On Sat, 29 Dec 2007, Peter Masson wrote:

"Tom Anderson" wrote

It seems strange that they wanted to keep the route in tunnel all the
way to Gunnersbury; the current track layout means you can surface at
Turnham Green and go from there (via Chiswick Park, ish) without
getting in anyone's way. Maybe it wasn't always like that, or they
thought a stop at the Green itself was more useful.

The situation in 1920 was that the District had been electrified by 1905
to Wimbledon, Richmond, Hounslow Barracks (later renamed West), Ealing
Broadway, and South Harrow. This used the LSWR between Hammersmith
(Studland Road Junction) and Turnham Green, though this section had been
quadrupled in 1905, with the District having sole use of the southern
electrified pair. The LSWR service, which used the northern pair, ran
from Addison Road (now Olympia) via Hammersmith Grove Road to Richmond,
and was withdrawn in 1916, leaving this pair of lines derelict (but
still in the ownership of the LSWR).

This meant that the District was congested west of Earls Court, so the
proposal to extend the Central Line to Richmond would have provided
relief. In the event, the LSWR service was never reinstated. In 1932
tracks between Hammersmith and Turnham Green were rearranged,
quadrupling was extended to Northfields, and the Piccadilly was extended
to take over the Hounslow and South Harrow (extended to Rayners Lane and
over the Met to Uxbridge) lines. Even then, Studland Road Junction to
Turnham Green remained in SR ownership, leased to the District (as part
of the Underground group, soon to be absorbed into the London Passenger
Transport Board).

Aha, i see. But hang on, the way things are now is that as soon as you're
past Turnham Green, there's a pair of tracks that go to Gunnersbury and
nowhere else (and also the two pairs that go to Chiswick Park). The
Central line could surface around there (possibly still being underground
at Turnham Green itself) and use those to get to Richmond, rather than
staying in tunnel to Gunnersbury. That's what i was getting at. Was that
not the situation in 1920?

tom

--
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets
of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a
whole galaxy of multi colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and
also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw
ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all this for the trip,
but once you get locked in a serious drug collection, the tendency is
to push it as far as you can. -- Hunter S. Thompson, 'Fear and loathing
in Las Vegas'