On 21 Sep, 08:59, MIG wrote:
This seems rather silly - having the line only go to Drayton Park makes it
almost completely useless! How long did that situation last? Crumbs -
according to CULG, from 1964 to 1976! It would only have been useful as a
local service from Essex Road, Highbury & Islington and Drayton Park into
the City, and for people coming on the Victoria line from Finsbury Park or
Blackhorse Road (the other stations have direct connections to Liverpool
Street anyway). Luxury! What was the frequency like? With that kind of
demand, i would guess low enough that people would be better off taking
either a bus or the Northern from King's Cross instead.

Did the link from the NLL to the GN not exist before the Moorgate line was
plumbed in? What did the railways round that area look like in, say, 1965?

Well, the thing is that there were empty stock movements between
Drayton Park and Highgate via Finsbury Park, Crouch End etc till 1970
or so, so I'd think the link was there (this off the top of my head).

AIUI, there was always a single-track, single-lead link for ECS/depot
usage, but the remodelling to create the current set of flyovers only
happened as part of the King's Cross suburban electrification
programme, with the civils work taking place from c1974 onwards.

I guess it was lucky (in so much as these things can ever be lucky)
that the line wasn't much use at the time of the Moorgate disaster,
since that meant the train was carrying its seated capacity of 300ish
people rather than its design capacity of 800ish...

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org