It’s quite common for modellers to come up with a layout based on a ‘might have been’ railway. The East Beds club layout ‘Sutton’ is based on the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway’s proposal to build a deep sea port on the east coast, and their aborted  model of Finchley Road was to be an adaptation of both what was really there together with the genuine proposal for a link line from there to Bushey.  But other proposals for north London railways never came to fruition…   

The 1860s was a mad period of railway development and there were a number of schemes put forwards.

1862 The Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway (THJR) wanted junctions at Kentish Town to go via Camden Town, Eversholt Street (by Euston), Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Covent Garden Market to Charing Cross.

1864 A proposal to link Hendon (Midland Railway) with Chelsea, effectively duplicated the West London Line, then onwards to Bricklayers Arms via a tortuous route with very sharp curves.   There were other proposals to link Chelsea with Victoria and Victoria with Westminster.

The Mid-London Railway was created to link Kensington with Victoria via Farringdon Street, linking with Paddington and Fenchurch Street.

1871 The London Central wanted to run from Euston and St Pancras to Charing Cross.

1888 The Metropolitan Outer Railway Circle actually started work on a route but had to delay and eventually get Parliamentary powers to stop, presumably due to lack of finance.  It started at Ealing and would have travelled via Hendon (MR), Southgate (GN) to Tottenham (GE)

These are interesting enough, but any of the following 11 (yes, eleven!!) proposals could have had a significant impact on the railways of Hackney.

1864 proposal made to link the Great Eastern (GER) with the London, Chatham & Dover (LCDR) and London & Blackwall (L&BR )railways, from Old Ford via Mile End Road, Aldgate and Fenchurch Street.   Old Ford is very close to Hackney.

1864 A suggestion to link Coppermill Bridge (Tottenham) GE with Farringdon Street (Metropolitan) so giving access to the cross-London Snow Hill line.   This would have been via Springfield Park, Stoke Newington, Abney Park, connecting with the North London Line (NLL) by a spur near Canonbury, then Angel Islington.    Canonbury is less than 2 miles from Canonbury.

A scheme named The London & Blackwall, Great Northern and Midland Junction aimed to join the L&BR near Shadwell with the GN at Finsbury Park and the MR at Kentish Town.   Shadwell is about 2 miles south of Hackney

There were two proposals to build a line from Walthamstow via Clapton to run into Broad Street, plus a further one to run from Walthamstow to Tottenham   This would have been very close to Dalston Junction.

1882 The Regents Canal City & Docks Railway was to run from Paddington to Royal Albert Dock via the City, joining with both the MR and GN on the way.  This could have influenced links to the NLL.

1901 The North East London Railway proposed a line from Cannon Street to Tottenham via Kingsland Road, with a later projection to Southgate on the GN.    Kingsland Road is extremely close to Hackney.

1903 A scheme to run from Monument to Tottenham, all under ground, plus a branch to Victoria Park (Hackney) on the NLL.  

1905  Hammersmith, City & North East London Railway – Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly Circus, Charing Cross, Ludgate Circus, Cannon Street, Hackney Road, Tottenham to Palmers Green

1906 The London Outer Railway Circle aimed to build a line from Feltham to Barking

1910 The Greater London Railway was planned for a full 57 miles from Feltham to Tilbury and Victoria Dock, connecting to all the main lines north of the Thames.  Its ambition was scaled back 3 years later to a more conservative 18 miles for a version from Brentford (London & South Western) to Wood Green.  

1930   The Feltham to Tilbury scheme was back before the parliament select committee.    Costed at nearly £10m it was soon accepted it could not make a profit.

Date unknown – a plan to link Cambridge Heath on the GE with the East London Line at Shoreditch, to give access to the Southern railway companies at New Cross.

That’s a whole heap of railway proposals, showing (in part) just how much importance was placed on the existing system’s perceived inability to move the stuff quickly around the regions.   You may have noted the apparent obsession with railways having to join up with Tottenham or reach the docks, as both would open up useful routes for new traffic – or so they had hoped.  In most cases the parliament select committee rejected the proposals, or there was no appetite to invest in the projects.   Even without all these there was a fair amount of development and variety, easily visible on the rail map of London.   Whichever way you look, there’s plenty of opportunity to model a ‘what might have been’.  Here I’ve marked the North London Line, Finchley Road and Hackney Graham Road in red as a reference.