IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Buckingham Avenue, LONDON, N20 9DH

Postbox No. EN5 222.

Stairs from a footbridge carrying pedestrians across Netherlands Road and the main London to York railway line. The other end of the footpath is on Alverstone Avenue. The paved area and parking bay are outside some shops. The housing to the right of centre is on Stephenson Close. To the right of Stephenson Close is the railway line.

A 383 bus on route to Woodside Park Station via Whetstone passes advertising hoardings on Netherlands Road. The bus originated from The Spires in Barnet. It is a short (8.9m) version of the Alexander-Dennis Enviro 200 bus and is operated by Metroline. The very wet winter has loosened the glue behind the advertisements and the wind is now stripping them away. Behind the bus is Stephenson Close and to the right is the London to York railway line.

Looking northwards towards New Barnet, the two middle tracks carry high speed trains, whilst stopping trains use the tracks to the left (mostly hidden by a shrub) and the far right. The Great Northern Railway opened its line between Maiden Lane and Peterborough through what is now Oakleigh Park in 1850. In 1866 the Whetstone Park Company, promoters of the Whetstone Park Estate, reached an agreement with the Great Northern Railway to construct a new station to serve the development. The station, which was to be known as Whetstone, would open once 25 houses were complete, although the GNR built the two station platforms in anticipation straight away. By summer 1871, the development had been renamed the Oakleigh Park Estate, but not until January 1873 was the developer able to inform the GNR that the 25th house was complete. Accordingly, the GNR authorised the station, now to be known as Oakleigh Park, to be completed. It opened to passenger traffic on 1st December 1873. As part of works to increase the number of tracks from two to four, the station was completely rebuilt in 1891/2 with two island platforms, a new footbridge and booking office.

Looking northwards towards New Barnet, the two middle tracks carry high speed trains, whilst stopping trains use the tracks to the left and the right. The Great Northern Railway opened its line between Maiden Lane and Peterborough through what is now Oakleigh Park in 1850. In 1866 the Whetstone Park Company, promoters of the Whetstone Park Estate, reached an agreement with the Great Northern Railway to construct a new station to serve the development. The station, which was to be known as Whetstone, would open once 25 houses were complete, although the GNR built the two station platforms in anticipation straight away. By summer 1871, the development had been renamed the Oakleigh Park Estate, but not until January 1873 was the developer able to inform the GNR that the 25th house was complete. Accordingly, the GNR authorised the station, now to be known as Oakleigh Park, to be completed. It opened to passenger traffic on 1st December 1873. As part of works to increase the number of tracks from two to four, the station was completely rebuilt in 1891/2 with two island platforms, a new footbridge and booking office.

Looking north west near Oakleigh Park Railway Station.

A blue Lumo train heads south past the housing estate on Shurland Avenue to its east. Just above the nose of the train one can see an old concrete and steel lamppost just inside the railway fencing which is all that survives of the infrastructure of a railway marshalling yard that until the early 1960's occupied the land. Vauxhall cars in crates were once brought there by train from the Luton factory for onward transit to the London docks and export. Doubtless it was a costly and inefficient enterprise that is as long gone now as the London docks themselves. One can see the lamppost on photos of the time lighting the start of the sidings. It lingers on without purpose.

View northward, towards Hatfield, Hitchin, Peterborough and the North: ex-GNR London end of the ECML, electrified to Hitchin 1976, to Doncaster 1987, to Edinburgh 1991. The Down express streaking away is an IC125 - a DMU, unlike the IC225 EMU shown in the otherwise almost identical scene depicted in Image] by Martin Addison in 2007.

A London bound GNER express approaches Oakleigh Park at speed, having just passed through New Barnet.