Services between Willesden Green and Earl's Court

To add further info to Uzair's original question, the routeing for the Earls Court-Willesden Junction service would have been via Kensington Olympia and the West London Line To Willseden Junction. I can't remember whether the whole section was electirifed, but the WLL certainly was as far as the junction where the H&C crosses over, remembering there was a connection there with the H&C which the Luftwaffe detsroyed in about 1941.

This connection was severed and never replaced. ISTR this formed part of the "middle circle" originally operated by the London & North Western Railway, later the LMS.

You can still see where the connection left the H&C just west of Latimer Road station. The rest of the formation is now a road and that hideous new shopping centre.

Remember too the other lost connections from the WLL, the line from just north of Olympia via Shepherds Bush (through the bus garage) to Hammersmith, then via what is now the District to Richmond; hence the bump in the road just south of Shepherds Bush Green on Shepherds Bush Road! That line closed in the early 1920's. The other connection which has had a separate thread here was the connection just by Westway to the Central Line and Ruislip.

Ha, I wasn't sure if that service was electric. It would have been fun if it were steam operated in the 1930's!

So, where would the steam set have run-round at EC? Presumably on the e/b, then cross over to the w/b to work back.

Actually it was for a Circus - "Bertram W. Mills' Circus and Fun Fair at the Olympia" 20/12/46 - 1/2/47: the details are in District TTN 80/46 which is in my library. The service was initially run with two 6-car trains, but there is a pencil correction to 4-car train w.e.f. 15/1/47.

Looking at various locking tables for both sides of Earls Court, the only practical way to reverse the service was by a shunt and a reverse into the 'yard' at the east end of the station - unless there is a gap in my information at this time there was no wrong road starter in either EA or WA boxes (either side of EC). I suspect it was so much of a faff to reverse the service was diverted elsewhere.

The war damage which caused this service to be curtailed.......was this the same incident which caused the Latimer-rd.-Uxbridge-rd. section (and hence the Middle Circle) service to be abandoned?
Presumably the actual damage was cleared up quickly to keep the WLL open,but the opportunity was taken to abandon marginal and little-used services?

From a couple of immediately post-war photos that I have seen the stations were pretty well wrecked. Probably with the low usage it just wasn't worth repairing them either during the war or after with the austerity then in force.

The four Siemens sets were put into store after the 1940 service reductions, in the Carriage Shed at Mitre Bridge. They remained there until the 1950's when the were converted to 6½kV AC overhead operation for the converted Lancaster to Morecambe & Heysham pilot scheme for AC overhead traction.



The layout at Earls Court was better suited to reversing the LMS service as the current eastbound was then a siding specifically for the purpose.

I hadn't realised the South Acton - Kew Bridge connection was ever electrified! Was it still so when the LSWR's Hounslow loop went live?

Incidentally, the thread title refers to Willesden Green, but all the discussion has been about Willesden Junction. Have there ever been direct services WG to EC? perhaps via Aldgate, and probably before the Bakerloo took over local services in 1938. but I

With difficulty, I would imagine!!

"The yard" siding east of the station didn't become a through road until 5 June 1966.