NORTH LONDON RAILWAY: CAMDEN ROAD - VICTORIA PARK

 

The North London Line as it exists today is the amalgamation of several previously separate railways.
Its origins though lie with the North London Railway which curiously had more of its track in East London.



 

MAIDEN LANE

(1850 - 1917)

 

1930s map showing 1) Maiden Lane station and 2) York Road station on the Piccadilly line. Neither station had a high patronage.

Islington & Hackney councils have expressed a desire for the reinstatement of a station on the Maiden Lane site to serve the redevelopment plans for the Kings Cross goods depot area - click here for details - although reopening of York Road tube station seems unlikely.

 

 

 

Looking south-west on York Road at the remains of the Maiden Lane station building.

(Sep 2006)

 

 

 


(Sep 2006)

 

 

 


(Sep 2006)

 

 

 


Track level.

(Sep 2006)

 


 

MILDMAY PARK

(1880 - 1934)


1930s map showing Mildmay Park station at the top left. Also the triangular Dalston Junction, with Broad Street being in a southerly direction and Poplar & Bow to the east.

 

 

 


A photo of Mildmay park station which was taken in July 1976 after a car in the workshop of John Holtons (whom leased the building at that time), caught fire whilst being welded and in turn caught the roof, which as you can see was quickly brought under control by the Fire brigade. It was at this point that the Station lost the ornamental rail around the top part of the roof when it was recovered later.

(Text and photo by Andrew Panatti. ©2006)

 

 

 


Looking east from the Mildmay Park road bridge. The scant remains of the staircase leading up to the station building are on the left of the photo. The space vacated by the removal of the platforms is obvious.

(June 2006)

 

 

 


Early 1980s view from the opposite end of the platforms (King Henry's Walk), westward toward the station building.

Photo by Andrew Panatti. ©2006

 

 

 


High vantage view of the Mildmay Park station building (viewed through a window, hence the reflections).

Photo by Andrew Panatti. ©2006

 

 

 


Closer view of part of the station building.

Photo by Andrew Panatti. ©2006

 

 

 


Hazy view of the old station platforms from the current Dalston Kingsland station. The train in the photo is just approaching the Mildmay Park station site, showing just how close the two stations were.

(June 2006)



D
ALSTON KINGSLAND

(1850 - 1865 & 1983 - present)

The original Kingsland station on this site was closed in 1865 when the route southward to Broad Street was opened; the Dalston area was served by a new station, Dalston Junction, on the Broad Street line. Over a century later, when closure of that line was finalised, a new Dalston Kingsland station was opened on its original site on the new look North London Line that ran from Richmond through to North Woolwich (so a replacement station replacing a replacement station).

To complete the picture, Dalston Junction station, disused since 1986, is now due to be reopened as part of the East London Line extension.

If you look at the Dalston station comparisons [move your cursor over the image to see the 2006 comparison], what struck me was the gentrification. The warehouse on the left, now obviously loft style apartments and the building behind it with the roof adornments. The other thing is the bloody graffiti!
The other obvious railway feature is the dual electrification (is this unique to the NLR, I wonder?)
This really is a case of shutting a station for a century and then building a new one in exactly the same place. Just like they're going to do on the ELL extension. I'll be interested to see how busy Haggerston will be. It was never busy, even in the NLR's heyday. I really thought that they would resite that one, maybe a little nearer to the Waste on Kingsland road, particularly as they are moving Shoreditch nearer to the Geffreye Museum.

(Text and photo by Andrew Panatti. ©2006)

An early 1980s movie clip taken by Andrew Panatti of a class 501 train having just passed the site of Mildmay Park and going under the road bridge of King Henrys Walk, can be viewed here.

 


 

Reference: London Railways by Edwin Course. B T Batsford Ltd, London, 1962.

 


 

North London Railway: Victoria Park - Bow