Number 28S Issn 0306-8617 December 1985 Thbi
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UNDERGROUND NEWS NUMBER 28S ISSN 0306-8617 DECEMBER 1985 THBI TIMETABLE Friday 13 Diecemb^r Talk, 'The Oxford Circus Fire*, by Dr.T.M.Ridley, Chairman & Managing Director, London Underground;Ltd. 19.00 for 19.15 in the Conference EOOIB, Baden-Powell House. Monday 30 Deeeigber Library Evening, 18.00- The Society's Library open for inspection at 62 Beauval Road, Dulwich, London, SE22 8UQ. 1986 Wednesday 8 January Talk, 'The EToltition of the llndergrounD bar-and-eircle station-platforsB enamel signs and their different variations', by Br.H.Clarke, 19.00 in the Lounge (Room J) Fred Tallant Hall, 153 Drummond Street, London, NWl Electric Railway Society meeting, all LURS members welcoree. Friday 10 ,Janaarj ''The Metropo 1 itan Rsilwa:/ in its prime* - a slide presentation, by Mr.A.Cruickshank. 19.00 for 19.15 in the Conference Room, Baden-Powell House. Frlda? 2A January to Sunday 26 January Society visit to Paris, see L1N287 for full details. Friday 7 Februari Library Evening, 18.00. Details as for 30 December Friday U February Talk, 'Press arid Public Relations in the London Underground , by Mr.N.Carrie, Press & Public Relations Officer (Rail), LRT. 19.00 for 19.15 in the Conference Room, Baden-Powell House. UNDERGROUND NEWS IS PUBLISHED & PRINTED BY THE LONDON UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SOCIETY. CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR WHOSE ADDRESS APPEARS INSIDE'. MEMBERS ARE ASKED TO ENCLOSE A STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE IF A REPLY IS REQUIRED OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF CONTRIBUTORS AND NOT NECESSARILY ENDORSED BY T.L.U.R^.' © THE CONTENTS ARE COPYRIGHT. A 2pth CESTUKY,HYSTE8Y Fsirther, the lines between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace, and between Mill Hill East BfKl K o g e r F . C '.1 e a v e r Edgware both ran through densely populated areas and followed existing steam routes where The enigma of the proposed extensions to London then was the cl.^imed "lack of passengers" in Underground's Northern Line which was part of these areas '? the 1955-40 new works programme, is one of tostays great subjects for discussio:! - what would have The Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace line happened if there had not beeji a Second World continued to be woifced by steam through Stroud War '' - Would the works have been coinplstec ? Gteen, Crouch End, Kighgate, Cranley Gardens, wouJi] the extensions still be rsinnirig in •.•'!eir anci Kuswell Hill to Alexandra Palace, until its entirety 40 years on ? fcventsjal closure in July 1954 marked the end of passenger use, the line continuing in use for The pl&n was to extend the Moorgate to Finsbuiv freight trains until the early 1960'a and until Park tube beyo;ld the .latter terminus, then over 1970 when it was used solely to tow eapty tube the old LNER st^aro line to Highgate and than to trains between Draytoa Park ond Kighgate the Alexandra Palace, as well as to High Barnet and tracks being lifted in 1975-72. Many of the Edgware. abandoned extension works still remain intact In addition the Northern Line, which then term• today. inated at Archway was to be extened to Highgate Highgate station, rebuilt and never used by a Rr,d East Pinchley and on over the old steam linf^a tube train, still nestles in its deep rutting to High Barnet and Edgware. between the tunnels, a forlorn relic of the past. A further extension was planned from Edgware to The confiectirig rarops at Drayto-i Park, which Biishey Heath via Brockley Hill and Elstrae South. brought the tube to the surface, were finally The works, quite heavy in places,were interrupted used by British Rail's Gfi electrics in 1976 but by the outbreak of World War 2 in September 1939. the rusting girder work for the enlarged Finsbtiry -iiowe-ver the extension from Archway was complete Park station was removed in 1972. enough for trains to run to East Finchlsy in July 1939, and on to High Barnet in April 1940. At Edgware the cutting behind the shops opposite Edgware Station, has been filled and the great The branch from Finchley CentrBl out to Edgware ombankmeRt has long been sold off, and now has was electrified as far as Mill Hilt East by May many houses and a road built along it. The huge 19'4i to serve the nearby barracks. Regarding the viaduct which spanned the A.41, and incorporated rest of the planned works, namely Mill Bill East Brockley Hill station, was desiolished with and Edgwere, and the Drayton Park to Fiiisbury dynamite in 1964 and the tunnels iinder Elstree Park to Alexandra Palace sections cor.structi on Hill were gradeo-over at the portals when the was well advanced, with the connection of the M.l motorway was built in th?- late 1950's. tube to the surface at Dravtor: Park, the pertiai rebuildirsg of Finsbary Park to provide two aore The only remairiing building being the Aldenhara platforBis for the tube trains, the building of depot > now used for buses, never having seen a two sub-stations for the electrification at train, and a faint scar on the field adjacent Kuswell Hill and Crouch Hill, and the coaplete to, and visible frojn Brockley Hill. rebuilditjg of Highgate station. It has been estimated that approximately Condiictor rails and cable runs were installed £2,000,000 (2 million) was wasted on the exten• almost the entire way from Mill Kill East to sions (at 1939 values) and this fact, and the Edgware, and the largest in t of building, of the often conflicting and inane reasons givesi for whole scheme was the construction of the huge the abandonment of these works, bring them into train maititenance depot at Alcieahan!, reached by the category of a minor unexplained mystery of a deep cutting and high embankaient from Edgware t h e t e n t i e t h c e fi t u r y , over a vast brick viaduct across the A.41 trunk road, a-id through twi,T~bore tunnel under Elstrac THE FIRST SIX MONTHS Hill - all newly built tor the purpose. The first six months of London Underground Ltd have been highly auccessful, staff of the London Work ceae to a halt ir. 1941, and ioiidon Trarifr-port Regiona1 Transport subsidiary have been to1d. announced after the war, that it would be finish• ing the works and that the lines would be running The half year since the company was set up in by 1948-49. However, despite the advanced state April has seen a continuing growth in business, of the works and their announced intentions, the with passenger mileage in the year 1985/6 extensions were abandoned for the reasons that expected to be 50 per cent ap on 1982, "This is there was insufficient traffic to justify their at least partly' due to the high level of services completion in the early 1950's. wt- are now running - about 93 per cent of the achedule", says a staff circular. The introduction of the "Green Beit", preventing further development cf housing north of the A,-41 Two major projects which will both improve road, may have been good enough reason not to services and cut costs have won Government continue beyond Edgware. ( This iiic idantal 1 y is approval. They ere the £135 million new ticket• at odds with a statement reported ia tl;e ssjaimary ing syster, and a power switch to the national of a lecture given in 1984, in the Underground grid." News. In which the speaker said "that as AJden- harii was the only suitable place to build a depot, Major station improvement schemes have begun or it was decided that as trains were going so iar are about to begin at E-aston, Chancery Lane, o'jt to be stabled, they might as well carry King's Cross, Oxford Circus (where restoration work is about to start on the northbound Victoria passengers the way I a strange reason t:o b;jjla daEaged 3 stations in the then undeveloped areas, and Line platform, in last November's fire), strange also that the hoped-for housing did fiot and St Paul's. develop in the area arsd subsequent lack of pass• Services have been stepped up on the Bakerloo engers, that the line was not completed fos its and Jubilee lines (following earlier improvements original purpose, the stabling and maintenance on the Victoria and Cenirai) and will be Increased of trains at the Aldenham depot ? ) early next year on the Piccadilly, District and 142 Metropolitan, at the same time as the new station 1938 Tubs Stock was introduced to the Bak-^rloo at Keathrcw's Terminal A opens. Line from January 1939, gradually reolacing. One-person operation, which Improves services hj over the next decade, the Pre-1938 Tube Stock, reducing the risk of trains having to he cancel - which ves.t to other tube lines. The Pre-1938 led because of staff shortage, has been extended Tube Stock, however, coKtinued to visit Croxley to the Ep.Eit London Line and the District Line, Gtaen depot occasionally right into the 1960's MIHG -OS! Stores train duties (on occasions, in the FI8E-BfM,AGED STATION' RESTORED ,1at-r-i940's,.'early-1950's, the 1906 'Aidwych' Work has now started on the restoration of the carB soraetlines worked this duty). northbound Victoria Line platform at Oxford Vrosa 14 June 1965, Bakerloo trains north of Circus Underground .-statioa - badly damaged by Queens Park wera withdrawn, apart from some peak fire last November. The platform has tseen Jp, uan, workings to Harrow, and six trains (southbound with temporary fittings, since December 1984, iBornirig, northbound evening) worked to Watford, t!hi3e plans for the work have been prepared.