Palace Gates Line

Legend

Hertford Loop Line

Bowes Park

Bounds Green TMD

East Coast Main Line

Alexandra Palace

East Coast Main Line

Palace Gates

Noel Park and Wood Green

West Green

Lea Valley Lines

Seven Sisters

Lea Valley Lines

Route of Palace Gates Line highlighted on a 1900 map

The Palace Gates Line was a short railway branch line in north London running from the main line at Seven Sisters station in Tottenham to Palace Gates (Wood Green) station in Wood Green.

Opening

The line was constructed by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) and opened on 1 January 1878 with a temporary terminus at Noel Park and Wood Green station before being opened to Palace Gates (Wood Green) station on 7 October 1878. The line was opened in competition with the Great Northern Railway (GNR) line from Kings Cross station to provide passenger services from the GER's London terminus at Liverpool Street station to the recently opened Alexandra Palace and the developing suburb of Wood Green.

Extension to Bowes Park

After the 1921 Railways Act amalgamated the GER, GNR and other railway companies into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923, a connection to Bowes Park on the GNR Hertford Loop Line, which runs just north of the site of the terminus station, was made in 1929.

Decline

With the nearby GNR built stations at Alexandra Palace and Hornsey providing a more direct route to central London, the catchment areas for the line's stations were always fairly small and the opening in 1932 of the first section of the Piccadilly line extension to Cockfosters with stations at Wood Green and Turnpike Lane diminished them further, crucially eroding the line's passenger traffic.

In the early 1950s, the line was one of only two branches in the London area still worked by elderly F5, mainly, and F6 2-4-2Ts. The remaining examples of these were called into Stratford Works for withdrawal, in mid-1958. There then being no other suitable locomotives for the Palace Gates line, many of its trains were worked by J68 and J69 0-6-0Ts until sufficient N7 0-6-2Ts became available, following the electrification of suburban services from Liverpool Street station to Chingford and Hertford, in November, 1960. N7 and L1 steam locomotives continued to be used, until September, 1962.

Closure

The Palace Gates line was closed to passengers on 7 January 1963. Goods services continued to run until 5 October 1964.

The site today

Tracks were removed and the stations demolished and the route of the line has been almost entirely covered by new construction including The Mall Wood Green (Shopping City). The only part of the line that remains is a short section of track within Bounds Green Depot where the line formerly connected to the Hertford Loop Line. A small section of the route can be seen from Avenue Road.^[1]

References

↑ "Palace Gates Railway line to South Tottenham". www.geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2013.

External links

Abandoned Tube Stations - Palace Gates Line
Subterranea Britannica - Seven Sisters Station - contains a history of the Palace Gates Branch
The History Files: Railway Walks - Seven Sisters to Palace Gates

Railway lines in London

Main Lines

Primary	High Speed 1 East Coast Main Line Great Eastern Main Line Great Western Main Line Midland Main Line West Coast Main Line

Secondary	Chatham Main Line Chiltern Main Line Crossrail (under construction) South Eastern Main Line South Western Main Line West Anglia Main Line Thameslink London, Tilbury and Southend Line

Branch

Regional	Aylesbury Line Bexleyheath Line Caterham Line Dartford Loop Line Epsom Downs Branch Hampton Court Branch Line Hertford Loop Line Lea Valley Lines North Kent Line Oxted Line Shepperton Branch Line Sutton and Mole Valley Lines Tattenham Corner Line Watford DC Line Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Line

Intra-London	Acton–Northolt Line Bromley North Line Catford Loop Line Chessington Branch Line Chingford Branch Line Crystal Palace Line Dudding Hill Line East London Line Gospel Oak to Barking Line Greenford Branch Line Greenwich Line Hayes Line Hounslow Loop Line Kingston Loop Line North London Line Northern City Line Nunhead to Lewisham Link Romford to Upminster Line South London Line West London Line

Disused

London Transport portal

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.