York Road tube station

York Road
York Road tube station in 2008
Location	King's Cross
Local authority	Metropolitan Borough of Islington
Owner	Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
Number of platforms	2
Key dates
15 December 1906 (1906-12-15)	Opened
19 September 1932 (1932-09-19)	Closed
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink

York Road is a disused station on the London Underground, located between King's Cross and Caledonian Road, with its entrance at the corner of York Road (now York Way) and Bingfield Street. It opened on 15 December 1906 and was one of the original stations on the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), the precursor to today's Piccadilly line.

Unlike most other GNP&BR stations, the lifts descended directly to platform level. The platform layout is almost identical to that at Caledonian Road, but the two tracks form very gentle curves with respect to bases of the lift shafts between the tracks.

The platform tiling was carried out by G. Woolliscroft & Sons of Hanley, Staffordshire, and was made up of white with maroon and brick red patterning. Most of the tiling has since been painted over in grey, but a small section remains untouched and can be seen at the Finsbury Park end of the former eastbound platform.

A small signalling cabin stands near this section of tiling, and was used to operate a crossover immediately to the northeast of the station. This signal box remained operational until 25 April 1964, although by this time the crossover was little used, having been largely superseded by a new one built at King's Cross eight years previously. However, the disused cabin still stands and can be seen from passing trains.

Being sited in a poor industrial area, the station saw little use, and Sunday services were withdrawn entirely from 5 May 1918. The station remained open for weekday and Saturday traffic only until 19 September 1932, when it was permanently closed.

The surface station buildings are still clearly visible, on the left heading south down York Way towards King's Cross. They were designed by Leslie Green. The former platform area below is also visible from passing trains in both directions, although part of the eastbound platform is bricked off. As with most other disused Underground stations, the platform itself has been removed. As the site is currently used as an emergency exit from the tunnels, one of the passageways between the platforms is permanently lit by a series of lamps.