Northern Line
The
Northern Line is a deep-level tube line of the
London Underground, coloured black on the
Tube map. With two routes through the central area and two to the north, it is one of the more complicated lines on the system. Despite its name, it is the Underground line that extends furthest south.
Formation of the Northern Line
 |
City & South London Railway train, 1890 |
The
City & South London Railway (C&SLR), London's first deep-level tube railway, was built under the supervision of
James Henry Greathead who had been responsible, with
Peter W. Barlow, for the
Tower Subway. It opened in November
1890 from
Stockwell to a now-disused station at
King William Street; the latter was inconveniently placed and unable to cope with the traffic, so in
1900 a new route to
Moorgate via
Bank was opened. By
1907 the C&SLR had been extended to run from
Clapham Common to
Euston.
 |
Formation of the Northern Line |
The
Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) (known as the "Hampstead Tube") was opened in
1907 and ran from
Charing Cross (known for many years as
Strand) to
Golders Green and Highgate (now known as
Archway). It was extended south by one stop to
Embankment in
1914.
In
1913 the two lines came into common ownership, and during the
1920s connections were built at
Camden Town and
Kennington. The tunnels of the CSLR were also expanded to match the standard size and the lines were extended from
Golders Green to
Edgware in the north (
1923 and
1924) and from
Clapham Common to
Morden in the south (
1926). The resulting line became known as the
Mordenâ€"Edgware Line, although a number of alternative names were also mooted in the fashion of the contraction of Baker Street & Waterloo Railway to "
Bakerloo", such as "Edgmorden" and "Medgware". It was eventually named the Northern Line in
1937.
Morden extension
The
Morden extension added seven new stations, all designed by
Charles Holden in a modern style that became known as the "Morden Style". With the exception of Morden and
Clapham South, where more land was available, the new stations were built on confined corner sites at main road junctions in already developed areas. Holden made good use of this limited space and designed impressive buildings. The street-level structures are of white Portland stone with tall double-height ticket halls, with the famous
London Underground roundel made up in coloured glass panels in large glazed screens. The stone columns framing the glass screens are summounted by a capital formed as a three-dimensional version of the roundel. The large expanse of glass ensures that the ticket halls are bright and, lit from within at night, welcoming. The first and last new stations on the extension, Morden and Clapham South, include a parade of shops and were designed with structures capable of being built above (like many of the earlier central London stations). Clapham South was extended upwards soon after its construction with a block of apartments; Morden was extended upwards in the
1960s with a block of offices. All the stations on the extension (except Morden) are Grade II
listed buildings.
After
nationalisation in
1933 the Great Northern & City Railway, which ran from
Moorgate to
Finsbury Park, became part of the Underground as the
Northern City Line; it was operated as part of the Northern Line, though it was never connected to it.
New works programme 1935â€"40: the Northern Heights plan
In June
1935 an ambitious plan of new extensions was announced by LT, including the integration of a complex of existing
London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) lines north of Highgate through the "Northern Heights". These lines, built in the
1860s and
1870s by the
Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (and its successors), ran from
Finsbury Park to
Edgware via Highgate, with branches to
Alexandra Palace and
High Barnet. The line taken over would be extended beyond Edgware to
Brockley Hill,
Elstree South and
Bushey Heath with a new depot at Aldenham. This would involve electrification of the surface lines (served by steam trains at the time) and the construction of three new linking sections of track: a connection between the Northern City Line and Finsbury Park station on the surface, an extension of the Highgate branch tube to the LNER line near East Finchley via new deep-level platforms below Highgate station, and a short diversion from just short of the LNER's station at Edgware to the Underground's station of the same name.
 |
Northern Heights plans |
Work began in the late
1930s, but was disrupted by the start of the War. Sufficient progress had been made on the Highgate link and the High Barnet branch that they were allowed to continue and opened in
1939 (Archway to East Finchley),
1940 (East Finchley to High Barnet) and
1941 (Highgate station). A single track of the LNER line to Edgware was electrified as far as
Mill Hill East in
1941 in order to serve the barracks there, thus forming the Northern Line as it is today. The new depot at Aldenham had already been built and was used to build
Halifax bombers. Work on the other elements of the plan was suspended.
After the War, the area beyond Edgware was made part of the
Green Belt, and the potential demand for services from Bushey Heath thus vanished. Available funds were directed towards completing the eastern extension of the
Central Line instead, and the Northern Heights plan was dropped on 9 February 1954. Aldenham depot was converted into an overhaul facility for buses. The line from Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill and Alexandra Palace via the surface platforms at Highgate was closed to passenger traffic in
1954. A local pressure group, the Muswell Hill Metro Group, campaigns to reopen this route as a light rail service. So far there is no sign of movement on this issue; the route, now the "Parkland Walk", is highly valued by walkers and cyclists and suggestions in the
1990s that it could, in part, become a road were met with fierce opposition.
The suburban railway heritage of the High Barnet branch beyond Highgate can be seen in the design of the stations.
|
Geographically accurate path of the Northern Line |
High Barnet branch
*
High Barnet*
Totteridge and Whetstone*
Woodside Park *
West Finchley *
Mill Hill East (on a branch)
*
Finchley Central*
East Finchley*
Highgate*
Archway*
Tufnell Park*
Kentish TownEdgware branch
*
Edgware*
Burnt Oak*
Colindale*
Hendon Central*
Brent Cross*
Golders Green*
Hampstead*
Belsize Park*
Chalk FarmCamden Town
*
Camden Town |
Inside a Northern Line car |
The junctions connecting the two northern branches of the Northern Line to the two central branches are just south of Camden Town station. The station has a pair of platforms on each of the two northern branches, and southbound trains can depart toward either Charing Cross or Bank from either of the two southbound platforms.
Charing Cross branch
(Also known as the West End branch.)*
Mornington Crescent*
Euston*
Warren Street*
Goodge Street*
Tottenham Court Road *
Leicester Square*
Charing Cross*
Embankment*
WaterlooSouthbound trains on this branch often terminate at Kennington, where they return by means of a loop.
 |
A typical Northern Line platform, at Bank |
Bank branch
(Also known as the City Branch.)*
Euston*
King's Cross St Pancras*
Angel*
Old Street*
Moorgate*
Bank*
London Bridge *
Borough*
Elephant and CastleMorden branch
*
Kennington*
Oval*
Stockwell*
Clapham North*
Clapham Common*
Clapham South*
Balham*
Tooting Bec*
Tooting Broadway*
Colliers Wood*
South Wimbledon*
MordenAll Northern Line trains consist of
London Underground 1995 Stock and are in the distinctive
Underground livery of red, white and blue. In common with the other deep-level lines, the trains are the smaller of the two sizes used on Underground.
In
1975, the Northern City Line, known by that time as the Highbury branch, became part of
British Rail; it is now served by
First Capital Connect.
In the
1980s and 1990s the line was nicknamed the "Misery Line", though its reputation improved somewhat after the introduction of new rolling stock in the late 1990s.
In
2003, a train derailed at
Camden Town. This damaged points and signals and the junctions there were not used while repairs were underway â€" trains coming from Edgware worked the Bank branch only, and trains from High Barnet and Mill Hill East the Charing Cross branch only. This situation was resolved when the junctions reopened, after much repair work and safety analysis and testing, on
7 March 2004.
A joint report by the Underground and its maintenance contractor
Tube Lines concluded that poor track geometry was the main cause, and that, because of the geometry, extra friction arising out of striations (scratches) on a newly installed set of points had allowed the leading wheel of the last carriage to climb the rail and so derail. The track geometry at the derailment site is a very tight bend and tight tunnel bore, which precludes the normal solution for this sort of geometry of canting the track by raising the height of one rail relative to the other.
On
13 October 2005, the entire Northern Line service was suspended due to maintenance problems with the emergency braking system on the trains. [
1] A series of rail replacement buses was used to connect outlying stations with other Underground lines. [
2]. A reduced service was reintroduced on
17 October 2005, and full service was restored on
18 October.
In early 2006 the Mayor's office commented that one of the next long-term areas of focus was the expansion of the tube into poorly-served areas of south London, the most likely options being:
* Extending the Bakerloo Line to
Camberwell and beyond, reviving an old proposal.
* Extending the Victoria Line from
Brixton, as it, like the Bakerloo, has unused capacity at its southern end.
* Extending the Northern Line from
Kennington; this could result in the Northern Line splitting into two separate lines, though this would also have as a prequisite the much-maligned redevelopment of
Camden Town to improve interchange capacity.
*
Leslie Green, architect of the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway's early stations
*
London deep-level shelters, most of which are under Northern Line stations
*
Northern Line, London Underground website
*
Clive's Underground Line Guides*
Muswell Hill Metro Group*
Northern Line Route for the
freeware train simulator BVE
