What was the disused trackbed next to the central line between north
and east acton used for?

B2003

"Boltar" wrote in message
...
What was the disused trackbed next to the central line between north
and east acton used for?


According to Joe Brown's London rail atlas, it was a main line built in 1917
from Viaduct Junction (where the H&C crosses the WLL) to Old Oak Lane Halt
[which closed to passengers in 1947], just north of the GWML.

The line was shared by the Central Line, newly extended from Wood Lane, from
1920 on, until 1938 when the route was quadrupled, giving the Central
dedicated tracks. The main line route was abandoned in 1964.

HTH Paul S

On 31 Jan, 21:56, "Paul Scott" wrote:
According to Joe Brown's London rail atlas, it was a main line built in 1917
from Viaduct Junction (where the H&C crosses the WLL) to Old Oak Lane Halt
[which closed to passengers in 1947], just north of the GWML.

In other words, a direct connection from Kensington Olympia to the
Paddington-Northolt-Birmingham route.

U

--
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A blog about transport projects in London

"Mr Thant" wrote in message
...
On 31 Jan, 21:56, "Paul Scott" wrote:
According to Joe Brown's London rail atlas, it was a main line built in
1917
from Viaduct Junction (where the H&C crosses the WLL) to Old Oak Lane
Halt
[which closed to passengers in 1947], just north of the GWML.

In other words, a direct connection from Kensington Olympia to the
Paddington-Northolt-Birmingham route.


The decision to close the line was probably taken on the basis there could
never be a modern or upgraded station opened anywhere near Shepherds Bush;
and so far they've been proved right!

LOROL

Paul

Boltar wrote:

What was the disused trackbed next to the central line between north
and east acton used for?

According to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central...ns_of_the_line it
would seem to be something to do with the old GWR-operated "Ealing and
Shepherd’s Bush Railway".

There appears to be a disused trackbed in the Perivale Area which
passes under the Central Line West Ruislip branch in the Rydal
Crescent area.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Anyone know any more about it?

wrote in message
...
There appears to be a disused trackbed in the Perivale Area which
passes under the Central Line West Ruislip branch in the Rydal
Crescent area.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Anyone know any more about it?

I think you might be looking at the mostly singled section of the old GW
route up from Paddington to South Ruislip and on towards High Wycombe, but
it would count as lightly used, rather than disused. The width of the track
bed may allow for many more tracks than currently in use of course.

Chiltern still use it a couple of times a day into Paddington, there may
still be freight, and FGW occasionally use it as far as Greenford to turn
HSTs...

Paul S

On Feb 4, 7:00*pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:
wrote in message

...

There appears to be a disused trackbed in the Perivale Area which
passes under the Central Line West Ruislip branch in the Rydal
Crescent area.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Anyone know any more about it?

I think you might be looking at the mostly singled section of the old GW
route up from Paddington to South Ruislip and on towards High Wycombe, but
it would count as lightly used, rather than disused. The width of the track
bed may allow for many more tracks than currently in use of course.

Chiltern still use it a couple of times a day into Paddington, there may
still be freight, and FGW occasionally use it as far as Greenford to turn
HSTs...

Paul S

No thie route I was looking at is now grassland and fenced off and
passes under the Central and NR lines via a brick arch.

wrote:
On Feb 4, 7:00 pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

There appears to be a disused trackbed in the Perivale Area which
passes under the Central Line West Ruislip branch in the Rydal
Crescent area.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Anyone know any more about it?

I think you might be looking at the mostly singled section of the
old GW route up from Paddington to South Ruislip and on towards High
Wycombe, but it would count as lightly used, rather than disused.


No thie route I was looking at is now grassland and fenced off and
passes under the Central and NR lines via a brick arch.

Ah right - looking at Google Earth, is that the grassed bit that crosses
Rydal Crescent at the bend at the east end, then passes the south end of
Thirlemere Ave; running sort of east/west at that point?

If so - that's a good question - can't see any reference to a railway in
either of my usually accurate London Rail references...

Checking www.old-maps.co.uk for the area (1935 map) seems to suggests a
route for a water main or something? With a valve house a couple of hundred
yards east of Thirlemere Ave, and a line of posts heading off to the SW, and
then down past Greenford and through Southall, passing pretty near various
'works' in the general direction of Staines...

Might give you some possibilities...

Paul S

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, wrote:

There appears to be a disused trackbed in the Perivale Area which
passes under the Central Line West Ruislip branch in the Rydal
Crescent area.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Just a technical point - if you want to post links to Google Maps, you
have to use their 'link to this page' link. Just copying the URL from your
browser will generally get something quite unhelpful - in this case, the
address of the Google Maps front page!

I think this is what you wanted:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF...&t=k&z=18&om=0

You can also simplify it a bit by taking out everything except the 'll'
and 'z' bits (and the 't' if you want a photo rather than a map):

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.53...09607&t=k&z=18

Anyone know any more about it?

Not me!

To the west of where it crosses the Central, you can follow it a little
way; it disappears where it hits Rydal Crescent, but appears again past
the supersto

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...3553,-0.322005

You can detect vestiges of it further along the A40, too, if your
imagination's good enough.

To the east, however, it's a lot more interesting.

It disappears where it hits the sports ground and reappears he

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...5545,-0.299453

It's a carpark for a bit, and then crosses a modern estate and the Picc
with almost no trace. I say almost, because there are two things: firstly,
a little notch in the Picc's embankment, which looks a bit like the
remains of a tunnel through it:

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...6503,-0.294855

And secondly, the fact that if you draw a straight line from that notch to
where the route comes out of the park, barring fences and hedges, the it's
completely unobstructed - the estate's meandering street never quite gets
away from the line. I will return to this point ...

Anyway, on the other side of the Picc, it's back with a vengeance running
through an estate:

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...7294,-0.291148

And carries on into an industrial park:

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...8765,-0.285698

Invisibly crosses the Grand Union and another industrial park, then
reappears:

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...0427,-0.280226

It disappears again just before hitting the Stonebridge Park - Princess
Royal railway lands on the WCML. Now, if you look at the point where that
line crosses the WCML on the Bartholemew map:

http://www.multimap.com/maps/#t=l&map=51.54297,-0.27341|16|4&loc=GB:51.54297:-0.27341:14|51.542972,-0.273414|Lat:%2051.542972,%20Lon:%20-0.273414

You see a label saying "Brent Junction', where there doesn't appear to be
a junction at present. Was this once a junction between the WCML and a
line which ran on this alignment?

However, if you look beyond the WCML, you can again see some suspiciously
straight, aligned landscape features: two streets, Conduit Way and Meadow
Garth:

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...6579,-0.265308

And then a long, thin extension of Gibbons recreation ground:

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...8755,-0.259831

At the far end of the park, the alignment peters out; i can't see anything
beyond there that could be a continuation of it. But by this point, we're
coming up to the ward of Dudden Hill, and its eponymous freight branch. A
continuation of the ramrod-straight line of the alignment would just about
touch that branch at the northwesternmost point of its arc (almost).

So, i think we have four possibilities.

Firstly, i'm seeing things, and all these perfectly aligned long, narrow
bits of green and other features are just a coincidence.

Secondly, it's a ley-line.

Thirdly, it was once a railway, from Dudden Hill or Stonebridge Park to
somewhere out west. Could it have reached the GWML? That would have made
it a useful freight route, exactly the kind of thing which would have been
felled by the Beeching Axe, just in time to be concealed under all those
modern estates and superstores.

Fourthly, and this is the clever bit, it could be the route of a major
sewer. Think about it: why would the modern estate, built on top of it, so
carefully avoid having buildings on the alignment? If it's a dead railway,
it doesn't matter. But if there's a giant pipe full of **** a few feet
down, it does. That would also explain why one of the streets on top of it
is Conduit Way. And why (dramatic flourish!) the leisure centre just to
the east of where the line crosses the WCML, just south of the North
Circular, consists of two long, roughly parallal buildings perfectly
aligned to let the route pass between them. Why, more generally, *nowhere*
along the route is there a building. Except for the warehouse thing next
east of the Grand Union, but that's probably got flimsy foundations.

You can see exactly the same thing on the other side of London: start
he

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&z=18...7495,-0.024381

And you can trace a buildingless route, which has a cycle path on it most
of the way, east all the way to Beckton sewage works.

I can't find any evidence for there being a major sewer in that area,
though, so it's probably an old railway.

tom

--
Hier gaan over het tij, de wind, de maan en wij.