NORTHERN LINE

The 'Northern Line' is a deep-level tube line of the London Underground, coloured black on the Tube map. It is the busiest line on the Underground network with 206,734,000 passengers a year. It has two routes through Central London and two to the north making it one of the more complicated lines on the system. Despite its name, it is the Underground line that extends farthest south.

Contents

History

Formation

Integration

Extensions

Edgware extension

Morden extension

Naming

Great Northern & City Railway

The Northern Heights plan

Stations

High Barnet branch

Edgware branch

Camden Town

Charing Cross branch

Bank branch

Morden branch

Trains

Recent developments

Future

References

See also

External links

History

Formation

The Northern Line evolved from two separate railway companies - the 'City & South London Railway' (C&SLR) and the 'Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway' (CCE&HR).
The 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 was the first of the Underground's lines to be constructed by boring deep below the surface and the first to be operated by electric traction. The railway opened in November 1890 from Stockwell to a now-disused station at King William Street; this 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 further extended at both ends to run from Clapham Common to Euston.

The CCE&HR (commonly known as the "Hampstead Tube") was opened in 1907 and ran from Charing Cross (known for many years as Strand) via Euston and Camden Town (where there was a junction) to Golders Green and Highgate (now known as Archway). It was extended south by one stop to Embankment in 1914 to form a connection with the Bakerloo Line and the District Line. In 1913 the two railways came into the common ownership of the London Electric Railway Company (LER) although they remained separate companies.

Integration

During the early 1920s, a series of works were carried out to connect the C&SLR and CCE&HR tunnels to enable an integrated service to be operated. The first of these, new tunnels between the C&SLR's Euston station and the CCE&HR's station at Camden Town, had originally been planned in 1912 but had been delayed by World War I. The second connection linked the CCE&HR's Embankment and C&SLR's Kennington stations and provided a new intermediate station at Waterloo to connect to the Mainline station and Bakerloo Line. The smaller diameter tunnels of the C&SLR were also expanded to match the standard diameter of the CCE&HR and the other deep tube lines.

Extensions

In conjunction with the works to integrate the two lines, two major extensions were undertaken; to Edgware in Middlesex in the north and Morden in Surrey in the south.

Edgware extension

The Edgware extension utilised unused plans dating back to 1901 for the 'Edgware and Hampstead Railway' (E&HR) and extended the CCE&HR line from its terminus at Golders Green to Edgware in two stages - to Hendon Central station in 1923 and to Edgware station in 1924. The line crossed undeveloped open countryside and, apart from a short tunnel north of Hendon Central, was on the surface. Five new stations were constructed to pavillion-style designs by Stanley Heaps, stimulating the rapid northward expansion of suburban developments in the following years.

Morden extension

The engineering of the Morden extension of the C&SLR from Clapham Common to Morden was more demanding, running in tunnel to a point just north of Morden station which was constructed in a cutting. The extension was initially planned to continue to Sutton over part of the route for the unbuilt Wimbledon and Sutton Railway in which the LER held a stake but agreements were made with the Southern Railway to end the extension at Morden. The extension opened in 1926 with seven new stations, all designed by Charles Holden in a modern 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 surmounted 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.

Naming

The resulting line became known as the 'Morden–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.

Great Northern & City Railway

After the nationalisation in 1933 of the LER and the Metropolitan Railway (MR) as parts of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), the MR's subsidiary, 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, although it was never connected to it.

The Northern Heights plan

In June 1935 an ambitious plan of new extensions was announced by the LPTB, 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' (EH&LR) 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. The extension's route was that planned for the unbuilt Watford and Edgware Railway (W&ER), using rights obtained from the earlier purchase of the W&ER (which had long-intended an extension of the EH&LR Edgware route towards Watford). This also provided the potential for further extension in the future if required; indeed, Bushey's town planners reserved space in Bushey village for a future station and Bushey Heath Station's design was revised several times to ensure this option would remain available in the future.
The project involved electrification of the surface lines (operated by steam trains at the time) and the construction of three new linking sections of track: a connection between Northern City Line and Finsbury Park station on the surface; an extension from Archway to the LNER line near East Finchley via new deep-level platforms below Highgate station; and a short diversion from just before the LNER's station at Edgware to the Underground's station of the same name.
Work began in the late 1930s but was disrupted by the start of World War II. Enough 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). The single track LNER line to Edgware was electrified as far as Mill Hill East in 1941 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 largely preventing the anticipated residential development in the area 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 rural railway heritage of the High Barnet branch beyond Highgate can be seen in the design of many of the stations.

Stations

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 Town

Edgware branch

★ Edgware

★ Burnt Oak

★ Colindale

★ Hendon Central

★ Brent Cross

★ Golders Green

★ Hampstead

★ Belsize Park

★ Chalk Farm

Camden Town

★ Camden Town

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

★ Waterloo
Southbound trains on this branch often terminate at Kennington, by means of a terminal loop.

Bank branch

''(Also known as the City Branch.)''

★ Euston

★ King's Cross St Pancras

★ Angel

★ Old Street

★ Moorgate

★ Bank

★ London Bridge

★ Borough

★ Elephant and Castle

Morden branch

★ Kennington

★ Oval

★ Stockwell

★ Clapham North

★ Clapham Common

★ Clapham South

★ Balham

★ Tooting Bec

★ Tooting Broadway

★ Colliers Wood

★ South Wimbledon

★ Morden

Trains

All 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. The 1995 stock is quite comfortable when compared to the older stock used on other lines. 1995 stock sports automated announcements and quick-close doors.

Recent developments

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 the 1995 stock.
In 2003, a train derailed at Camden Town. This damaged points and signals and the junctions there were not used while repairs were underway — 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 7 July 2005, a defective train on the Northern Line (causing its subsequent suspension) saved the Northern Line from the London Bombings on that day. Three trains on the Circle and Piccadilly Lines were not so lucky. The fourth bomber instead boarded a bus, which he later blew up.
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 October 2006, service to/from Mill Hill East was cut back to a shuttle, except during peak hours, and a few weekend trains.
From June 2006, the service between East Finchley and Camden Town has been suspended for two non-consecutive weeks every month, with service on the Edgware branch suspended for the other two weeks. This is part of Tube Lines redevelopment of some Edgware and High Barnet Branch stations, including replacement of track, signals, as well as station maintenance. [3] This includes refurbishment of all High Barnet branch stations running from West Finchley tube station down to Camden Town tube station.

Future

TfL's ''Transport 2025 - Transport vision for a growing world''
^[1] confirms their ambition to split the Northern Line into two segregated routes. Running trains between all combinations of branches, as is currently done, means only 22-25 trains per hour can run on each of the central sections, because merging trains have to wait for each other at the junctions. Segregating the routes will allow 30 trains per hour on all parts of the system. However, Camden Town station would need to be rebuilt before this could be implemented, as the current station would not be able to cope with the increased number of passengers changing trains there.
All trains on the Charing Cross branch would terminate at Kennington, and it has long been suggested that the line could be extended from there to points southeast.
The Northern Line is scheduled to switch to automatic train operation in 2011, using the same SelTrac system that will be introduced on the Jubilee Line in 2009, and that is already in use on the Docklands Light Railway.^[2]

References

1.

2.

See also

★ 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

External links

★ Northern Line, London Underground website

★ Clive's Underground Line Guides

★ Muswell Hill Metro Group

★ Northern Line Route for the freeware train simulator BVE

West:	Crossings of the River Thames	East:
Hungerford Bridges	'Charing Cross branch', between Embankment and Waterloo	Waterloo Bridge
London Bridge	'City branch', between Monument and London Bridge	Tower Subway