Chesham (London Underground)
Chesham is an above-ground station of the London Underground in Buckinghamshire , northwest of London . It is located in the village of Chesham on Station Road and is one of four western terminus of the Metropolitan Line . The station, located in Travelcard tariff zone 9, is one of 14 outside Greater London and was used by 0.69 million passengers in 2013. It is therefore the least used station on the Metropolitan Line. At a distance of around 40 kilometers from Charing Cross , Chesham is the farthest underground station from central London. At the same time, it forms the northernmost and westernmost point of the underground network. The distance of 6.26 kilometers to the neighboring Chalfont & Latimer station is also the greatest distance between two underground stations.
history
On July 8, 1889, the Metropolitan Railway (predecessor of the Metropolitan Line) opened the station when they extended their main line beyond Rickmansworth to this point. Efforts were made to extend the route to Tring and connect there with the West Coast Main Line (route London - Birmingham of the London and North Western Railway ). After the purchase of some of the necessary land plots and some work on a concrete dam, the plans were dropped again. The underground lines northwest of Rickmansworth were the last of the entire network to be electrified on September 12, 1960. The last steam-powered train ran on September 10, 1961.
Furnishing
Originally, Chesham station had the platform track that is still in use today and a freight and transfer track to the east . While the route in the direction of Chalfont & Latimer was single-tracked immediately behind the passenger station, to the north both tracks led to an extensive loading facility that extended to Hempstead Road (now White Hill ). It consisted of three by two loading and siding tracks reaching to the street , a slightly shorter coal track in the east and a loading track for dairy cattle in the west. A goods shed was built at the far end of the western bundle of tracks . The station forecourt stretched at the end of Station Road exactly between the loading facility in the north and the station building located directly on the platform in the south.
The heart of the passenger station still in use today is the arranged parallel to the platform station building . Angled to the north towards the station forecourt, a water tower was erected at the southern end of the building . As an extension of this tower, another, blunt-ended passenger train was added a few years later , with the result that the station, now equipped with an island platform , had two platform tracks of different lengths and the freight and transfer track to the east. The end of the central platform on the street side is still covered up to about the height of the water tower. Diagonally opposite, on the other side of the eastern track area, is the signal box .
In July 1966, goods loading was stopped in Chesham, which made the loading facilities and freight tracks in the extension of the two eastern tracks superfluous. After the goods area was demolished, both tracks ended bluntly at a buffer stop at the level of the northern end of the platform, and the transfer track was completely removed a short time later. Due to a lack of demand, the western platform track was shut down in 1970, so that there are no more alternative options on the entire Chesham branch, which makes the line the only single-track branch of the Metropolitan Line. The station building, including the signal box and water tower, is a listed building ( Grade II ). Several parking spaces for the underground station and a supermarket were created on the area of the former loading facility in the area of today's The Backs street. The unused western track trough in the station area was planted.
service
Since December 12, 2010, eight-car trains have been running every 30 minutes from Chesham to Baker Street during the day, and even to Aldgate during rush hour . This represents a significant improvement in the offer. Previously, a single four-car shuttle train to Chalfont & Latimer, where passengers had to change trains, usually ran during the day. Individual trains only ran to Baker Street during rush hour.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2013 annual entries and exits. (xls; 228 KiB) Transport for London, 2014, accessed on July 27, 2014 (English).
- ↑ Key facts. Transport for London, accessed January 8, 2013 .
- ^ Metropolitan Line. Clive's Underground Line Guides, accessed January 8, 2013 .
- ^ The Metropolitan & Great Central Railway Joint Committee Survey of Chesham. (No longer available online.) Norman Lucey (2011), archived from the original on April 7, 2014 ; accessed on April 5, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Chesham Underground Station including water tower to south and signal box to south-east. In: National heritage list of England. National Heritage, accessed January 8, 2013 .
- ^ A brief (ish) History of the Railway in Chesham. (PDF) Roger Evans (1985), accessed April 5, 2014 .
- ^ Chesham shuttle to be replaced by direct trains next month. (No longer available online.) Buckinghamshire Advertiser, Nov 17, 2010, archived from the original October 7, 2012 ; accessed on January 8, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| Previous station | Transport for London | Next station |
|---|---|---|
| final destination |
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Chalfont & Latimer |
Coordinates: 51 ° 42 ′ 18.5 ″ N , 0 ° 36 ′ 39.9 ″ W.