East Finchley Tube Station - History

History

East Finchley station was built by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (EH&LR) and was originally opened as East End Station on 22 August 1867 by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) (which had taken over the EH&LR) in what was then rural Middlesex. The station was on a line that ran from Finsbury Park to Edgware via Highgate. The station was given its current name in 1886.

After the 1921 Railways Act created the Big Four railway companies, the line was, from 1923, part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER). The section of the High Barnet branch north of East Finchley was incorporated into the London Underground network through the "Northern Heights" project begun in the late 1930s.

For the introduction of London Underground services, the Victorian station was completely demolished and was rebuilt to an Art Deco/Streamline Moderne design by Charles Holden. As part of the rebuild, the station was provided with two additional platforms, giving four in total . This was necessary as the original intention of the "Northern Heights" project was that trains would be able to run south from East Finchley via two routes. One route would have run over the existing tracks to LNER's Highgate station (above ground and now derelict) and onwards via Crouch End to Finsbury Park: this route was never completed. The other route ran through newly constructed tunnels running into a new deep-level Highgate station built under the LNER one and onwards to Archway, Camden Town and central London: this is the route south of East Finchley as it now exists.

The platforms comprise two parallel islands with tracks on both sides. The inner pair of tracks served the 'high level' route to Highgate, whilst the outer pair served the tunnel route. Underground trains first served the station on 3 July 1939 which acted as a temporary terminus for the Northern Line whilst the electrification of the line to the north was completed. Northern Line services to High Barnet began on 14 April 1940. The station continued to be served by LNER steam trains from Highgate (High-level) station until 2 March 1941 when that service was discontinued. The inner platforms are now generally used only by trains starting or terminating at East Finchley and those coming from or going to the depot south of the station.

After the war, most of the remaining plans of the "Northern Heights" project were cancelled and the section of the LNER line from East Finchley to Finsbury Park was not incorporated into the Northern Line. Underground services never ran from East Finchley through Highgate 'high level' station as planned although the line was occasionally used for Underground stock transfers up to its complete abandonment in 1970.