In message , Tim Roll-Pickering
writes
Does anyone know why the Aldwych branch was built in such a way as to be
useless? From recollection the southbound branch tunnel is linked to the
northbound mainline tunnel whilst the other two aren't linked at all, ruling
out both through services to Aldwych and using the branch for reversing when
there are problem south of Holborn.

Because what eventually became the Piccadilly Railway was actually
conceived as two separate lines which joined together at Holborn. The
Northern of these two had been planned to continue south to "Strand" (as
Aldwych was originally called) and was built anyway, becoming one of
those odd relics of the Tube in the process.

In the very earliest days of the line there were through services from
"Strand" (not sure if it had been renamed at that point) to the then
Northern terminus of the Piccadilly to cater for late evening theatre
traffic. These ceased very early on and information about them is
patchy.

I can just about understand why the station was built in the first place,
but why wasn't any attempt made to make the branch in anyway useful? Not
that a through service would have been handy in the long run, but it could
have been more viable for extensions/creating a street interchange with
Temple and so forth.
Well, there was on at least one occasion and possibly more talk of
extending the branch under the Thames to Waterloo, which would have been
a big help but I'm not sure how serious these plans were.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk