'Marlborough Road' is a disused
London Underground station. It was opened in
1868 on the Metropolitan & St. John's Wood Railway, the first northward branch extension from
Baker Street of the
Metropolitan Railway (now the
Metropolitan Line). On some maps of the era, the station name is shortened to Marlboro Road.
In the mid
1930s the Metropolitan line was suffering congestion at the south end of its main route where trains from its many branches were struggling to share the limited capacity of its tracks between
Finchley Road and Baker Street stations. To ease this congestion a new section of deep-level tunnel was constructed between Finchley Road and the
Bakerloo line tunnels at Baker Street station. The Metropolitan line's
Stanmore branch services were then transferred to the Bakerloo (now Jubilee) line on
20 November 1939 and diverted to run into Baker Street in the new tunnels, thus reducing the number of trains using the Metropolitan lines tracks.
Metropolitan Line stations between Finchley Road and Baker Street were closed and a new
St. John's Wood station was opened nearby on what is now the Jubilee line.
Even before the closure it had been a little-used station apart from some peak days during
cricket season due to its proximity to
Lord's tube station.
The street that Marlborough Road station was named after has been renamed Marlborough Place.
The remains of the platforms and an outside shot of the station building and booking hall (an Angus Steak House) were included in a scene from
Metro-land, a 1973 BBC documentary presented by
Sir John Betjeman. The building survives today and remains in use as a restaurant.
See also
Other Metropolitan Line stations closed with the opening of the deep tunnel section:
★
Swiss Cottage
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Lord's