Why do Morden trains run via Bank?

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I see! Thanks for clarifying.

 

[3141]

When they built 'standard' stock it had A and B ends. You could only couple an A end to a B end. So they needed to keep the trains all the same way round. *
I think the 1938 stock was the last tube stock to have that restriction.
But the Kennington loop saw little use till the coupling restrictions went with new stock.

Is Kennington the only loop on the Underground?

It is now the only loop of its kind, but there used to be one at Embankment on the Northern Line. See below the next quote.

It ultimately stems back to when and how the different sections of the Northern line were built.

The Northern line was originally two separate unconnected lines. One was the City & South London Railway, this went from Clapham Common to Euston via Bank. The other was the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway, which ran from Embankment to both Golders Green and Highgate.

The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway originally ran from a station in the Strand at the entrance to Charing Cross main line station. In 1914 it was extended to what is now called Embankment by means of a loop under the Thames to a single-platform station which provided interchange with the Bakerloo and District Lines. That is why the northbound platform of the Northern Line at Embankment is on a curve. In stages the original terminus of the line was renamed Strand and Embankment became Charing Cross, until 1979 (I think) when the former names were reinstated.

When the connection from Kennington to Charing Cross was built a second platform was constructed at Charing Cross. The loop was sealed off. It was the only tunnel under the Thames to be breached by a German bomb in World War 2, but watertight doors had been installed and the operational network was not affected.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Oct 2024 ==

Forty something years ago I briefly lived in the borderlands of the People's Republic of Tooting, and used the southern end of the Northern Line. In those days there was no such thing as a public timetable for the Northern Line so I started an attempt to work it out for myself. I still have a little notebook of observations, mainly taken at Clapham Common, where it was possible to see the trains in both directions. The observations are difficult to decipher now, and the project was never completed because I quickly moved on to other dodgy parts of South London.

My impression from the notebook, and what I remember, is that the off peak service was relatively simple, with alternate Morden-Mill Hill East and Morden-Colindale via Bank. The Charing Cross branch was alternately Kennington-High Barnet or Kennington-Edgware. Off peak there were no through trains from Morden to either High Barnet or Edgware, or on/off the Charing Cross branch.

But I never established the peak pattern to my satisfaction, maybe there wasn't one! Most trains via Bank were end to end Morden-High Barnet or Morden-Edgware, trains via Bank to/from Mill Hill East disappeared in the peak. There was a further complication with some Bank branch trains terminating/starting at Tooting Broadway. I couldn't see the point of this, apart from providing Citizen Smith and the Tooting Popular Front with seats, which would have made it more difficult to shout "Power to the People".

In the peak some of the Charing Cross branch trains ran through to/from Morden, but nearly all of these were alternate High Barnet and Mill Hill East trains. Morden-Edgware via Charing Cross was only a few trains in the shoulders of the peak, but there were Kennington-Edgware trains via Charing Cross in the peaks. At the end of the peak there would also be northbound trains terminating at Hampstead and Finchley Central, and I guess that southbound trains started from those at the start of the peaks.

Having preserved the notebook for more than 40 years, this is probably going to be my best opportunity to share what it contains!

Your post has led me to get out LT Underground Guide booklets for Summer 1959 and November 1972.

For most lines these just show the first and last few trains. They then show "intervals between trains" at various points along the course of each line, and all the departure times throughout the whole day from each extremity into London and from a selected inner London station to each of the extremities. The only full timetables are the Metropolitan Line to Aylesbury and the Central Line Woodford to Hainault via Roding Valley and Epping to Ongar. The 1959 guide also shows trains between Marylebone and Woodford Halse. The 1972 guide has a full timetable of trains to Uxbridge.

The 1972 guide confirms that there were then no off-peak through trains from Morden that went via the Charing Cross branch, but it appears that were off-peak trains from Morden via both branches in 1959. A very careful study of all the information could probably reconstruct the entire operating pattern, but it wouldn't be one of my priorities!

 

[Ken H]

It is now the only loop of its kind, but there used to be one at Embankment on the Northern Line. See below the next quote.



The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway originally ran from a station in the Strand at the entrance to Charing Cross main line station. In 1914 it was extended to what is now called Embankment by means of a loop under the Thames to a single-platform station which provided interchange with the Bakerloo and District Lines. That is why the northbound platform of the Northern Line at Embankment is on a curve. In stages the original terminus of the line was renamed Strand and Embankment became Charing Cross, until 1979 (I think) when the former names were reinstated.

When the connection from Kennington to Charing Cross was built a second platform was constructed at Charing Cross. The loop was sealed off. It was the only tunnel under the Thames to be breached by a German bomb in World War 2, but watertight doors had been installed and the operational network was not affected.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Oct 2024 ==


Your post has led me to get out LT Underground Guide booklets for Summer 1959 and November 1972.

For most lines these just show the first and last few trains. They then show "intervals between trains" at various points along the course of each line, and all the departure times throughout the whole day from each extremity into London and from a selected inner London station to each of the extremities. The only full timetables are the Metropolitan Line to Aylesbury and the Central Line Woodford to Hainault via Roding Valley and Epping to Ongar. The 1959 guide also shows trains between Marylebone and Woodford Halse. The 1972 guide has a full timetable of trains to Uxbridge.

The 1972 guide confirms that there were then no off-peak through trains from Morden that went via the Charing Cross branch, but it appears that were off-peak trains from Morden via both branches in 1959. A very careful study of all the information could probably reconstruct the entire operating pattern, but it wouldn't be one of my priorities!

I should have remembered the Embankment loop. I think thats why one of the Northern line platforms was built with a curve. It was part of the loop.