WTT35

I what have thought that the picc circus xover is doomed! Its not in a great location and certainly can't be used for regular reversing. Is there anywhere else in town to reverse bar Waterloo (depot). Charing X would be a good place?

I can't see anyone wanting to spend a fortune at Marylebone or Edgware Road. I imagine the costs to be prohibitive at installing a crossover at either and then the question would be whether or not to build a new IMR at either site or control the crossover from Baker Street (Marylebone) or Paddington (Edgware Road) existing IMR.

I think there is probably room on the frame at Paddington although I really can't remember the layout though I was present when it was commissioned about 20 years ago. Paddington IMR is a very tight space between the platforms so there probably would not be the room for the additional relays and fuse bays.

As for Baker St. I think it could be a non-starter, it is as far as I know unique in that it is the only interlocking machine I am aware of that is controlled from two geographically separated control rooms i.e. Bakerloo and Jubilee. The IMR is a Bakerloo asset and there could perhaps be merit in removing the Jubilee controls to a separate Jubilee IMR with signal slotting each way to enable stock transfers between the two lines. This would possibly free up enough levers to control a new crossover at Marylebone. It may be that the Jubilee resignalling will obviate the transfer of Jubilee controls from the Bakerloo IMR but I don't know.

Brian

I don't think they can afford not to. Every time there is an incident south of Paddington, the line is effectively suspended in the whole of Central London.

AFAIK the plan is for Piccadilly Circus crossover to be reinstated, though I've no idea what the timescale is for this.

I feel a story coming on.

I was late spare at Northfields (Picc, we had District crews there then too) one evening and the YM (Yardmaster) asked if I would go to KX to pilot a GG Crew from there to Acton Works. "OK", I said, thinking that Northern Line 38s were faster then ours because they had all the motors cut in and I wondered how fast they would go between Caley Rd and KX WB!

Anyway, I got to KX and went to see the inspector, who had his office on the EB Picc then, and asked him when this train was coming. "Oh" he said, "You should be at Euston to meet him. He needs a pilot over the loop". Well, I didn't know the loop. I wondered if I should just say so and go back to Northfields. But, I thought, how difficult can it be? I had a butchers at the local line diagram on the office wall to get the idea where the signals were and off I went to Euston (City) SB platform.

When the train showed up I just said to the driver, "Follow the sticks". You have to cross from the SB to the NB City line here still moving south and then there's a very sharp right hand curve up a very steep gradient. We got stopped at the KX home. The bank is so steep here that I told the driver to open up with the brakes still on so we didn't roll back onto the Northern. I felt better once we got onto home ground. We went to Arnos to reverse and then let rip on the west. The GG driver was up for it. I can confirm the Northern's 38s were faster. We had a clear road back. It's mostly downhill. I told the driver to wind up and keep going and we braked hard into each station. I wanted to see what the train would do. We fairly rattled down through York Road with 45 showing on the speedo (The Northern 38s had speedos, some of which actually worked.) There was no 30mph restriction there then. We hit KX WB with the brakes hard on and blow downs blasting away to slow for the 5mph limit.

"Do you blokes always drive like this?" the GG man asked me. "Oh yes", I said, "We have to to keep time!" In those days, the running time from Wood Green to Acton Town was 40 minutes. Now it's 44.

What's the loop like in the opposite direction? I have "traversed" it but so long ago I can't remember. Also, what is the steepest gradient on the LU as a matter of interest?

Of course! But I had to. It was the practice in those days (mid 60s) for the 38s going from the Northern to Acton for overhaul to be taken over the Picc by specially trained GG crews. I did the pilot job because they didn't have a trained driver available. That day they used a stepped up guard/motorman. It was also the practice to go to Wood Green or Arnos rather than reverse at KX because of the delay it could cause.
When I last went there in an official capacity a couple of years ago, there was so much packed in there that the place always got overheated, in spite of the air con, and they had to leave the door open to prevent the electronics from shutting down. A guard had to be posted on the door 24/7 because it opens into a public cross passage. The bloke I spoke to said he read a lot of newspapers!

I seem to remember that the IMR at KX was different to all the others in that a plastic cover wasput over or was it perspex?

John Tilly wrote about V frames and mentioned exactly that i.e. perspex.

I can think of one or two IMRs missing the covers on the back of the frames. Likewise the fuse bay covers always seemed to get in the way IMO. Thankfully I never had to deal with many of them.