Jubilee Line Charing Cross Branch

[riceuten]

Just looking at the (very excellent) cartometro website, which has accurate mapping for the London Underground, where crossovers and sidings are

Detailled London transport map (track, depot, ...)

cartometro.com

When I was looking at the Jubilee line, I looked at how far beyond the station the sidings went (as I recall, the Walthamstow Central tunnels. and possibly the Bakerloo tunnels extend to 2 trains in each siding. However, the Jubilee line sidings seem to go back MUCH further than that. Was this an aborted extension (or, as the tinfoil hatters would have it, a "secret" link to a key building - I will leave you to decide which). Or perhaps Monsieur Cartometro has it wrong ?



Compare to Victoria Line at Walthamstow Central



Or Elephant Station on the Bakerloo

 

[bramling]

Just looking at the (very excellent) cartometro website, which has accurate mapping for the London Underground, where crossovers and sidings are

Detailled London transport map (track, depot, ...)

cartometro.com

When I was looking at the Jubilee line, I looked at how far beyond the station the sidings went (as I recall, the Walthamstow Central tunnels. and possibly the Bakerloo tunnels extend to 2 trains in each siding. However, the Jubilee line sidings seem to go back MUCH further than that. Was this an aborted extension (or, as the tinfoil hatters would have it, a "secret" link to a key building - I will leave you to decide which). Or perhaps Monsieur Cartometro has it wrong ?

View attachment 106370

Compare to Victoria Line at Walthamstow Central

View attachment 106371

Or Elephant Station on the Bakerloo

View attachment 106372

Yes the extra length was passive provision for the next phase of the Fleet Line. Two fan shafts were also built, one serving the sidings, and another partly built between Aldwych and Ludgate Circus.

 

[theking]

 

[riceuten]

Yes the extra length was passive provision for the next phase of the Fleet Line. Two fan shafts were also built, one serving the sidings, and another partly built between Aldwych and Ludgate Circus.

It looks from the map as if it almost reaches Aldwych.

I'm old enough to remember the Charing Cross branch in use, and I remember a train coming out of the tunnel (empty stock) with "Do not board" signs on each set of doors - which would have been challenging as the train didn't stop and the doors didn't open. And I also read recently that, if the Bakerloo line is extended, it won't be via the sidings heading towards Camberwell. Infact, the illustration above more or less implies this. When I lived in Walthamstow, there was frequent talk about extending the tube to Chingford Station via the (now London Overground) Chingford branch, though how they would have done that particular feat of engineering I think passed people by.

 

[rebmcr]

I remember a train coming out of the tunnel (empty stock) with "Do not board" signs on each set of doors - which would have been challenging as the train didn't stop and the doors didn't open.

The train would have gone out of service while stopped at a platform, before entering the tunnel in the first place. It's also possible for it to encounter a red signal while passing another platform on its journey.

 

[Dstock7080]

There was recent talk of the abandoned extension tunnels in the Holborn and the Aldwych branch thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/holborn-and-the-aldwych-branch.220096/page-4#post-5347557

 

[Southernrover]

When I was a driver on the Jubilee line many many years ago stabling in CX sdgs was quite commonplace.
The two sidings were very long and after stabling a train in there a key-switch was operated by the driver which prevented the platform you were walking out to from being used.
Once you were out the key was inserted in a switch and that platform could be used again.
The reverse process was used to bring a train back out of the siding.

Occasionally during disruption you ended up sitting down the siding for some time and you could hear the District Line trains between Embankment and Temple so that gives you some idea of where the sidings ended.
They would have gone on along Fleet St if the jubilee had been extended that way but Margret Thatcher and a whole heap of politics saw to that!

 

[birchesgreen]

I really recommend doing the Hidden London Charing X tour, you'll get to walk the former Jubilee Line tunnels (and behind the scenes too).

 

[357]

I really recommend doing the Hidden London Charing X tour, you'll get to walk the former Jubilee Line tunnels (and behind the scenes too).

The track tunnels? Or the passenger walkways?

 

[birchesgreen]

Passenger walkways, Jubilee Line platform and some service tunnels.

 

[fgwrich]

I really recommend doing the Hidden London Charing X tour, you'll get to walk the former Jubilee Line tunnels (and behind the scenes too).

It really is a fascinating place and like Aldwych, a bit of a time warp too. I've been lucky in the course of my work to be involved in a few joint Emergency Services training scenarios down there.

 

[Snow1964]

It looks from the map as if it almost reaches Aldwych.

I'm old enough to remember the Charing Cross branch in use, and I remember a train coming out of the tunnel (empty stock) with "Do not board" signs on each set of doors - which would have been challenging as the train didn't stop and the doors didn't open. And I also read recently that, if the Bakerloo line is extended, it won't be via the sidings heading towards Camberwell. Infact, the illustration above more or less implies this. When I lived in Walthamstow, there was frequent talk about extending the tube to Chingford Station via the (now London Overground) Chingford branch, though how they would have done that particular feat of engineering I think passed people by.

The Victoria line was not originally supposed to end at Walthamstow Central (then called Hoe Street), it was a cost cutting line shortening. Also the reason why nothing more than a subway entrance from old GER station was built.

Elephant & Castle Bakerloo had new platforms on a different alignment built with intention of extending the line (but the extension never happened when WW2 killed projects), the old alignment is clear on map in opening post.

 

[Busaholic]

The Victoria line was not originally supposed to end at Walthamstow Central (then called Hoe Street), it was a cost cutting line shortening. Also the reason why nothing more than a subway entrance from old GER station was built.

I can't quite agree with your choice of language there. There were never any firm plans to extend the line beyond Walthamstow: in the original proposals the terminus would have been at Wood Street. John Biggs-Davison, the Tory MP for Chigwell, an influential backbencher, was instrumental in orchestrating a move to extend it to Woodford or South Woodford to ease pressure on the Central Line, which was never a serious consideration for transport planners, indeed would have undermined the case for the line in NE London. Nor were there ever official plans to extend to Whipps Cross and Leytonstone.