Ghost Station Demolished

M@
By M@ Last edited 182 months ago
Ghost Station Demolished

Primrose Hill Station, in all its elegance
Jude Law's local commuter train.

Or should that be exorcised? The disused mainline station at Primrose Hill has now been demolished, to the chagrin of local residents who wanted to see it recalled to life and weaved into the Overground network.

The little-known stop opened in 1855 and served the Broad Street (Liverpool Street) to Watford route until 1992. The station buildings have since fallen into dereliction, which prompted demolition by Network Rail on safety grounds. The line is still used for freight, and saw recent passenger service when trains were diverted along this route during maintenance on the nearby London Overground route.

To some, the demolition comes as a missed opportunity to ease congestion on local stations. The Ham&High newspaper describes local residents as 'livid' at the little-publicised demolition of an 'historic' station. While it's always good to have alternative transport options, it's hard to make a good case for reopening Primrose Hill when Chalk Farm Tube is practically next door and seldom reaches capacity. Still, we'll miss the opportunity of seeing the A-list Slebs of NW1 rubbing Oysters with the steerage folk of the London Overground.

Photo of Primrose Hill in 1986 by Stephen Craven, reproduced under Creative Commons license.

Last Updated 04 January 2009