Finchley Road railway station (Metropolitan & St John's Wood Railway)

For the Metropolitan line station, see Finchley Road tube station. For the closed former Midland Railway station, see Finchley Road railway station.

Finchley Road
Proposed location superimposed on Ordnance Survey map
Finchley Road Location of Finchley Road in Greater London
Location	Frognal
Owner	Never built
Railway companies
Original company	Metropolitan and St John's Wood Railway
Other information
Coordinates	51.549771°N 0.180484°W / 51.549771; -0.180484
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Finchley Road was an authorised but unbuilt railway station in Frognal, north London planned by the Metropolitan and St John's Wood Railway (M&StJWR).

Plan

Metropolitan & St John's Wood Railway between Baker Street and Hampstead from a Metropolitan Railway map, circa 1867 (full map)

The M&StJWR had received authorisation in July 1864 to construct a railway from the Metropolitan Railway's (MR's) station at Baker Street to the London and North Western Railway's station at Finchley Road (now Finchley Road and Frognal). The line was to be partly funded and operated by the MR.^[1] The station was to be located in what at the time was partly open countryside. Before construction had begun, an extension was authorised in 1865 to the village of Hampstead.^[2][3]

The M&StJWR struggled financially and the plans for the line to Finchley Road and Hampstead were reduced in scope so that it opened in 1868 as a single-track line only as far as Swiss Cottage and the continuation north was postponed. The plan was formally abandoned in 1870.^[4] A 156-yard (143 m) section of tunnel built north of Swiss Cottage station in readiness for the continuation towards Hampstead was used for the MR's later extension to the north-west.^[5] and a different station of the same name was built further south on Finchley Road. A short length of tunnel on the original alignment was unused.^[6] This is still visible today when travelling on a southbound Metropolitan line service.

References

1. Jackson 1986, p. 41.
2. "No. 22915". The London Gazette. 25 November 1864. pp. 5830–31.
3. "No. 22974". The London Gazette. 30 May 1865. p. 2807.
4. Jackson 1986, p. 331.
5. Jackson 1986, p. 78.
6. Jackson 1986, p. 374.

Bibliography

• Jackson, Alan (1986). London's Metropolitan Railway. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8839-8.

	Abandoned plans
Hampstead Terminus		Metropolitan Railway Metropolitan and St John's Wood Railway (1864-1870)		Swiss Cottage towards Baker Street