Last updated 20/12/2006
R.o.B Railways
The North and South West Junction Railway
Including:
The Midland & South Western Joint Railway
The N&SWJR Hammersmith & Chiswick Branch
The Acton Tea Run
(Acton Town to South Acton)
Opened in the February of 1853 this line was built by a joint effort between the London North Western, Midland and North London Railways to form a north-south connection to allow easier transfer of goods and some passenger traffic through to the river Thames at Brentford and to allow easier access to south west England. The N&SWJR main line is quite short in its actual length though it has many lines branching in to it or from it making it somewhat complicated. It was not only connected to the above companies lines but at one time it was even connected to the Metropolitan District Railway, now London Undergrounds District Line) at South Acton and had its own branch line to Chiswick. Today (2006) the main trunk of the line is operated by Silverlink Trains as part of the North London line services between Richmond and Stratford, these services having continued through to North Woolwich before the line was closed on 9th December 2006 to make way for the Docklands Light Railway, which duplicated the former Eastern Counties line for some distance. In 2007 the line is to become part of the 'London Overground' which will eventually see trains running from Richmond to Stratford and Richmond to West Croydon as part of the Transport for London plan for an orbital main line service via under used lines around the city.
The main line starts with a junction on the LNWR (West coast) main line just east of Willesden Junction, at Kew line Junction, before passing under the North London Railway 1858 extension and heading south towards the River Thames at Kew via South Acton, the first major junction on the line is at Acton Wells Junction. To gain access to the N&SWJR in 1875 the Midland Railway opened its 4 mile long Midland & South Western Junction line (M&SWJ) which consisted of a large triangular formation at its northern end. This triangular formation was made by two spurs from its main line, the primary reason being to allow freight from the companies Cricklewood goods yard to be distributed further afield, huge benefit given by a connection to the N&SWJR via Cricklewood curve junction and a line to Acton Wells junction via Harlesden, which would allow freight to be distributed to the South West of England via the LSWR, without huge deviations to the west. The other spur that forms the northern triangular junction of the M&SWJ off the Midland main line ran from just east of Hendon via Brent Curve junction joining the Cricklewood spur at Dudding Hill junction, north east of Neasden. The line which had a station at Dudding Hill was served from 1878 by a 'Super Outer Circle' service which ran from St Pancras to Earls Court via Cricklewood, Acton and the MDR, the line did continue to see some passenger traffic after the end of the Super outer circle services in 1880 until 1902 when it went over to goods traffic. Further south a spur was laid between the M&SWJR and the Great Central at Neasden Junction a depot sited on the spur. Further south was Harlesden goods depot just north of a flyover taking the line over what is now the Bakerloo line and the LNWR main line, joining the N&SWJR at Acton Wells Junction.
Looking south West towards Old Kew Jct
The North London Railway had reached Primrose Hill in 1851 and wanted to access Richmond, so in 1858 they opened their line through Kilburn and Queens Park before arriving at Willesden Junction where the West London Railway formed an end on junction with the NLR, allowing trains connection to Clapham Junction. From Willesden Junction High level platforms the NLR ran parallel to the N&SWWJR in an east-south curve for a short distance before joining the latter at Acton Wells junction, just south of the M&SWJ connection, both lines trailing in to the N&SWJ line. Facing these trailing junctions there was a spur to the GWR main line to Ealing an interesting scissors cross over on the spur just before Acton (Main line) Station allowing trains to serve the station there or run along a parallel line to avoid the station, this parallel line forming a large loop between Acton east junction and Acton west junction. South of the spur to the GWR the N&SWJR continues to Acton (Central) station which had opened on 1st August 1853 with the N&SWJR, named Acton at the time, in 1920 it saw its name changed to the present Acton Central to avoid confusion with other Acton stations served by other railways. The next station to the south is South Acton which at one time was a busy little junction serving two branch lines with three junctions, Hammersmith Branch Junction, South Junction and North Junction. Both the north and Hammersmith Branch Junctions are now closed leaving south junction as the last remnant.
On 1st May 1857 the N&SWJR opened a 1 1/2 mile branch from South Acton to a station it named 'Hammersmith and Chiswick' accessed via Gatehouse Junction (Later Hammersmith Branch Junction). The line ran in a north to south curve the terminus station sited at a former residence on the north side of Chiswick High Road with the platforms and goods yard laid in what was formerly the garden, not an uncommon practice as demonstrated by the GWR Staines West Branch which also used an existing residence converted to a station role. Had the line continued over Chiswick High Road it may have served some purpose for freight movement to and from the river which was only a few hundred yards away but this was never built leaving it at what was to be something of a loose end Chiswick at the time being a village. It could be assumed that the company wanted to encourage housing development and thus commuter traffic which was common enough in areas that had started out as villages until the arrival of a railway saw rapid housing development. As with many railways freight traffic started first, in this case on 1st May 1857 Passenger's services not commencing until 8th April 1858, the company using its own locomotive having originally considered horse traction. When the branch opened, there was no station at the junction with the main line, now South Acton, the single coach train stopping on a relief loop, for the engine to be uncoupled and to prepare to shunt the carriage on to the rear of an NLR train from Richmond. Once this was done the train would pull away and the engine would wait for a train from the opposite direction to take another coach to the station at Chiswick. This practice saw the train for Richmond slip the coach (uncouple while moving) the guard applying the brake to stop the coach with the company engine retrieving it and taking it the short distance along the branch, apparently this practice saw several de-railments. By 1865 safer practices were under way with the short train reversing at Gatehouse Junction and travelling to Acton (Central) passengers needing to change trains there. By this time goods traffic on the branch was doing well as it served some coal yards, an ashphalt plant and a dye works along its route a small goods yard developing at the terminus end of the line.
Bollo Lane Metropolitan Railway Bridge Abutment
Though the LSWR opened its line from Richmond to Kensington, Addison Road (Later named Olympia) in 1863 there was no station near the N&SWJR branch meaning that it had the monopoly on passenger services at that time. By 1864 the Hammersmith and City Railway a Metropolitan Railway supported company had opened its line to the nearby village of Hammersmith, trains running there from the city via Paddington stimulating rapid development in the area seeing the countryside towards Chiswick rapidly disappearing under housing development this was further aided by the arrival of the MDR in 1874 when they opened their line from Gloucester Road. At the time the N&SWJR was still offering only a limited passenger service. When the MDR started its services to Richmond along the LSWR Richmond to Addison Road line on 1st June 1877 it opened Stamford Brook station just a few hundred yards away on Goldhawk Road which gave potential passengers a much more direct service to the city, without having the inconvenience of travelling away from the city before taking something of a circular route to get there. In an effort to attract passenger traffic and to tap in to the developing housing estates the N&SWJR opened South Acton station on its main line in 1880 with a bay platform provided for the branch line trains, passengers having to change there instead of Acton Central. By the end of the 1880's the area around Hammersmith and Chiswick, which are just a short distance from each other and Kensington, were becoming popular with the new 'Commuters' who were attracted to a less cramped lifestyle in the city suburbs. In 1878 the MDR was authorised by Parliament to construct a line from Mill Hill Park (Acton Town) to South Acton though the work never started until 1898 on building the double track line. The line was 1,232 yards long and built on embankment for the whole of its length with two steel skew span bridges over roads. The first was 62 feet long and passed over Bollo Lane the other 42 feet long crossing Palmerston Road.
The new MDR line was connected to the N&SWJR main line just to the north of the station and was controlled by a signal box named District Junction. The line opened to traffic on 15th May 1899 though it was not to see passenger services until electrification of the MDR services on 13th June 1905 with electric trains running to Hounslow Barracks. In 1905, the line was used to carry construction materials for the building of the Ealing & South Harrow Railway (E&SHR) which was under construction at the time. The services for the E&SHR were planned in 1902 to run from South Harrow to South Acton via Mill Hill Park, but when the electric services on the E&SHR started, in 1903, as part of the MDR experiment to see how effective this operation would be they terminated at Mill Hill park leaving the South Acton branch un-served by passenger trains. The MDR intended that their new station at South Acton would be the terminus of services but as mentioned the line itself was a through route, the single platform was able to hold 6 of the new electric train cars and was sited behind the up side of the existing N&SWJR station the two separate but connected by a passageway both stations having their own entrances and ticket offices, the station building situated at the south western end of the platform and was built from corrugated iron and wood. The amenities were very simple in nature consisting of a general waiting room with toilets for ladies and gentlemen a short canopy offering some protection for those standing on the platform. Also on the platform was South Acton signal box which housed 13 levers to control the junction with the main line as well as controlling all other movements around the station. By the early 1920's services were running to South Harrow as originally intended with some going as far as Uxbridge, with some services continuing to go to Hounslow Barracks, though the latter was limited to about 6 trains a day. The line did not only see passenger trains but also freight services the LNWR and the Midland having running powers over the line though by the 1930's these had diminished enough for the connection to the N&SWJR lifted. The second line of the double track was lifted after 14th February 1932 possibly at the same time as the N&SWJR link was closed. From the 15th of February 1932 the service between Acton Town and South Acton was run as a shuttle service worked by a two car train of B stock or just a single B stock car purposefully fitted with two driving cabs. With single line operation now in use there was no need for the signal box seeing it closed and demolished. At the same time Acton town station was being re-modelled with a short bay platform provided for the South Acton services at the eastern end of the station on the eastern side. From June 1958 the Acton Tea Run as it was jokingly known, due to the time it took to do a full to South Acton and back run taking the same amount of time for a kettle to boil saw the withdrawal of its Sunday services with London Transport announcing on the 18th September that year that all services were to cease with the closure of the line. The last train ran on 28th February 1959 with the official closure taking place on 2nd March 1959 with the track lifted within months and the station demolished. The bridge over Bollo lane remained in situ until 1969 and when it was being demolished crashed in to the road blocking it for days while it was cut up for scrap, today one of its abutments can still be seen as can the bay platform at Acton Town.
A class 313 EM at South Acton bound for North Woolwich
The LNWR took over the NLR in 1909 and introduced a steam rail-motor on the South Acton to Hammersmith & Chiswick route, the rail motor able to hold 48 passengers and named 'Little Jenny'. Though a Conductor/Guard was provided passengers had to purchase their tickets at South Acton station to continue on their journey whether by the MDR or NLR services. To encourage passenger usage of the line halts were opened at Rugby Road, Woodstock Road, and Bath Road but these were only crude wooden affairs and supposedly not very appealing at the best of times and seem to have been little used. Passenger services finally withdrawn at the end of December 1916 as a war time economy measure, with the terminus building converted in to a shop and private residence though the branch still served the goods yard the line operated as a long siding with a max speed of 10mph the train having to stop at Bath Road to allow the guard to open the level crossing gates and close them again when the train had passed. The last passenger train ran over the line in 1956 when a special formed of an 0-6-0 locomotive and four coaches paid a rail tour visit. The line remained open to limited freight traffic until May 1965, closing once the last train had gone, though the station platforms and goods yard and track all remained in situ for many years and were visible from the passing District and Piccadilly services that crossed the line by an over-bridge. Today there is little evidence of the line, the station house was knocked down in the 1990s and with the former goods yard forms the site of the Ravensmeade Way Housing development from where the bridge carrying the Underground to Acton Town and Richmond from Studland road Junction can be seen. On the approach to South Acton there is a building that has a strange angle to it showing how the railway once passed it by on its short peculiar run of 1 1/2 miles.
The District/Piccadily LU bridge over the former N&SWJR Hammersmith Branch
From South Acton on the N&SWJR main line the NLR branched away to the south over LSWR metals from South Junction to Bollo Lane Junction where it divided giving access to the LSWR/MDR line to Addison Road or Hammersmith or on to Gunnersbury and another junction that would allow trains access to the Barnes To Richmond line via Chiswick Junction alternatively continuing along LSWR metals sharing with the MDR in to Richmond. From South Junction the N&SWJR continued in a south westerly direction to Old Kew Junction sited to the west of Kew Bridge station. This station has four sets of platforms on the two eastern sides of the triangular formation, two for the Barnes to Hounslow line, which are still in use, and two for the Barnes to South Acton line via New Kew Junction, the disused platforms can still be seen a short tunnel under a road connecting the UP Barnes platform with the DOWN South Acton platform. Old Kew Junction was opened with the N&SWJR in 1853 to allow trains access to the LSWR which would take trains out to the south west of England via Feltham and the Marshalling yard that was to develop there between 1921 and 1922, and then on to Reading and Woking for the south west. The junction was also used by NLR services from Hampstead Road to Windsor via Brentford and Staines though the LSWR were never overly happy with the competition the service only lasting a year, the LNWR later proposing a London Euston to Hounslow service over the line, though this never came about. In 1858 a service from Hampstead Road to Twickenham via Acton (Central), Kew, Chiswick, Barnes and Richmond was operated, trains reversing at Kew and Barnes to gain access to the LSWR Richmond line. The junctions of South, Bollo Lane, Acton Lane, Brentford Road, Chiswick, New Kew and Kew East not being open at the time, which would have made operations a lot easier. However in 1869 the SWR opened its Richmond to Addison Road route allowing services from the North London Railway a more direct link to Richmond. For much of its life Old Kew junction has been freight only, a role that it serves today seeing class 47s, 57s, 60s and 66s, hauling long freight trains towards the large docks at Southampton and Portsmouth via Staines and Woking, the N&SWJR still forming part of the North London Railway which is now known as the North London Line which is the only main line railway to appear on tube maps.