IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Prospect Ring, LONDON, N2 8BS

Walls beside the northbound track in the cutting outside East Finchley Station. The one on the right of the photo is W967 and appears to pre-date the one behind the cables on the left which carries the number W1005.

Looking along Prospect Place towards East End Road. The bridge over the Northern Line has long since been closed to road traffic. The houses on the right are in Oakview Gardens. The two thin poles visible at the opposite end of the bridge are eruv markers. An eruv is a contiguous boundary denoted by string or natural markers (such as in this case, the Northern Line) that enables Orthodox Jews to carry items or push baby strollers within its borders during the Sabbath. The string between the poles is too thin to show in the photo.

Looking towards Propect Ring and the bridge over the Northern Line, long since closed to road traffic. The tower block is one of two on Prospect Ring.

The bridge over the Northern Line, HB28 - number on the parapet on the left - is blocked by bollards at both ends to prevent vehicles from accessing the bridge. It is somewhat amusing therefore to find that the yellow sign asks for collisions of vehicles with the bridge to be reported to the line controller!

Looking towards the bridge carrying Prospect Place over the railway to Prospect Ring, from East End Road. The train is bound for High Barnet. Discarded rails litter the areas beside the tracks.

I'm not sure whether this was intended as a children's play area in the 1960's or as a sculpture in brick. It probably works better as the latter, especially as there is a proper playground around the corner by Park Road. Behind are garages for the residents of Propect Ring.

This narrow road was built circa 1825 to connect East Finchley's market to East End Road. Today it is closed to motor traffic and the market has long since gone. The old centre of East Finchley, which occupied the land around Market Place, Park Road and Chapel Court, was badly damaged by bombing on 15/16 November 1940 and the area was subsequently rebuilt with a mixture of houses and tower blocks. Prospect Place, on the other side of this bridge became Prospect Ring with its associated tower blocks.

Prospect Place crosses, but the bridge is bollarded off to vehicles.

That's the title of the email notifications sent out every Thursday by Transport for London to advise of planned engineering works. October 5th/6th and 12th/13th would see the High Barnet Branch of the Northern Line closed two weekends in a row for track replacement at Finchley Central and East Finchley. An extensive network of rail replacement buses was provided. Battery locomotive L52 stands on the southbound tracks as old ballast is replaced by new on the northbound line. The closest excavator is unloading fresh ballast from the wagons which is distributed along the track bed by the dumpster in the foreground. The second excavator is loading the discarded old ballast into wagons that have already been unloaded. The bridge in the distance carries Prospect Place over the line.