IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Dryfield Road, EDGWARE, HA8 9JP

This is the entrance of the Mill Hill Old Railway nature reserve which follows the path of an old railway. This is normally locked by the Wildlife Trust but was opened specially for an "unorganised" walk from Mill Hill East to Edgware, going through the wildlife reserve that now occupies an old railway line's course.

An abandoned mattress on Dryfield Road. Further up, there was also a leather sofa.

Seen from Dean's Lane the track ahead which is now a nature reserve was once going to be a part of the Northern line. The line between what is now Finsbury Park and Edgware was opened by the Great Northern Railway on the 22nd August 1867. In the London Passenger Transport Board's 'New Works Plan' of 1935 it was proposed that the line be taken over by the Northern line and be diverted into the new Underground station at Edgware which had opened in 1924. The service on the line from East Finchley to Edgware was suspended from 11th September 1939 to allow the work to be completed and the New Works Plan was expected to be completed by spring 1941. In the event the Northern line branch never got past Mill Hill East and so 11th September 1939 was the last day the line was used by passenger trains. The line was closed completely on 1st June 1964. For a full history of this line and photographs showing how the Northern line would have been extended beyond Edgware to Bushey Heath see http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/e/edgware/ and http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/Northern_Heights_9.html and http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/Northern_Heights_10.html

See Image The section of the former line for about 800 metres east of Dean's Lane is now the Mill Hill Old Railway Nature Reserve - see Image

Burnt Oak is mainly a large council estate and all looks pretty much like this.