Trains at Finsbury Park (ECML, NCL) - 04/04/2023

The 188th video of my train spotting adventures.
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This video takes us north of the great London terminus stations, to the fairly busy station of Finsbury Park, a large 12-platform regional interchange (8 National Rail, 4 Underground) situated at the "throat" of the lines in and out of London King's Cross, along with a number of junctions.
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The first station at Finsbury Park was built in 1861, originally named Seven Sisters Road (Holloway). Alongside the first line through the station (the ECML), a line used to exist between Finsbury Park and Edgware via the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (EH&LR). This opened in 1867, but was one of many lines to close due to cost saving and lack of usage, which occurred to passengers in 1954, and freight/etc in 1970-71. Finsbury Park gained its modern name around 1869. The Great Northern & City Railway (GN&CR) planned an underground railway connection between Finsbury Park and Moorgate, which opened in 1904, then taken over by the Metropolitan Railway in 1913. This forms the modern link to/from Moorgate, albeit now via the surface platforms. Also around this time, the nowadays Piccadilly Line reached Finsbury Park underground, with a line stretching southwest to Hammersmith finishing in 1906.
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The Piccadilly Line required upgrading and extending to avoid a bottleneck issue at Finsbury Park; an extension towards Cockfosters was opened between 1932-33. The "New Works Programme" would've seen the lines to/from Moorgate and Edgware merged, with new tracks and platforms announced for an integrated service pattern. It was planned to begin works in autumn 1940, but the Second World War postponed these plans indefinitely, with the lines to/from Moorgate continuing to use tunnels for the time being.
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In 1964 the Northern City service to/from Moorgate was ended and ran only to Drayton Park; this enabled the underground platforms at Finsbury Park to be remodelled & extended - alongside the existing Piccadilly Line - to accommodate the new Victoria Line. The first services on this new Underground line ran through Finsbury Park in 1968. In 1976, the original New Works Programme was revived in the "Northern Heights" project, which finally instated the originally intended connection between Drayton Park & the Moorgate tunnels and the surface tracks at Finsbury Park, the service commencing in November 1976. To this day Great Northern trains run to/from Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City or Stevenage.
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In the late 2010s the station was extensively refurbished throughout, including step-free access amongst other general improvements. By 2019 step-free access was also provided to/from the Piccadilly and Victoria Line platforms, and remaining step-free lift access was started in 2021, and finished in late 2022. Nowadays it sees services primarily by Great Northern and Thameslink, the latter having built an ECML connection back between 2008 & 2018, called the Canal Tunnels. Through trains include LNER, Hull Trains, Grand Central and Lumo.
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Filmed on the:
East Coast Mainline
Northern City Line (End of Line)
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Services seen:
LNER) Services towards London King's Cross, Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark North Gate, Lincoln, Retford, Doncaster, Leeds, York, and further North towards Newcastle & Scotland.
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GN/TL) Services towards Alexandra Palace, Welwyn Garden City, Hertford North, Stevenage, Hitchin, Cambridge, Peterborough, London King's Cross, Moorgate, London St Pancras International, Farringdon, Blackfriars, and onwards to the South/Southwest of England.
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HT) Services towards London King's Cross, Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Hull and Beverley.
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GC) Services towards London King's Cross, Doncaster, Wakefield Kirkgate, Bradford Interchange, York and Sunderland.
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Lumo) Services towards London King's Cross, Stevenage, Newcastle, Morpeth and Edinburgh Waverley.
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Trains seen:
LNER) Class 800/801 Azuma's, Class 91 + DVT
GN/TL) Class 700/717 Desiro City's
HT) Class 802 Paragon
GC) Class 180 Adelante
Lumo) Class 803
FL) Class 66
DB) Class 66, Class 59
GBRf) Class 66
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Thanks for watching :)

[@RodrigoSousaFerrovias]

Super like 👍

[@Desiro360]

Superb video. Nice one. 😀

[@jamiehooper5328]

Amazing video mate.

[@UK_Railways319]

good to see u that day for a short time lol hope to see you soon lol

[@andrewsnjttrains75]

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