Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway

The Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway was a railway line in north London, formed by an Act of Parliament of 28 July 1862. The line opened on 21 July 1868 between Tottenham North Junction (on the Great Eastern Railway) and Highgate Road. An extension to Gospel Oak opened on 4 June 1888.

History

The line opened in 1868 with a service between Highgate Road and Fenchurch Street via Tottenham. With a very indirect route into central London at one end and no interchange at all at the other, the service was a commercial failure. A planned link to Gospel Oak was never completed. The service ceased operation in January 1870.

During 1870 a branch was constructed to Kentish Town and the line reopened in October running between Moorgate and Crouch Hill via Kentish Town. In 1872 this was extended to South Tottenham & Stamford Hill. This provided an interchange with the Palace Gates Line. A number of new stations were opened, many of them close to existing stations. Most of these were closed in the 1940s.

In 1888 the line was extended to Gospel Oak (as originally planned) although the Kentish Town branch remained the primary route and the Gospel Oak link was abandoned in 1926.

In 1890 the Tottenham & Forest Gate Railway opened and the service was extended east of South Tottenham & Stamford Hill to Barking and, occasionally, beyond.

In 1981 the Kentish Town branch was closed and the link to Gospel Oak reinstated. For more recent history see the Gospel Oak to Barking line.

Stations

The line had the following stations (listed from east to west using the original station names):

*Tottenham (existing, abandoned 1870)
*South Tottenham & Stamford Hill (existing) (added 1872, replacing Tottenham)
*St Ann's Road (new) (opened 1882, closed 1942)
*Harringay Green Lanes railway station (new) (opened 1880)
*Crouch Hill (new)
*Hornsey Road (new) (opened 1872, closed 1943)
*Upper Holloway (new)
*Junction Road (new) (opened 1872, closed 1943)
*Branch::*Highgate Road Low Level (new) (opened 1900, closed 1918):*Kentish Town (existing, added 1870, abandoned 1981)
*Highgate Road High Level (new) (closed 1915)
*Gospel Oak (existing, added 1888, abandoned 1926, added again 1981)

Current Status

The branch to Kentish Town closed in 1981, cut off by the Thameslink electrification project. The remainder of the line now forms part of the Gospel Oak to Barking line, part of the London Overground.

External links

* [http://www.barking-gospeloak.org.uk/history.htm History of the Barking to Gospel Oak line]