The story
Establishment
The company was established by a local act of Parliament, the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. xlvi), passed on 3 June 1862. The route, measuring 8.75 miles (14.08 km), ran through parts of rural Middlesex (now suburban north London) from Finsbury Park through Stroud Green, Crouch End, Highgate, Finchley and Mill Hill to Edgware. Additional acts of Parliament, the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. xxix) and the Edgware, Highgate, and London Railway (Extension to Barnet) Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. ccvi) granted powers to construct branch lines from Highgate to Muswell Hill and from Finchley to High Barnet respectively.
The railway was sponsored by the larger Great Northern Railway (GNR); its main line from London King's Cross ran through Finsbury Park on its way to Potters Bar and the North East. Before the line to Edgware was opened, it was purchased in July 1867 by the GNR and was opened as a single track line on 22 August 1867.
At first, services ran from Edgware to Finsbury Park, King's Cross and, via Snow Hill tunnel, to Ludgate Hill, Blackfriars and Loughborough Road on the south of the Thames. After 1869, trains terminated at Moorgate. Services could also run from Finsbury Park via the North London Railway to Broad Street after the Canonbury-Finsbury Park link opened in 1875. 21 trains a day ran to Finchley, usually in 24 minutes from Kings Cross, and 14 continued to Edgware. In 1870, the track between Finsbury Park and Finchley & Hendon (now Finchley Central) was doubled in preparation for the opening of the High Barnet branch and Muswell Hill branch.
Due to the rapid rise and fall of the terrain in the area traversed by the railway, the line made extensive use of cuttings, embankments and viaducts. Particularly notable were the cutting in Highgate Hill in which Highgate station was constructed with tunnels on either side, and the viaducts over the Dollis Brook and at Muswell Hill.
Development, overcrowding and competition: 1900–1918
By the 1900s, the whole line was under pressure from overcrowding. The populations of areas along the line, particularly at Hornsey, Highgate, Muswell Hill and Finchley, had increased considerably with the rapid Victorian expansion of London, but the GNR service had not been expanded to cope. The line was also congested with goods traffic, mostly coal and building materials. By 1903, the morning trains from Barnet were full by the time they arrived at East Finchley. As the doors of the compartments in the carriages were locked in those days with aid of a simple square key, some passengers took to purchasing these keys from local ironmongers and locking the doors from the inside. It was not unknown for harsh words and even, on odd occasions, for blows to be exchanged.
New stations were opened at Cranley Gardens (1902, between Highgate and Muswell Hill) and Mill Hill (1906, between Mill Hill East and Edgware).
In 1905, tram services were established in both Hendon and Finchley; these were extended shortly after to Barnet. This combined with motor transport alleviated some of the problem. This relief was also competition and the GNR introduced new engines, specially designed to manage the steep inclines on the routes which slowed up the services.
Further competition came from the opening of the new underground Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) to Archway (then named Highgate) and Golders Green in June 1907. This move stimulated large scale house building to the south of the Edgware branch, spreading out from Golders Green.
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The GNR took over the Muswell Hill and Palace Railway in September 1911 by the Great Northern Railway Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. lxxix) and merged it with the rest of the line. Further developments were halted by the First World War.
Amalgamation: 1918–1939
In 1923, as a consequence of the railway grouping instigated by the Railways Act 1921, the GNR became part of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). In January 1924, the newly enlarged company announced that the line would be electrified, although little was done.
Meanwhile, the CCE&HR, now part of the London Electric Railway (Underground Group), was using plans dating back to 1901 for the Edgware and Hampstead Railway to construct an extension of its line from Golders Green through Hendon to a new station at Edgware, where it would be in direct competition with the LNER line. The Underground Group had also bought up the rights of the W&ER and published proposals to further extend the line to Bushey and Watford, although nothing was done immediately.
Following the nationalisation of the Underground Group in 1933, the London Passenger Transport Board announced the New Works Programme (1935–1940), which included the following proposals for the Finsbury Park to Edgware, High Barnet and Muswell Hill lines:
Upgrade the line to allow electric tube trains on all the lines and double the line from Finchley to Edgware
To run the LNER Edgware line into Edgware Underground station where the trains from East Finchley could terminate
To connect the Underground from Archway to East Finchley via a new tunnel under the LNER's Highgate station
To activate the dormant proposals to extend the line from Edgware to Bushey Heath, with intermediate stations at Brockley Hill and Elstree South.
Much of the work was carried out was well advanced, before the Second World War put a stop to progress; East Finchley and Highgate stations had been completely rebuilt and the electrification works were completed. Passenger services on the Finchley Central to Edgware line were ended in September 1939.
From Wikipedia’s article on Edgware, Highgate and London Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3