Cranley Gardens railway station

Cranley Gardens railway station was a station in the Muswell Hill area of north London. It was located between Highgate and Muswell Hill stations at the junction of Muswell Hill Road and Cranley Gardens. Nothing remains of the station today and its site is now occupied by housing and a school. In the 1930s plans were made to electrify the line and transfer the mainline service to London Underground's Northern line, but these were abandoned after the Second World War. The station closed for passengers in 1954 and goods in 1957.

Cranley Gardens
Cranley Gardens station on a 1920 map
Cranley Gardens Location of Cranley Gardens in Greater London
Location	Highgate
Local authority	Haringey
Grid reference	TQ283891
Number of platforms	2
Railway companies
Original company	Great Northern Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1873	Line opened (MHR)
1902	Station opened (MHR)
1930	Closed (LNER)
1932	Reopened (LNER)
1951	Closed (BR)
1952	Reopened (BR)
1954	Closed (passengers) (BR)
1957	Closed (goods) (BR)
Other information
WGS84	51°35′11″N 0°8′53″W
London transport portal

History

Great Northern Railway's Northern Heights branches, 1900

The branch line from the Great Northern Railway's (GNR's) station at Highgate to Alexandra Palace was built by the Muswell Hill Railway (MHR) and opened on 24 May 1873.[1] Cranley Gardens station opened on 2 August 1902.[2] In 1911, the line was taken over by the GNR. After the 1921 Railways Act created the Big Four railway companies, the line was, from 1923, part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER). The LNER closed the station on 1 December 1930, and reopened it in July 1932.[2]

In 1935, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) planned, as part of its "Northern Heights plan" to take over the line from LNER together with the LNER's routes from Finsbury Park to Edgware and High Barnet. The line was to be modernised to use electric trains and amalgamated with the Northern line. At Finsbury Park the line was to be connected to the Northern line's Northern City branch so that services from Cranley Gardens would have continued to Moorgate.[3]

Works to modernise the track began in the late 1930s and were well advanced when they were halted by the Second World War. Works were completed from Highgate to High Barnet and Mill Hill East and that section was incorporated into the Northern line. Works on the tracks between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace were halted and the LNER continued to be operate the line.[4] In 1942, LNER services through Cranley Gardens were reduced to rush hour only operations.[4]

After the war, no work was carried out as maintenance works and reconstruction of war damage on the existing network had the greatest call on LPTB funds. Funds for new works were severely limited and priority was given to the completion of the western and eastern extensions of the Central line to West Ruislip, Epping and Hainault.[5] Despite being shown as under construction on underground maps as late as 1950,[n 1] work never restarted on the unimplemented parts of the Northern Heights plan.[10] British Railways (the successor to the LNER) closed the line temporarily from 29 October 1951 until 7 January 1952,[2] before the last passenger services ran between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace on 3 July 1954.[11]

The line continued to be used for goods services until 18 May 1957 when it was closed completely. The track was subsequently removed and the buildings were demolished. The station buildings and platforms remained until demolished in the late 1960s and a school now occupies the site. The trackbed between Muswell Hill and Finsbury Park is now the Parkland Walk.[12]

See also

• Edgware, Highgate and London Railway

Notes and references

Notes

1. Shown as "under construction", the Northern Heights extensions appeared for the first time on Underground poster maps in 1937 and pocket maps in 1938.[6][7] After the opening of the tube platforms at Highgate and the extensions to High Barnet and Mill Hill East, the uncompleted remainder of the works were removed from the map between 1943 and 1945.[7] The Mill Hill East to Edgware and Edgware to Bushey Heath sections appeared on the map again from 1946 to 1949 and the Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace section appeared from 1946 to 1950.[8][9]

References

1. Horne & Bayman 1990, p. 41.
2. Butt 1995, p. 70.
3. Horne 2009, p. 41.
4. Day & Reed 2010, p. 140.
5. Bownes, Green & Mullins 2012, p. 173.
6. Beard 2002, pp. 56–57.
7. "London Transport Underground Maps 1938–1945". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
8. "London Transport Underground Maps 1946–1947". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
9. "London Transport Underground Maps 1948–1956". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
10. Day & Reed 2010, p. 152.
11. Horne & Bayman 1990, p. 61.
12. "Parkland Walk". London Borough of Islington. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

Bibliography

• Beard, Tony (2002). By Tube Beyond Edgware. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-246-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bownes, David; Green, Oliver; Mullins, Sam (2012). Underground: How the Tube Shaped London. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-1-846-14462-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground (11th ed.). Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-341-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Horne, Mike; Bayman, Bob (1990). The First Tube: The Story of the Northern Line. Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-128-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Horne, Mike (2009) [1990]. The Northern Line: An Illustrated History (3rd ed.). Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-326-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• London's Transport Photographic Archive Cranley Gardens station in 1935
• Disused stations - Cranley Gardens

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Muswell Hill Line and station closed		British Railways (Eastern Region) Alexandra Palace Line		Highgate Line closed, station open
	Abandoned Northern Heights Extension
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Muswell Hill towards Alexandra Palace		Northern line		Highgate towards Moorgate