Inside the northbound tunnel north of Highgate station.
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Looking south toward the northern tunnels. The 'new'
brickwork on the right hand one (northbound) was a rebuilding
of the tunnel after a direct hit by a bomb during the Blitz in
WWII.
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Same view as above but positioned slightly more to
the north and with a 1970s enthusiasts special, stationary on
the southbound track.
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The view just north of the northern end of the north
tunnels. This is the location where the line forked; the left
hand pair of tracks lead up to East Finchley station to join
up with the Northern Line, the right hand pair of tracks would
have curved around the edge of Highgate Wood towards Alexandra
Palace (following the cabling on the right hand side of the photo).
In between the two are Wellington sidings. Further on, to the
right of the tracks to East Finchley, is Highgate Depot.
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Highgate Depot before its temporary closure. The two
lines to the left are the ones that lead to East Finchley station.
For a website detailing the history and description
of the whole area, click here.
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The reconstructed East Finchley station, now served by Northern
Line trains. The outer platforms were designed to be used by
trains from/to Camden Town, the inner platforms for trains from/to
Finsbury Park - the inner platforms shown here have only been
used for trains heading to/from Highgate depot however.
(Oct 2005)
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Wellington sidings, in between Highgate Depot and the abandoned
route of the line to Alexandra Palace.
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Wellington sidings.
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The line following the edge of Highgate Wood turns
nearly a semi-circle between Highgate and Cranley Gardens stations.
This is the pedestrian bridge over Holt Close leading into Highgate
Wood and also to a footpath that snakes along the side of the
Cranley Gardens station site.
(Mar 2003)
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This is the (reconstructed) bridge over Muswell Hill
Road. Cranley Gardens station location was on the far side of
the bridge, the space now utilised for a housing estate.
(Mar 2003)
For further info: www.disused-stations.org.uk
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One of the many access points to the railway built
since its reincarnation as the Parkland Walk. This is the path
up from St James' Lane to the western side of the viaduct between
Cranley Gardens and Muswell Hill.
(Mar 2003)
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South face of the viaduct between Cranley Gardens
and Muswell Hill stations.
The view from the viaduct over North East London is spectacular
and must have made for one of the more interesting London train
journeys.
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Light industrial utilisation of the viaduct arches.
(Mar 2003)
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Or more imaginatively, residential usage.
(Jan 2006)
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The track bed on the viaduct, looking westward back
in the direction of Cranley Gardens station, with the panoramic
view of North-East London that must have made travelling along
this viaduct a delight.
(Jan 2006)
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Still in evidence: some of the cable ducts for the
never-finished electrification of the line (this ducting would
have taken the cables beneath the track bed; there is a similar
structure on the opposite side).
(Jan 2006)
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The road that is Muswell Hill was rebuilt, leaving
only this pedestrian/cycle way underneath it.
This is facing eastward towards Alexandra Palace. The other side
of it was the site of Muswell Hill station, now home to a school.
(Jan 2006)
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The site of Muswell Hill station, as seen from Muswell
Hill itself.
(Jan 2006)
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Further east and looking back at the Muswell Hill
station area by The Grove. The track bed is inordinately wide
at this point. For a long while some of the concrete cable posts
remained in situ, with the school playground built around them.
(Apr 2005)
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The last bridge before the line reached Alexandra
Palace. Strangely, the bridge still exists (for no good reason)
but the road doesn't; it has been pedestrianised.
(Apr 2005)
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The platform site of Alexandra Palace station, levelled
after its use as a car auction site. The station building is
on the left but lost within the overgrowth.
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The same site cleaned up, revealing the station building (on
the left).
(Feb 2007)
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The day after the 1980 fire that decimated Alexandra
Palace. The former platform area seen here is still flooded from
the Fire Brigade's efforts to extinguish the fire.
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The sun setting on the Alexandra Palace station site.
This view is westward, back toward Muswell Hill.
(Photo: Mar 2003)
"The white building in
the photograph was built for British Rail as part of their Research
Department. It has a set of stairs at each end, with offices
and laboratories between, and apparently was intended to be repeated
along the site/trackbed; stairs, labs, stairs, labs, stairs,
until the site ran out. The story
went that it was only after building it that B.R. noticed the
railway didn't go there anymore, and so rolling stock experiments
would be impractical.
Some components of the building are identical to what became
the British Rail Research HQ in London Road, Derby, and is now
the RTC Business Park, having been renamed the Railway Technical
Centre sometime in the run up to privatisation. Work was carried out in the London area and
throughout Southern Region, testing oil, fuel, building materials,
drinking water, checking fumes on ferry car decks, monitoring
asbestos in the stripping sheds at Ashford, and as the forensic
lab for the BT Police."
(Stephen Blyth - Nov 2005)
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View the other way.
Not intending to give them undeserved publicity, the large car
auction company now based on the A10 near Enfield, held their
auctions on this site prior to moving.
(Mar 2003)
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The Alexandra Palace station building. For years it
was left in a run-down state but was cleaned up...
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...and a use as a community centre was found for it.
It is dwarfed by the Palace itself in this view.
(Aug 2000)
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Different perspective.
(Aug 2000)
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Side view.
(Mar 2003)
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