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Drayton Park, LONDON, N5 1NT

Drayton Park railway station is on the Network Rail Northern City Line which carries First Capital Connect services between Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City or Hertford via Finsbury Park. It has had a chequered ownership, being opened by the Great Northern & City Railway in 1904, becoming part of the Metropolitan Railway in 1913, being transferred to the Northern Line in 1933, and becoming part of the British Rail network in 1975. For comparison there is a photo of the station at the end of its Metropolitan Railway days in 1933 in the London Transport Museum photographic archive here http://photos.ltmcollection.org/images/max/82/9855682.jpg

Looking south, towards Moorgate, from the south end of platform 2. The railway is underground from here to the terminus at Moorgate. As clearance in the tunnels is insufficient for overhead electrification, the lines through them are electrified on the 750V DC third rail system, Drayton Park station being the changeover point between that and 25kV 50Hz AC overhead electrification.

Looking south, towards Moorgate, from the south end of platform 1. The railway is underground from here to the terminus at Moorgate. As clearance in the tunnels is insufficient for overhead electrification, the lines through them are electrified on the 750V DC third rail system, Drayton Park station being the changeover point between that and 25kV 50Hz AC overhead electrification.

This seems to be the only railway-related building, except for those which are actually part of the station, to have survived at Drayton Park. What its initial use was, and what it is used for now, I would be interested to know. It seems to have had access by two roads of rail tracks from the north end, but a 1939 photograph shows that rail access was no longer possible by that date.

Opened in 1904 by the Great Northern & City Railway on the line from London Moorgate to Finsbury Park. View south towards Highbury & Islington and Moorgate.

Great Northern electric unit 313028 arrives at Drayton Park from Welwyn Garden City, forming the 1404 departure from here to Moorgate. The 313s were Britain's first dual system (25kV 50Hz AC overhead and 750V DC third rail) electric units, and were built for the initial Great Northern electrification project in 1976. The line between here and Moorgate is electrified on the third rail system, hence the 313s being built to run on both systems. They also conform to the requirements of passengers trains used on underground railways, hence the provision of end doors and the fact that the two motor coaches are electrically separate when in third rail mode.

Overshadowed now by the enormous Emirates Stadium of Arsenal Football Club, this shows the tracks at the north end of Drayton Park station, looking towards Finsbury Park. Until 1975, the tracks entered tunnels here to reach underground platforms at Finsbury Park. The line was at that time part of London Transport's Northern Line, and plans had been made for the tracks to surface here and be extended via Finsbury Park to East Finchley, Alexandra Palace, Edgware, and Bushey Heath. World War II intervened to prevent this plan ever being carried out, but in 1976 the line between Finsbury Park and Moorgate, the southern terminus, was transferred to British Railways, being served by full-size rolling stock from such places as Hertford North and New Barnet. These services still remain, now worked by First Capital Connect.

Looking north along platform 2 (one side of a narrow island platform) towards Finsbury Park. The white bridge over the station provides access to the Emirates Stadium (home of Arsenal Football Club), which can just be seen between the station canopy and the new block of flats on the left. The greenery next to the railway is, I believe, on the site of the train depot which closed when this line became part of British Rail in 1976. Drayton Park station is the changeover point between the 750V DC third rail and 25kV 50Hz AC overhead electrification systems, hence the presence of the infrastructure for both.