Alexandra Palace
The station on a 1920 map
Alexandra Palace Location of Alexandra Palace in Greater London
Location	Alexandra Palace
Local authority	Haringey
Number of platforms	2
Railway companies
Original company	Muswell Hill Railway Company
Pre-grouping	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
24 May 1873	Opened
1 August 1873	Closed
1 May 1875	Reopened
August 1882	Closed
March 1885	Reopened
September 1885	Closed
May 1889	Reopened
approx. 1890	Closed
March 1891	Reopened and renamed Alexandra Park
1898	Renamed Alexandra Palace
29 October 1951	Closed
7 January 1952	Reopened
5 July 1954	Closed permanently
Other information
Coordinates	51°35′41″N 0°07′55″W / 51.5948°N 0.1320°W / 51.5948; -0.1320
London transport portal

Alexandra Palace railway station served the area around Alexandra Palace, in the Muswell Hill district of north London, England, between 1873 and 1954. It is one of a number of stations to have held the name at various times; it is sited to the west of the current Alexandra Palace station, formerly known as Wood Green, which lies on the East Coast Main Line. The former station was the terminus of a short branch line from Highgate; the preceding station on the branch was Muswell Hill. The station was located immediately adjacent to the north side of the Palace buildings.

The station was built by the Muswell Hill Railway (MHR) and opened on 24 May 1873, along with the palace. However, when the palace burned down only two weeks after opening, the railway service was considerably reduced; from 1 August 1873, it was stopped for almost two years whilst the palace was rebuilt. The station reopened on 1 May 1875, but there were several further periods of temporary closure due to insufficient demand, including from August 1882 to March 1885, and September 1885 to May 1889.^[1]

When the station was reopened in March 1891, after another closure, it was renamed Alexandra Park in reference to the wider area rather than just the palace, in order to stoke higher demand. The increased demand did not materialise and the original Alexandra Palace name was restored in 1898.^[2]

In 1911, the line was taken over by the Great Northern Railway. After the Railways Act 1921 created the Big Four railway companies, the line became part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923.

In 1935, as part of its New Works Programme, London Underground planned to take over the line from LNER together with theur routes from Finsbury Park to Edgware and High Barnet, modernise it for use with electric trains and amalgamate it with the Northern line.

Works to modernise the track began in the late 1930s and were well advanced when they were interrupted and halted by the Second World War. Works were completed from Highgate to High Barnet and Mill Hill East and that section was incorporated into the Northern line. Further works on the section between Highgate and Alexandra Palace were postponed, and the line continued under the operation of the LNER. Services were reduced to rush hours only, due to wartime economy measures, so that the dwindling passenger numbers and a shortage of funds led to the cancellation of the unfinished works in 1950.

British Railways (the successor to the LNER) closed the line temporarily from 29 October 1951 until 7 January 1952;^[3] with dwindling passenger numbers, services to Alexandra Palace last operated on 3 July 1954, along with the rest of the line from Finsbury Park.^[2]

The line as far as Muswell Hill continued to be used for goods traffic until 18 May 1957, when the section between Muswell Hill and Highgate was closed altogether. The tracks between Highgate and Finsbury Park were retained until the 1970s, to enable the Northern City Line's tube stock to be transferred to and from Highgate depot and, as the tracks were not electrified, the trains had to be hauled by battery locomotives.^[2]

Disused railways
Terminus		British Railways (Eastern Region) Alexandra Palace Line		Muswell Hill
Abandoned Northern Heights extension
Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Terminus		Northern line		Muswell Hill towards Moorgate

The small station building is extant and is in use as a community centre. Nothing remains of the tracks or island platform today, which have been removed and covered by a car park.^[4]

• Edgware, Highgate and London Railway
• Palace Gates railway station

• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: from pre-grouping to the present day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687.

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Alexandra Palace station in 1935.
• Disused Stations - history and photographs