connected to

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

via the fast lines from Harrow to Rickmansworth and Northwood would have been an interchange with two extra platforms (meaning that the fast platforms at Moor Park would have been demolished) built on the fast lines. However, plans for this were dropped during the late 1990s. Northwood used to be a terminus for many Metropolitan trains, similar to the status of Harrow-on-the-Hill and

Neasden Neasden is a suburban area in northwest London, England. It is located around the centre of the London Borough of Brent and is within the NW2 ( Cricklewood) and NW10 ( Willesden) postal districts. Neasden is near Wembley Stadium, the Welsh H ...

, due to the placement of two sidings. Nowadays when there are engineering works or delays near Northwood, trains would turn around there. The goods depot has been demolished and the station car park has replaced it. The sidings were also a role to load A60/A62 Stock and C69/C77 Stock trains onto lorries, where they went to scrap.

Services

In the northbound direction the station is served by trains to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

(4tph),

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter be ...

(2tph) and

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

(2tph) trains (at peak times, 'fast' trains do not stop at stations between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Moor Park). In the southbound direction off-peak services generally run 4tph to

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

and 4tph to

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

routes

282 Year 282 ( CCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Probus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 1035 ''Ab urbe c ...

, 331, H11 and non-TFL LSP route 508 serve the station.

References

Gallery

Image:Northwood northbound platform 1.jpg, Northbound platform looking north Image:Northwood northbound platform 2.jpg, Northbound platform looking south Image:Northwood tube roundel.jpg, Station platform roundel

External links

{{Metropolitan line navbox Metropolitan line stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Hillingdon London Underground stations located above ground Former Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1887