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Acton Canal Wharf Junction — A Query

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Dr_Paul

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The curve from the Acton Wells to Cricklewood line to the former LNWR line where the former crosses the latter is useful as it permits through running from the former GWR main line and the North London Line on to the former LNWR line in the down direction. Perusing old maps, it seems that this curve was not always there: maps from 1915, 1935 and 1954 show merely a siding ending at the south bank of of the canal. However, a picture from the mid-1930s in BR Past and Present, no 13, shows what looks like a bridge abutment on the north bank of the canal, suggesting that there had been a bridge at some point.

Does anyone know if there was a bridge over the canal that was removed at some point and then reinstated sometime after the mid-1950s? In the absence of the connection, it would seem to me that a goods service from, say, Feltham depot on to the LNWR down line would require to reverse at Willesden Junction or go a long way around via Clapham Junction and the West London Line, which seems somewhat inconvenient.
 
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etr221

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swt_passenger

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IIRC the connection (that we have today) was put in c1966 as part of the electrification era changes, to give a link between the Willesden yards and the NSWJ.
Will that be about the same time the Freightliner Yard was being developed?
 

Dr_Paul

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Other Victorian maps on the NLS site ( https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=51.5334&lon=-0.2559&layers=163&b=7 and https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=51.5329&lon=-0.2544&layers=6&b=7 ) do show a bridge - with a very sharp curve on the far bank, not a link to the LNWR. IIRC the connection (that we have today) was put in c1966 as part of the electrification era changes, to give a link between the Willesden yards and the NSWJ.

Now that is a tight curve, or, to be more precise, corner!
 
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