Morden tube station
|
|
Morden station is a London Underground station in Morden in the London Borough of Merton. The station is the southern terminus for the Northern Line, is the most southerly station on the Underground and is in Travelcard Zone 4. The next station north is South Wimbledon.
Morden station first came into use on 13 September, 1926 with the opening of the new extension from Clapham South. Morden in 1926 was a rural area and the station was built on open farmland giving its designer, Charles Holden, more space than had been available for the majority of the stations on the new extension. A parade of shops was incorporated into the design each side of the imposing station entrance and the structure was designed from the beginning with the intention of enabling upward development, however this did not come until the 1960s when an ugly office building was added.
As the southern most point on the system, Morden station served from its beginning as the collection and departure point for numerous bus routes heading further into the depths of suburban south London and northern Surrey. In its early days it was a main starting point for buses heading to Epsom on Derby Day excursions and today many bus services start from the bus station in front of the station.
Unlike other stations on the southern branch of the Northern Line, Morden station is not constructed in tunnel but is built in a wide cutting with the tunnel portals a short distance to the north. The tunnel north of here has the distinction of being at the end (or the start) of one of the longest tunnels in the world (17.25 miles - about 28 Km) running via the City between Morden and East Finchley.
Morden Depot is one of the three main depots on the Northern Line (The others are at Golders Green and Finchley) and is where most of the maintenance work is carried out. Trains reach the depot by continuing south through the station platforms and passing under the road.
For a time before the extension to Morden was constructed, the London Underground Group wanted to continue the line to Sutton using part of a surface route from Wimbledon to Sutton that had been planned by the Southern Railway and approved by Parliament in 1910 but which had never been constructed. This would have seen the line continue past its current depot and on to the alignment of the railway line close to Morden South station and then on to Sutton. The Southern Railway which ran its trains to Sutton objected to this threat to its control of passenger traffic in the area and built the line itself from Wimbledon to Sutton and opened it in January 1930.
It is said that there was originally an arrow here to match the archer at East Finchley, and that this was stolen shortly after the station opened, however this is not certain as the station at East Finchley did not open until 1939.
External link
- British Pathe News Archive (http://www.britishpathe.com/product_display.php?canisternumber=G+1329&sortnumber=&filmid=634.16&szin=&group=&decade=&date1=&date2=&date3=&datefrom=&dateto=&choice=all&description=Enter+search+word%28s%29+here&searchword=&choice1=all&title=Enter+a+film+title+here&choice2=all&keywords=Enter+key+words+here&choice3=all&summary=Enter+a+summary+search+here&advanced.x=23&advanced.y=23) - 1926 silent newsreel footage of opening of Morden Underground station (download - select low resolution free preview)