In message , Robin9
wrote:
Incidentally, a few mile west of Bletchley on the route the
fly-over was to serve lies Verney Junction, now of course
closed for decades. I was there a few weeks ago. To my
surprise the track in still in place and the station platforms
have not been demolished.

I think they've been cleared recently. I have a photo taken in 2012
where there are trees 3 metres high in the four foot.

Nor has the overhead bridge which,
I guess, brought in the line from Aylesbury.

What bridge? The only bridge on the Met. was demolished many years ago.
Or do you mean the one on the line from Milton Keynes about half a mile
east of Verney Junction?

--
Clive D.W. Feather | Home:
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I'm not certain - which is why I inserted "I guess" - but having
looked at the Ian Allan Pre-grouping Atlas, the line coming in
from Aylesbury and Quainton Road seems most likely. (The A-Z
of Buckinghamshire is totally uninformative on this point)

I was driving from Winslow along Verney Road. A railway
embankment came in on my right. Shortly before Verney
Junction the road goes under an old railway bridge. Now,
assuming the railway to my right is the trackbed of the old
route from Winslow and Bletchley, the bridge brought in the
line from Quainton Road. What I need is a 1930s Ordnance
Survey map of the area!

Thanks to the good advice from posters here - thank you,
gentlemen, you're very well informed - I've had a look at a
1939 Ordnance Survey map of Verney Junction. This shows
clearly that the overhead railway bridge brought in the line
from Quainton Road.

Is there any means of inserting images into posts here?
I wanted to show the map of Verney Junction.

In article ,
(Robin9) wrote:

;155038 Wrote:

The line between Woking and Weymouth was electrified in
the 1960s at very low cost. I used to travel on that route
frequently. The third rail system did not stop those trains from-

The 1967 electrification only extended to Bournemouth and ended steam on
the Southern Region. 12-car trains consisted of two 4-TC unpowered 4-car
units with a 4-REP tractor unit at the London end. A class 33 diesel
took the front 4-TC unit on to Weymouth and back. Some workings used
class 73s with a 3-TC unit at the London end instead of the 4-REP. Later
they converted more 4-REPs and extended the 3-TCs to 4 cars. Then the
electrification was extended to Weymouth in the 1990s and introduced the
class 442 Wessex electrics, re-using the REP traction motors which are
higher-powered than any others used on EMU stock.

Thank for the correction. My memory playing tricks again! However,
coming back to the idea that third rail limits high speed running,
what speeds are routinely achieved between Southampton and
Woking?

I think the lesson from the Eurostar before HS1 fiasco is that it's the
limitation on power drawn that is the speed problem. Downhill or on the
level they manage 100 MPH occasionally but 125 is but a distant dream.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote:
In article ,
(Robin9) wrote:

;155038 Wrote:

The line between Woking and Weymouth was electrified in
the 1960s at very low cost. I used to travel on that route
frequently. The third rail system did not stop those trains from-

The 1967 electrification only extended to Bournemouth and ended steam on
the Southern Region. 12-car trains consisted of two 4-TC unpowered 4-car
units with a 4-REP tractor unit at the London end. A class 33 diesel
took the front 4-TC unit on to Weymouth and back. Some workings used
class 73s with a 3-TC unit at the London end instead of the 4-REP. Later
they converted more 4-REPs and extended the 3-TCs to 4 cars. Then the
electrification was extended to Weymouth in the 1990s and introduced the
class 442 Wessex electrics, re-using the REP traction motors which are
higher-powered than any others used on EMU stock.

Thank for the correction. My memory playing tricks again! However,
coming back to the idea that third rail limits high speed running,
what speeds are routinely achieved between Southampton and
Woking?

I think the lesson from the Eurostar before HS1 fiasco is that it's the
limitation on power drawn that is the speed problem. Downhill or on the
level they manage 100 MPH occasionally but 125 is but a distant dream.

No doubt that's true, but what does that have to do with infrequent
four-car EMUs on a 75mph max line?