Apologies if this has come up before...I had a quick look and couldn't see anything.
Basically, at Colindale and Burnt Oak stations, the bridge over the tracks is longer than it needs to be, which feels...unusual. I noticed and have wondered about this since I was a small child, and when I was (much) older, I learnt about the history of this section of line, which taught me that Brent (now Cross) used to have both up and down bypass loops, which were rarely used and removed when the longer 1938 stock were introduced with plans to run 9-car trains and platform extensions were required.
It makes sense Hendon Central has nothing given the tunnel at the northern end of the platforms, and yet, on the down side there is a lot of spare land and the bridge over from the ticket hall looks comfortably long enough for a loop there, even though at the south end the road bridge clearly currently has no spare room...but I wonder if there may have been room with the original shorter platforms, a-la Brent?
The natural conclusion to reach is that these longer bridges were perhaps provision for future loops (perhaps with an eye on an extension onwards to Watford, and/or the later-desired deep-level express tubes). However, the concept has a few major issues:
1) Whilst I've read (and seen photos of) Brent with loops, I've not so much as had a sniff about the other stations having had them planned for future use, let alone any actual use. Truth be told, I've found very little information about the design for the extension to Edgware from Golder's Green. Unfortunately, all the detailed maps I have access to either predate the extension, or post-date the platform extensions, as it was really a very short window of ~15 years between the two.
2) The openings at Colindale and Burnt Oak just don't look quite big enough. It certainly looks close, but obviously I can't measure it accurately!
3) They've only got them on the up side. Presumably stock would bunch up horribly if they ran fast into the core, but had to do all stations on the way back out?
Just wondering if anyone had any information they were able to share to appease my curious mind.
Basically, at Colindale and Burnt Oak stations, the bridge over the tracks is longer than it needs to be, which feels...unusual. I noticed and have wondered about this since I was a small child, and when I was (much) older, I learnt about the history of this section of line, which taught me that Brent (now Cross) used to have both up and down bypass loops, which were rarely used and removed when the longer 1938 stock were introduced with plans to run 9-car trains and platform extensions were required.
It makes sense Hendon Central has nothing given the tunnel at the northern end of the platforms, and yet, on the down side there is a lot of spare land and the bridge over from the ticket hall looks comfortably long enough for a loop there, even though at the south end the road bridge clearly currently has no spare room...but I wonder if there may have been room with the original shorter platforms, a-la Brent?
The natural conclusion to reach is that these longer bridges were perhaps provision for future loops (perhaps with an eye on an extension onwards to Watford, and/or the later-desired deep-level express tubes). However, the concept has a few major issues:
1) Whilst I've read (and seen photos of) Brent with loops, I've not so much as had a sniff about the other stations having had them planned for future use, let alone any actual use. Truth be told, I've found very little information about the design for the extension to Edgware from Golder's Green. Unfortunately, all the detailed maps I have access to either predate the extension, or post-date the platform extensions, as it was really a very short window of ~15 years between the two.
2) The openings at Colindale and Burnt Oak just don't look quite big enough. It certainly looks close, but obviously I can't measure it accurately!
3) They've only got them on the up side. Presumably stock would bunch up horribly if they ran fast into the core, but had to do all stations on the way back out?
Just wondering if anyone had any information they were able to share to appease my curious mind.
