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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2009 14:44:27 GMT
When travelling into West Kensington from the Westbound service, you can see a trackbed (no rails) that seems to pass to the right of the Westbound platform. Was there once another playtorm there (and if so, where did trains go to from it?)? Or was it a siding or spur to the sidings nearby at Earls Court (high level, if that's the word for them)?  |
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Post by 21146 on Jan 26, 2009 15:52:41 GMT
When travelling into West Kensington from the Westbound service, you can see a trackbed (no rails) that seems to pass to the right of the Westbound platform. Was there once another playtorm there (and if so, where did trains go to from it?)? Or was it a siding or spur to the sidings nearby at Earls Court (high level, if that's the word for them)? This was a non-passenger route into LMS coal sidings adjacent to Lillie Bridge depot I believe. The same reason there was a siding east of Turnham Green and between Barons Court and West Kensington so that steam trains could layover whilst awaiting a path. www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/3229047950/I've always wondered why the WB canopy has a break in it as opposed to the EB. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2009 16:54:56 GMT
thought that was the orignal access to lillie bridge
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Post by tubeprune on Jan 26, 2009 21:37:40 GMT
thought that was the orignal access to lillie bridge No, the original access (in steam days pre 1905) was a back shunt from the WLER. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2009 17:02:54 GMT
Thanks for the answers, everyone.  |
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Jan 28, 2009 9:19:18 GMT
The trackbed to the right at West Ken was indeed the access to the LMS coal depot at fulham. If you go along North End road, behind the Fuller's pub, that's where the depot was. There was also a siding to a brewery which was situated on Lillie Road. There is a track plan in the Middleton Press book on the West London Line.
The "new" flats built on the coal yard site have roads named after railway engineers.
The other access to Lillie Bridge Depot was from the e/b District. I believe this was the running connection for the GNP&B car sheds at Lillie Bridge, hence the historic reason for the Picc to run to West Ken at night! Again, this connection is shown in the WLR book.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2009 1:25:10 GMT
West Ken was definitly built with 4 platforms in mind, possibly for planned future use which never came about. You can see the canopy roofs go to a point then slope back towards the walls. They are very similar to Ravenscourt Park.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Jan 29, 2009 8:51:37 GMT
Possibly. Quite where the other pair of lines would go to has not, I believe, been mentioned anywhere. Te track was still in the goods yard to the mid 1970's IIRC.
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Post by mrjrt on Jan 29, 2009 10:57:07 GMT
West Ken was definitly built with 4 platforms in mind, possibly for planned future use which never came about. You can see the canopy roofs go to a point then slope back towards the walls. They are very similar to Ravenscourt Park. My guess.....before the Piccadilly was a concern you had the Express District concept. If West Ken. was four tracked through to Earls Court, you'd have had a solid 4-track option all the way through from Northfields through to the end of the Express District at Mansion House, as it was to dive into tunnel under South Kensington. The Pic. obviously took over the responsibility east of there. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2009 20:01:59 GMT
Thanks for the more info. Really intriguing - such a shame the express District never went ahead.
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Post by tubeprune on Jan 30, 2009 17:53:13 GMT
Quite by chance I found a reference to the W Ken sidings yesterday. On Wednesday 14th January 1903 a special Midland Railway train delivered "motor cars" to "their sidings at West Kensington". This was the first of the District's experimental A Stock cars which were to be used on the South Harrow line. Presumably they had come down the Midland Main Line from the Brush factory at Loughborough.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Jan 30, 2009 19:56:09 GMT
West Ken was definitly built with 4 platforms in mind, possibly for planned future use which never came about. You can see the canopy roofs go to a point then slope back towards the walls. They are very similar to Ravenscourt Park. My guess.....before the Piccadilly was a concern you had the Express District concept. If West Ken. was four tracked through to Earls Court, you'd have had a solid 4-track option all the way through from Northfields through to the end of the Express District at Mansion House, as it was to dive into tunnel under South Kensington. The Pic. obviously took over the responsibility east of there. I don't know where the express District was to have gone down, but the platform tunnels are still there inder south Ken. the e/b Picc uses on, the escalator room uses the w/b tunnel. The w'b still has the suicide pit too! See separate thread on the Picc bit for more details. |
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Post by abe on Feb 3, 2009 11:09:40 GMT
Re tunnels at South Ken: The lowest escalator landing and concourse uses the partially constructed WB tunnel. The anti-suicide pits weren't added to the Underground until the late 1920s, and I've seen no photos of this platform having such a pit - if it does then it must have been for something else.
The EB Piccadilly and deep-level District would have shared the same platform (that which exists today). Beyond the east headwall the large tunnel continues, and was to house the junction.
There's more detail and a 3D isometric drawing of the station as it was built (and as it was intended) in London's Lost Tube Schemes.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Feb 3, 2009 15:40:39 GMT
There certainly IS a suicide pit on the w/b express District tunnel at S Ken, I've seen it. The platform is still there too.
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Post by abe on Feb 4, 2009 8:37:30 GMT
I'm intrigued then. According to Follenfant (Reconstructing London's Underground) the tunnel was used for the escalator concourse. It was only a short length of tunnel - about 120ft from memory, immediately adjacent to the lift shafts and the other side of them from the Piccadilly WB platform. Photos from the 1920s (when it was used as a signalling school) don't show an anti-suicide pit. So when was this done? When did you see the tunnel like this, and do you have any photos?
Thanks.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,275
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Post by roythebus on Feb 4, 2009 8:49:04 GMT
A section of that tunnel is indeed used at the escalator concourse. I was shown round the station in the late 1980's by a friend who now posts here who was SM at SK, usually on nights. Neither of us had cameras with us as this was for me an impromptu visit!
The section of tunnel my friend showed me had the platform and trackbed including the pit.
This visit was shortly after the KX fire and I was later given permission to clear out some junk from store rooms in the exhibition subway. This included some rather heavy plywood advert boards, which when the paper ads were removed some years later, revealed some remarkable enamel signs from the top of the DR stairs at Gloucester Road dating from about 1921. I also have the long sign from the exhibition subway and 2 DR wooden bench seats dating from about 1880!
3 of the signs are now on display at a railway club in north London; the 4th of the set is at my friend's place in Wales.
Going a bit off topic but interesting.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2009 18:15:39 GMT
Hi all. My first post on this forum.
South Kensington was much mutilated during the removal of the old Piccadilly and Brompton Railway booking hall/top station and closure of the associated lifts. In the late 70s the lowest circulating area, down the steps from 1, 2 and 3 escalators, had three rooms in it from the steps the first was a switch room, the second was the responsibility of the signal department and the far one was the Piccadilly Line Station Foreman's office. The three rooms together with their short length of passageway was originally the upper section of the deep level line. As has been said before, the lower part, under the floor if you like, was the bottom of the 25 foot platform tunnel. It can be accesses from the lower escalator machine room. The tunnel obviously continued west as somewhere about 100m west of the WB Picc is a step plate junction. In all the time I worked around there I never saw any access from the station part to any tunnel coming off of the step plate.
The only parts of what was the deep level EB that I am aware of was a room off of the platform that was used by the P.way as their mess room and further east a door leading into another section that was a pump room. The P.way mess room was a 12 ft dia tunnel which would have been correct as they bored them that size then opened the station sections out to 25 ft later. There is another step plate on the EB just before the reverse curves that take the Picc north up and under Cromwell road. Again, I am not aware of any connection from the step plate to the station section although there is a bolt hole and stepladder, very, very, very dirty stepladder, down to the WE tunnel.
In the late 70s there was a working hydraulic floodgate in the EB step plate. The one on the WB was stored on the platform and was installed manually with a chain hoist. It too about 10 minutes I recall.
Talking about floodgates, does anyone know what happened to the floodgate control room at the upper part of Bull and Bush (nearly a station) on the Northern Line?
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