It's probably worth noting that the Central line extensions (both eastwards and westwards) and much of the planned Northern line extensions were over existing LNER routes. It was the planned new Northern line extension to Bushey Heath that was really scuppered by the Green Belt.
I doubt the Green Belt caused the Metropolitan line's stoppage to Aylesbury. By then, the section of the line was well-used but London Transport transferred it to British Rail so they can run its services to the North (like Woodhead via the Great Central Railway, which stopped in the 1960s). It's possible to extend back to Aylesbury, but electrification is needed and Chiltern Railways are already happy to keep their services.
Then later became LT's bus overhaul works.
Nowadays demolished and there stands a business park.
That was part of the Northern Line Extension mentioned in earlier posts. The branch was closed for electrification when war broke out but was electrified and reopened as far as Mill Hill East in 1941 to serve the barracks.
Thanks, didn't know that bit of the history. Presumably the Mill Hill East branch therefore would not exist now had it not been for the barracks.
I couldn't say for certain but I expect so.
What makes it especially curious is that Southampton and Portsmouth don’t have one, but the nearby Poole Bay Area does, which is quite restrictive on towns not really part of the conurbation at all.
That would have been somewhat tricky, as there's a massive height difference of around 40-50 metres between the old Alexandra Palace branch terminus and the modern Alexandra Palace station on the ECML!
You could use the ski lift for interchange...
The Green Belt is often cited as the reason for cancelling the Northern Heights project, but it can't be the whole story. Finchley Park to Highgate in particular passes through a built up area (Crouch End), which now has no easy access to rail service. The same is true to some extent for the Alexandra Palace branch and perhaps also parts of Mill Hill East to Edgware. None of these were affected by the Green Belt.
Indeed. I think for the Alexandra Palace branch, the traffic just melted away. The direct 212 bus (now the W7) operated with a frequency of every 1-3 minutes at peak times in 1953 and by 1955 operated a peak-hour limited-stop express service. The rail route was rather circuitous, so not only was it slower than the bus but more expensive due to the distance-based pricing then in use. Plus, the steam stock used on the route was... somewhat grim.
There would have been a surface connection to the high-level platforms at Finsbury Park. That's one of the reasons why bits of Finsbury Park station looked so awful for decades, with partially-complete work that was finally demolished in the 1970s.
Yes, as the work was well advanced on this section. Not only were the high-level platforms at Highgate complete, building such as an electrical substation at Crouch Hill (later repurposed into a sports hall) had been completed and even now you can still see evidence of rusted cable supports, concrete cable runs, etc. When I was a kid, you could occasionally find a ceramic insulator or two.
Or it might be more useful if the Mill Hill East shuttle was converted to tram/light rail nowadays to make it cost effective. Possibly extending or adding more stops in between might also get passengers levels up.
I've never heard of the Stanmore extension plan - do you have any more info? I've often wondered if the station was designed to be the portal of a future tunnel towards Watford, with an underground station in the actual Bushey Heath, not the Northern Line "Bushey Heath" station which was somewhere else entirely.
Portsmouth (as a city) is bounded by Portsdown Hill to the north. Much of this is still green and some of it is managed by the Royal Navy. North of that is towns developed along the A3 (old route) - Purbrook, Waterlooville, Cowplain & Horndean. Beyond that the South Downs are protected by a series of country parks running east-west. Due east of Portsmouth, the low density Hayling Island and all the area surrounding Chichester Harbour is AONB. West of Portsea Island, the Gosport peninsular has been developed piecemeal all the way up to the eastern suburbs of Southampton. Originally it was slated to build a new conurbation called Solent City midway between Portsmouth and Southampton where mainly between the rivers Hamble and Meon there existed some ribbon developed roads in an area known as Locks Heath. Instead, after years of wrangling and delays (70's and 80's) the councils just stood back and the developers infilled until the area became an unplanned mess of housing. More recently, the building has spread up the hamble valley north of the M27 to include Whitely and Burridge. West of Southampton, the New Forest National Park provides a green barrier.
