Woodside Park tube station explained

Symbol:underground
Woodside Park
Fare Zone:4
Original:Edgware, Highgate and London Railway
Pregroup:Great Northern Railway
Postgroup:LNER
Years1:1 April 1872
Events1:Opened by EH&LR as Torrington Park[1]
Years2:1872
Events2:Renamed as Torrington Park, Woodside
Years3:1882
Events3:Renamed as Woodside Park[2]
Years4:14 April 1940
Events4:Northern line services started
Years5:1941
Events5:LNER services ended
Years6:1 October 1962
Events6:Goods yard closed
Platforms:2
Tubeexits06:2.072
Tubeexits07: 2.203
Tubeexits08: 2.310
Tubeexits09: 2.31-->
Railcode:WOP[3]
Coordinates:51.6181°N -0.1856°W

Woodside Park is a London Underground station in Woodside Park, north London.

The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between Totteridge & Whetstone and West Finchley stations, and in Travelcard Zone 4. Woodside Park is the last station in an alphabetical list of London Underground stations.

History

Woodside Park station was planned by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (EH&LR) and was originally opened as Torrington Park on 1 April 1872 by the Great Northern Railway[1] (which had taken over the EH&LR).[4] The station was on a branch of a line that ran from Finsbury Park to Edgware via Highgate. The station was renamed within a month of opening, and again in 1882.[1] [2]

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. The station was first served by Northern line trains on 14 April 1940[5] and, after a period where the station was serviced by both operators, LNER services ended in 1941.[4] The station still retains much of its original Victorian architectural character today.

British Railways (the successor to the LNER) freight trains continued to serve the station's goods yard until 1 October 1962, when it was closed.[6]

Incidents

The Provisional IRA exploded a bomb at the station's car park on 10 December 1992, during the afternoon rush hour. Commuters and residents were evacuated, though no-one was injured. The station is close to the Inglis Barracks, where a British soldier was killed by an IRA bombing in 1988.[7]

Connections

London Buses route 383 serves the station.

Local information

The station has a large adjacent area, originally for storing coal and now used as a car park. Until about 2000, there was a second car park. A block of flats has now been built on this area.

The station is above ground. Both platforms are readily accessible from the street by wheelchair. The main entrance, with ticket office, is at the end of a cul-de-sac (Woodside Park Road), adjacent to the car park entrance. This leads on to the southbound platform. A Victorian post box is set into the front wall of the station.

The entrance leading on to the northbound platform is at the end of Station Road, a turning off Holden Road.

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Butt (1995), page 231
  2. Butt (1995), page 254
  3. Web site: Station Codes. Transport for London. 27 September 2021.
  4. http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/northern.html#dates Clive's Underground Line Guides - Northern Line, Dates
  5. Rose (1999)
  6. News Flash 80 . Underground: The Journal of the London Underground Railway Society . 12 . 7 . December 1962 . 28 November 2017.
  7. Web site: Bomb in van explodes at rush hour Tube station . Kathy Marks . 10 December 1992 . The Independent.