Looking For Maiden Lane Station
After reaching York Way, I carried on going north, with the intention of seeing, if I could find any trace of the old Maiden Lane station on the North London line.
It was quite a walk and I think those who are proposing that the station be reopened to serve Kings Cross Central are mistaken. On the other hand reopening York Road Underground station, shown in the pictures, might be a possibility.
So did I find any trace of Maiden Lane station? There’s just a little of it left by a railway bridge. After I took these pictures, I took the North London line past the spot and couldn’t see anything by the track-side.
There have been many calls to re-open York Road tube station, but it’s very unlikely to ever happen.
The platforms are more curved than is allowed nowadays, the passenger corridors are too narrow and the trains slowing down to stop there, so close to Kings Cross, would cause a significant bottleneck on the line. I found a report on-line which costed a re-opening, and it concluded that it wasn’t cost effective.
Opening, or in fact, rebuilding Maiden Lane station, since there are no platforms or usable buildings there, would be difficult, but probably cheaper and would open up easier access to the area from the east and north west of London.
(I’m personally hoping that they do something with it, since I work across the road and it would give me an extra option for travelling to and from work!
Comment by Adrian Jones | April 5, 2012 |
We need to do something very innovative with the area around Kings Cross. York Road is probably a no-no on cost grounds alone, but Maiden Lane should be reopened.
I posted elsewhere that we need to connect Kings Cross, St. Pancras and Euston.
http://anonw.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/getting-between-kings-crossst-pancras-and-euston/
If we were to use rickshaws to connect Maiden Lane with the other three stations, it would open up the main stations to anybody on the Overground. Obviously, there would be agreed fares, but granny would love to have a strong rickshaw driver helping her on the difficult last leg to Kings Cross say.
Comment by AnonW | April 5, 2012 |