On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:41:26 +0100
Graeme Wall wrote:
On 28/09/2011 23:39, The Real Doctor wrote:
On 28/09/11 22:37, Arthur Figgis wrote:
London (in some kind of "not the square mile" sense) was the biggest
city in the world by population some decades before the Underground
appeared.

Which important bit of historic London does the historic Underground
system serve worst? In fact barely at all? Why, that would be docklands.
Odd, that.


Not really, the docks handled freight and had their own network of
railways for that purpose.

And AFAIK the DLR reuses one of the routes of those lines on its way from
poplar to straford and also the old viaducts going towards the city.
I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

x-posted to utl.

B2003

wrote in message

And AFAIK the DLR reuses one of the routes of those lines on its way from
poplar to straford and also the old viaducts going towards the city.
I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

Indeed. Tower Gateway to Poplar uses the formation of the Blackwall Railway,
which started as a rope-worked passenger line, but after 1926 the route from
Limehouse was freight only, for the docks. Bow Church to All Saints uses the
formation of the North London Railway's docks access, though his section had
passenger trains until WW2. Originally the DLR between Mudchute and Island
Gardens used a viaduct of the Millwall Extension Railway, which was very
much a docks line (parts of it were owned by two of the docks companies,
though the viaduct belonged to the Blackwall Railway). When the DLR was
extended to Lewisham the viaduct was again abandoned in favour of a new
tunnelled route. There are other bits of the DLR which use formations
originally provided for docks lines.

Peter

On 29/09/2011 09:50, d wrote:
On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:41:26 +0100
Graeme wrote:
On 28/09/2011 23:39, The Real Doctor wrote:
On 28/09/11 22:37, Arthur Figgis wrote:
London (in some kind of "not the square mile" sense) was the biggest
city in the world by population some decades before the Underground
appeared.

Which important bit of historic London does the historic Underground
system serve worst? In fact barely at all? Why, that would be docklands.
Odd, that.


Not really, the docks handled freight and had their own network of
railways for that purpose.

And AFAIK the DLR reuses one of the routes of those lines on its way from
poplar to straford and also the old viaducts going towards the city.
I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?


The original DLR used the infrastructure of the following railways:

London & Blackwall railway, opened 1840 for passengers between the City
and the Docks. Cabled hauled initially up till 1849

East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway, later the North
London railway, opened 1846

Millwall Extension Railway opened 1871. In the last few years of it's
life it operated with 3 ex-GWR railmotors.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

On Sep 29, 9:50*am, wrote:
And AFAIK the DLR reuses one of the routes of those lines on its way
from
poplar to straford and also the old viaducts going towards the city.
I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

And many other sections, too. It's why the DLR runs across and down,
rather than diagonally. It's using the routes of old sections of
dockland railway that ran along the side of the (now filled-in) docks.

ian