West London Line

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West London Line

Legend North London Line Willesden Junction (Watford DC Line) West Coast Main Line Mitre Bridge Jn (North London Line) Great Western Main Line North Pole Junction Link to GWR Goods line to Ealing/Central Line St. Quintin Park and Wormwood Scrubs (Closed 1940) Link to Hammersmith & City Line (Closed 1940) Shepherds Bush (Constructed but not opened) Kensington (Olympia) District Line (Olympia Branch) District Line (to West Kensington) West Brompton (For District Line) District Line (Wimbledon Branch) Chelsea & Fulham (Closed 1940) Imperial Wharf (Planned) Cremorne Bridge Battersea (Closed 1940) South Western Main Line (towards Waterloo) South London Line (towards Victoria) Inner South London Line (towards London Bridge) Clapham Junction Outer South London Line & Brighton Main Line Hounslow and Kingston Loops South Western Main Line (towards the South-West)

West London Line trains at Kensington (Olympia)

Line map of the West London Line, including planned and under construction stations, showing connections and travelcard zones

The West London Line is a short railway linking Clapham Junction in the south to Willesden Junction in the north. It was built to enable trains to cross London.

The West Cross Route, one side of the Ringway 1 inner ring road, would have paralleled the West London Line.

[edit] Train services

Local trains run every half hour and are operated by London Overground, and hourly Southern trains run from Brighton or Gatwick Airport to Watford Junction, not stopping at Willesden Junction. The line also carries considerable freight and was used by Eurostar trains between Waterloo International and the depot at North Pole Junction prior to November 2007.

Recent timetable changes have meant that some London Overground peak hour trains now continue onto the North London Line.

[edit] History of the line

The railway was originally built as an atmospheric railway running between Wormwood Scrubs and Shepherds Bush opening in 1840. Later converted to an orthodox railway it came to prominence as an avoiding line facilitating through-running on the west side of London, especially for freight:

• The West London Joint Railway (WLJR) owned by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR)
• The West London Extension Joint Railway: GWR/L&NWR/London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR)/London and South Western Railway (L&SWR)

According to the official "History of the Great Western Railway", the West London Railway was originally called the Birmingham, Bristol & Thames Junction Railway, authorised in 1836 to run from the London and Birmingham Railway across the proposed route of the Great Western, to the Kensington Canal Basin. An Act of 1845 authorised the Great Western and the London and Birmingham to take out a joint lease of the West London line.

The line is electrified at 750V DC (third rail) from the south to the North Pole depot, where the electrification changes to 25kV AC (overhead). The work was carried out as part of Channel Tunnel infrastructure improvements in 1993. The northern section of the line, from Willesden Junction to Earls Court (via Kensington Olympia), was electrified by LNWR in 1915, but passenger service was discontinued due to bomb damage in World War Two^[1].

[edit] The route

This description of the line gives, from north to south, former and current details including links with all the constituent railways:

• Willesden Junction
  WLL trains use the high level station that also forms part of the North London Line. There is interchange with the Bakerloo Line and Watford DC Line.
• West London Junction
  The line separates from the North London Line.
• North Pole Junction
  End-on junction; connection to Eurostar North Pole depot which is parallel to the GWR main line, the WLJR proper starts here. A limited CrossCountry service between Reading and Brighton uses the unelectrified connection with the Great Western Main Line.
• St. Quintin Park and Wormwood Scrubs (closed)
• Shepherd's Bush New station on the site of the former Uxbridge Road station opening 2008. Interchange with Central Line, and new bus station under construction.
• Kensington (Olympia) (formerly Addison Road station)
  Interchange with the District Line
• West London Extension Junction
  End-on junction connecting the two parts of the Line; here also were extensive goods yards owned by the LNWR/GWR
• West Brompton
  Interchange with District Line
• Chelsea & Fulham (closed)
  Here was a goods line to Chelsea Basin
• Imperial Wharf (planned)
  Proposed new station awaiting funding
• Battersea Railway Bridge Official name - Cremorne Bridge.
  Here the Line crosses the River Thames
• Battersea High Street (closed)
• Latchmere Junctions
  With connections to the L&SWR and LB&SCR
• Clapham Junction
  Interchange with national rail network and the proposed western extension of the East London Line

[edit] References

1. ^ LNWR Electrification. Suburban Electric Railway Association (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-01.

[edit] Further reading

• Nisbet, A F. (2006 Page=117 to 121), "Punch's Railway and the Winkle Railway", BackTrack 20 (2 Feb)).

[edit] External Links

• West London Line Group Group representing the interests of users of the West London Line

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

West London Line

v • d • e Railway lines in London: North London: Dudding Hill Line • Gospel Oak-Barking Line • Hertford Loop Line • Lea Valley Lines • North London Line • Northern City Line • St Albans Branch Line • Thameslink • Watford DC Line East London: Romford-Upminster Line South London: Bexleyheath Line • Bromley North Line • Catford Loop Line • Greenwich Line • Dartford Loop Line • Hampton Court Branch Line • Hayes Line • Hounslow Loop Line • Inner South London Line • Outer South London Line • Kingston Loop Line • Nunhead to Lewisham link • Shepperton Branch Line • Tattenham Corner Line • Thameslink • Wimbledon to Sutton Line West London: Greenford Branch • West London Line