Closed London Underground stations

There are several dozen permanently closed London Underground stations across the London Underground ("tube") network. Some were simply built too near to other stations to be useful; others experienced too little use to make their retention worthwhile, or became redundant after lines were rerouted. Some of the closed stations retain their original station façades, while others have been demolished to make way for shops. At least one (Aldwych) is now used for filming and exhibition purposes. A number of other stations, Charing Cross for example, while still open, have closed platforms or sections.

Permanently closed stations

These stations of the London Underground and its predecessor companies (such as the Metropolitan Railway, the City and South London Railway and Underground Electric Railways of London) are now closed and, for the most part, abandoned:

Beyond Ealing Broadway

Stations beyond Ealing Broadway, served by the Metropolitan District Railway (now the District line) between 1883 and 1885, now served by First Great Western:

Note: Moorgate, Old Street, Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park were also served by Underground trains on this line and are still served by other Underground Lines.

Beyond Harrow & Wealdstone

Stations beyond Harrow & Wealdstone, formerly served by the Bakerloo Line, now served by the Watford DC Line of London Overground. It is expected that these stations will transfer back to the Bakerloo line now that management of the former North London Railways franchise has been transferred from the Department for Transport to Transport for London.

tations part-built but never opened

Some tube stations were only partially constructed and never opened:
* North End (also known as "Bull and Bush") on the Northern Line between Golders Green and Hampstead) had the lower level passages and platform tunnels constructed before the station was abandoned, at the start of the 20th Century.
* Brockley Hill, Elstree South and Bushey Heath (on the abandoned extension to Bushey of the Edgware branch of the Northern Line) were planned, and preparatory work undertaken but were not built due to the Second World War and the establishment of the Green Belt.

tations planned to become part of the Underground

Northern Line developments

The above-Northern Line extension to Bushey was part of the Northern Heights plan of the 1930s. Part of this plan was for the Northern Line to take over existing LNER lines in north London. This was completed from East Finchley to High Barnet and Mill Hill East but the project was halted by the outbreak of the Second World War and financial cutbacks after the war meant that the project was not restarted and a number of stations were never incorporated:
*Stations beyond Mill Hill East closed in 1939 in anticipation of incorporation into the Northern Line, but never re-opened to passengers:
**Mill Hill (The Hale)
**Edgware (would have been replaced by Edgware Underground station had the project been completed).
*Stations between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace via Highgate continued to be part of the LNER (and later British Railways) until the line closed in 1954:
**Stroud Green
**Crouch End
**Cranley Gardens
**Muswell Hill
**Alexandra Palace:Note: The original surface part of Highgate station between Crouch End and Cranley Gardens also closed although the newer Underground section remains open.

Central Line developments

Denham station was to have been the original terminus of the western extension of the Central Line but the introduction of Green Belt legislation caused the extension to be cut back to West Ruislip. The intermediate stop, Harefield Road was similarly planned but not built.

Abridge was the destination for a once planned branch from Debden [ [http://www.anorakheaven.com/central.htm Central Line ] ] . Further details of this extension are unknown. Abridge is relatively close to Debden, however, so the prospect of intermediate stations seems unlikely.

Bakerloo Line developments

In 1931 the Bakerloo line extension to Camberwell was authorised. The outbreak of the Second World War delayed any work from happening. In 1947 the authorisation was renewed, a small amount of tunnel was constructed before the whole project was abandoned in the early fifties. Camberwell tube station was planned near Camberwell Green but never built. In the seventies the plans were revisited with a proposed intermediate station at Walworth, but were again abandoned. Camberwell has not been served by rail since 1916 when the above-ground Camberwell station closed.

Fleet Line

The Fleet Line was a planned expansion of what is now the Jubilee Line. Its proposed route partially followed that of Fleet Street from which it took its name. It would have seen a new section opened between Charing Cross and Fenchurch Street, with intermediate stations at Aldwych and Ludgate Circus, before crossing the Thames to Rotherhithe tube station and then following existing rail lines to Hayes. [ [http://www.flickr.com/photos/mackenzieblu/2286608767/ Fleet Line to Lewisham sur Flickr : partage de photos ! ] ] Construction was begun on the route, a section of tunelling between Green Park and Aldwych was built, and work on Ludgate Circus was also started. It was never completed, as rising costs forced the project to be repeatedly delayed.

More than twenty years later an eastwards extension to the Jubilee Line was eventually constructed, but travelling along a different route south of the river and then up to Stratford via Canary Wharf. The planned former route of the Fleet Line is now part of a future DLR extension to Charing Cross.

City and Brixton Railway

The C&BR received Royal assent in 1898, proposing a line between the soon-to-be-abandoned King William Street terminus of the C&SLR and Brixton via stations at London Bridge, St Georges Circus, Lambeth Road, Kennington Cross, Oval, and Lorn Road. However it proved impossible to raise the finance to start construction, and the scheme lay dormant, eventually being abandoned.

ee also

*List of London Underground stations - includes previous names for stations
*List of closed railway stations in London
*List of closed railway stations in Britain
*List of fictional rapid transit stations
*List of London Underground-related fiction
*Ghost stations of Berlin
*Disused Barcelona Metro stations

References

Further reading

* J. E. Connor, "London's Disused Underground Stations", Capital Transport, 2001 (2nd edition)
* J. E. Connor, "Abandoned Stations on London's Underground (A photographic record)", Colchester, Connor and Butler Ltd., 2000. ISBN 0-947699-30-9
* Douglas Rose, "The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History" (Capital Transport, 2005): ISBN 1-85414-219-4

External links

* [http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/ London's Abandoned Tube Stations]
* [http://underground-history.co.uk/ Underground-history.co.uk] (originally located at http://www.starfury.demon.co.uk/uground/)
* [http://www.tubephotos.com/?goto=eustonstationabandonedtunnels&thumbs=ok/ 2007 Photo gallery of disused tunnels at Euston Station]
* [http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/ Clive's Underground Line Guides]
* [http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3532202278643485929 Ghosts of the Underground]