Northern Express tube

The book by the subbrit team called 'Londons Secret Tubes' has more detail on it; not too much though. Interestingly it was commented somewhere online that TfL now has ownership of a few of the bunkers and that they were somehow used in the Northern Line upgrade for unspecified reasons.

In the mid-1930s, there was crowding on the Underground and particularly the Northern. A scheme was developed to build a second set of tunnels below the existing route, running from Clapham to north of Camden Town and having fewer stations. No action was taken, and the introduction of the 1938TS reduced the over-crowding.

During WW2, the Government wanted to build deep-level air raid shelters, and sought advice from LT because of its expertise in tunnelling under London. Not surprisingly, LT advised that the shelters should be long circular tunnels built under the Northern so that they could be used for the express line if it ever eventuated.

After the war, Britain was broke. The Government (which now owned LT) was just able to find funds to complete the Central extensions, but there was no hope of funding duplication of an existing line. The idea quietly died.

This was actually not the first express line that failed to be built. Around 1900, the District obtained powers to build a deep-level tube from Earls Court to Mansion House, with fewer stations than the existing sub-surface line. These powers were used to build the Piccadilly between Earls Court and South Kensington, and are the reason for the strange platform layout of the Picc at South Ken.

Another reference in the book London's Lost Railways is contained in this quote: "Since the First World War major schemes have included...the 1935 plan, the closely following, but non-published, plans evolved by the late J.P. Thomas after his retirement, the various...". J.P. Thomas was of course the guy who was brought out of retirement to help construct the WWII shelters. These give some indication of where theNorthern Express tube would have run (except Chancery Lane of course) and some of the stations it would have by-passed.

Going back much further there was express running on the Hampstead and Piccadilly tubes within a few years of opening, but this obviously wasn't additional track or tunnelling. Still, it is clearly relevant to later proposals that express service patterns were thought desirable and experimented with on the tubes (as mentioned in The Subterranean Railway) and not just the sub-surface lines. On the Hampstead tube express running between Golders Green and Euston was considered a success and alternate trains stopping at every other station was tried out on both tubes.

'By Tube beyond Edgware' mentions a 1923 London Elelctric Railway document which included a proposal for a deep level tube between E&C and Baker Street with extension north via St. John's Wood to Cricklewood or the Met and south via Peckham and the SECR to Orpington. That's probably a Bakerloo express tube (certainly 4-track provision along the central Bakerloo route) and a forerunner of the 40's London plans which evolved into the Fleet/Jubilee.

This report contained proposals for a near-capacity Hampstead/City extending northwards to various destinations and these ideas continued until New Works, including the LPTB Traffic Advisory Committee January 1936 (lead by J.P. Thomas...) "suggesting a widening of the Morden-Edgware line from Finchley to Camden Town and the West End".

More information comes from the book Underground to Everywhere mentioning a 1936 delegation from London Transport visiting New York and being impressed by the express tube services, though this is most likely after the report recommending such services. It says in the late 1930's J.P. Thomas "developed a plan for a similar network of lines beneath London, one of them running parallel to the Northern line".

Admin:

Not fantasy at all in this case. What's put forward above by CSLR is a case of what could have been had things been different some decades ago, rather than a 'what if' scenario starting from now and based on unlimited cash.....

anyway, we don't have a 'historical fantasy' board

I seem to remember that the evening flows north were greater than the flows south; this fact being somewhat disguised by the fact that the northern flows were split between two lines and that there appeared to be a greater amount of interchange traffic. It must also be remembered that there were higher levels of traffic on the West End (Charing Cross) branch for a more sustained period than on the City (Bank) branch, due to shopping/theatres/night clubs/etc.
New lines, regeneration and decline of certain residential and commercial areas, and varying travel arrangements mean that any statistics compiled at that time would have to be reviewed. As an aside, it will be interesting to see if the forthcoming changes to the Circle Line will affect future interchange traffic.
The plans that I mentioned would have involved an experimental section along one central branch and along one route beyond the central area. Kennington to Golders Green or Finchley were considered to be the best options, but there were complex problems at Kennington and Golders Green. The easiest initial route appeared to be Euston to Clapham Common or Tooting via the Bank, but this appeared to offer the least advantage in the central area for an overnight service (the Charing Cross route would have offered greater relief).
Subsequent tunnelling work will almost certainly have encroached on areas covered by the original plans, so they cannot just be pulled out and dusted off.
It must be also emphasised that this was simply one of many, many schemes that were considered and it never got anywhere near Board level. The interesting point for me is the idea of a three tunnel tube in a new build which would allow 24-hour operation, round-the-clock maintenance and the virtual elimination of long-term shut-downs.
Do not forget that we do have a three tube Channel Tunnel. If only the third bore had been designed to carry traffic instead of being just a 'service tunnel'...


Sorry for the delay in responding to this thread. You will note that the timings of my visits to this forum are slightly erratic at the moment.

Urban myth,I'm afraid.....trains never got that far....the tunnels were only dug for 160' (N/B) and 70' (S/B) with only a short cutting before the portal arches.During the War,they were used by the Home Guard and in 1949 contractors were asked to remove the tunnelling shields and seal the tunnel portals.
I seem to recall hearing that the flooded cutting was filled with spoil after a drowning there,and the whole area was destroyed by the building of the Hendon Urban Motorway (M1) in the 60s.
May I recommend "By Tube Beyond Edgware" By Tony Beard?

Without wishing to disappoint, and bearing in mind a lot of Northern Line staff believe the 3rd tunnel at Golders Green somehow leads to central London, it was built purely as part of depot track layout alterations, and ends with a sand drag and solid wall.

Likewise, the deep shelter at Camden was one of a number of wartime shelters built with the possibility of forming a relief route for the Northern Line. These were not platforms as such, but merely tunnel shells that were intended to be incorporated into a railway in the future.