IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Blakeney Close, LONDON, N20 9LH

A short cuol-de-sac which, with Blakeney Close, fills up some unused land adjacent to Totteridge and Whetstone station.

The florist unloads her van in Allum Way next to Totteridge and Whetstone station.

A train of 1995 stock pulls out of a station with one of the less snappy names of the London Underground system.

A southbound Northern Line service for Mordern via Bank arrives.

Passengers wait on the station for a southbound train.

The early railways tended to avoid the high ground in the centre of the present Borough of Barnet. Finchley thus remained a largely agricultural community, providing hay for London's army of horses. To improve communications, the Edgware, Highgate & London Railway Company opened a line in 1867 from Finsbury Park through East Finchley, and Finchley Central, and to the east of Mill Hill. On 1st April 1872 the company opened a four mile double track northwards up the eastern side of the Dollis Brook through stations called Torrington Park (later Woodside Park) and Totteridge to High Barnet. The line failed to climb the steep slope up to Chipping (High) Barnet and terminated at the foot of Barnet Hill. The new London Passenger Transport Board came into existence in 1933, and in 1935 a major railway development plan was drawn up. Under the plan, the Tube was to be extended from its then terminus at Archway to the surface at East Finchley. The lines north of East Finchley running out to High Barnet and Edgware would then be connected to the Underground at Archway, replacing the old steam routes. The Northern line was so named in 1937. Tube trains reached East Finchley in 1939 and High Barnet in 1940. Totteridge & Whetstone station reopened to Northern line Tube trains on 14th April 1940. The Underground extension to Edgware from Finchley Central never got further than Mill Hill East and the rest of the project was cancelled after the War when Green Belt legislation came in. Referring to the stations on the High Barnet branch Alan A Jackson in London’s Local Railways says: “The perceptive travellers can still discern the origins of the line; for the seeing eye ... the atmosphere of a country branch has not entirely gone.” In this view from the up platform of Totteridge & Whetstone station, a train bound for High Barnet has just left from the down platform.

The early railways tended to avoid the high ground in the centre of the present Borough of Barnet. Finchley thus remained a largely agricultural community, providing hay for London's army of horses. To improve communications, the Edgware, Highgate & London Railway Company opened a line in 1867 from Finsbury Park through East Finchley, and Finchley Central, and to the east of Mill Hill. On 1st April 1872 the company opened a four mile double track northwards up the eastern side of the Dollis Brook through stations called Torrington Park (later Woodside Park) and Totteridge to High Barnet. The line failed to climb the steep slope up to Chipping (High) Barnet and terminated at the foot of Barnet Hill. The new London Passenger Transport Board came into existence in 1933, and in 1935 a major railway development plan was drawn up. Under the plan, the Tube was to be extended from its then terminus at Archway to the surface at East Finchley. The lines north of East Finchley running out to High Barnet and Edgware would then be connected to the Underground at Archway, replacing the old steam routes. The Northern line was so named in 1937. Tube trains reached East Finchley in 1939 and High Barnet in 1940. Totteridge & Whetstone station reopened to Northern line Tube trains on 14th April 1940. The Underground extension to Edgware from Finchley Central never got further than Mill Hill East and the rest of the project was cancelled after the War when Green Belt legislation came in. Referring to the stations on the High Barnet branch Alan A Jackson in London’s Local Railways says: “The perceptive travellers can still discern the origins of the line; for the seeing eye ... the atmosphere of a country branch has not entirely gone.” In this view from the up platform of Totteridge & Whetstone station, a train bound for High Barnet is about to leave from the down platform.

The straight section of this popular cut through runs parallel with the High Road. The white office block is Northway House.