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The Northern City Line is an underground railway in London, England. It was formerly part of London Underground, but is now part of the National Rail network and is owned by Network Rail. It should not be confused with the City branch of the Northern Line, nor with the North London Line.The line was originally named the Great Northern & City Railway, and was intended to allow mainline trains of the Great Northern Railway to run from Finsbury Park directly into the City of London at Moorgate. Accordingly, the tubes were made large enough to take a mainline train, unlike those of the other tube railways being built in London at the time. However, the Great Northern was lukewarm about the scheme, and the GN&CR had to settle for a northern terminus in tube underneath Finsbury Park station. The line opened in 1904.
The GN&CR was bought in 1913 by the Metropolitan Railway, which operated today's Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and East London Lines. The Met made various plans to link it to some point on the Circle Line or to the Waterloo & City LineThe Waterloo & City Line is a short underground metro line in London, formally opened on 11 July 1898. It has only two stations, Waterloo and Bank (formerly called "City" hence the name of the line), between which it passes under the River Thames. It exis, but these never came to fruition.
After the Metropolitan was nationalised (along with the other underground lines) in 1933, the line was renamed the Northern City Line and became part of the Edgware-Morden Line (which became the Northern Line in 1937) for operational purposes. As part of London Underground's "New Works" programme, plans were made to connect the Northern City Line to the surface at Finsbury Park, and then take over suburban branches to Alexandra PalaceAlexandra Palace was built on a hill in Muswell Hill in North London in 1873 as a public entertainment centre. It is now a conference centre operated by a charitable trust. It was nicknamed "The People's Palace", or "Ally Pally", and in 1936 became the he, High Barnet and EdgwareEdgware is a place in the London Borough of Barnet in London, England. Nearest places: Mill Hill Stanmore Belmont Kenton Nearest tube station: Edgware tube station (Do not confuse with the Edgware Road area, which is much nearer to central London) Middles. The existing Highgate branch of the Edgware-Morden Line would be connected to this network north of Highgate. By the time the Second World War started, the Highgate link and electrification of the Barnet branch were well under way, but work on the Northern City link was prevented.
The "Northern Heights" plan was dropped after the war, and the Northern City Line remained isolated from the rest of the network. Services were withdrawn from Finsbury Park in 1964 to make room for the Victoria LineThe Victoria Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured light blue on the Tube map. It is a deep-level line running from the south-west to the north-east of London. It was built in the 1960s to relieve congestion on other lines, in particular the. In 1970 the line was renamed Northern Line (Highbury Branch). The following year, an agreement was made to transfer the line to British RailBritish Railways (BR later rebranded as British Rail ran the British railway system, from the nationalisation of the 'Big Four' British railway companies in 1948 until its privatisation in stages between 1994 and 1997. History Background The rail transpor and connect it (as was intended by its original promoters) to the main line at Finsbury Park. The last London Underground services ran in October 1975, and British Rail services commenced in August 1976. These BR services for at least some of their existence used the name "Great Northern Electrics". The track is now owned by Network Rail, and services to StevenageStevenage is a town and district in Hertfordshire, England, and is part of the London Commuter Belt. It is to the east of junction 7 of the A1 (M), and is between Letchworth to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south. Its population was 1,430 in 18 and Welwyn Garden City are provided by WAGN. The name "Northern City Line" has been revived to refer to the underground part of the route.
The most serious railway accident on the London Underground system occurred at Moorgate station on February 28, 1975, when a Highbury Branch train ran through the terminus at speed and crashed into the dead end of the tunnel beyond. The cause of the accident, which killed 43 people, was never determined.
The original generating station for the GN&CR was closed when the Metropolitan Railway took over, and became the studio of Gainsborough Pictures. After lying derelict for many years, it became a temporary venue for the Almeida Theatre , and is now being redeveloped as apartments surrounding a revived film studio.
