TOTTENHAM UNDERGROUND STATIONS

 

 

TURNPIKE LANE
 
 

 

HISTORY  

 It was opened on 19 September 1932. It was the first Underground station in the Municipal Borough of Tottenham  and was located at the meeting point of the boroughs of Tottenham, Hornsey and Wood Green, all now part of the London Borough of Haringey.

Like all stations on the Cockfosters extension, Turnpike Lane set new aesthetic standards not previously seen on the Underground. During the planning period for the extension to Cockfosters, two alternate names for this station, North Harringay and Ducketts Green (Ducketts Common is located opposite) were considered but rejected.

 

 
TURNPIKE LANE STATION ON COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION 1932 -Note Art-Deco styling  
     



 

 

 







 

SEVEN SISTERS  
 
 

 

History

The original overground station was constructed by the Great Easter Railway, (GER) on its Stoke Newington and Edmonton railway  line and opened on 22 July 1872.  On the 1 January 1878, the GER opened a branch line, the Palace Gates Line, from Seven Sisters station to Noel Park and  later that year extended to Palace Gates (Alexandra Palace- Wood Green) station.

The Palace Gates line  was closed by British Rail  in 1963 for passengers as part of the ‘Beeching’ cuts and 1964 for freight, with the branch line track and platforms at Seven Sisters later removed.

However, it was on the 24th July 1967 planning permission was granted to convert the station for London Underground use. The first section of the Victoria line opened on 1 September 1968 serving Seven Sisters, although a shared entrance and interchange facilities with the surface station were not opened until December 1968. The original GER entrance to the station was situated in West Green Road at the north end of the surface station, but the new combined entrance was opened in Seven Sisters Road thus  connecting to the west end of the Victoria line platforms. The original (1872) entrance was closed at that time.




The Seven Sisters Victoria Line station is a very busy interchange as it connects to both overground rail and local bus routes. This has proved to be an essential service for travelling fans to the nearby Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with links to White Hart Lane station and bus services along Tottenham High Road.



 

TOTTENHAM HALE
 
 

 

HISTORY

Tottenham Hale is an interchange station located near Ferry Lane in Tottenham, North London. It connects with London Underground and National Rail services. On the National Rail network it is on the West Anglia Main Line, 6 miles from London Liverpool Street, and is served by Greater Anglia and Stansted Express

On 14 July 1967 planning permission was granted for the addition of the London Underground Victoria Line station. Formerly named just Tottenham station, it was renamed Tottenham Hale on 1 September 1968, when it became an interchange station with London Underground on the opening of the first stage of the Victoria line.

The tiled picture on the station platform denotes the ferry that many years ago operated to carry passengers across the nearby River Lea.

 




 

NORTHUMBERLAND PARK DEPOT
 
 

 

HISTORY

The maintenance depot at Northumberland Park, Tottenham is responsible for looking after the entire fleet of Victoria line trains and that includes both cleaning, maintenance and routine servicing tasks. 

Additional tunnels were dug from Seven Sisters, bypassing Tottenham Hale and the eastern end of the line, and it's from here that Victoria line trains enter and exit the system. There is a third or mystery platform at Seven Sisters Station whereby workers can catch a train to the Northumberland Park Depot. 

The Victoria Line is an automatic railway and the whole of the Victoria Line operations are controlled from the Control Centre at Northumberland Park Depot on a Day-to-Day basis. When necessary, the operators at Northumberland Park can actually slow Victoria Line trains down, speed them up or hold trains at certain stations without any intervention from the driver.

The trains are automatic, so they drive themselves, Obviously the driver is there in case anything goes wrong with the train. Otherwise, for all intents and purposes, he is just an onlooking passenger in the driving cab. At peak times there can up to 40 trains being automatically operated from Northumberland Park.






 

Article prepared by Alan Swain October 2024