Bakerloo line

The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from the Elephant and Castle in south-east to Wealdstone in north-west of London. The lines serves 25 stations of which 15 are underground. It is the seventh busiest line on the network.

History

Originally called the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway, the line was constructed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited and opened between Baker Street and Lambeth North (then called Kennington Road) on March 10 1906. It was extended to Elephant & Castle five months later, on August 5. Prior to this, it had been financed by the mining entrepreneur and company promoter Whitaker Wright, who fell foul of the law over the financial proceedings involved and dramatically committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice after being convicted in 1904. The contraction of the name to "Bakerloo" rapidly caught on, and the official name was changed to match.

By 1913, the line had been extended from its original northern terminus at Baker Street to the west with interchange stations with the Great Central Railway at Marylebone and the Great Western Railway at Paddington, and a new station at Edgware Road.

Watford branch

In 1915 the line was extended further to Queen's Park, where it joined the DC lines of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) that ran alongside the LNWR's main line (now the West Coast Main Line) as far as Watford Junction. Bakerloo services to Watford were reduced in the 1960s and withdrawn in 1982, with Stonebridge Park the new terminus.

Services to Harrow & Wealdstone were gradually restored from 1984 and in 1989 the present all-day service was instituted. Bakerloo trains share the tracks with Overground services from Euston between Queen's Park and Harrow & Wealdstone.

Stanmore branch

By the mid 1930s, the Metropolitan line was suffering from congestion caused by the limited capacity of its tracks between Baker Street and Finchley Road stations. To relieve this pressure, the network-wide New Works Programme, 1935-1940, included the construction of new sections of tunnel between the Bakerloo line's platforms at Baker Street and the Finchley Road and the replacement of three Metropolitan line stations (Lord's, Marlborough Road and Swiss Cottage) between those points with two new Bakerloo stations (St. John's Wood and Swiss Cottage). The Bakerloo line took over the Metropolitan line's service to Stanmore on November 20 1939. The branch remained part of the Bakerloo line until May 1 1979, when similar congestion problems for the Bakerloo line caused by two branches converging at Baker Street led to the opening of the Jubilee line which was initially created by connecting the Stanmore branch to new tunnels bored between Baker Street and Charing Cross.

Camberwell extension

An extension at the southern end of the line to Camberwell and Denmark Hill was proposed and approved in 1931 as part of the London Electric Metropolitan District and Central London Railway Companies (Works) Act, 1931.^[1][2] Apart from the extension of the sidings south of Elephant & Castle no work on the extension took place before World War II but the powers were renewed by the government in 1947 under the Special Enactments (Extension of Time) Act, 1940.^[3] A projected extension as far as Camberwell was shown on a 1949 edition of the Underground map but no further work was done.^[4] The train describers at Warwick Avenue station showed Camberwell as a destination until the 1990s.^[5]

Electricity supply

One oddity is that almost from its opening until 1917, it operated with the polarity of the conductor rails reversed, the outside rail negative and the centre rail positive. This came about because the Bakerloo shared a power source with the District Railway. On the Bakerloo, the outside conductor rail tended to leak to the tunnel wall, whereas on the District Railway, the centre rail shared a similar problem. The solution was to reverse the polarity on the Bakerloo line, so that the negative rail leaked on both systems.^[6] In 1917, the two lines were separated when the LNWR commenced its 'New Line' service between Euston and Watford Junction, which the Bakerloo would share north of Queens Park. As a result, normal operation was restored.

Centenary

The line celebrated its centenary on March 10 2006, when various events were organised on the line.^[7]

Future developments

Re-extension to Watford Junction

Over the next few years the northern section of the line may again see changes following the decision in February 2006 to transfer responsibility for Euston-Watford suburban services (the DC lines) from the Department for Transport (DfT) to Transport for London (TfL). This is in conjunction with the reorganisation of North London Railways under London Overground.^{[8] [9]}

It is projected that by 2026 the Bakerloo line would be re-extended from Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction, restoring the pre-1982 service. The railway line from Queens Park to Watford Junction, currently served by London Overground, would be served only by the Bakerloo line.^[8]

Camberwell proposals

The 1949 extension to Camberwell proposal was resurrected in 2006 when London Mayor Ken Livingstone suggested that an extension was being considered within 20 years.^[10][11] However, there are no firm commitments to this extension and it is only at the proposal stage. TfL's Vision of a growing world 2025 investment programme identifies the ambition to separate the present Northern line into two self-contained lines by 2025. In this plan, trains on the Northern line's Charing Cross branch would terminate at Kennington, and it has been mooted that an extension of the line to the south east may be implemented, including to Camberwell. In this scenario, an extension to the Bakerloo line would therefore no longer be required.

Rolling stock

Former rolling stock

A 1938 Bakerloo train at Harlesden station

When opened in 1906, the Bakerloo line was operated by Gate Stock trains, built at Trafford Park, Manchester. To cope with the extension to Queen's Park, 12 extra motor cars of the London Underground 1914 Stock were ordered, ten from Brush of Loughborough and two from the Leeds Forge Company.

To operate services north of Queen's Park, 72 additional cars were built by the Metropolitan Carriage, Waggon and Finance Company of Birmingham. These trains, known as the Watford Joint Stock, were partly owned by the Underground and partly by the London and North Western Railway (later LMS). They were initially painted in LNWR livery. They were not equipped with air-operated doors and proved slow and unreliable, so they were replaced by new trains of Standard Stock in 1930 (although a few were retained by the LMS). For some years in the 1930s Watford trains had a distinctive blue stripe at window level.

In 1932, some carriages that had been built for the Piccadilly line by Cammell Laird in Nottingham in 1919 were transferred to the Bakerloo line. When built, these had been the first Tube trains to be have air-operated doors. These (and other trains) were later replaced by more trains of Standard Stock, in turn being replaced by 1938 Stock and 1949 Stock.

Prior to the opening of the Jubilee line in 1979, the Bakerloo line was worked by both 1938 Stock and 1972 Stock. The 1972 Stock was intended for the Jubilee line, so from 1979 the Bakerloo line (now minus the Stanmore branch) was again entirely operated by 1938 Stock. From 1983 the 1938 Stock began to be replaced by trains of 1959 Stock, but this was a temporary measure until 1972 Stock became available. The last 1938 Stock train was withdrawn on November 20 1985. From 1986, the 1959 Stock was transferred to the Northern line ^[12].

Current trains

The interior of a Bakerloo train

The Bakerloo line is now operated entirely by Mark 2 1972 Stock, displaced from the Jubilee line by 1983 Stock. The stock is maintained at Stonebridge Park depot.

All Bakerloo line trains are painted in the distinctive London Underground livery of red, white and blue and are the smaller size of the two sizes used on the network, since trains travel deep underground in small tunnels.

The interiors of these trains have recently been 'deep cleaned' and the upholstery has been replaced by a more appealing blue. The seating layouts are longitudinal and transverse, with some cars having longitudinal seating only.

These trains are currently scheduled for replacement in 2018 as part of the London Underground PFI.

Map

The TFL line diagram is available online.

Stations

Bakerloo line

Watford DC Line Harrow & Wealdstone Kenton Metropolitan Line London to Aylesbury Line South Kenton North Wembley Chiltern Main Line Wembley Central Stonebridge Park Depot (LUL) Stonebridge Park North Circular Road Harlesden Dudding Hill Line North London Line Willesden Junction West & North London Lines Kensal Green Track north of here owned by Network Rail Queen's Park North sheds (LUL) Queen's Park Watford DC Line to Euston Queen's Park South sheds (LUL) Kilburn Park Maida Vale Warwick Avenue Paddington Edgware Road Marylebone Baker Street Regent's Park Oxford Circus Piccadilly Circus Charing Cross Embankment (Charing Cross) Waterloo Lambeth North London Road depot Elephant & Castle Camberwell (projected)

Bakerloo line depot at London Road

The southbound Bakerloo line platform at Paddington

Bakerloo line route map c. 1970 inside a 1938-stock train. This version of the map was superseded in 1979 when the Jubilee line opened, taking over the section between Baker Street and Stanmore.

Note: For the former Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line, see the Jubilee line article.

Station	Image	Opened	Additional Information
Harrow & Wealdstone		April 16 1917	Closed: September 24 1982. Service restored: June 4 1984 .
Kenton		April 16 1917	Closed: September 24 1982. Service restored: June 4 1984.
South Kenton		July 3 1933	Closed: September 24 1982. Service restored: June 4 1984.
North Wembley		April 16 1917	Closed: September 24 1982. Service restored: June 4 1984.
Wembley Central		April 16 1917	Opened as Wembley Central for Sudbury. Renamed: July 5 1948. Closed: September 24 1982. Service restored: June 4 1984.
Stonebridge park		August 1 1917
Harlesden		April 16 1917
Willesden Junction		May 10 1915
Kensal Green		October 1 1916
Queen's Park		February 11 1915
Kilburn Park		January 31 1915
Maida Vale		June 6 1915
Warwick Avenue		January 31 1915
Paddington ( Trains to Heathrow)		December 1 1913
Edgware Road		June 15 1907
Marylebone		March 27 1907	Opened as Great Central. Renamed, April 15 1917
Baker Street		March 10 1906
Regent's Park		March 10 1906
Oxford Circus		March 10 1906
Piccadilly Circus		March 10 1906
Charing Cross		March 10 1906
Embankment		March 10 1906
Waterloo		March 10 1906
Lambeth North		March 10 1906	Opened as Kennington Road. Renamed Westminster Bridge Road: August 5 1906, Renamed to Lambeth North: April 15 1917
Elephant & Castle		August 5 1906

Former Stations

Watford Branch

See also: London Overground and Watford DC Lines

Between 1917 and 1982, Bakerloo line trains continued along the DC line past Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction. These stations continue to be served by London Overground.

Stanmore branch

The Stanmore branch was originally constructed by the Metropolitan Railway (now the Metropolitan line) and was transferred to the Bakerloo line in 1939. It was transferred to the Jubilee line on May 1 1979. It connected to the main line at Baker Street.

• Stanmore
• Canons Park
• Queensbury
• Kingsbury
• Wembley Park
• Neasden
• Dollis Hill
• Willesden Green
• Kilburn
• West Hampstead
• Finchley Road
• Swiss Cottage
• St. John's Wood

Depots

There are currently three depots serving the Bakerloo line. The main depot is at Stonebridge Park. Opened April 9 1978 on the site of a former British Rail power station, it handles the maintenance of the line's fleet. There are two smaller depots. The original depot at London Road (near Lambeth North) is still in use. The Bakerloo is the only line on the Underground to run trains in passenger service through a depot - at Queens Park - where the depot is situated immediately North of the station. The depot sheds were completed late in 1915 where some of the trains are stabled.

When Bakerloo line services ran to Watford, there was a depot at Croxley Green. This depot closed in November 1985.

See also

• Leslie Green - architect of the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway's early stations
• Stanley Heaps - architect of the extension stations from Warwick Avenue to Kilburn Park

References

External links

• "Bakerloo line facts". Transport for London. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
• "Bakerloo Line". Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
• London Rail Authority information at alwaystouchout.com
• A reproduction of the Bakerloo line for the freeware train simulator BVE