Northern Heights (MHE - Bushey Heath)

[norbitonflyer]

May 15, 2012 18:48:56 GMT castlebar said:

@ fairysdad

You said

"I'm thinking how at Earl's Court the District Line is split into three destinations: Wimbledon, Richmond and Ealing Broadway; a fourth if you include Olympia".

Don't forget there was a fifth "Hounslow West". .

...not to mention the South Harrow branch!

[mrfs42]

May 15, 2012 18:42:55 GMT fairysdad said:

That is a very thorough reply MRFS!

I guess it's something that has to be looked at by looking at the Northern Heights as a whole rather than just one section, although doing that still does pose the original question as to why it seemed as if north of Edgware, the trains would be coming from the Mill Hill East direction only (the 1939 map seems to show it the other way around), moreso given that that side of the line would also have had the Alexandra Palace branch to have It seems to me that the LNER would also have run services over parts of the line (Finsbury Park - Edgware?)

I have in my possession a copy of the scale signalling diagram for Edgware, dated 30/10/39, the platforms were laid out as follows

• Platform No 1: this was an extension of the old main line from Golders, it formed a bay, trains could either depart southwards to Golders from the bay via the old tracks or go into the traffic sidings (Roads No. 36 - 39 inclusive) which went up as far as the embankment to Edgware LNE.
  
• Platform No 3: this was the NB through it could be accessed by any of three ways:
  • via the old main line from Golders
    
  • via Mill Hill East on a line that oversailed the new main lines from Golders
    
  • from Golders via the new main lines that went under the LNE track to Edgware LNE and the MHE - Aldenham NB Main
• Platforms 4 and 5 these were terminating bays in the middle of the station, formed of the new extensions to the main line from Golders.
  • Platform 3 was accessible from
    • the NB new line from Golders
      
    • NB main from MHE
      
    • Roads 34 and 35 which were the headshunts off the depot fan at the east side of the site
  • Platform 4 was accessible from
    • NB new line from Golders via crossover
      
    • Roads 34 and 35
  • Departures possible from both platforms to Golders via the new lines, Mill Hill East via crossovers, Roads 34 and 35 via the same crossovers as MHE with an extra one at the end.
• Platform 6 was the SB through, departures possible to
  • Roads 34/35
  • Mill Hill East
  • Golders via new lines, going under the NB main from MHE and Edgware LNE line
• Platform 2 was the other side of Platform 1 - serving the NB main: theoretically allowing cross-platform interchange either side 2 to 1 for a SB Golders and below service.

It is worth commenting that the design for Edgware station was changed as the project progressed: there is a version published in 'By Tube Beyond Edgware' that is significantly different from the scale signalling plan and civils plan - this is the civils plan from 1944 for Edgware, which will hopefully aid your understanding. Click on the magnifying glass for a better zoom.

May 15, 2012 18:42:55 GMT fairysdad said:

Obviously we can only speculate here, but, had the line been opened as planned, would Bushey Heath trains still come solely from the Highgate direction? It seems a bit weird that any people wanting stations between Edgware and Bushey Heath seem to be better off going on the Hampstead branch to Edgware and on from there! Also odd that Mr Forman says that Mill Hill East makes the tube more complicated for everyone... I think had this line been built, *that* would have been more complicated!

I've got a bit more that I can write, but I need to go and find a book, as I've just remembered something else...

No, I don't: channeling Colin:

Feb 22, 2010 23:17:16 GMT mikebuzz said:

'By Tube Beyond Edgware' p.58 shows a planned service diagram from Modern Transport 9/4/38 with the Bushey Heath shuttle instead of through-running at Edgware even though according to the book the layout at that station had already been planned by this time to allow for it.

What's interesting about the diagram is you could take a train from Moorgate via Finsbury Park to High Barnet without changing trains though presumably you would get the first one that came along and change at East Finchley or Finchley Central if you needed to get get a NB High Barnet train. However you could not get a direct train to Edgware or Bushey via Finsbury Park.

Also, Finchley Central-Edgware, the Edgware-Bushey Heath shuttle and Highgate-Ally Pally are all shown as single services and presumably with lower frequencies. This would match the Green Belt/lower density of at least the first 2 sections of line - there was apparently a lot of concern at the time not to overdevelop Mill Hill and north of Brockley Hill,. and Alley Pally was never going to have a big demand.

from Northern Heights Today in RIPaS.

[Geoffram]

Small point arising from mrfs42's plan of the services: why would they choose a service pattern of 7/14 trains per hour? As opposed to 7/8 and 15? Wouldn't that lead to a non-repeating hourly pattern? Maybe it wasn't a problem: the LNER services they were replacing were very arbitrary.

[mrfs42]

May 21, 2012 19:17:47 GMT Geoffram said:

Small point arising from mrfs42's plan of the services: why would they choose a service pattern of 7/14 trains per hour? As opposed to 7/8 and 15? Wouldn't that lead to a non-repeating hourly pattern? Maybe it wasn't a problem: the LNER services they were replacing were very arbitrary.

7 is to 14 what 8 is to 16; but remember 8 and 6 never mix.

In terms of making a 'good' timetable the evidence points to the frequency of the outer ends setting the tempo for the 'spine' - remember that in the 1935 (or so) period stand time was rarely scheduled on the deep level tubes - if it was it would be a galley note.

Moving from the premise that the distances between Bushey Heath, Elstree South, Brockley Hill and Edgware suited a 7 tph service spacing; (or conversely that the busiest section set the frequency in multiples of the limbs meaning:) or that the maximum frequency that could be dealt with on the busiest section of the Northern Heights (both Finsbury Parks to Moorgate on the Northern City) was 28tph [1] which is of course a multiple of 7.

If you're referring to 'clockface' departures they were quite rare on the UndergrounD or Combine, but I have got an Easter 1934 notice for Met Sections 1, 2 and 3 which has a clockface pattern once the positioning moves were complete at the start of the day.


[1] the tt planning documents I have seen were written before the resignalling of the Northern City, but looking at the NC after resignalling 28/29tph would really be pushing it a bit.