Cravens Heritage Trains

Filming At Aldwych

In July 2002 the Cravens unit visited Aldwych during the making of a drama for Carlton Television More...

The East London Explorer

Our successful railtour in May 2003 reached Upminster and Shoreditch. More...

Photographs

Uxbridge Centenary
Central Line Track Replacement
Aldwych 2003
Wood Lane 2003
Isle of Wight 2003
More

The Holden F5 Trust

Re-building a lost steam locomotive... More...

The Pumphouse

Low Hall Steam and Transport Museum in Walthamstow commemorates the industrial heritage of the Lea Valley More...

The High Barnet Shuttles - Monday 26th August 2002

Once again we would like to thank all those members of LUL staff whose hard work made this event possible. East Finchley & High Barnet

East Finchley & High Barnet - A Brief History

In 1867 the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway was opened from the GNR mainline at Finsbury Park to Edgware. Branches to High Barnet and Alexandra Palace followed in the 1870s. The 1935 New Works Programme proposed incorporating the lines in a major extension of the Northern Line. The Northern line was to be extended to meet the GNR branches at East Finchley. The branches would also be connected to the Northern City Line at Finsbury Park.

Substantial work was carried out before the outbreak of World War Two, electric trains reached High Barnet in 1940 and Mill Hill in 1941. After the war completion of the work was delayed. Although expensive infrastructure such as cable runs and conductor rail were already in place the extension of electric services to Alexandra Palace was cancelled in 1953. The branch closed to steam services in 1954. Parts of the route from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace are now a footpath.

East Finchley was to have been the junction for the two rountes from London. Therefore whilst the station at High Barnet was largely unchanged East Finchley was rebuilt with two island platforms for easy cross-platform interchange between the two routes. The centre tracks have only lead to and from Highgate depot. The shuttle trains on the 26th August were a rare opportunity for passengers to use these tracks.

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