Why did BR not electrify Mitre Bridge Junction to Kensington Olympia?

[The exile]

Dick Hardy, railway author, and shedmaster at Stewarts Lane among others, wrote of cross-London services changing over on the embankment above the shed, and inevitably mentions a series of blunders on peak summer days with wrong crews relieving wrong locos etc.

I think it was the 1980s when there were one or two long distance services per day, probably Class 47 hauled throughout, from Brighton or Dover, which stopped at Clapham Junction, Kenny O, etc, and were advertised by quite stylish banners on the rail bridges over main roads at places like Shepherds Bush.

They changed to/from AC traction at Mitre Bridge.

 

[Ken H]

There was also a brief period when many of the Brighton XCs went via the WCML rather than Reading, starting in May 1986. However I don't think it lasted longer than a couple of years.

I remember pix in Modern railways of the loco change at Mitre Bridge Jct. Cant remember the date.

 

[30907]

They changed to/from AC traction at Mitre Bridge.

...but only when working via the WCML, e.g. in the brief period mentioned in post #30,

 

[ChiefPlanner]

There were plans in the very early 90's to tidy up some of the 25kV in this area - e.g Acton Wells down the bank towards the GW, and especially around the Mitre Bridge area.

Lack of money and impending privatisation kyboshed all this.

(at least the EPS blockade over the North London line (which overan badly) and so on gave electrification from Willesden HL towards Kensington Olympia gave some tangible benefits)

 

[nw1]

I remember pix in Modern railways of the loco change at Mitre Bridge Jct. Cant remember the date.

The introduction year (and year with the best timetable) was definitely 1986. It had something like three Brightons and a couple of Dovers, but can't remember the exact details. Think there was a thread on this last year, though. They were maintained in 1987 but I seem to remember the services were cut back somewhat, and I don't think they survived into the 90s.

Never did sample them; I lived on the Portsmouth Direct at the time, and by then some faster SWD services (e.g. the Alton) were calling at Clapham Junction - so it could have been a viable route to the north.

 

[Taunton]

There were plans in the very early 90's to tidy up some of the 25kV in this area - e.g Acton Wells down the bank towards the GW, and especially around the Mitre Bridge area.

Someone wrote here a while ago that the various 25kV systems close together in inner North/West London are challenging to tie together because they are on separate feeds and thus need neutral sections between them, and the short distances and various gradients on the links make it difficult if not impossible to insert these.

 

[Ken H]

The introduction year (and year with the best timetable) was definitely 1986. It had something like three Brightons and a couple of Dovers, but can't remember the exact details. Think there was a thread on this last year, though. They were maintained in 1987 but I seem to remember the services were cut back somewhat, and I don't think they survived into the 90s.

Never did sample them; I lived on the Portsmouth Direct at the time, and by then some faster SWD services (e.g. the Alton) were calling at Clapham Junction - so it could have been a viable route to the north.

I only caught 1 cross country train onto the southern and that went via oxford and reading to get to brighton. I just did Leamington Spa to Gatwick a few times. 1999 i think.47 + Mk 2.
Wasnt there some trouble about there XC trains onto the Southern being withdrawn meant closure procedures were needed for some curves on W London?

 

[30907]

I only caught 1 cross country train onto the southern and that went via oxford and reading to get to brighton. I just did Leamington Spa to Gatwick a few times. 1999 i think.47 + Mk 2.
Wasnt there some trouble about there XC trains onto the Southern being withdrawn meant closure procedures were needed for some curves on W London?

There was, and led to the Wandsworth Road-Kenny EMU (Southern or predecessor, which then formed a peak train to Clapham Jn) and the weekly bus/taxi thence to Ealing - notwithstanding that the daily service via Longhedge was a very recent introduction, and had previously last run around 1917!

 

[Bald Rick]

The introduction year (and year with the best timetable) was definitely 1986. It had something like three Brightons and a couple of Dovers, but can't remember the exact details. Think there was a thread on this last year, though. They were maintained in 1987 but I seem to remember the services were cut back somewhat, and I don't think they survived into the 90s.

Never did sample them; I lived on the Portsmouth Direct at the time, and by then some faster SWD services (e.g. the Alton) were calling at Clapham Junction - so it could have been a viable route to the north.

Yes, 1986. On the first ‘Network Day’ which was in June(?) that year, me and my dad caught one from Clapham Jn to MK, and the locos swapped at Mitre Bridge.

 

[nw1]

Yes, 1986. On the first ‘Network Day’ which was in June(?) that year, me and my dad caught one from Clapham Jn to MK, and the locos swapped at Mitre Bridge.

Indeed, it was Sat June 21.

We went on a family trip out, not really an enthusiast-driven one but it was the first time I'd gone SW of Woking on the SWML - we went to Yarmouth via Lymington. So still an interesting day out and featured my one and only REP/TC "haulage" of my lifetime.

10HAP relief from Woking sidings on the way down, and regular REP/TC up.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Yes, 1986. On the first ‘Network Day’ which was in June(?) that year, me and my dad caught one from Clapham Jn to MK, and the locos swapped at Mitre Bridge.

Indeed, it was Sat June 21.

We went on a family trip out, not really an enthusiast-driven one but it was the first time I'd gone SW of Woking on the SWML - we went to Yarmouth via Lymington. So still an interesting day out and featured my one and only REP/TC "haulage" of my lifetime.

10HAP relief from Woking sidings on the way down, and regular REP/TC up.

Yes I was on that. Great day out.

 

[Chorley Cake]

Motorail was essentially a summer-only operation, apart from those overnight services tagged on to sleeper trains from the main termini, not Olympia. It would have been unused for half the year or more. It was also an operation using "marginal costing" of existing assets - there was very little actual capital expenditure.

The electric freight branches like Runcorn were an idea of the late-1950s design of the WCML. Motorail came along years later, when concepts had changed.

I was brought up in Runcorn in the 70s/80s.

The freight spur to Folly Lane wasn’t used much by electrics but when it was it was invariably 82/83/84s which had been scaled back from most passenger duties. Used to love seeing them down there as they were rarities even in their home areas (must have been tucked away in Crewe Electric the majority of thelate 70s early 80s).

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Indeed, it was Sat June 21.

We went on a family trip out, not really an enthusiast-driven one but it was the first time I'd gone SW of Woking on the SWML - we went to Yarmouth via Lymington. So still an interesting day out and featured my one and only REP/TC "haulage" of my lifetime.

10HAP relief from Woking sidings on the way down, and regular REP/TC up.

I have the SW Control log for the day (If I can find it) , talk about operational flexibility - the day started with a spare 8x455 at Wimbledon Park as a standby "just in case" set, and developed into an anything that can run with any train crew you can persuade to come in and work ...(and it seems they did)

 

[Trog]

I believe that there was a sewer below the track at the present limit of electrification that prevented economic lowering for a difficult bridge. Whether a Cardiff solution could now apply - who knows?

I thought that was the problem with wiring down Acton Bank to the Penzance branch.

 

[GS250]

I believe that there was a sewer below the track at the present limit of electrification that prevented economic lowering for a difficult bridge. Whether a Cardiff solution could now apply - who knows?

That's probably the long lost river 'Counters Creek' which as you say was converted into a sewer in the Victorian days.