On Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:42:03 -0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

Basil Jet wrote:
I was thinking about what a wasted resource the DC lines from Queens
Park to Euston are. A twin track railway to the edge of Central London
with only 3tph. But what to do with it?

You could build a curve from Wembley Central to Sudbury & Harrow Road.
The DC lines are on the west side here, so a flat junction would be fine
and I don't think any demolition would be required. The Marylebone Line
would be expensively interfered with as the new line went under it or
budged it apart and came up in the middle. The Suds and Northolt Park
would become Overground only with a train from Euston every twenty
minutes terminating at a new platform at South Ruislip. The existing
Marylebone trains which semi-randomly call at the stations would cease
to call there and would give an increased service at Wembley Stadium and
South Ruislip instead.

The doubling of frequency of Overground service from Euston to Wembley
Central would probably mean the end of Stonebridge Park terminators on
the Bakerloo, leaving an off-peak service of 6tph LU from Harrow and
Wealdstone, 3tph LO from Watford and 3tph LO joining at Wembley Central.

I like it personally, but is there room in the South Harrow tunnel for four
tracks? I don't believe that the line was ever four-tracked except at some
stations where there used to be platform loops. Those stations would need
rebuilding. Some of the two-track bridges would also need rebuilding, such
as the expensive new one over the A312. There might also be some property
loss for the chord near Camelot Road.

The South Harrow tunnel is cut-and-cover. Some of Newton's photos
show it being built with no spare space.

I suppose the other problem is that that the Chiltern Line will be badly
disrupted for months during the construction, and the number of
beneficiaries isn't large. And most of those already have the option of
using the Piccadilly or Central lines, so the incremental benefit, though
welcome, is quite modest.

Chiltern line users would be very cross about any disruption!

Guy Gorton