Watford and Edgware Railway Bill 1903

[NorthernHeight]

Northern Heights View attachment RC5514509-29f4dfff-e153-4244-ac80-bb7a2778cd97_5514509_RAIL1030_78_002.jpgView attachment RC5514509-29f4dfff-e153-4244-ac80-bb7a2778cd97_5514509_RAIL1030_78_001.jpg

As I live so close to the abandoned parts of the Northern Heights they have made for some great walks during the covid pandemic. There is a fascination about this scheme which got oh so close to completion. The really useful thing would have been a link from Stanmore to Brent Cross for keen shoppers. Would this proposed railway really have linked these places?

 

[etr221]

The Northern Line extension half built by the LPTB - who inherited the Watford and Edgware Rly powers - made it on to Bartholomew's maps of the late 1940s, so can be seen on the NLS web site here .
As you can see, it missed Stanmore - the proposal was to go round, rather than over, the Stanmore-Bushey Heath hill.

 

[NorthernHeight]

The Northern Line extension half built by the LPTB - who inherited the Watford and Edgware Rly powers - made it on to Bartholomew's maps of the late 1940s, so can be seen on the NLS web site here .
As you can see, it missed Stanmore - the proposal was to go round, rather than over, the Stanmore-Bushey Heath hill.

Thank you for that information. The proposed architecture of the Northern Heights extensions were really quite fine. This would have been Bushey Heath station and Brockley Hill station

 

[edwin_m]

Interesting that the area marked as Bushey on the OP's map is what is now known as Bushey Heath, and Bushey is closer to where New Bushey is marked. The 1940s map is consistent with today's naming but the LPTB Bushey Heath terminus is emphatically not in anywhere shown as Bushey on either map.

 

[John Webb]

NorthernHeight - welcome to the forum. Are you aware of the exhibition currently running at Borehamwood & Elstree museum (until 20th August) about the proposed Northern Line extension? I have made a posting in the London Underground forum regarding this; see https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/off-the-rails-the-line-that-never-was-exhibition.229603/

 

[tbwbear]

This topic also fascinates me.

I did some walks over the proposed line sections myself last year - here on my blog - https://trainstobeyond.com/2021/05/26/2021-uk-walking-the-northern-heights/

I would reccommend getting a copy of Tony Beard's excellent book on the subject - "By Tube beyond Edgeware" and, as mentioned by John Webb above, visiting the Elstree museum.

 

[NorthernHeight]

NorthernHeight - welcome to the forum. Are you aware of the exhibition currently running at Borehamwood & Elstree museum (until 20th August) about the proposed Northern Line extension? I have made a posting in the London Underground forum regarding this; see https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/off-the-rails-the-line-that-never-was-exhibition.229603/

Thank you John, I'll be visiting this as a result of your post!

 

[NorthernHeight]

This topic also fascinates me.

I did some walks over the proposed line sections myself last year - here on my blog - https://trainstobeyond.com/2021/05/26/2021-uk-walking-the-northern-heights/

I would reccommend getting a copy of Tony Beard's excellent book on the subject - "By Tube beyond Edgeware" and, as mentioned by John Webb above, visiting the Elstree museum.

Thanks for the link to the blog. I've walked the easy bit from Mill Hill East to the John Laing estate and from Cranley Gardens to Ally Pally and also peered through the fence at the Hale to see the bit used as an access road for building the M1. Most of my information has come from Jim Blake's book and from conversations with Jim. I'm just off to speak to an old people's group in Stanmore right now about the Edgware to Watford Railway entitled "One train from Stanmore to Brent Cross?". It would make shopping easier!

Blake J, James J. Northern Wastes. 2 ed. Palmers Green, London N13: The North London Transport Society; 1993.