All photos were taken on the 17th February 2003
This is the East Coast Main Line, taken from the footbridge leading from
Finsbury Park to the start of the walk. There is a signposted entrance to
the Parkland Walk on Stroud Green Road near Finsbury Park station, but the
gate was padlocked "for security reasons".
A Class 66 passes below on the Barking-Gospel Oak line.
Taken from the same location as the previous photo, looking down at
Stapleton Hall Road. This was the site of Stroud Green station, but I did
not see any evidence of the station.
Mount View Road bridge. The route of the line seems to have been kept clear
from Finsbury Park to Highgate, possibly to allow future reopening if
necessary. The second bridge seems to have been rebuilt more recently, but
space has been left for a couple of tracks to pass.
Presumably the play area used to be larger- seems to be just a few bits of
wood, a slide and a halfpipe.
The platforms of Crouch End station, taken from a footbridge to the east of
the station.
Just east of Crouch End station
Crouch Hill station taken from the western side. According to my 1870 London
Track Map the right hand platform was an island platform, with an extra
track running along the far side.
A W5 bus passes below on Stanhope Road
The tunnels under Shepherds Hill are fenced off, so to get back onto the
Parkland Walk you need to walk along the busy Archway Road, past Highgate
station and either along Muswell Hill Road or through Highgate Wood. From
the ramp leading from Wood Lane into Highgate station it is possible to see
part of the disused platforms but unfortunately I could not get a good photo
because I was pointing the camera right at the sun. Just past Highgate the
line split into two branches, one to Alexandra Palace and the other to
Finchley, High Barnet and Edgware (mostly part of the London Underground
Northern Line now). The Alexandra Palace branch ran to the west and north of
Highgate Woods, where it is fenced off and overgrown.
Muswell Hill Road where the Parkland Walk resumes. Just beyond the bridge is
the site of Muswell Hill station, which has now been built over with houses
and a school.
The Muswell Hill section of the walk is on a viaduct with excellent views of
North London. This is looking eastwards along St James's Lane
Looking up St James's Lane towards Muswell Hill.
Another view from the viaduct.
As you approach Alexandra Palace the route of the railway line becomes more
difficult to follow, with some parts of it having been built over. The
original terminus was to the left of the Palace, behind the trees
So to finish here is Alexandra Palace from the south. "Ally Pally" was the
location of the original BBC TV studios, and was the transmitter site for
the first public television broadcasts. The building was severely damaged by
a fire in the early 1980s, but has now been restored and is mostly used as a
conference centre.
Try these websites for more information and photos
http://overground.doeth.net/heights/
http://www.pendar.macunlimited.net/NorthernHeights1Long.html
http://www.trochos.freeserve.co.uk/photog/alexandra/alexandra.htm
http://www.zymurgy.org/exrailway.html
http://www.geocities.com/adzwoof/stroudgreen.html
An interesting message from the uk.transport.london newsgroup
http://groups.msn.com/JoandGerryKandler/melsbirthdaywalk.msnw