Essex Road station
Essex Road station is a Network Rail station in Islington. It is on the Northern City Line served by WAGN, between Old Street and Highbury & Islington. The original name was Canonbury and Essex Road, but the "Canonbury" part was dropped sometime in the 50's or 60's. It opened in 1903, with the rest of the line, originally called the Great Northern and City. In the 60's, this became the first station on that branch (considered part of the Northern Line at the time) to be closed on the weekends, as this was the least cared about station on what in effect was the least cared about line. It also closed one day before the rest of the line in 1975 when the London Underground ended service on the line altogether. It opened again in 1976 as part of the British Rail network. Above ground it is situated in an old building, perhaps the original, at the junction of Essex Road and Canonbury Road. The railway at this point is of a deep-level tube type although able to take full-size carriages, and access to the platforms is by lift. There is also a spiral staircase through a dimly lit shaft that provides an alternarive, this is kept behind a fire-door on the ground level. Inside the old building, the first thing one notices is that there aren't the gates that most London Underground and Network Rail stations have. There is only a ticket counter, the door to the staircase, and the lifts. It would almost resemble an office building, if not for the fact that one goes down, not up. At the bottom of the lifts/staircase, one goes through a cylendrical underground passage, walks up a short staircase, and then arrives between the two platforms. These are now served by WAGN class 313 EMUs, but this was once part of the Underground, as can be evidenced by the fourth rail, which is unused and rusty, but still there. Signs at platform level still mention Network SouthEast, even though it is now WAGN that serves this station.
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