Edgware tube station

This article is about Edgware tube station in North London. For the two stations in Central London both called Edgware Road, see Edgware Road tube station (Bakerloo line) and Edgware Road tube station (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines).

"Edgware station" redirects here. For the closed main line station, see Edgware railway station.

Edgware
Edgware Station
Edgware Location of Edgware in Greater London
Location	Edgware
Local authority	London Borough of Barnet
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	3
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	5
London Underground annual entry and exit
2018	4.91 million
2019	4.92 million
2020	2.82 million
2021	2.28 million
2022	3.93 million
Key dates
18 August 1924	Opened (CCE&HR)
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
Coordinates	51.614°N 0.275°W / 51.614; -0.275
London transport portal

Edgware is a London Underground station in Edgware, in the London Borough of Barnet, in North London. The station is the northern terminus of the Edgware branch of the Northern line and the next station towards south is Burnt Oak. It is in Travelcard Zone 5.

Location

The station is in Station Road, Edgware (part of the A5100). This road runs north-east from the High Street (A5), and the station is about 500 metres from the A5 on the right (south-east) side. The building is set back from the road, and there is a circular service road between the building and the road to allow cars to pull in and pick up or set down.

Just to the right of the station, viewed from Station Road, is a road to the bus station and bus garage.

The Broadwalk Centre can be easily accessed from the station, there is a footpath that leads directly to the Broadwalk carpark and commuter carpark.

History

The station was opened on 18 August 1924 as the terminus of the second phase of the Underground Group's extension of the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway from Golders Green. It was designed by architect Stanley Heaps. There are three platforms, an island lying east of a single platform (platform 1). A trainshed covers the island platforms (2 and 3).

Despite having already had a railway station since 1867 (Edgware station on the London and North Eastern Railway), Edgware was, in 1924, still very much a village in character. The new Underground station was built on the north edge of the village in open fields and, as intended, the new line stimulated rapid suburban expansion along its length. By the end of the decade, what had formerly been fields was quickly being covered with new housing.

The site of the station is very close to the location intended for the unbuilt Watford and Edgware Railway's (W&ER's) station, which was intended to be built on a branch from the existing single-track LNER branch before the terminus and run through to Watford Junction via Bushey.

New Works Programme

Planned Bushey Heath extension

Map of Edgware from 1930 showing the Underground station (top) and LNER station (bottom) with its branch line heading east.

In 1935 London Underground announced its New Works Programme. This had major implications for Edgware Underground station and the Morden-Edgware Line (as the Northern line was then known):

• A group of LNER lines in north London (the Northern Heights lines) including the branch from Finchley to Edgware would be taken over by London Underground and amalgamated with the Morden-Edgware Line.
• The existing Underground line would be extended north-west from Edgware by 5 kilometres to a new terminus at Bushey Heath and a depot at Aldenham. The extension to Bushey Heath involved three new stations (from south-east to north-west):
  • Brockley Hill
  • Elstree South
  • Bushey Heath

Much of the land for the railway's alignment had originally been bought by the W&ER in the 19th century, but it had not been able to raise the capital to fund the construction and its power's had expired in 1911. The Underground Group had bought the W&ER in 1922. The Underground's scheme modified the W&ER's plan to connect to the LNER branch by starting the extension from the Morden-Edgware Line station instead. The scheme involved the closure of the LNER station 200 metres south of the Underground station and retained the W&ER's connection to the LNER's single track line from where it passed over the Underground's tracks just to the east of the station and into new platforms to be built in the Underground station.

The new link at Edgware and others between LNER and Underground tracks near East Finchley station and at Finsbury Park would have made it theoretically possible to travel south from Edgware to central London via three routes:

• the existing Underground line to Golders Green, Camden Town and beyond
• the former LNER line to Finchley Central and Highgate, then the other branch of the Morden-Edgware Line to Camden Town and beyond
• the former LNER line to Finchley Central, Highgate and Finsbury Park then the Northern City Line to Moorgate

Postponement and cancellation

How Edgware might have appeared on the London Underground Map today if the extensions to Bushey Heath and Mill Hill East had been constructed

Works to upgrade the existing LNER lines and construction on the new line to Bushey Heath began in the late 1930s but were halted by the outbreak of the Second World War. Additional platforms were started at Edgware and the LNER station and branch line was closed to passenger traffic in 1939 in preparation for the improvements. On the new extension, some earthworks and tunnelling had been undertaken and some structures had been constructed but no further work was done during the war.

The Metropolitan Green Belt was introduced to limit the outward expansion of London into the surrounding countryside. The area through which the new Bushey Heath extension was routed was designated as green belt meaning that the planned residential developments were prevented and the need for the stations serving them was removed.

Edgware LNER station was never reopened for passengers although freight traffic used the line until the 1960s. The improvements on the branch to Finchley were completed only between Mill Hill East and Finchley Central and only that short section was incorporated into the Northern line (as it had been renamed in the late 1930s). The completion of the plans were formally cancelled in 1950.

Accident

On 27 July 1946, an accident occurred at Edgware when the driver (James Lofting) of a northbound train suffered a heart attack while entering the station. The train did not stop within the area of the platform, and struck the buffers at approximately 5 mph. No passengers were seriously injured, but Lofting died as a result of his heart failure before he could be removed from the wreckage. It appeared from the condition of the controls that Lofting had disabled the deadman's handle while the train was still moving. The circumstances of this accident were similar to those of the Moorgate tube crash of 1975.

Modernisation

During 2008–09, Tube Lines carried out work to modernise the station, including the fitting of lifts to enable step-free platform access, improved CCTV coverage and more help points.

Connections

London Buses routes 32, 79, 107, 113, 142, 186, 204, 221, 240, 251, 288, 292, 303, 340, 384 and night routes N5, N16 and N113 and non-London bus routes 614 and 644 serve the station and bus station.

Services

Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Terminus		Northern line Edgware branch		Burnt Oak towards Battersea Power Station, Morden or Kennington
Abandoned Northern Heights Extension
Brockley Hill towards Bushey Heath		Northern line		Mill Hill (The Hale) towards Morden or Kennington

See also

• Edgware, Highgate and London Railway for a history of the Northern Heights lines.

Gallery

• 
  Main entrance to Edgware Station
• 
  Inside the train shed
• 
  Platforms 2 and 3 heading southbound
• 
  Edgware roundel

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Edgware station in September 1924, shortly after opening
  • The island platform at Edgware station in 1924
  • Aerial view of Edgware station in 1926, looking south-east. Surrounded by fields. The single track line to Edgware LNER station is visible in the distance.
  • Edgware station ticket hall in 1927
• Lost Lines Images of plans for Edgware station