Kennington siding for two trains

The actual siding was and is long enough to hold two trains.

In the old days there was a pair of shunt signals at the mid-point, which admitted and released trains in and out of the second half.

At some point this changed to a fixed red lamp and trainstop. The signalman would authorise the train to trip past the FRL. I can’t recall if it was then possible to signal a train from Kennington with a train already in the back half. In reality by this time the extra length was more about accommodating a double-length train or long engineers train rather than accommodating two separate normal-length trains.

This basic setup continues to this day, with the tripping past the FRL arrangement being replaced by an RM move under TBTC. Engineers trains occasionally go beyond the normal 95 stock stopping position, however it is pretty much unheard of for a 95 stock to go right to the end. It was done a few years ago when there was a report of burning in the area and the LFB wished to be taken all the way to the end.

As an aside when in there on foot the siding appears deceptively short to the eye, however the plans clearly show enough length for two 95 stocks.

And a second thought, it was very fortuitous the original C&SLR allowed the siding to be fitted in. As it is the steep gradient entering the siding isn’t ideally desirable.

I did not think the C&SLR had anything to do with the siding perhaps the LER?

I did hear a rumour that the stairs at the end of the siding went up to Kennington Park but this is not true as they go down not to the bits left of Oval deep shelter but the southbound running tunning.

Many thanks for valuable insights. What was the original intention of such a long siding? The similarly dated Tooting siding was only a single train length unfortunately, in view of tunnel-end collisions. To reverse two following trains from Kennington, the first in must be last to leave, doubling its stand time! These sidings were planned long before the 9-car train experiments were dreamt of.

Can't why the siding was double length possibly to put a defective train as you say first train in would have longer time to reverse. Was it Kennington siding where they put a train overnight in winter time or was that Tooting Bdy?
The only other siding that was also signalled for double length was Down Street. I know that other sidings were longer than what we have now but different stocks were used.

I was down there years ago, after the Moorgate Kennington Closure in around 2000 when the track reopened there was an issue with the pozzi rail which caused many trains to be left without shoes, the trains were dumped in various sidings until they could be collected this included 2 in Kennington, I was involved in retrieving the more southerly one, this was a very involved procedure as the train was totally dead, with nothing left in the batteries by the time we got round to it.

Which is of course in a similar position to Kennington, in that you can physically fit two trains but there is a fixed trainstop under half way down.

Down St. siding only has one track circuit, meaning that even if you already have one train in there at the far end you can’t get in a second train {unless you get a Technical Officer to blow the points over and then secure the points and authorise the train to proceed. Was Kennington like this when they had signals there?

It would also allow an inter-peak stabler or peak extra (e.g. for west end theatre traffic) to wait closer to town than any of the depots.

So probably Northern line running tunnel is connected to foot of disused lift shaft at Lambeth North by small opening for traction cable access from the substation above via the disused lift shaft.

There was a walking route out to Hyde Park Corner station. The siding tunnel was large enough diameter to permit train maintenance.

I can't say if there were times when two trains would be in the siding perhaps if there was a service issue but if there were timetabled, perhaps one of those who are timetable experts may know the answer.

Two separate tunnels, you can see one of them by the lifts.

Basically, yes. There’s actually two connections, the one off the southbound takes the form of a ladder and short tunnel which ends on to one of the lower lift landings at Lambeth North. It’s just about possible to get from Lambeth North lift landing to the southbound tunnel on foot, albeit a bit tight and dusty, definitely not suitable for everyday man access and even less so for passenger evacuation. The northbound tunnel has a shaft which leads up to the bottom of the disused Lambeth North lift shaft, and ultimately to a ventilation opening through the roof of the surface building. I forget which route the traction current feeder cables take, think it’s the former but I could be misremembering.

Nearby the Northern Line tunnels also have four shield chambers which mark the site of the main construction site for this section, in the grounds of what was then Bethlem Hospital, now of course the Imperial War Museum. There’s no trace on the surface today of this site, the shafts being backfilled at the time.