A couple of other interesting services that used the West London Line to access Kensington Olympia: - Motorail services from Kensington Olympia to Scotland (travelling with your car) - Eurostar Services with Kensington Olympia as the backup terminus to cover any emergencies at Waterloo. I'd love to see you explore those services!
My Aunt used to live on the Badric Court estate in Battersea. Her 3rd floor maisonette overlooked the part of this line between Imperial Wharf and Clapham Junction, and I remember the times I used to visit and stay therein the late 80's; watching mainly Freight passing up and down.
I remember when passenger services recommenced on the West London Line. It was great having what was then just an old freight line come into revenue service.
Ashley - thank goodness the Olympia-Clapham Junction rush-hour service was greatly expanded. It used to be said that the rush-hour service was to help Post Office employees get to work. In 1994, a few days after the expansion, I went from Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction and back. People were waving to us from the rather posh blocks of flats around the Thames. Thank you for the explanation of a complex story.
Hi Ashley great video! Two things I hate to correct you on 1: When NSE took on the route in the early 90s it was indeed a shuttle between Clapham and Olympia, it was extended to Willesden in 1994/1995, with West Brompton opening in 1998, before 2007 WLL trains never went further east than Willesden, that extension came later in 2009 I think 2: Connex South Central (Southern’s predecessor) ran services from Rugby down to Gatwick & Brighton, initially it did run semi fast all the way from Brighton to Rugby but was later split in half as Brighton to Watford and Gatwick to Rugby, trains never ran to Victoria from Rugby or Watford unfortunately Hate to nitpick buddy! Happy new year 🥳
We used to travel over this link from Watford Junction to Gatwick Airport when we wanted to go on holiday. I don't know if this route is still available and I can't remember which company used to run this service - but it was a great service.
There was also in the late 90s a Summer Saturdays Virgin Cross country service from Birmingham to Ramsgate via the WLL. This service was notable for two reasons: 1) The outbound service went down the West Coast main line via Milton Keynes and Northampton, the return went via Reading, Oxford, Banbury and Leamington Spa. So passengers from MK and Northampton could go to Ramsgate but couldn't get back, and passengers from Reading, Oxford etc could come back from Ramsgate but couldn't get there! 2) It was hauled by a Deltic!
Love this video Ashley. Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great one! In the New Year, do you plan on continuing the Cycle the Tube series? I really liked the idea.
pretty sure the previous Southern service was Rugby to Brighton, not Rugby to Victoria (which would have involved keeping a different stretch of track open to passenger services)
Correct. The Rugby service used to run to Gatwick when introduced, with some journeys extended to Brighton. It is basically the Croydon - Milton Keynes service which still runs. Terminal points have varied over the years, Rugby - Brighton, Watford Junction - Brighton (curtailed at Watford Jct when extensive upgrade work was taking place on the WCML), Brighton - Milton Keynes, and finally East (or South) Croydon - Milton Keynes. Victoria Main Line station has never been used for cross London scheduled services (apart from railtour excursions).
And yes hopefully the Class 710/2 5-Car units should enter service by the end of December or in early January 2021 which will operate on the North London Line and West London Line services with some of the Class 378s transferred to operate on the East London Line and South London Line services. In which will increase more capacity. And maybe 5-Car Class 710/2s could even operate on the Euston-Watford DC Line. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_710
And perhaps London Overground could of taken over the West Ealing-Greenford branch line and should of kept the Class 172/0s. Or to order new DMUs. And maybe a new London Overground West London Orbital route should also happen and to use the Class 710 Aventras if more Class 710s are to be built. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_172 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenford_branch_line en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_London_Orbital
@@Andrewjg_89 drive.google.com/file/d/1mD66rJzww_EVgP4GMzO3CX9ocbX4v8dn/view?usp=drivesdk I created this document of how to improve London's Transport Network check it out
Nice. Some of the tube lines could extend to South London, Southeast London and Southwest London. But with Southwest London, North London and Northeast London there are plans for Crossrail 2 to be built. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossrail_2
