[1] The route, measuring 8.75 miles (14.08 km),[2] ran through parts of rural Middlesex (now suburban north London) from Finsbury Park through Stroud Green, Crouch End, Highgate, Finchley and Mill Hill to Edgware.

Additional acts in 1864 and 1866 granted powers to construct branch lines from Highgate to Muswell Hill[3] and from Finchley to High Barnet[4] respectively.

Because of the rapid rise and fall of the terrain in the area traversed by the railway, the line made extensive use of cuttings, embankments and viaducts.

[5] The line to Barnet stopped short at Underhill, south of the main village located at the top of the hill.

The populations of areas along the line, particularly at Hornsey, Highgate, Muswell Hill, and Finchley, had increased considerably with the rapid Victorian expansion of London, but the GNR service had not been expanded to cope.

This relief was also competition, and the GNR introduced new engines, specially designed to manage the steep inclines on the routes which slowed up the services.

Further competition came from the opening of the new underground Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) to Archway (then named Highgate) and Golders Green in June 1907 a move that stimulated large scale house building to the south of the Edgware branch spreading out from Golders Green.

Meanwhile, the CCE&HR, now part of the London Electric Railway (Underground Group), was using plans dating back to 1901 for the Edgware and Hampstead Railway[7] to construct an extension of its line from Golders Green through Hendon to a new station at Edgware where it would be in direct competition with the LNER line.

The Underground Group had also bought up the rights of the W&ER and published proposals to further extend the line to Bushey and Watford although nothing was done immediately.

After the war, the introduction of London's Metropolitan Green Belt made the project to continue the line to Bushey unnecessary as the intended housing development proposed in the area was prevented by the new legislation.

In 1957 the goods yards at Cranley Gardens and Muswell Hill were closed and the line from Park Junction (Highgate Station) to Alexandra Palace was abandoned.

The line from Finsbury Park to Edgware continued to be used for goods traffic, primarily coal, milk and building materials, even into the period when diesel engines had replaced steam locomotion.

At the same time, the expansion of road haulage reduced the demand for rail transportation of other bulk loads and the line closed completely between Edgware and Mill Hill East in 1964 with equipment and track removed by the following year.