Edgware railway station

Not to be confused with Edgware tube station.
Edgware

Edgware Highgate & London Railway, 1900
Location Edgware
Owner Great Northern Railway
Number of platforms 1
Key dates
1867 Opened
1939 Closed to passengers
1964 Closed to goods
Other information
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Edgware was a London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) station located on Station Road in Edgware, north London. It was opened in 1867 and was in use as a passenger station until 1939, then as a goods yard until 1964.

It is not to be confused with the London Underground's Edgware tube station, served by the Northern line, situated approximately 200 metres to the north-east of the site of the old Edgware railway station.

History

The station was built as the northern terminus of the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (E&HLR) and was opened on 22 August 1867 by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) (which had taken over the EH&LR) in what was then rural Middlesex. The line ran from Finsbury Park to Edgware via Highgate with branches to Alexandra Palace and High Barnet. The previous station on the line was Mill Hill (The Hale).

The line became part of the LNER in 1923 after the 1921 Railways Act created the Big Four railway companies.

In 1935, the London Passenger Transport Board planned to take over the line from LNER as part of the "Northern Heights" part of the "New Works Programme". The track would be modernised for use with electric trains and amalgamated with the London Underground's Morden-Edgware line to form what is now the Northern line. The integration of the line would have meant the closure of Edgware railway station and the diversion of its tracks into the Underground station, which would have been expanded to take the additional traffic. The line was also to be extended from Edgware to Bushey Heath in Hertfordshire with three new stations at Brockley Hill, Elstree South and Bushey Heath.

Map of Edgware from 1930 showing the Underground station (top) and LNER station (bottom).
How Edgware tube station would appear on the London Underground Map today if the Northern line extension from Edgware to Bushey Heath and Mill Hill East was completed

Works began in the late 1930s and were at an advanced stage when they were interrupted and halted by the Second World War. The section of line between Finchley Central station and Edgware was closed to passenger services on 10 September 1939. On the Edgware branch of the line, only the works on the section from Finchley Central to Mill Hill East were completed. That section reopened with Underground services in 1941 as a one-station spur.

After the war a shortage of funds and the introduction of the Metropolitan Green Belt led to the cancellation of the unfinished Northern line elements of the "New Works Programme" in 1950. The extension of the line to Bushey Heath was no longer viable as the new housing developments that it would have stimulated and served could no longer be constructed on land designated as Green Belt. Additionally, without the extended line, the completion of the work between Edgware and Mill Hill East was no longer needed. The only station on that section of the line was Mill Hill (The Hale) and passengers from Mill Hill could easily use the nearby Mill Hill Broadway station on the London Midland and Scottish Railway to travel into London.

Edgware railway station and the tracks to Mill Hill East continued to be used for goods services until 1964 when it was completely closed. Today, the track has been removed and the platforms and station buildings have been demolished. The site of Edgware railway station is now occupied by a shopping centre, alongside part of whose car park runs a small stretch of the former trackbed, leading to the still-standing bridge over the Northern line tracks into Edgware Underground station.

Coordinates: 51°36′45″N 0°16′37″W / 51.61238°N 0.27700°W / 51.61238; -0.27700

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Terminus   London and North Eastern Railway
Edgware, Highgate and London Railway		   Mill Hill (The Hale)
Line and station closed
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