Edgware tube station

Edgware

Edgware Location of Edgware in Greater London
Location	Edgware
Local authority	London Borough of Barnet
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	3
Accessible	[1]
Fare zone	5
London Underground annual entry and exit
2008	3.720 million[2]
2009	4.335 million[3]
2010	4.390 million[4]
1924	Opened (CCE&HR)
1 June 1964	Goods yard closed[5]
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
London Transport portalCoordinates: 51°36′50″N 0°16′30″W / 51.614°N 0.275°W / 51.614; -0.275

Edgware tube station is a London Underground station in Edgware, in the London Borough of Barnet, in North London. The station is the terminus of the Edgware branch of the Northern Line and the next station towards central London is Burnt Oak. Edgware is in Travelcard Zone 5.

Location

The station is in Station Road, Edgware (part of the A5100). This road runs north-east from the High Street (A5), and the station is about 500 metres from the A5 on the right (south-east) side. The building is set back from the road, and there is a circular service road between the building and the road to allow cars to pull in and pick up or set down.

Just to the right of the station, viewed from Station Road, is a road to the bus station and bus garage.

History

The station was opened on 18 August 1924 as the terminus of the second phase of the Underground Group's extension of the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway from Golders Green. It was designed by architect Stanley Heaps. There are three platforms, an island lying east of a single platform (platform 1). A trainshed covers the island platforms (2 and 3).

Despite having already had a railway station since 1867 (Edgware station on the London and North Eastern Railway), Edgware was, in 1924, still very much a village in character. The new Underground station was built on the north edge of the village in open fields and, as intended, the new line stimulated rapid suburban expansion along its length. By the end of the decade, what had formerly been fields was quickly being covered with new housing.

The site of the station is very close to the location intended for the unbuilt Watford and Edgware Railway's (W&ER's) station, which was intended to be built on a branch from the existing single-track LNER branch before the terminus and run through to Watford Junction via Bushey.

New Works Programme

Planned Bushey Heath extension

Map of Edgware from 1930 showing the Underground station (top) and LNER station (bottom) with its branch line heading east.

In 1935 London Underground announced its New Works Programme. This had major implications for Edgware Underground station and the Morden-Edgware Line (as the Northern Line was then known):

• A group of LNER lines in north London (the Northern Heights lines) including the branch from Finchley to Edgware would be taken over by London Underground and amalgamated with the Morden-Edgware Line.
• The existing Underground line would be extended north-west from Edgware by 5 kilometres to a new terminus at Bushey Heath and a depot at Aldenham. The extension to Bushey Heath involved three new stations (from south-east to north-west):
  • Brockley Hill
  • Elstree South
  • Bushey Heath

The powers to build a railway on this alignment had originally been obtained by the W&ER in the 19th century. The London Electric Railway had bought the W&ER in 1922 but had not previously used the right-of-way. The Underground's scheme modified the W&ER's plan to connect to the LNER branch by starting the extension from the Morden-Edgware Line station instead. The scheme involved the closure of the LNER station 200 metres south of the Underground station and retained the W&ER's connection to the LNER's single track line from where it passed over the Underground's tracks just to the east of the station and into new platforms to be built in the Underground station.

The new link at Edgware and others between LNER and Underground tracks near East Finchley station and at Finsbury Park would have made it theoretically possible to travel south from Edgware to central London via three routes:

• the existing Underground line to Golders Green, Camden Town and beyond
• the former LNER line to Finchley Central and Highgate, then the other branch of the Morden-Edgware Line to Camden Town and beyond
• the former LNER line to Finchley Central, Highgate and Finsbury Park then the Northern City Line to Moorgate and beyond

Postponement and cancellation

How Edgware might have appeared on the London Underground Map today if the extensions to Bushey Heath and Mill Hill East had been constructed

Works to upgrade the existing LNER lines and construction on the new line to Bushey Heath began in the late 1930s but were halted by the outbreak of the Second World War. Additional platforms were started at Edgware and the LNER station and branch line was closed to passenger traffic in 1939 in preparation for the improvements. On the new extension, some earthworks and tunnelling had been undertaken and some structures had been constructed but no further work was done during the war.

The Metropolitan Green Belt was introduced to limit the outward expension of London into the surrounding countryside. The area through which the new Bushey Heath extension was routed was designated as green belt meaning that the planned residential developments were prevented and the need for the stations serving them was removed.

Edgware LNER station was never reopened for passengers although freight traffic used the line until the 1960s. The improvements on the branch to Finchley were completed only between Mill Hill East and Finchley Central and only that short section was incorporated into the Northern Line (as it had been renamed in the late 1930s). The completion of the plans were formally cancelled in 1950.

Accident

On 27 July 1946, an accident occurred at Edgware when the driver (James Lofting) of a northbound train suffered a heart attack while entering the station. The train did not stop within the area of the platform, and struck the buffers at approximately 5 mph. No passengers were seriously injured, but Lofting died as a result of his heart failure before he could be removed from the wreckage. It appeared from the condition of the controls that Lofting had disabled the deadman's handle while the train was still moving.^[6] The circumstances of this accident were similar to those of the Moorgate tube crash of 1975.

Modernisation

Tube Lines has carried out work to modernise the station, including the fitting of lifts to enable step-free access to and from the station platforms, and installing wider CCTV coverage and more help points. The work started in the summer of 2008, and was not expected to be completed until May 2009; the lifts themselves went into service in April 2009.^[7]

Station Information

Buses

These are the bus routes that serve nearby:

See also

• Edgware, Highgate and London Railway for a history of the Northern Heights lines.

References

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Site of Edgware station in 1922 before construction of station. Sign advertises the site of the future station.
  • Edgware station in September 1924, shortly after opening
  • Trackside view of Edgware station in 1925
  • Aerial view of Edgware station in 1926, looking south-east. Surrounded by fields. The single track line to Edgware LNER station is visible in the distance.
  • Edgware station ticket hall in 1927
• Lost Lines Images of plans for Edgware station

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edgware tube station.

• 

  Platform 1 looking south, with trainshed to the left undergoing refurbishment, July 2008

• 

  Island platform 2 looking south, July 2008

• 

  Island platform 3 looking north, July 2008

• 

  Roundel on platform 1

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Terminus		Northern line		Burnt Oak towards Morden or Kennington
		Service arrangement if Northern Heights Extension was built
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Brockley Hill towards Bushey Heath		Northern line		Mill Hill (The Hale) via Mill Hill East towards Morden or Kennington
				Burnt Oak via Golders Green towards Morden or Kennington

v t e Northern line Stations High Barnet branch High Barnet Totteridge and Whetstone Woodside Park West Finchley Mill Hill East Finchley Central East Finchley Highgate Archway Tufnell Park Kentish Town Camden Town Edgware branch Edgware Burnt Oak Colindale Hendon Central Brent Cross Golders Green Hampstead Belsize Park Chalk Farm Camden Town Charing Cross branch Camden Town Mornington Crescent Euston Warren Street Goodge Street Tottenham Court Road Leicester Square Charing Cross Embankment Waterloo Kennington Bank branch Camden Town Euston King's Cross St. Pancras Angel Old Street Moorgate Bank London Bridge Borough Elephant & Castle (100m) Morden line Kennington Oval Stockwell Clapham North Clapham Common Clapham South Balham Tooting Bec Tooting Broadway Colliers Wood South Wimbledon Morden Future Extension to Battersea Click to enlarge Rolling stock Present stock 1995 Stock History Former companies City and South London Railway Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway Edgware, Highgate and London Railway Underground Electric Railways Company of London Former lines Northern City Line Former stations City Road King William Street South Kentish Town Former rolling stock 1906 Stock 1938 Stock 1949 Stock 1956 Stock 1959 Stock 1962 Stock 1972 Stock Standard Stock Abandoned plans Northern Heights plan Alexandra Palace Brockley Hill Bushey Heath Cranley Gardens Crouch End Elstree South Mill Hill Muswell Hill North End Stroud Green See also: London Underground, Transport for London Note: Stations in bold are stations where one can transfer between branches of the Northern line. London Transport portal