Mill Hill East station looking south/east. Clearly
visible on the right is the space left by the removal of the
extra track created for the expansion program. This station now
provides a curious appendix for the Northern Line north of Finchley
Central, yet the original plans for this branch (to Edgware and
Bushey Heath) would have seen it being the main branch, with
High Barnet being the lesser one.
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Looking in the Mill Hill direction. The block of flats
visible past the end of the tracks are on the route of the line.
The bridge to the left of the flats looks level with them but
is in fact behind them (the line swings left). The overhead cable
bridge seen here no longer exits.
Trains reach this station from Finchley Central via
the architecturally magnificent Dollis Brook viaduct. One can't
help but wonder what would happen if the viaduct needed expensive
repairs - would London Underground propose closing the Mill Hill
East branch for not being financially viable (as they did with
the Aldwych branch)?
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A few hundred yards west of Mill Hill East station
is this bridge carrying Sanders Lane over the top.
This is the bridge visible in the above photograph.
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It is surprising just how long some abandoned railway
lines hang on for in London. They are after all a source of prime
land - albeit with no rail access!
This is the bridge carrying the extended section of
Devonshire Road (it was formally the western section of Sanders
Lane - before its truncation, it crossed the line twice).
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The route of the line as it passes beneath the A41.
This particular section was used as the M1 slip road to the A41
until the Staples Corner M1 extension was opened (and reopened
temporarily when Staples Corner was closed for rebuilding after
an IRA bomb explosion).
(Nov 2005)
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The road in the foreground is the new alignment for
Bunns Lane, on the eastern side of where the M1 motorway is now.
The former route of Bunns Lane was carried over the railway by
the bridge pictured. The bridge has now been demolished and the
area is occupied by an industrial works.
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The site of Mill Hill (The Hale) station was located
between the bridge carrying the mainline from St.Pancras and
the bridge carrying the western end of Bunns Lane (now on the
west side of the M1 motorway). The site was largely covered over
with spoil taken from a slip road constructed for the M1. The
small piece of remaining visible platform was located under the
Bunns Lane bridge shown here.
The arches to this bridge have now been completely
bricked up.
Photo by Andrew Panatti. ©2006
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The view from the Bunns Road bridge arch looking toward
the Edgware direction.
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Approaching Edgware station.
If memory serves correctly, this is before the point
where the two routes diverge, i.e. the newer branch off to the
LT Edgware station, and the straight line route through to the
original GNR Edgware station
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The original GNR station at Edgware was used as a
goods station until the line's metals were removed in 1964. Its
site is now occupied by a Sainsburys and the shopping centre
car park.
There is however, this very small section of the track
route remaining at the end of the car park.
(Feb 2005)
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This is as far as the lines extended south from Edgware
(LT) in the Mill Hill direction: just enough to stable a couple
of trains on.
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The redundant platforms at Edgware (LT). These were
originally intended for terminating trains from the Hampstead
branch - the platforms currently used by that branch were intended
for through trains from the Highgate branch (see diagram at top of page).
Most of this space has been built on now.
(Photos taken between 1977 and 1981, except where
stated.)
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