Widened lines

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Widened lines
Disused tracks of the Widened Lines at Barbican station (2011)
Disused tracks of the Widened Lines at Barbican station (2011)
Widened Lines route
Widened lines and connecting lines
Route length: 3 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system : 25 kV / 50 Hz  ~
Maximum slope : 25  ‰
Minimum radius : 200 m
Dual track : continuous

The Widened Lines (also City Widened Lines ) were a railway line in London , which opened between 1866 and 1868 and ran parallel to today's Metropolitan Line , one of the first underground railways in the world. The route, built by the Metropolitan Railway , offered trains from other railway companies the opportunity to reach the City of London from terminal stations on the outskirts of the city center . At the end of the 19th century, the Widened Lines were among the busiest railway lines in the world. Due to competition from other modes of transport, the route began to decline in importance at the beginning of the 20th century, and this continued into the 1970s. Part of the Widened Lines is currently used by Thameslink .

Construction and route

In January 1863, the Metropolitan Railway opened its first line between Paddington and Farringdon Street stations (today's name: Farringdon). It was near Paddington station with the main line of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and at King's Cross station with the Great Northern Railway (GNR) connected, so that trains of these two companies could transfer to the subway. The Metropolitan Railway was a huge success. In view of the high number of passengers, the company decided to use a permit that had been in place since 1861 to build a third and fourth track. This pair of tracks , known as widened lines , was only connected to the Metropolitan Line by a few switches in the common stations.

The first section of the Widened Lines went into operation on March 1, 1866 between Farringdon and Aldergate Street (now Barbican ) stations . On July 1, 1866, the extension to Moorgate , the eastern terminus of the Widened Lines, was opened. To the west, King's Cross station was reached on January 27, 1868 (freight traffic) and February 17, 1868 (passenger traffic). On July 13, 1868, St Pancras station , the terminus of the Midland Main Line operated by the Midland Railway , opened not far from King's Cross . This route was also connected to the Widened Lines. A further extension of the widened lines to the west was planned and structurally prepared, but was never put into operation. As early as January 1, 1866, the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) had reached Farringdon station with the Metropolitan Extension through the Snow Hill Tunnel from the south. The connection to the LC&DR was completed on September 1, 1871 by the construction of a curve towards Aldergate Street to form a track triangle. By connecting the LC & DR route, the Widened Lines became part of the only north-south connection through the City of London.

Like the Metropolitan Line, the Widened Lines were mainly built as a sub-paving railway in a simple, low-lying area. Almost all the tunnels were in open cut (English in pits cut and cover created). Between the Farringdon and King's Cross stations is the 670 meter long Widening Tunnel, an underground tunnel in which the line reaches a maximum depth of 18 meters. There are cuttings between the tunnels, all of which were bordered with lining walls in view of the high land acquisition costs .

The Moorgate terminus of the Widened Lines consisted of three butt-ended platform tracks at the end of the 19th century, which were assigned to the railway companies GNR, Midland and LC&DR. To the west of the platforms there were short side tracks with small coaling systems for the steam locomotives . The platforms of the other stations - Aldersgate Street, Farringdon Street and King's Cross Metropolitan - were parallel to those of the Metropolitan Line. From Moorgate up to and including Farringdon, the Widened Lines lie south of the Metropolitan Line. To the north of Farringdon station, the Widened Lines cross under the parallel line and run to King's Cross on the north side. In order to enable a crossing-free underpass, the construction of a ramp with a slope of 1:40 north of Farringdon was necessary; In addition, the platforms of the Widened Lines in Farringdon are almost a meter lower than those of the Metropolitan Line.

The connection of the Widened Lines to the GNR route starting from King's Cross, the East Coast Main Line , took place via two single-track tunnels, which were arranged to the west and east of the terminus. At the tunnel portal of the East Branch , the route into town, the King's Cross York Road station was built with a platform. Trains going out of town passed the Hotel Curve , which passed under the station hotel . Initially, the trains out of town returned to the terminus after leaving the Hotel Curve . In February 1878 a platform was opened at the Hotel Curve , which was at a slope of 1:60.

About 60 meters after the Hotel Curve junction , the Widened Lines connected to two single-track, 1.6-kilometer-long tunnels owned by the Midland. The tunnels crossed under Regent's Canal and the North London Line , before the line merged into the main line from St Pancras station.

Freight yards

Farringdon station from the north (2007): on the left the tracks of the Metropolitan Line, in the middle the tracks of the Widened Lines used by Thameslink with system change, on the right the office building built on the site of the former freight station
Access ramp to the former Smithfield Market freight yard (2007)

Between 1869 and 1878 three freight yards were opened on the Widened Lines, which - according to Ludwig Troske in 1892 - were in the "most advantageous location" in the City of London and enjoyed "extremely lively traffic". The freight yards had warehouses for incoming goods that were not immediately accepted by the recipients. At the end of the 19th century, the goods were delivered by the railway companies, who used horse-drawn vehicles for this . Due to the cramped conditions in the freight yards, the length of the freight trains was limited to around 20 cars; longer trains were divided before traveling on the widened lines.

On May 3, 1869, the GWR opened a freight yard with six tracks under Smithfield Market , the central London meat market completed the previous year. The tracks of the Widened Lines also crossed under the market hall. Around 1891 the freight yard, including officials and carts, had around 550 employees. Up to 550 tons of goods were handled every day, 350 tons of which were dispatched and 200 tons were received. Special meat trains operated to supply the market, for example mutton, which came from slaughter in Australia and was imported via the port of Bristol . The Smithfield Market freight yard was closed on July 30, 1962.

The Farringdon freight yard of the GNR went into operation on November 2, 1874. It was on a narrow strip of land between the passenger station and Farringdon Road. The GNR already owned two freight yards in London, which were a bit away from the city, which made the delivery of goods more expensive in view of the high prices for horses in the 1870s. Around 1891, 13 freight trains ran to this station, 12 of them at night. 600 tons were handled per day, a large part of which were fish, vegetables and potatoes, which were intended for the market in Covent Garden , among other things . The station was badly damaged in German air raids in 1941 and shut down in January 1956. The warehouse was demolished in 1988; an office building was built in its place until 1992.

Whitecross Street freight yard, opened in 1878 by Midland, was south of the line between Moorgate and Aldersgate Street stations. The loading tracks, arranged roughly at right angles to the route, were connected by turntables ; the freight wagons were moved with cables. By 1891, 16 trains a day with a total of 140 cars carried around 400 tons of freight to the Whitecross Street freight yard. The area around the station, which was closed on March 1, 1936, was badly damaged by the German air raids during World War II. The Barbican Center, which opened in 1982, is partly located on the site of the former train station.

business

At the end of the 19th century, the widened lines were only used for passenger transport by suburban trains from other railway companies, who used their own locomotives and wagons and their own staff. Trains of the Metropolitan Railway used the parallel route, which from 1884 was part of the Inner Circle , a circular railway around the city center.

With the completion of the Widened Lines in 1868, the joint traffic of the GNR and the LC&DR, which had existed since January 1866, used the new pair of tracks. From September 1871, the LC&DR offered trains to Moorgate. The Midland started trains to Moorgate in July 1868 and started a joint service with the LC&DR in June 1869. The terminus of the trains on the Widened Lines included the train stations London Victoria , Clapham Junction , Herne Hill , Woolwich Arsenal and Brighton in the south and Kentish Town , High Barnet and Enfield in the north.

In the 1880s, over 200 Widened Lines passenger trains ended up in Moorgate every day; Another 100 trains drove from the Snow Hill Tunnel over the route towards King's Cross. At the beginning of the 1890s, a good 400 trains per day and direction ran on the Widened Lines, including around 130 freight trains. Some of the freight trains were used for traffic to the freight stations on the route, others used the north-south connection through the Snow Hill Tunnel.

Decline and subsequent use

At the beginning of the 20th century the importance of widened lines began to decline, the main cause of which was the competition with other, mostly electrically powered, modes of transport. Operation on the Widened Lines had hardly changed since the 1870s; the cars used were considered antiquated. The problems with the ventilation of the tunnels caused by the use of steam locomotives could never be solved in a satisfactory manner. Commuters who used the steam-powered trains were referred to in the City of London around 1900 as " sewer rats " (English: sewer rats ). The Widened Lines' competitors included the City and South London Railway , an electrically operated underground railway that was extended to Moorgate in 1900. East Coast Main Line commuters were able to use the Northern City Line from Finsbury Park Station to Moorgate from 1904 . In addition, trams and buses competed for passengers.

In view of the declining passenger numbers, the joint traffic of the GNR and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR, since 1899 successor to the LC&DR) via the Widend Lines was discontinued on October 1, 1907 . On July 1, 1908, the joint operation of Midland and SE&CR ended. On April 1, 1916, SE & CR trains went to Moorgate for the last time. During the First World War , the north-south connection via the widened lines was an important supply route, especially for the British Expeditionary Corps fighting in northern France . An average of 15 military trains ran every day. During the preparation of offensives, the number of trains rose to 210 daily.

After the end of the war, the range of commuter trains on the widened lines was further reduced and from then on was limited to rush hour . In 1930, 79 trains ran daily to Moorgate. In 1940, 19 trains from High Barnet station to Moorgate were canceled because High Barnet was taken over by the Northern Line and thus integrated into the London Underground .

Between March 1926 and April 1935, trains of the Metropolitan Line ending in Moorgate ran on the Widened Lines, which avoided a level crossing at Moorgate. For this purpose, a track connection was built at King's Cross station, which led through the previously unused tunnel for an extension of the widened lines to the west. In 1941, the tunnel section was used when the King's Cross St. Pancras underground station was relocated to the west.

During the Second World War, passenger traffic on the widened lines was temporarily completely suspended. After the end of the war, the number of trains continued to decline; In 1960 there were still 18 trains running to Moorgate. From 1959 the transition to diesel traction took place . On March 23, 1969, the line through the Snow Hill Tunnel was shut down, which was last only used by freight trains. The reason was the drop in freight traffic in the 1960s. In 1951, 51 freight trains still used the connection via the widened lines and the Snow Hill tunnel every day.

Branch of the route to the Snow Hill Tunnel (to the right) south of Farringdon station (2007)

On November 7, 1976, the connecting curves at King's Cross station were closed, as the commuter trains from the East Coast Main Line from Finsbury Park on the Northern City Line to Moorgate. On July 15, 1983, electrical operations began on the Widened Lines and their connection to the Midland Main Line . Electric multiple units operated from Moorgate to Luton . To carry out the construction work, the operation of the Widened Lines was completely stopped on May 14, 1979. In the early 1980s, the Greater London Council funded a feasibility study to reopen and electrify the Snow Hill Tunnel. After the approval of the British Railways Board , tracks were laid in the Snow Hill Tunnel from 1986. In May 1988, Thameslink opened , a S-Bahn -like system that crosses central London in a north-south direction and runs the Widened Lines from King's Cross to Farringdon.

On December 9, 2007, the station last known as King's Cross Thameslink was closed on the Widened Lines. As a replacement, platforms for Thameslink were built under St Pancras station. On March 20, 2009, the trains from Bedford and Luton to Moorgate were canceled . The Widened Lines were shut down between Moorgate and Farringdon; in order to be able to extend the platforms in Farringdon. For this purpose, the branch of the line to Moorgate had to be abandoned, as it was immediately south of the platforms.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Wolmar : The subterranean railway. How the London Underground was built and how it changed the city forever. Atlantic Books, London 2005, ISBN 978-1-84354-023-6 , pp. 62f.
  2. ^ HP White: Greater London. (= A regional history of the railways of Great Britain , Volume 3) Thomas, Nairn 1987, ISBN 0-946537-39-9 , pp. 89-91.
  3. ↑ Ludwig Troske : The London Underground. (Reprint of the Springer edition, Berlin 1892) VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-18-400724-3 , p. 4.
  4. ^ White, Greater London. , P. 91f.
  5. ^ Troske, London Underground , pp. 11-13.
  6. ^ Troske, London Underground , pp. 4f, 11f.
  7. ^ White, Greater London. , Pp. 91, 162f; King's Cross York Road at www.disused-stations.org.uk (accessed July 2, 2013).
  8. ^ Troske, London Underground , p. 5.
  9. ^ Troske, London Underground , p. 73.
  10. ↑ Troske, London Underground , pp. 73–79.
  11. ^ Troske, London Underground , pp. 74f.
  12. ^ White, Greater London. , P. 89.
  13. ↑ Troske, London Underground , pp. 76f.
  14. ^ Farringdon Road. In: Philip Temple (ed.): South and East Clerkenwell (= Survey of London , Volume 46) Yale University Press, New Haven 2008, ISBN 978-0-300-13727-9 , pp. 358-384. ( online ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , accessed on July 2, 2013). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.british-history.ac.uk
  15. ↑ Troske, London Underground , pp. 77f.
  16. ↑ a b c d e White, Greater London. , P. 92.
  17. ^ Troske, London Underground , pp. 5f; White, Greater London. , P. 92; Wolmar, subterranean railway , p. 63.
  18. ^ Troske, London Underground , p. 67.
  19. ^ Wolmar, subterranean railway , p. 109.
  20. ^ Christian Wolmar: Fire & steam. A new history of the railways in Britain. Atlantic Books, London 2007, ISBN 978-1-84354-629-0 , p. 211.
  21. ^ White, Greater London. , P. 91f.
  22. ^ White, Greater London. , P. 94.
  23. ^ White, Greater London. , Pp. 95, 160.
  24. ↑ King's Cross Thameslink at www.disused-stations.org.uk (accessed July 4, 2013).
  25. ↑ Moorgate (Widened Lines platforms) at www.disused-stations.org.uk (accessed July 4, 2013).