In fact Marlborough Road was in at the start of the capital’s famous Underground network – which began in January 1863 with the launch of the Metropolitan Railway between Farringdon and Paddington.
Just five years later, Marlborough Road became the first northern extension of the Metropolitan & St. John’s Wood Railway.
Today the former Marlborough Road Tube station houses a sub station that helps to power trains on the Metropolitan line. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Back then, trains were powered by steam, and the tunnels were made by digging a relatively shallow trench, then covering over the top.
Some stations and track, like Marlborough Road, were open to the sky.
Located at the corner of Queen’s Grove and Finchley Road, the station had an elegant Victorian booking hall, and was in use for more than 70 years on the Metropolitan line.
But in the mid 1930s there was a need to ease congestion at the southern end of the line so Underground bosses built deep tunnels between Finchley Road and the Bakerloo line at Baker Street.
The section of track was ‘cut and cover’ with the station open to the elements. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
They transferred all the Metropolitan line services heading north to Stanmore to the new Bakerloo line in 1939, replacing Marlborough Road with St John’s Wood station as it was only ever busy when the cricket crowds were heading to Lord’s.
Two other stops along the same line – Lord’s and Swiss Cottage – met the same fate, and two decades later, Marlborough Road itself disappeared when it was renamed Marlborough Place.
The booking hall became an Aberdeen Angus steak restaurant then a Chinese restaurant called Lords Rendezvous then Royal China, which reputedly rattled every time a train went by not far below.
A 1973 documentary Metro-Land – fronted by train fan and north Londoner Sir John Betjeman – featured shots of the abandoned platforms and station building which did not have a roof.
In 1979 the Baker Street to Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line was transferred to the Jubilee line.
Since 2009 Marlborough Road has been back in use by Transport for London – but sadly only as a substation which helps to power the upgraded stock on the Metropolitan line.
The Metropolitan line between Finchley Road and Baker Street still passes through the station, which has steps used to evacuate train carriages in the event of an emergency.
