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Fire at Primrose Hill (near Euston) 30/01/26
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Caledonian Sleeper is booked to (and usually does) use the route when routed via the East Coast Main Line.
boiledbeans2
Member
Is this the reason why there have been "Severe Delays" on the Mildmay line today?
The TfL status page says Severe Delays due to unavailablity of train operators.
bramling
Veteran Member
I had a walk past today. The bridge is now open for pedestrians again.
The building is hoarded off. The walls and frontage appear largely intact, indeed from the front you wouldn’t immediately notice anything amiss. The interior is gutted which seems to be the entire building, and the roof is destroyed. There is ongoing work taking place still.
The good news is appears no one was hurt during the incident, and outwardly it may be that the building can be salvaged in some way.
Anecdotally, I heard from a local that there had been ongoing issues with gas in the immediate vicinity, and even more anecdotally that there seemed to be an issue with NR, the local council and Cadent all passing on responsibility.
Thoughts are with the owners of the two businesses, hopefully they will be back on their feet as soon as possible.
The building is hoarded off. The walls and frontage appear largely intact, indeed from the front you wouldn’t immediately notice anything amiss. The interior is gutted which seems to be the entire building, and the roof is destroyed. There is ongoing work taking place still.
The good news is appears no one was hurt during the incident, and outwardly it may be that the building can be salvaged in some way.
Anecdotally, I heard from a local that there had been ongoing issues with gas in the immediate vicinity, and even more anecdotally that there seemed to be an issue with NR, the local council and Cadent all passing on responsibility.
Thoughts are with the owners of the two businesses, hopefully they will be back on their feet as soon as possible.
So, is (or was) the building actually in use at the time then?
bramling
Veteran Member
Yes I believe so. Certainly the lamp shop was definitely in use, and I think the remainder was too. Definitely not derelict.
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Business Bob
Member
Not so good news. According to the late notice case the building is being demolished and both lines will remain blocked until works are complete.
I was restday yesterday but was told there was no relieving driver for a freight at Willseden which blocked the lines.
greatkingrat
Established Member
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A prolonged closure will cause issues on the Mildmay line if all the freights have to go via Gospel Oak.
Class15
Established Member
At the moment it’s not working because some share slots with GOBLIN freight so there will have to be temporary changes to the timetables of these freights..
Business Bob
Member
Its also causing issues with the morning ECS moves to get the service up and running
P156KWJ
Established Member
Provisional milestone for the line to reopen is Monday 9th Feb.
Class15
Established Member
Is it really going to be that quick? Demolishing a building over a railway seems like a difficult job?
P156KWJ
Established Member
I'm no structural engineer, but I have to admit when I first saw that update I considered it optimistic.
Let's not forget it isn't just a case of the demolition work, but the repair / reinstatement of the OLE underneath.
Is it definitely being demolished then?
swt_passenger
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I think it will depend on whether they retain the flat slab over the old platform and tracks, and just remove the walls and roof. The whole ‘deck’ removal would presumably be a bigger job, especially if it’s integral with the road bridge outside the former station building, (that’s more about the eastbound track).
They can really get engineering work done when they want to... In 2017 a wall collapsed on the approach to Liverpool Lime Street which significantly damaged a large section of overhead wires and track - the work was done in less than a week
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I would say that was a 'Category A' priority.
Joe Paxton
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Having seen a few photos of the fire, I'm not particularly surprised to hear that the building will be demolished - it's sad to lose some railway history, but from Network Rail's point of view there'd be little point in an expensive restoration when it serves no railway purpose, rather it'd just be a potential future liability.
I can well imagine work to demolish it, and restore and re-open the line will happen quickly - it's a fairly crucial link in the network.
I can well imagine work to demolish it, and restore and re-open the line will happen quickly - it's a fairly crucial link in the network.
bramling
Veteran Member
Class15
Established Member
Looking basically the same as Sunday from what I can see. Not a lot has happened clearly.
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Compared to the lines next door out of Euston, around 10 freights a day and some ECS moves is not ‘a crucial link in the network’!
P156KWJ
Established Member
Think beyond the immediate - I can assure you the Primrose Hill connection is an absolute godsend to those of us who need to plan stuff at short notice. There is simply no capacity for most of the day on the NLL between Kensal Green Jn and Gospel Oak.
But those freights carry things a lot more useful than all those trains in and out of Euston.
The disruption to those freight services will mean that the just in time logistics operation that most firms operate will fail. Which will mean some items won't be delivered to the supermarket hubs in time so those items will miss the lorry delivering to your supermarket so there will be an empty shelf when you visit it and complain that you cannot get something.
Class15
Established Member
The freights are being delayed by around 10 minutes and are almost all ending up at their destination on time so I’m not quite sure what you’re on about. If it was the Felixstowe branch obviously different story.
What I was on about was that if those intermodel services were seriously delayed, the effects would be felt by more people in the UK than would be any delays to the passenger services out of Euston.
Therefore, it is good news that the delays are small and recoverable.
How easy is it to reverse trains at Watford or even Harrow (it has been done by Virgin in the distant past) as you could then arrange a bus service to Watford (Met). Presumably crewing and platforming would be difficult and it would only work if arranged in advance.
Statto
Established Member
It may be possible, the platform 6 to 9 look by-directional with crossovers at both ends.
Watford is doable - Harrow is now not.
The Planner
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Watford is terrible as the subway is tiny.
Tilting007
Member
Harrow was done when there was engineering works south of Wembley. The units went on to the Willesden Relief Lines to reverse.
At Watford the limiting factor is crew. Easier for LNR than AWC and all platforms are bi-di. If there is crew for the back working its a handy location. Some concerns about the amount of people the station can handle, but still a possibility.
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