Incidentally, I can’t figure out which bridge that is. I think the view must be looking west down Seven Sisters. Or it may be the old Northern Heights bridge over Stroud Green road which they removed.

That's what's confusing me.  The opening shot seems to be taken from the disused bridge abutment that is now the cycle park - it looks over the abandoned platform that was later removed to create the Station Place plaza and entrance.  But I didn't think that bridge was removed for another 11 years or more as it was used for stock movements until 1970.  The bridge that the crashed train is on and the southernmost bridge now are both flush with the main station building.

Compare this:http://www.britishpathe.com/thumbnail.php?img=8&media_urn=84506&stills=111&time_offset=1&record_id=67353&title=RAIL+CRASH+AT+FINSBURY+PARK

With this: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=finsbury+park&hl=en&ll=51.565206,-0.105668&spn=0.001401,0.003449&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Finsbury+Park,+UB7,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=18&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=51.565237,-0.105715&panoid=SHkDcx6-3PojAYg6IzaxHQ&cbp=12,233.46,,0,8.12

A quick check on the Internet suggests the date of this accident was not 1959 but 1st February 1952.  it was a rear collision.

http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=8694

There were nine rail accidents at Finsbury Park between 1875 and 2008 according to this archive.  One killed in 1886, 25 injured in 1907 (going too fast in fog), 53 injured in 1913 (signal passed at danger), two injured in 1926 (fog again), and a fatality in 1971 (driver error and bad signalling).   Yikes!  Stick to buses. 

That was prob the big variety theatre music hall that stood opposite the mosque until a few years ago.

Ah I see, that link is the first time I've ever found a reason to watch the Young Ones.

It's often in the back of your mind, but I never cease to be amazed by the wanton destruction of lovely buildings we indulged in throughout some disastrous decades - and the role played by our local authorities in doing so.

Sadly, despite their improvement on preservation now, they still approve instantly dated, dull new-build crap, like the flats that replaced the Arthur Simpson library.

Speaking of which, anyone of an architectural bent know why most new builds nowadays use those dreadful grey metal framed windows? Even the supposedly posh townhouses in Crouch End where Ferme Park Road have them in.

That's the tower (not spire) on the centre left. I'm talking about the the largely obscured spire poking up on the right.  Dunno which one Papa L meant, but now he knows either way.

No  link to the map on that blog

you can see there used to be five platforms (of which the easternmost was never used) whereas now there are four (of which the easternmost is not currently used, though that will change come Thameslink).

Interesting to see that, as came across this photo of the old coal bridge the other day and was trying to work out where it would have been -

He obviously came by 212 bus.   Must have been the forerunner of the W7.    And I've seen that picture before and was puzzled about where it was taken - all is now explained, thanks Thomas