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#1
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Metropolian Line question
In the 1950's I lived in North Harrow and think the Met had only two
tracks running between Harrow on the Hill and Moor Park and beyond. A recent photo shows a second set of lines on the south west side of the station. That could of course have been the BR (ex-GCR) lines. South of and including Harrow-on-the-Hill they are on the south-western side of the formation, giving Harrow three island platforms (from south to north Marylebone down/up, Met down and Met up). I can't remember whether this arrangement continues north of Harrow Junction. As far as I've been able to gather from various sources, Harrow-On-The-Hill has always been the point where, heading south, the GC and Met parted ways. In "Great Central Railway's London Extension" by Robert Robotham, two different track plans are given for Harrow-On-The-Hill: The first shows harrow as having two side platforms and one island platform, with four tracks. To the south-east, the two northern tracks were the Met line to Baker Street, and the two southern ones were the GC to Marylebone. However, the trackwork allowed any Met train from the south to access all but the most northern platform, and vice versa that any Met train from the north could access all but the southermost platform. The GC, however, could only use the two most southern platforms when arriving from Marylebone, and so consequently would have to use them when approaching from the north too. The Met lines as far as Harrow-on-the-Hill were quadrupled in 1932 Heading north-west from the station, the four track converged to 2, shortly before diverging again into 4 - the northern tracks heading to Rickmansworth, the other two being the Met branch to Rayners Lane / Uxbridge. This was obviously a huge bottleneck, and in 1936 a dive-under was put in to remove conflicts. In the early 1960s, however, the Met lines were quadrupled further north from Harrow-on-the-Hill, and separated from the GC lines (the new track-plan showing only one physical connection between the two). From the south, the arrangement is simple enough - two up lines to Baker street, two down lines from Baker street, then Marylebone up/down. The Met lines had scissors at the southern end of the station to allow trains from either Rick'wth or Uxbridge to access either of the fast or slow lines, however switching from the down direction to the up direction was possible only by a) a head-shunt fitted in the centre of the four tracks, north of the station, or a trailing cross-over between the middle two tracks, which were for Uxbridge (see below). Heading north-west from Harrow, the two GC lines remain at the south side, but on the met, the outer-most two lines go to Rick'wth, whilst the inner two lines served Uxbridge. The dive-under then took the two GC tracks and the down Rick'wth line of the Met over the two Uxbridge tracks, giving (from north-east) Met Rickw'th up/down, GC up/down, Met Uxbridge up/down. Presumably, the four tracks heading towards Rickmansworth pair off to two tracks after Moor Park (which was completely rebuilt when the GC/Met was quadded) / Croxleyhall Junction (or what I call "the Watford triangle", to rhyme with "Bermuda" ;-P). Not sure if the reference to "second pair" of lines is strictly correct. Certainly the Met south of Harrow is paired by direction (very efficient use of space, with the slows in the middle, because you can use a single island platform where there are no fast platforms, as at Northwick Park for instance, and one island for each direction where fast trains stop, Harrow for instance). Most definitely a good arrangement. Had full-scale quadrupling of the GCR occured, this is the model they intended to use. Fast on the outside, slow on the inside, local stations therefore needing just a single island platform. You can't get simpler than that, can you? This pairing by direction does not appear to continue north of Harrow, judging by the track-plans I have. It merely separated the GC and Met lines. However, more recent works may have changed this arrangment. Mayn alopogies for the inevitable millions of spelling / grammar mistakes which may have rendered this posting unintelligible, but my brain is running on empty at the moment, demanding sleep urgently! Ronnie -- http://www.blugman.freeserve.co.uk Due to recent viruspams, any email containing the word "Microsoft" will not be received. |
#2
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Metropolian Line question
In article , Ronnie Clark
writes Presumably, the four tracks heading towards Rickmansworth pair off to two tracks after Moor Park Not quite. The Watford branch turns off the slow pair, then the two pairs continue together for a little further before merging into one. Exact distances are on my web site. This pairing by direction does not appear to continue north of Harrow, judging by the track-plans I have. It merely separated the GC and Met lines. No: north of Harrow all four tracks belong[ed] to the Met. The GC just ran over the fast (or the slow when things were broken). -- Clive D.W. Feather, writing for himself | Home: Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work: Written on my laptop; please observe the Reply-To address |
#3
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Metropolian Line question
In reply to news post, which Ronnie Clark
wrote on Mon, 22 Dec 2003 - In the 1950's I lived in North Harrow and think the Met had only two tracks running between Harrow on the Hill and Moor Park and beyond. A recent photo shows a second set of lines on the south west side of the station. That could of course have been the BR (ex-GCR) lines. South of and including Harrow-on-the-Hill they are on the south-western side of the formation, giving Harrow three island platforms (from south to north Marylebone down/up, Met down and Met up). I can't remember whether this arrangement continues north of Harrow Junction. As far as I've been able to gather from various sources, Harrow-On-The-Hill has always been the point where, heading south, the GC and Met parted ways. In "Great Central Railway's London Extension" by Robert Robotham, two different track plans are given for Harrow-On-The-Hill: If it is of any interest, I have put a picture of Harrow on the Hill in the 1930s here http://www.metroland.nildram.co.uk/harrow.htm I don't have full details of the picture to hand, but you can see the new station being built over the old -- Matthew P Jones - www.amersham.org.uk My view of the Metropolitan Line www.metroland.org.uk - actually I like it Don't reply to it will not be read You can reply to knap AT Nildram dot co dot uk |
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