- It's a lovely sunny day.
The sun is out, it's warm.
It's so warm, I'm actually gonna roll my sleeves up
'cause it's a little bit hot.
I'm just to the side of the East Coast mainline over there.
Is it me, or is the footbridge that you cross
in red and blue Network SouthEast colours, looks like it.
And I'm starting my walk today just by Finsbury Park
to do the king, the epic, the big one
of all London's lost railways,
it's time to do the Parkland Walk.
(birds tweet)
The line used to run between Finsbury Park
and Alexandra Palace and was opened in stages by 1873,
with five intermediate stations.
Later, there were plans to turn this line
and other railways in the area into being part
of the London Underground in a plan
known as the Northern Heights.
You may recall from episode three,
that the line between Mill Hill East and Edgware
was also part of this scheme.
So make sure you watch that video for the full history.
When that expansion didn't happen,
the Alexandra Palace branch closed to passengers in 1954
and then to freight by 1964.
But it was still used up until the early 1970s
by the Underground for empty stock movements of tube trains.
It became totally abandoned and overgrown during the 1980s,
until it was finally turned into
the Parkland Walk nature trail along the old alignment.
But what clues of the old railway remain today?
So I'm starting a three-mile walk at the southern end,
which starts to the side of Finsbury Park.
That's the actual park and not the station,
which is a further short walk away.
(gravel crunches)
The walk is split into a southern section
and a northern section with no access
through the two tunnels at Highgate, as we'll see later.
And the line is also elevated in many places,
meaning that there's several bridges
that you'll be able to walk over.
There's also plenty of old parts of the railway
scattered around that you'll see all over the place.
And the rule in my book is that if you see a bench
that's made from an old sleeper,
you simply have to sit on it.
There's also several of these
metal poles that you might spot,
but they're not railway related.
They're actually part of an art trail along the walk.
There's 17 in total with miniature artworks
being displayed near to each post.
See if you can spot them all.
Walk on ... or jog on ... if you like, and next bridge you come to
is the site of the first disused station
and that's Stroud Green.
Quite quickly it seems, we've got to the first location
of the first abandoned station on the line.
This is where Stroud Green was.
Platform's overhanging the side of the bridge here.
It reminds me a little bit of Brunel's Three Bridges
out in West London, 'cause down there you've got a railway
that's the Overground, and then a road,
and then a railway bridge.
So it's one layer, second layer, third layer.
Over there, that's the old station house.
The station house is the only building left remaining here.
Although the cafe immediately next door
is called The Goods Office,
definitely a railway-related name.
Moving on and old pieces of railway infrastructure
are clearly visible, including these telltale
concrete posts, now broken in half,
which were meant to carry electricity cables.
The next bridge takes you over Mount Pleasant Villas
and then you get some proper railway remnants.
This supporting wall and railway arch
is now quite colourfully covered in graffiti.
And then the old line crosses the road again,
but this time going under it, instead of over it
There's a good echo too.
Next, you'll find a building on your left
that is now used by the Cape Adventure Playground.
This building was originally going to be
an electricity substation for the line
as part of the Northern Heights scheme,
which never happened, but the building survives.
And now here's a really nerdy fact
which you're going to love.
All of the Parkland Walk is in
the London Borough of Haringey,
except for this 500-meter section,
which I'm walking through now.
It's part of the northern tip of Islington
and at this point they call it Crouch Hill Park,
and then you're back in Haringey again.
And the moment that you see this
slightly spooky spriggan staring down at you,
then it means only one thing,
you're on the approach to Crouch End station.
If previous episodes have been the ones
with all the allotments
or maybe the ones with all the bridges,
this one, Parkland Walk, is the one with all the joggers.
They're everywhere.
Come for a run along Parkland Walk
and if you do you can find yourself at this spot here,
come on this is why it's the best.
How many places in London can you actually get to walk
along abandoned platforms, two either side,
at the old Crouch End station.
It's quite remarkable to think
that buried away here in zone three in London,
there's this whole abandoned station
complete with intact platforms that you can access.
There's also some remnants of the station building
up on the street level too.
And don't forget to read the information board
giving history of the line, including an intriguing tube map
showing how it could have been part of the Northern Line.
Oh, and it's not just joggers, plenty of walkers too.
And it's also an excellent place
to take your dog for a walk.
Time to press on.
Yeah, it's suddenly a bit like being back
from Mill Hill East to Edgware again, look,
the electricity posts.
This bit is very nice though.
It's all very trees and woodlands,
but we're rapidly approaching a very cool tunnel.
But before we get to the tunnel, there are two more bridges.
First, there's this very standard affair over Stanhope Road.
And then at Northwood Road, one of my favourites,
this lovely construction, which has lots of height
but not so much width, just wide enough
for one vehicle at a time.
And now we are two miles in
and the point at which you reach Highgate.
So what we have here behind me,
the set of tunnels to the south of Highgate station.
And you've got Highgate Northern Line tube station
down below, but there was a Highgate station
on the surface as well that is now abandoned.
And had the Northern Heights plan gone through
they would have been amalgamated as one
complete sort of whole station.
You can't go through these tunnels
because these are now a bat sanctuary.
You've got bats living in there.
Then you've got the abandoned sort of surface,
high-level Highgate station, which I used to give tours with
as part of the hidden London series of tours.
So I've got some pictures from there.
And I have also, a few years ago,
managed to be lucky enough to get into
the northern tunnels on the other side.
And you can walk all the way through it.
And if you peer through the grill at the end
you can see the Northern line trains
from the carriage sidings depots
that are up there in the distance.
So that's kinda cool.
So I've been in the northern tunnels,
but never the southern one.
So that's Highgate, which you skip as part of the walk
by going through the woods
and we'll restart on the northern side
with our next abandoned station.
You can grab a quick look at Highgate station
by going down this steep alley off of Wood Lane
and on your right peer over or through the fence
to get a view of the surface-level station.
And then it's a walk through the extremely
pretty Highgate Woods.
Remember, the railway used to come through here
and at the other side you come out onto Cranley Gardens.
The site of the old station is now completely demolished.
This building is in its place.
But you can walk down the side path
and go under the bridge where the road goes over
where the tracks used to be and that takes you onto
the northern section of the Parkland Walk.
I'm too warm, so the jacket's come off.
We're onto the northern section of the Parkland Walk.
Some say that this is the sort of the less scenic side,
but I like it, I think this is still nice.
There's an impressive brick viaduct arches comin' up,
which is at Muswell Hill station
and then that will take us through
to Alexandra Palace station.
At this point, the railway's high up
as it crosses St. James's Lane
and you should absolutely stop
and look south at the view of The City, Canary Wharf,
and the rest of London.
The parade of businesses down in the arches below
is called the viaduct.
Oh, and there's still old remnants of the railway here too,
if you just keep your eyes peeled.
The next station on the line was Muswell Hill.
To get there, go through this strangely coloured,
green pedestrian underpass.
And yes, there's no remains of it at all,
as it's been completely obliterated
and a school is now on the site of where it used to be.
Walk into the gardens of Alexandra Palace itself,
go under one more disused bridge
that the railway used to use
and you get to The Avenue and the location
of Alexandra Palace station.
It's a rather delightful building,
in the same style to match the palace itself,
which dominates behind it.
And it's still in use today as a community centre,
or to give it its full name,
the Community Use for the Old Station.
And it's just fun to imagine that if
the Northern Heights plan had of gone through,
Then this would be open today as a Northern Line station
with electric tube trains going down into zone one
into Central London.
So with the rather imposing Alexandra Palace behind us,
looking very impressive, that is the end
of this episode of "London's Lost Railways."
Thank you for watching.
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Playlist and all that good stuff coming up in a moment.
I thought this might be the last episode.
As it turns out, there's still more,
two more bonus episodes to come.
Keep watching and thanks for watching.