Heathrow and the District

District services to Hounslow West ceased 9th October 1964, and to Northfields on the 10th. The line had to be to tube gauge because the section to Hatton Cross was cut-and-cover and is barely below the road surface...it was bad enough digging up and the inconvenience to all and sundry as it was. Also it had to climb over the River Crane as I said before. Then of course there was the tube tunnels to Heathrow Central through the gravel under the airport. However at least SS stock could reverse at Hounslow Central, until the bridges over Lampton and Kingsley Roads were replaced with tube gauge versions only..short-sighted in my opinion.

I have never seen any reference to four-tracking myself when I researched the subject 30 + years ago, but there were also discussions about extending the SR to the airport from just south of Feltham, and even a monorail from Feltham! I believe that there was talk also of extending the District to Heathrow, then to Feltham to link up, and then rejoin via Richmond?

One source worth exploring is the weekly MIDDLESEX CHRONICLE paper that carried info regularly on the proposed London Airport schemes. In theory a four-track from Northfields could have been achieved but would it have meant house demolition in the Boston Manor area adjacent to the Depot? A large portion of Osterley Park would have been gobbled up, Osterley Station would have had to be rebuilt, and possibly the LT sports ground at Osterley eaten into.

There is also the fact that despite the District's direct service to Victoria and the City, the Piccadilly directly serves the West End, as well as King's Cross. It was probably felt that since people who would use Victoria BR would probably head for Gatwick instead of Heathrow (and since Airtrack did not exist and patronage on the Feltham-Heathrow bus services was undoubtedly not high enough to trip a threshold in planners' heads) that connecting the Picc to Heathrow would be better than connecting the District.

There is also the infrastructure constraint as well - see THIS THREAD for details from Oracle.

Another point worth considering too of course is the original layout of London Heathrow.

When originally proposed and constructed the idea of having the terminal buildings in the central area seemed like a 'jolly good idea' and I'm sure I'm not the only 'older' member here who remembers the days when car traffic was so much lower than it was today and those (narrow!) twin bore tunnels allowing access from the A4 into the airport were free flowing.

LHR would never be designed like that today; it would be a more traditional 'buildings around the perimeter' (as indeed are T'3 4 and 5) design, which would allow much freer flowing road traffic.

So - if one extrapolates this premise - maybe the London Underground link would also have been a surface based design and thus more appropriate for a sub surface stock and running a perimeter service round the airport. Of course it would also have meant that the tunnelers would not have had to cope with the gravel nature of that area of west London and all the problems that this has caused; the tunnel collapse during the construction of the Heathrow Express as recently as the mid 1990's comes to mind! Of course the gravel nature was only one of a number of geological factors that made tube guage an 'easier' option, but I still suspect that a sub surface tunnel as deep as would have been needed would have been so much more expensive that it would have been doomed - at least at that time. Maybe with hindsight it would have now been seen as a good idea?

Of course too the original express coach service direct from the late lamented West London Air Terminal was more than adequate in the 1950's!

Ah - nostalgia! I'll be talking Vickers Viscounts, Bristol Brittanias, Lockheed Constellations, Boeing Stratocruisers et al next.............

Was the erstwhile Staines-West Drayton line ever considered? With the construction of T5, the Colnbrook-West Drayton track is STILL intact,and less than a mile from the boundary

Anyway, what about the Deux Ponts (on cargo flights), Langedoc, Scandia, Convair 240/340/440 Metropolitains. Kept many a 1950's European airline in business!

Oh dear, oh dear - I can hear the youngsters yawning already!

And of course the entry into service of the first all jet airliners - I still remember the sight and sound of the Coronados! I grew up in Greenford under what was then the approach to the 'wet and windy' runway and remember so well the screaming of the early 707's, DC7's, Comets etc and the contrast of the last generation of prop driven airliners.

Oh - Dakotas, Yorks, Hastings (I think - or am I now at Northolt).

Who else remembers the infamous near miss of the Indian Air Force Connie (ex Northolt I think) and the TWA 707 (I think). I saw it - having been alerted by 'conflicting' engine sounds.

Err....'fraid your memory's fading a bit here!

The Douglas DC7C (Seven Seas in BOAC parlence) was a four engined piston aircraft. Only South African Airlines operated the DC7B to Europe.