East Finchley tube station

East Finchley
East Finchley Location of East Finchley in Greater London
Location	Finchley
Local authority	London Borough of Barnet
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	4
Fare zone	3
London Underground annual entry and exit
2012	6.30 million[1]
2013	6.56 million[1]
2014	7.32 million[1]
2015	7.34 million[1]
Railway companies
Original company	Edgware, Highgate and London Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1867	Opened (GNR)
1939	Started (Northern line)
1941	Ended (LNER)
1962	Goods yard closed
Listed status
Listing grade	II
Entry number	1359150[2]
Added to list	22 July 1987
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
WGS84	51°35′14″N 0°09′54″W / 51.5872°N 0.165°WCoordinates: 51°35′14″N 0°09′54″W / 51.5872°N 0.165°W
London Transport portal

East Finchley is a London Underground station in East Finchley in the London Borough of Barnet, north London. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between Highgate and Finchley Central stations and is in Travelcard Zone 3.

The station was opened in 1867 as part of the Great Northern Railway's line between Finsbury Park and Edgware stations. As part of London Underground's only partially completed Northern Heights plan, the station was completely rebuilt with additional tracks in the late 1930s. Northern line trains started serving the station in 1939 and main line passenger services ended in 1941.

History

Original station

East Finchley station in 1873 (then named East End)

East Finchley station was built by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (EH&LR) on its line from Finsbury Park station to Edgware station. Before the line was opened it was purchased in July 1867 by the larger Great Northern Railway (GNR),^[3] whose main line from King's Cross ran through Finsbury Park on its way to Potters Bar and the north. The station, originally named East End, Finchley, opened along with the railway to Edgware on 22 August 1867.^[4][5] The station was given its current name on 1 February 1887^[6][7] or 1886.^{[8][n 1]}

After the 1921 Railways Act created the Big Four railway companies, the GNR became part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923.^[9]

Northern Heights project

In 1935, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) announced a proposal, which became known as the Northern Heights project, to take over the LNER lines from Finsbury Park to Edgware, High Barnet and Alexandra Palace, and link them to both the Northern line at East Finchley and to the Northern City line at Finsbury Park.^{[n 2]} The construction of the first phase of this project involved extending tube train services from the Northern line's existing terminus at Archway station, through a new section of paired tunnels under the LNER's Highgate station to emerge south-east of East Finchley station, where track connections to the LNER line were made.^[11]

The streamlined design of the platform waiting rooms

For the introduction of London Underground services, the original station was completely demolished and rebuilt. The station was provided with two additional platforms, giving four in total. The platforms comprise two parallel islands with tracks on both sides. This was necessary as the intention of the Northern Heights project was that trains would be able to run south from East Finchley to Highgate via both the surface and the underground routes.^{[12][n 3]} The inner pair of tracks served the surface route, whilst the outer pair serve the tunnel route.^[14]

Northern line trains first served the station on 3 July 1939.^[15] After completion of the electrification of the line to High Barnet, Underground services were extended northwards on 14 April 1940.^[15] The station continued to be served by LNER steam trains from Highgate until 2 March 1941 when that service was discontinued.^{[16][n 4]} The inner platforms are now used only by northbound trains entering service or southbound trains terminating at East Finchley on their way to or from Highgate Wood depot south of the station.^{[n 5]}

Post-war

After the war, plans to complete the Northern Heights project were reviewed but no work was carried out. Maintenance works and reconstruction of war damage on the existing network had the greatest call on London Underground 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.^[18] Despite being shown as under construction on underground maps as late as 1950,^{[n 6]} work never restarted on the unimplemented parts of the Northern Heights project.^{[23][n 7]}

British Rail (the successor to the LNER) freight trains continued to serve the station's goods yard until 1962, when it was closed.^{[26][n 8]}

Description of the building

View of platforms with glazed stairwells and offices spanning the tracks

The new station was constructed in an Art Deco/Streamline Moderne design by Charles Holden with L H Bucknell.^[2] Like Holden's other designs for London Underground in the 1930s, East Finchley station was inspired by European architecture (particularly Dutch) that Holden had seen on trips to the continent during that decade.^[28] The track here runs roughly north-west to south-east. The imposing station building, built on rising ground adjacent to the railway bridge over High Road (A1000), has three entrances. The two main entrances to the ticket hall are on the north side of the tracks facing High Road and the third, minor entrance, is on the south side.^{[n 9]} The entrances are linked by a passage under the tracks which provides access up to the platforms.^[29]

Aumonier's The Archer statue

A strong feature of the station is the semi-circular glazed stairways leading to the enclosed bridge over the tracks occupied by staff offices. Prominent from the platforms and dominating the main entrance façade is The Archer, a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) statue by Eric Aumonier of a kneeling archer captured as if having just released an arrow.^{[30][n 10]} The archer is intended to commemorate Finchley's ancient association with hunting in the nearby Royal Forest of Enfield.^[32] The station is a Grade II listed building.^[2]

Services and connections

Services

The station is in Travelcard Zone 3, between Finchley Central and Highgate stations.^[33] Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally operate every 3–7 minutes between 05:40 and 01:01 northbound and 05:34 and 00:12 southbound (as of 2015).^[34][35]

Connections

London Buses routes 102, 143, 234, 263, 603 and H3 and night route N20 serve the station.^[36]

Notes and references

Notes

1. The original station name reflected the name of the local area. Residents requested the change to avoid confusion with the poor districts of the East End of London.^[8]
2. At Edgware, the LNER's station was to be closed with the end of the line diverted into the Northern line's own Edgware station with an extension from there taking the line to Bushey Heath.^[10]
3. In 1938, services through East Finchley station were planned to run between Bushey Heath and Kennington (via tunnel to Highgate), High Barnet and Kennington (via tunnel to Highgate), East Finchley and Morden (via tunnel to Highgate) and High Barnet and Moorgate (via surface to Highgate).^[13]
4. Smoke deflectors are cast into the concrete of the bridge structure over the inner pair of tracks to prevent smoke from the steam engines entering the windows of the offices above.^[17] The outer pair of tracks, which were only used by electric tube stock do not have deflectors above them.
5. The outer pair of tracks enter tunnels a short distance to the south-east of the station. The inner pair of tracks run to Highgate Wood depot, but originally ran all the way to Highgate. Crossovers immediately north of the station connect between the two pairs of tracks.
6. Shown as "under construction", the Northern Heights extensions appeared for the first time on Underground poster maps in 1937 and pocket maps in 1938.^[19][20] 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.^[20] 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.^[21][22]
7. The section of the extension between Brockley Hill and Bushey Heath was cancelled in October 1950,^[24] leaving the section between Edgware and Brockley Hill and the conversion of the line from Mill Hill East to Edgware to be decided. The announcement of its cancellation was finally made in February 1954.^[25]
8. Freight services continued on the High Barnet branch until 1962 and the Edgware branch until 1964.^[27]
9. The main glazed screen to the ticket hall on the north side features the Underground roundel. The LNER logo was originally contained in the lenticular pane above.
10. The Archer, a local community newspaper, is named after Aumonier's statue and uses it as its masthead image.^[31]

References

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
2. Historic England. "East Finchley Station Including Platforms (1359150)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
3. Beard 2002, p. 6.
4. Butt 1995, p. 96.
5. "Clive's Underground Line Guides - Northern Line". Retrieved 11 February 2015.
6. Forgotten Stations of Greater London by J.E.Connor and B.Halford
7. Chronology of London Railways by H.V.Borley
8. "Pocket Histories: Finchley, Friern Barnet and Totteridge - High Road (Finchley N2)". London Borough of Barnet. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
9. Wolmar 2005, p. 227.
10. Beard 2002, p. 59.
11. Day & Reed 2010, p. 116.
12. Beard 2002, p. 58.
13. Beard 2002, pp. 58–59.
14. Brown 2013, p. 13.
15. Rose 1999.
16. Day & Reed 2010, p. 140.
17. Badsey-Ellis 2012, p. 133.
18. Bownes, Green & Mullins 2012, p. 173.
19. Beard 2002, pp. 56–57.
20. "London Transport Underground Maps 1938–1945". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
21. "London Transport Underground Maps 1946–1947". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
22. "London Transport Underground Maps 1948–1956". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
23. Day & Reed 2010, p. 152.
24. Beard 2002, p. 126.
25. Beard 2002, p. 127.
26. Hardy 2011, pp. 175–183.
27. "Highgate Station". Disused stations. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
28. Sutcliffe 2006, p. 166.
29. Historic England. "East Finchley Station including platforms (509294)". PastScape. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
30. Day & Reed 2010, p. 131.
31. "The Archer". Retrieved 26 September 2015.
32. "Eric Aumonier, sculptor, putting the final touches to "The Archer" East Finchley Underground station". Exploring 20th Century London. London Museums Hub. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
33. Transport for London (January 2016). Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2015.
34. "Northern line timetable: From East Finchley Underground Station to". Transport for London. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
35. "Northern line timetable: From East Finchley Underground Station to Highgate Underground Station". Transport for London. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
36. "Buses from East Finchley" (PDF). Transport for London. July 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2015.

Bibliography

• Badsey-Ellis, Antony (2012). Underground Heritage. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-360-0.
• Beard, Tony (2002). By Tube Beyond Edgware. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-246-7.
• Bownes, David; Green, Oliver; Mullins, Sam (2012). Underground: How the Tube Shaped London. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-1-84614-462-2.
• Brown, Joe (2013). London Railway Atlas (3rd ed.). Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 9780711037281.
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1.
• Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground (11th ed.). Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-341-9.
• Hardy, Brian, ed. (March 2011). "How it used to be - freight on The Underground 50 years ago". Underground News. London Underground Railway Society (591). ISSN 0306-8617.
• Rose, Douglas (1999) [1980]. The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History (7th ed.). Douglas Rose/Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-219-1.
• Sutcliffe, Anthony (2006). London: An Architectural History. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11006-7. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
• Wolmar, Christian (2005) [2004]. The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever. Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-84354-023-6.

External links

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• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Original East Finchley station in 1935 prior to reconstruction
  • New station building in 1942 - main elevation with view of Archer statue
  • New station building in 1942 - secondary entrance
  • New station building in 1942 - platform view of overbridge containing staff offices
  • Archer statue being worked on by its Sculptor, Eric Aumonier, 1940
• Tupman, David. "Ship Shape Tube". The Archer.
• "The Archer statue in Aumonier's workshop". ribapix.com. Royal Institute of British Architects.