View source for Bushey Heath tube station

{{Short description|Cancelled London Underground station}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox London station
| name=Bushey Heath
| image_name=
| gridref=TQ164950
| coordinates = {{coord|51.64176|-0.31924|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| map_type=Hertfordshire
| owner=Never Opened
| original=[[London Underground]]
| locale=[[Bushey Heath]]
| platforms=4 (planned but never built)
}}

'''Bushey Heath''' was a proposed, but unbuilt, [[London Underground]] station in [[Bushey Heath]], [[Hertfordshire]], England. The planned location of the station was at the junction of the [[A41 road|A41]] and [[A411 road]]s.

==History==
===Planning and construction===
[[File:Bushey Heath Extension superimposed on 1934 OS Map.jpg|thumb|300px|Planned route of the Bushey Heath extension superimposed on a 1934 map showing the rural nature of the area]]
The station was the last of three planned by [[London Passenger Transport Board]] (LPTB) in 1935 for an extension of the [[Northern line]] from [[Edgware]].{{sfn|Horne|2009|p=42}} It would have served as the new terminus of the line. There was debate about the name for the station, with ''West Elstree'', ''Caldecote Hill'', ''South Aldenham'', ''Aldenham'', ''Bushey Heath and Aldenham'' and ''Bushey and Aldenham'' being proposed.{{sfn|Beard|2002|pp=60–64}}{{#tag:ref|A protracted series of discussions within the LPTB and with other interested parties took place during 1937 and 1938. The name used during much of planning stages was "Aldenham", linked to the nearby village (although [[Aldenham]] is further away from the proposed station site than both [[Elstree]] and [[Bushey Heath]]). The final choice of Bushey Heath was made in January 1938.{{sfn|Beard|2002|pp=60–64}}|group="n"}} The previous station on the route would have been [[Elstree South tube station|Elstree South]] to the east.

The extension was part of the ''[[Northern line#The Northern Heights plan|Northern Heights]]'' project which was intended to electrify a number of steam-operated [[London and North Eastern Railway]] (LNER) branch lines and to incorporate them into the Northern line. Much of the land for the extension came from the purchase in 1922 by the LPTB's precursor the [[Underground Electric Railways Company of London]] of the unbuilt [[Watford and Edgware Railway]] (W&ER). The W&ER had planned an extension of the [[Edgware, Highgate and London Railway]] to [[Watford Junction]] via Bushey, but it had never raised the capital required and its powers to construct a line had expired in 1911.{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=14}} The specific route to Bushey Heath was approved by parliament in October 1937.{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=86}} The LPTB's principal purpose for the extension was to stimulate the development of new residential areas to increase passenger numbers.{{sfn|Beard|2002|pp=56–57}} A secondary purpose was to provide a location suitable for a large new depot that was required to accommodate and maintain the new fleet of [[London Underground 1938 Stock|1938 Stock trains]] to be used across the existing Northern line and the lines taken over from the LNER.{{sfn|Horne|2009|p=42}}{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=18}}{{#tag:ref|The Northern line's depot at [[Golders Green tube station|Golders Green]] and the [[Northern City Line|Northern City line's]] depot at [[Drayton Park railway station|Drayton Park]] were poorly arranged and unsuitable for the accommodation and maintenance of the new trains.{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=28}} The LPTB considered constructing a new depot alongside the LNER's line between [[Finchley Central tube station|Finchley Central]] and Edgware, but could not negotiate a deal with the local authority for a suitable site in time to enable the depot to be built before the new rolling stock was to be delivered.{{sfn|Beard|2002|pp=27–28}}|group="n"}}{{#tag:ref|The arrangement of the depot at Aldenham located between Elstree South and Bushey Heath was intended to be similar to that  between [[Oakwood tube station|Oakwood]] and [[Cockfosters tube station|Cockfosters]] on the recently opened [[Piccadilly line]] extension.{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=53}}|group="n"}} The depot was to be constructed to the south of the running tracks between Bushey Heath and Elstree South with access from each end.

Bushey Heath station was to be located on the east side of the roundabout junction of Watford By-pass ([[A41 road|A41]]) and Elstree Road (A411). The station would have had three tracks with two double-sided platforms.{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=34}} The arrangement placed the station entrance directly next to the roundabout preventing any later extension. The station was to be provided with a large bus station and car park.{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=67}} The LPTB planned to purchase the land on all four sides of the junction and proposed an extensive commercial development around the roundabout including a cinema, roadhouse and around 40 shops.{{sfn|Beard|2002|pp=32–33 & 67}} As with Elstree South, the architect appointed to design the station was [[Charles Holden]].{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=81}}

[[File:Bushey Heath Extension Mockup.svg|thumb|How Bushey Heath station may have looked on the [[London Underground Map]] if the [[Northern line]] extension from Edgware to Bushey Heath and Mill Hill East had been built]]
Construction work on the Northern Heights project began in the late 1930s but was suspended by the outbreak of the [[Second World War]]. Most of the work undertaken to that date had been carried out on the existing LNER branch tracks but work between Edgware and Bushey Heath had started in June 1939. The route of the line had been cleared and laid out and some earthworks and tunnelling carried out between Edgware and Elstree South.{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=90}}

Following the outbreak of war in Europe, work on the extension was suspended in September 1939 and was formally terminated in December of the same year as wartime funding restrictions would prevent completion.{{sfn|Beard|2002|pp=92 & 129}} Construction of Bushey Heath station had not started when the Second World War began. During the war years, the LPTB-owned land was used for farming vegetables for staff canteens.{{sfn|Horne|2009|p=51}}

Work on designs for the station continued during the war to make changes required to account for [[Department for Transport|Ministry of Transport]] plans to modify the roundabout to include an underpass. This moved the station from the east side of the roundabout to the north side with the lines running under Elstree Road. The revised arrangement would have allowed a continuation of the line beyond Bushey Heath.{{sfn|Horne|2009|p=97}}

===Cancellation===
The sites of all three new stations were in semi-rural locations and, as had happened elsewhere, it was intended that the opening of the new section of Underground line would stimulate the construction of new residential estates that the stations would then serve. After the war, however, new legislation was introduced with the intention of limiting the continuing expansion of urban areas into the surrounding countryside. This legislation created the [[Metropolitan Green Belt]] around London and the area designated included the area covered by the new Northern line extension. Without the possibility of constructing the new housing estates, the new line had no purpose and the plans for the extension were cancelled in 1950.{{sfn|Beard|2002|p=126}} 

During the war, the depot buildings were used for the construction of [[Handley Page Halifax|Halifax]] bombers and the land owned by London Underground at Bushey was used for farming. After the abandonment of the extension plans, the depot buildings became [[Aldenham Works|Aldenham Bus Overhaul Works]].

As a result of the breakup of London Transport Buses and the devolving of maintenance functions to the depots of individual bus companies, the overhaul works ceased operation in 1986. The premises stood derelict until 1997 when it was demolished and replaced with the Centennial Business Park.

Footage of the overhaul works in operation can be seen in the opening scenes of the 1963 film ''[[Summer Holiday (1963 film)|Summer Holiday]]'' starring [[Cliff Richard]].

==Notes and references==
===Notes===
{{reflist|group=n}}

===References===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{ref begin}}
*{{cite book |last=Beard |first=Tony |title=By Tube Beyond Edgware |publisher=Capital Transport |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-85414-246-7 }}
*{{cite book |last=Horne |first=Mike |title=The Northern Line, An Illustrated History |year=2009 |orig-year=1990 |edition=3rd |publisher=Capital Transport |isbn=978-1-85414-326-6 }}
{{ref end}}

==External links==
* [https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/photographs London Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
** {{LTM archive|2003-8723|Land Girls working on London Transport farm at Bushey, 1944}}
** {{LTM archive|1998-83959|Bus overhaul works at Aldenham}}
* [http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/Northern_Heights_10.html Abandoned Tube Stations – Northern Heights: Edgware – Bushey Heath]

{{Adjacent stations|header1=Abandoned Northern Heights Extension
|system2=London Underground|line2=Northern|right2=Elstree South|type2=Northern Heights}}

{{closed london underground stations}}{{Northern line navbox}}
{{Closed stations Hertfordshire}}

[[Category:Hertsmere]]
[[Category:Proposed London Underground stations]]
[[Category:Unbuilt Northern Heights extension stations]]
[[Category:Charles Holden railway stations]]