Remember how quiet & empty the Jubilee used to be?

[towerman]

I was talking about the first 2 or 3 WTTs from '79 onwards.I think the W/H & W/G reversers were only off peak & weekends.A bit like the early Victoria WTTs the K/X & Victoria reversers were only off peak & weekends.

[citysig]

In actual fact the norm was different during service disruption (as it usually is in the real world ;D)

Wembley Parks tended to be the ones turned at West Hampstead - either a)because there was a gap on the southbound b)it was being used to make another train - with crew reliefs being still at Baker Street or c)the railway had had a large shutdown and incurred 20+ minutes of late-running.

The Willesdens, in reality, rarely gained more than a couple of minutes by reversing at West Hampstead. It was only done if the siding at Willesden was taken up by (for instance) a Wembley.

Contrary to today's railway, the Stanmores were nearly always run to Stanmore and reversed on their southbound trips (quite often at Finchley Road or at Wembley Park reversing via Neasden depot.) The main rule was to always keep the (Stanmore) branch supplied with trains. Users of this branch will no doubt snigger at today's "priorities."

It's this type of service recovery which makes me wonder where, during normal running, the Charing Cross-West Hampstead service fitted in - because as I mentioned, it was common for drivers on such trains to "offer" to go further north to cover any gaps. So if it wasn't on paper, then I wonder why we ran it ;D

[superteacher]

If drivers moaned about Charing Cross to West Hampstead shorts, they probably wouldn't have liked the Liverpool Street - Marble Arch shorts on the Central either! In general, there seems to be far less short working on the underground these days (scheduled, that is!!)

[towerman]

Another one they used to moan about were the off peak Golders Green-Kenningtons on the Northern.

[superteacher]

But when you think, the Marble Arch - Liverpool Street shorts include entering a siding at BOTH ends of the run. Think the running time was something like 13 mins! If you had a four hour turn, that's a lot of walking through trains!

[mrfs42]

Good for the figure; exercise for the soul.