The history of the short underground line between Moorgate in the heart of the City and Finsbury Park to the North East is perhaps the most interesting of any of the underground lines in London. Originally opened in 1904, this short line was conceived by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) as a City terminus for its services from the Northern suburbs and a means of avoiding the overcrowded approaches to its Kings Cross terminus. However the new tube company - the Great Northern & City (GNCR) - fell out with its mainline supporter and the concept of mainline trains running through to Moorgate was abandoned in favour of a sub-surface station below the platforms of Finsbury Park station. However the original intentions of the line were not lost in its construction, as the whole was built with 16 foot diameter tunnels - large enough to accommodate mainline stock. As we shall see, this proved to be both a sin and a blessing. The line was opened to traffic on 14th February 1904, although Highbury station did open until June of the same year. All the stations were below ground except Drayton Park which was in an open cutting.  Here a steep connection was provided to the GNR goods yard on its Canonbury lines to enable stock and supplies to be delivered.

The track was also different from other tube railways in that the conductor rails were both placed outside of the running rails. The stock provided was the most generous of any tube railway and took full advantage of the generous loading gauge.

The GNCR's existence as an independent was to be relatively short lived as, in 1913 the company was acquired by the Metropolitan Railway who had hopes of joining it to its own lines at Aldgate and to the GNR at Finsbury Park. However neither extension gained approval and the Met was left holding something of a white elephant. However it did try and make the best of a bad lot and even introduced first class travel from 1915 to attract mainline customers to its services.

With the arrival of London Transport in1933, ownership of the line passed to the new authority and, as part of its New Works Programme, the line was renamed the Northern City line and once again the prospect of extension loomed high. The proposal, again, was to connect the line to the mainline at Finsbury Park and from there to run over electrified tracks to Edgware, High Barnet and Alexandra Palace. Necessary powers for these works were obtained in 1936 and work started on converting the Northern City to LT standards for current collection and signaling.  In May 1939 the line was finally changed over and standard tube stock began to operate the service. However, although much of the work for the extension of services was already completed, the advent of World War Two meant that no further changes were made. After the war, all thoughts of these Northern extensions to the Northern City were abandoned and the line remained an isolated branch line of the tube network. With no direct connection to the rest of the network, stock transfers to the line had to be made via circuitous route through North London, in part over the very lines which originally were planned for Northern Line services.

In 1964, this already short line became even shorter as its station at Finsbury Park was incorporated into the new Victoria Line and its services now started at Drayton Park.

The line would have stayed a sleepy, almost forgotten, backwater if it were not for the tragic events of 28th February 1975. For reasons still not understood, a packed southbound train failed to stop at Moorgate station in the morning rush-hour.  Continuing at full speed into the short over-run tunnel beyond. it hit the end wall at an estimated 35mph. Of the 300 people aboard the train 43 died and a further 74 required hospital treatment. The train was of 1938 tube stock and, on impact, the front car of the train was compressed into a third of its length and following cars rode up and over the first to form one tangled mass of wreckage. The 16 foot diameter tunnels did nothing to help in this situation and, in fact may have made matters far worse than if the accident had been in a standard tube tunnel.

In 1971, the hopes of the original promoters of the GNCR were finally realized in a plan which saw LT hand over the line to British Rail for it to be incorporated into a new scheme for electrifying several of their outer suburban services to Herfordshire. The last LT train ran on the line on 4th October 1975, allowing all final work to be completed for the transfer to BR. The new trains started to operate from August 1976, using 25kV overhead to Drayton Park where a change was made to 750v third rail for the remainder of the journey into Moorgate.

So after several owners and one of the most tragic accidents on any underground railway,  this little 3.4 mile line finally delivered the services originally planned for it sixty years previously.  For such a short piece of railway line, its made its mark in the history of London's underground railways.

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