Paul Scott wrote
"neill" wrote

I've been on SW Trains journey over the LT line onto the Richmond
line
at Clapham Junction within the last few years. This was becuause of
engineering works on the mainline. IIRC a connection between the
two
Network Rail lines into Clapham Jct is kept in case they need to
get a
crane around the scene of a rail crash in order to aid recvovery.

Access for emergencies may well be a secondary use, but the main use
is to
allow down trains to access Wimbledon Park depot without causing
pathing
difficulties or conflicting moves crossing other lines. There are a
number
of diagrammed moves over the course of a normal day that go via East
Putney
(in both directions), 16 in total that I can find, of which at least
3 are
passenger services - these are early and late in the day to maintain
route
knowledge so I expect many passengers are unaware of the possibility.

Your "in both directions" is most interesting as is peter's "going
north". During my commuting years my train took that route a number of
times (to the considerable surprise of many passengers) but only in the
Down direction..

I thought I remembered discussions here that Up wasn't or couldn't be
used.


--
Mike D