On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:05:44 GMT, Peter Lawrence wrote:

Sorry, I wasn't very clear on that, was I? Willesden Junction will only hold
three cars.

...in the eastbound direction. The westbound platform is long enough
for 4 cars.

Looking at the real station rather than Quail, the westbound platform
holds about 3.5 coaches (313 length) and then the front of the train
would be beyond the (down) signal. So lengthening the platform will
be necessary.

Incidentally it looks as though the eastbound platform was originally
about the same length, extending on to the DC line bridge, but has
since been shortened.

Which coaches were short enough that 4 of them would fit in here -
class 501 perhaps??

I think it was meant to be 313s. My figure was from the following
post, whose source was Quail:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....2c8217ccf81a95