London Banter - View Single Post - East Finchley

Richard M Willis · June 8th 04, 08:28 PM posted to uk.transport.london

(Mmlabbd) wrote in message . com...

So today I travelled on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line
for the first time and was wondering...Why is East Finchley station so
LARGE when Finchley Central is relatively small?

The (Barnet Branch) Northern Line wasn't always the way it is
now: it has been contorted over the past 70(?) years and
has had several mods/extensions to it proposed over time.

1. The Line to Mill Hill East was originally the "main" line,
with the line the HB being the Branch. The MHE line originally
went to Edgware (so there were two stations in Edgware, possibly
more).

2. The Station south of East Finchley wasn't the current
Highgate station but a different Highgate station atop the
existing one. It served a line to Alexandra Palace and Finsbury
Park.

There were proposals to bring all these under the banner of
The Northern Line, and to extend the line from Archway to the
current Highgate station (which wasn't yet there) and then on
to East Finchley

There was also a proposal to take the Northern Line from Edgware
on to Bushey Heath (partially built and the arches near Spur Road
were only removed 15 years ago)

As such, East Finchley was going to become a large junction, from
which you could get to:
a) Central London via Highgate Low Level and Archway
b) Alexandra Palace via Highgate High Level
c) Finsbury Park via Highgate Low Level
d) Bushey Heath, Edgware, Mill HE
e) High Barnet

Most of this happened but never all at the same time, I think.
I presume they'd already built/enlarged the station by then.

Richard [in PO7]