On Tue, 24 Mar 2015 21:46:55 +0000
Basil Jet wrote:
Am I the only one who think the Seven Sisters - Alexandra Palace branch
is like an April Fool joke? I might be able to see some sense in it if

Given how up and coming Muswell Hill is these days and the amount of bus
traffic that crawls around there, I'd suggest re-opening the Highgate to
Alexandra Palace branch wouldn't be a bad idea. The trackbed is still mostly
extant and there could be a shuttle service to highgate high level where pax
could walk down to the main northern line at the low level.

--
Spud

It is one of the several anomalies in London's public transport infrastructure
that Muswell Hill, like Roehampton, has no rail service of any kind. That
abandoned route has now been partly built over (near Muswell Hill Road)
so it is unlikely to be fully reopened.

A more likely candidate for reopening is the route between Highgate and
Finsbury Park which still exists as a popular walkway (aka public footpath)
as far as the ECML. The flyover bridge of course is long gone.

If that route were re-adopted and a bridge re-installed, your long-championed
route via Finsbury Park through Canonbury Tunnel would become feasible.
Obviously the idea would suffer from not-invented-here syndrome as the
so-called experts would immediately poo-poo the proposal.

In the very very long term, London Underground should examine the feasiblity
of a new Underground line starting at Arnos Groves, proceeding via
New Southgate, Muswell Hill, Highgate, Upper Holloway and Camden Road to
Euston and through the centre of London.

On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 09:16:11 +0000 (UTC),
d wrote:

On Tue, 24 Mar 2015 21:46:55 +0000
Basil Jet wrote:
Am I the only one who think the Seven Sisters - Alexandra Palace branch
is like an April Fool joke? I might be able to see some sense in it if

Given how up and coming Muswell Hill is these days and the amount of bus
traffic that crawls around there, I'd suggest re-opening the Highgate to
Alexandra Palace branch wouldn't be a bad idea. The trackbed is still mostly
extant and there could be a shuttle service to highgate high level where pax
could walk down to the main northern line at the low level.

Corrected version.

The closure of the Northern City route to Muswell Hill never made
sense. Nor did cutting back the Northern Line to Mill Hill East. Had
the extension been built to Mill Hill Broadway, today North Londoners
would have had a short cut to Thameslink.

On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:07:24 +0000, e27002 aurora
wrote:

On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 09:16:11 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

On Tue, 24 Mar 2015 21:46:55 +0000
Basil Jet wrote:
Am I the only one who think the Seven Sisters - Alexandra Palace branch
is like an April Fool joke? I might be able to see some sense in it if

Given how up and coming Muswell Hill is these days and the amount of bus
traffic that crawls around there, I'd suggest re-opening the Highgate to
Alexandra Palace branch wouldn't be a bad idea. The trackbed is still mostly
extant and there could be a shuttle service to highgate high level where pax
could walk down to the main northern line at the low level.

Corrected version.

The closure of the Northern City route to Muswell Hill never made
sense.

AFAIR it was somewhat under-used at the time and was closed even
before the dreaded Doctor came on the scene.

Nor did cutting back the Northern Line to Mill Hill East.

It did to the motorway builders. Big Mistake 2 didn't help a lot
either but Green-belting took away much of what had been intended
future traffic.

Had the extension been built to Mill Hill Broadway, today North Londoners
would have had a short cut to Thameslink.

cough 221, 240 /cough

On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 20:22:54 +0000
Charles Ellson wrote:
On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:07:24 +0000, e27002 aurora
wrote:
The closure of the Northern City route to Muswell Hill never made
sense.

AFAIR it was somewhat under-used at the time and was closed even
before the dreaded Doctor came on the scene.

The usual short term thinking we excel in in the UK. Of course if they'd
bothered to electrify it instead of running some wheezing steam service people
even then might have been more inclined to use it. If it was open today I can
guarantee it would be packed.

It did to the motorway builders. Big Mistake 2 didn't help a lot
either but Green-belting took away much of what had been intended
future traffic.

Had the extension been built to Mill Hill Broadway, today North Londoners
would have had a short cut to Thameslink.

cough 221, 240 /cough

Pffft. You ever travelled by bus in london in the rush hour? Might as well
walk.

--
Spud

On Thu, 26 Mar 2015 09:28:23 +0000 (UTC),
d wrote:

On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 20:22:54 +0000
Charles Ellson wrote:
On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:07:24 +0000, e27002 aurora
wrote:
The closure of the Northern City route to Muswell Hill never made
sense.

AFAIR it was somewhat under-used at the time and was closed even
before the dreaded Doctor came on the scene.

The usual short term thinking we excel in in the UK. Of course if they'd
bothered to electrify it instead of running some wheezing steam service people
even then might have been more inclined to use it. If it was open today I can
guarantee it would be packed.

It did to the motorway builders. Big Mistake 2 didn't help a lot
either but Green-belting took away much of what had been intended
future traffic.

Had the extension been built to Mill Hill Broadway, today North Londoners
would have had a short cut to Thameslink.

cough 221, 240 /cough

Pffft. You ever travelled by bus in london in the rush hour? Might as well
walk.

If it was the rush hour, I'd probably use a train instead to get to a
Thameslink station.

On Thu, 26 Mar 2015 20:04:06 +0000
Charles Ellson wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2015 09:28:23 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:
Pffft. You ever travelled by bus in london in the rush hour? Might as well
walk.

If it was the rush hour, I'd probably use a train instead to get to a
Thameslink station.

And if they hadn't ripped up the track west of Mill Hill East you could
have done.

Actually apart from a couple of small houses which could easily be compulsory
purchased the trackbed is clear all the way to Copthall and a bit beyond.
If LU ever has any spare cash lying around they could do worse than re-extend
back there since its a large housing area plus a sports stadium.

--
Spud

On 2015\03\27 09:27, d wrote:

And if they hadn't ripped up the track west of Mill Hill East you could
have done.

Actually apart from a couple of small houses which could easily be compulsory
purchased the trackbed is clear all the way to Copthall and a bit beyond.
If LU ever has any spare cash lying around they could do worse than re-extend
back there since its a large housing area plus a sports stadium.

The current service is as frequent as you could get on a single track,
so any extension would require some double tracking.

On 27/03/2015 09:27, d wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2015 20:04:06 +0000
Charles Ellson wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2015 09:28:23 +0000 (UTC),
d wrote:
Pffft. You ever travelled by bus in london in the rush hour? Might as well
walk.

If it was the rush hour, I'd probably use a train instead to get to a
Thameslink station.

And if they hadn't ripped up the track west of Mill Hill East you could
have done.

Actually apart from a couple of small houses which could easily be compulsory
purchased the trackbed is clear all the way to Copthall and a bit beyond.
If LU ever has any spare cash lying around they could do worse than re-extend
back there since its a large housing area plus a sports stadium.


Isn't that the section cut by the construction of the M1 or am I
thinking of the wrong branch?


--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

I didn't know there were bats and warning notices! There weren't any
forty/forty-five years ago when I walked from Stapleton Hall Road
through the tunnels to Highgate High Level station which I think is now
a car park. (Cue rant about the good old days!)