Content deleted Content added
→top: please check that you're not adding nonsense |
10mmsocket (talk | contribs) →History: link fixes and minor style tweaks. |
||
Line 65:
The Watford New Line was opened in phases. The section of [[Double-track railway|double track]] between Willesden Junction and Harrow & Wealdstone opened on 15 June 1912 and was used for local steam train traffic.<ref>{{cite news |title=Progress of engineering works |work=Railway News |date=10 August 1912 |page=17}}</ref> The new stations at [[Harlesden station|Harlesden]], [[Stonebridge Park station|Stonebridge Park]], [[North Wembley station|North Wembley]] and [[Kenton station|Kenton]] opened on 15 June 1912.{{efn|New platforms were also provided on the new line at the existing Wembley station.}}
The section of new line between Harrow & Wealdstone and Watford High Street opened on 10 February 1913, with a new station at [[Headstone Lane railway station|Headstone Lane]].<ref name="New Line">{{cite news |title=Opening of the New Line to Watford: London and Northwestern Railway |work=Railway News |date=8 February 1913 |page=325}}</ref> Local steam trains were now able to use the new line between Watford Junction and Willesden Junction.{{efn|The line between Watford High Street and Watford Junction used the [[Watford and Rickmansworth Railway]] tracks.}} The existing station at Watford High Street received direct services to London for the first time.<ref>{{cite news |title=The New Service to Watford |work=Pall Mall Gazette |date=12 February 1913 |page=8}}</ref> The opening of this section of line coincided with the beginning of service at [[Croxley Green railway station|Croxley Green]] and [[Watford West railway station|Watford West]] stations on the Croxley Green branch line.<ref name="New Line"/>
===Electric service===
Line 72:
The Bakerloo line was extended from Queen's Park to Willesden Junction on 10 May 1915.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bakerloo Line Extended |work=Harrow Observer |date=28 May 1915 |page=4}}</ref> [[Kensal Green station]], between Queen's Park and Willesden Junction, opened on 1 October 1916 for Bakerloo line service.<ref>{{cite news |title=News in Brief |work=Reading Mercury |date=30 September 1916 |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Patmore |first1=John Allan |title=A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Greater London |date=1987 |publisher=David & Charles |page=129}}</ref>
On 10 December 1916, trial electric services were run between Willesden Junction and Watford Junction.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Electric Line |work=Harrow Observer |date=15 December 1916 |page=5}}</ref> The Bakerloo line service was extended from Willesden Junction to Watford Junction on Monday 16 April 1917. The service over this section initially ran every 15 minutes on Monday to Saturday with a [[skip-stop]] service at peak times. On Sunday trains terminated at Willesden.<ref>{{cite news |title=Open Air Tube |work=Daily News |date=17 April 1917 |page=3}}</ref>
The final section of new line was constructed between Queen's Park and Chalk Farm, with two platforms provided at Euston for electric trains.<ref>{{cite news |title=Latest Electric Line |work=Daily Chronicle |date=8 July 1922 |page=3}}</ref> LNWR electric service from Broad Street and Euston to Watford Junction commenced on Monday 10 July 1922, following a trial service on 7 July 1922.<ref name="New Electric">{{cite news |title=New Electric Railway |work=Daily Mirror |date=8 July 1922 |page=3}}</ref> Service that had been withdrawn in 1917 was reinstated at [[South Hampstead railway station|South Hampstead]], [[Kilburn High Road railway station|Kilburn]] and [[Primrose Hill railway station|Chalk Farm]] stations.<ref name="New Electric"/> The introduction of all electric service on the line decreased the journey time for Bakerloo trains by three minutes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Quicker Watford Trains |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=10 July 1922 |page=8}}</ref> Peak services ran every 15 minutes from Watford Junction to Euston, Watford Junction to Broad Street and Watford Junction to Elephant and Castle. At off-peak times the Euston and Broad Street services ran every half hour.<ref>{{cite news |title=Opening of New Electric Railway |work=St. Pancras Guardian |page=2}}</ref>
Line 79:
The line opened with conventional semaphore [[Railway signalling|signalling]] mechanically operated from [[signal box]]es at each station, this system remained in use after electrification.
The [[London, Midland and Scottish Railway]] introduced an automatic electric signalling system in the early 1930s over most of the route and some signal boxes were abolished.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LMSR New Lines signalling |url=https://www.davros.org/rail/signalling/lmsr/newlines.html |access-date=2024-02-11 |website=www.davros.org}}</ref> A similar system was also used for a shorter period between [[Bromley-by-Bow tube station|Bromley-by-Bow]] and [[Upminster station|Upminster]] now part of the [[District line]]. The very closely spaced mix of automatic and semi-automatic signals, repeater signals, and auxiliary calling-on aspects was intended to let trains to proceed, after a set delay, at low speed past "failed" signals on track with no junctions without the need to contact a signalman, but this could lead to a nose-to-tail queue of trains as they all reached the location of a real line blockage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LMS Watford New Line Signalling |url=http://railsigns.uk/info/watnew1.html |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=railsigns.uk}}</ref>
[[Train stop]]s were provided (except at repeater signals) to allow [[London Electric Railway]] (LER) trains to operate over the line without the special provision of a second man; this enabled the same practice to be continued with all other Underground and main line stock subsequently allocated to this line and which was provided with trip equipment.
Line 91:
Normally Kilburn High Road and Stonebridge Power House which controlled only plain track with crossovers were switched out and only Queens Park, Willesden and Harrow boxes were staffed for at least part of the day, to deal with junction and siding traffic. In the early 1980s manual control of signalling was needed for a few months after dragging gear on a train destroyed many electric train-stops which were of a design almost confined to this line (LU train-stops are mostly electro-pneumatic). By this time the signal boxes at Stonebridge Power House and Kilburn High Road had been abolished. Emergency crossovers at other locations were controlled by [[Lever frame|ground frames]] enclosed in structures the size of a garden shed.
In 1988, the LMS system was replaced by a more standard system controlled from a new signal box, Willesden Suburban, and the remaining local boxes were abolished.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stacy |first=Mungo |date=2014-02-25 |title=25 years after Clapham - Pride turns to despair |url=https://www.railengineer.co.uk/years-clapham-despair/ |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=Rail Engineer |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1988 |url=https://www.nsers.org/1988.html |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=Network SouthEast Railway Society |language=en}}</ref> The new system had solid state interlocking, but far fewer signals; as a consequence the maximum traffic capacity of the line was severely reduced. In the early 1960s, there were headways of less than 2 minutes between Harrow & Wealdstone and Willesden Junction stations, the section of line used by nearly all services.
In the early 2000s, Willesden Suburban was closed and control passed to Wembley Main Line Signalling Centre.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2000-12-28 |title=Signal work on track |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1091129.stm |access-date=2024-11-03 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>Errata sheet for Volume 8 Signal Box Register London Transport - Index pages 49 and 64 https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/downloads/RegcorrsLT.pdf</ref>
===Electrification===
Line 108:
===Decline===
Evening services between Queen's Park and Watford Junction were reduced from every 10
During 1965, there was a significant reduction of services with off-peak Bakerloo line trains withdrawn north of Queen's Park and services to Broad Street cut in July.<ref>{{cite news |title=Restore Trains |work=Harrow Observer |date=21 October 1965 |page=8}}</ref>
===Operators===
The line was operated by [[British Rail]] (from 1986 as [[Network SouthEast]]) until privatisation. In the Network SouthEast period, it was briefly rebranded as the '''Harlequin line''', after the stations of [[Harlesden station|Harlesden]] and [[Queen's Park (London) station|Queen's Park]].<ref name="BR launches Operation Sparkle">{{cite web|last1=Crozier|first1=David|title=BR launches Operation Sparkle|url=http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/nostalgia/memories/11881998.BR_launches_Operation_Sparkle/|website=Watford Observer|date=27 March 2015 |access-date=23 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Johnson|first1=Marc|title=25 years after Clapham|url=http://www.railengineer.uk/2014/02/25/years-clapham-despair/|website=Rail Engineer|access-date=24 August 2015}}</ref>
From March 1997 until November 2007, the line was operated by [[Silverlink]]. In November 2007, [[Transport for London|Transport for London (TfL)]] took full management control of all the intermediate Watford DC line stations as part of the London Overground (LO) service with staffing during opening hours, automatic ticket gates and planned station refurbishment to the standard of the Tube network.<ref name="silverlink">{{cite web
<!-- url was url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/3736.aspx -->
<!-- then moved to year/month -->
| |||