Oakwood tube station

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Oakwood
London Underground
Oakwood

Location of Oakwood in Greater London
Location Oakwood
Local authority Enfield
Managed by London Underground
Number of platforms 2
Accessible [1]
Fare zone 5
London Underground annual entry and exit
2008 Increase 2.840 million[2]
2009 Increase 2.915 million[3]
2010 Decrease 2.900 million[4]
Original company London Electric Railway
13 March 1933 Station opened as Enfield West
31 July 1933 Line extended to Cockfosters
3 May 1934 Renamed Enfield West (Oakwood)
1 September 1946 Renamed Oakwood
Listing grade II* (since 20 July 2011)
Entry number 1078930[5]
Added to list 19 February 1971
Lists of stations
Portal icon London Transport portalCoordinates: 51°38′51″N 0°07′54″W / 51.6475°N 0.1317°W / 51.6475; -0.1317

Oakwood is a London Underground station on the Piccadilly Line. It is the second most northerly station on the line, between Southgate and Cockfosters stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 5. The station is on the edge of the Oakwood area of Enfield (N14) and is situated at the junction of Bramley Road (A110) and Chase Road (the other end of Chase Road is close to Southgate tube station). This station has step-free access after the upgrades made to the station between October and December 2007.

History

The station opened on 13 March 1933 as part of the Cockfosters extension, its original name being Enfield West.[6] The station did not appear on the original plans to extend the Piccadilly line beyond Finsbury Park, which only provided for seven additional stations, however it served as the line's terminus for a brief period before Cockfosters station was opened.

The station building is a fine example of the architecture Charles Holden built for the Piccadilly Line extensions, with a large and imposing box-shaped ticket hall surrounded by lower structures containing shops. The ceiling of the booking hall is particularly monumental and bold. The whole design mirrors proportions found in classical architecture, albeit in a distinctly 20th century structure. The dimensions of the ticket hall are approximately a "double-cube" (its front elevation is roughly twice its height and width). The station is similar to Holden's slightly earlier designs for Sudbury Town and Acton Town stations at the western end of Piccadilly Line. Oakwood Station is a Grade II* listed building.[7]

Like other extensions of the London Underground lines, the opening of the Cockfosters extension stimulated the rapid development of new suburbs and much of the open countryside that existed in 1930 when construction started was quickly covered by new housing developments.

2006–07 upgrade

In early October 2006 to December 2007, the station underwent an upgrade as part of London Underground's £10billion upgrade to the whole of the London Underground Network. As part of this, a new lift was installed to provide step-free access to the platforms. The Public Address system was also improved, with new information indicators installed on the platforms and inside the ticket hall. In addition 27 new CCTV cameras were installed in the station bringing the total number to 29.

Station name

Before the station opened Underground Electric Railways Company of London (forerunner of London Underground) suggested names for it including Oakwood, Merryhills and East Barnet, but it was named Enfield West at opening and renamed Enfield West (Oakwood) the following year.[8]

The station was located in the area of Southgate Council and, following protests from the council, it was eventually renamed Oakwood on 1 September 1946.[8][9]

Operations

Currently a few trains in the early morning and late evening enter/leave service at Oakwood, from Cockfosters Depot (which has an entrance point north of Oakwood station). There is additionally a crossover for trains to reverse, and the possibility of an extra platform built using an existing siding has been mooted to provide extra peak-hour reversing capacity.

Transport connections

Public buses run from outside the station - 307 to Barnet General Hospital westwards and to Brimsdown station eastwards, 121 to Enfield Lock eastwards and to Turnpike Lane station southwards, and 377 which starts from Oakwood station and heads to Ponders End bus garage. A local mini cab firm, Oakwood Cars, operates from the station ticket hall, and when the station is shut operates from a black cab permanently situated in the station's car park.

Gallery

  • The station's interior

  • The station's westbound platform looking north

  • The station's eastbound platform looking south

  • An eastbound Piccadily line train entering Oakwood station

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived from the original on 2014-01-26. 
  2. ↑ "Customer metrics: entries and exits: 2008". London Underground performance update. Transport for London. Retrieved 26 December 2012. 
  3. ↑ "Customer metrics: entries and exits: 2009". London Underground performance update. Transport for London. Retrieved 26 December 2012. 
  4. ↑ "Customer metrics: entries and exits: 2010". London Underground performance update. Transport for London. Retrieved 26 December 2012. 
  5. ↑ "The National Heritage List for England". English Heritage. Retrieved 12 November 2012. 
  6. ↑ Rose, Douglas (1999). The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History. Douglas Rose/Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-219-4. 
  7. ↑ "16 London Underground Stations Listed At Grade II". English Heritage. Retrieved 28 July 2011. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Harris, Cyril M. (2006) [1977]. What's in a name?. Capital Transport. p. 53. ISBN 1-85414-241-0. 
  9. ↑ Wolmar, Christian (2004). "Reaching Out". The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever. Atlantic Books. p. 229. ISBN 1-84354-023-1. 

External links

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