European Railroad Discussion > What has changed over half a century?

Here are two pics of the nortbound Metropoltan line (of the London Underground) at Finchley Road station where it emerges out of the cut-and-cover tunnels from Baker St.

The first I took in November 1968, the second in April 2016.

Not much has changed, although sharp-eyed viewers might see the 16 ton mineral wagon hiding behind the signal post, but actually over in the former MIdland railway goods yard, and also the snow-covered domestic coal heaped up beyond.  It's all a ghastly shopping mall now!



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/16 14:01 by spflow.

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There doesn't seem to be a Met to Jubilee connection in the northbound direction. Although I never actually travelled on it I think a few v early or v late Met line trains called at some but not all Bakerloo and later Jubilee line stations to Wembley Park. Not sure if they did it by crossing over at Finchley Road or by using the old Met line platforms that, still, exist at some stations such as Willesden Green.

The most important change, and the reason why there is no crossover, is that the Jubilee Line is equipped with ATO, which none of the sub surface lines has. That signal on the Jubilee is dark, awaiting removal.

Well the platform canopy provides much better protection in photo two, it appears to have no roof in the older view.

Posted from Android

CCTV cameras!

Jim

I'm trying to figure out why there are four rails. I presume that two of them provide propulsion current. Perhaps some equipment has a pickup for the middle rail, and others for the outside rail? 

tq-07fan Wrote:
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> CCTV cameras!
>
> Jim
Jim. you're absolutely right, and it's not just CCTV but all kinds of kit which slowly has got added to underground stations, thus spoiling the simple lines of many of them. I bielev that Finchley Road was modernised in the very late 30s or late 40s as part of the introduction of Bakerloo line trains through the centre tracks. By 1968 it had matured into a classic underground station,  a quality it now struggles to hang on to.

No one commented on the trip cock tester which is still in the same place. Is all the Met signalling still unchanged? I don't know whether all the connections between the Met and Jubilee lines have been removed for ATO, there also used to be a crossover just inside the northbound tunnel portals.

PS this station is only a mile or so south of Nick's great shots of Met and Jubilee trains at KIlburn.

colehour Wrote:
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> I'm trying to figure out why there are four rails.
> I presume that two of them provide propulsion
> current. Perhaps some equipment has a pickup for
> the middle rail, and others for the outside
> rail? 
No the two extra rails are simply for positive and negative - intoduced early in the last century to avoid stray return currents on the Underground system causing electrolytic damage etc. For safety reasons the outer rail is usually about +450V (DC), while the centre rail is around -200V, giving about 650V DC net power supply, and by convention the outer rail is usually kept away from platforms.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/16 13:56 by spflow.

spflow Wrote:
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> colehour Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm trying to figure out why there are four
> rails.
> > I presume that two of them provide propulsion
> > current. Perhaps some equipment has a pickup
> for
> > the middle rail, and others for the outside
> > rail? 
> No the two extra rails are simply for positive and
> negative - intoduced early in the last century to
> avoid stray return currents on teh Undergrouns
> system causing electrolytic da,age etc. For safety
> reasons the outer rail is usually about +450V
> (DC),, while the centre rail is around -200V,
> giving about 650V DC net power supply.

Thanks for the information. I've heard about the damage that stray currents can do, so this arrangement makes sense. I wonder if any other systems use/used this method of providing current.
 

4th rail also less dangerous if a person falls on to it. There was a long discussion on the wonderful London Reconnections site, but I think it was something to do with the running rails not having current running through them and so a person hitting the centre rail and a running rail would not complete the circuit, and so not have electricity passing through him or her. With conventional third rail the current returns via the running rail and so touching the 3rd rail and the running rail does lead to a very nasty shock.

spflow Wrote:
-----------------------------------
> No one commented on the trip cock tester which is
> still in the same place. Is all the Met signalling
> still unchanged? I don't know whether all the
> connections between the Met and Jubilee lines have
> been removed for ATO, there also used to be a
> crossover just inside the northbound tunnel
> portals.

Met line signalling hasn't changed, the ATO contract for all the sub surface lines (Met, Circle and District) has been re-tendered. There are connections between the Met and Jubilee at Neasden, but that's purely for access to the depot and, presumably, for engineering trains when necessary. The signal box at Willesden Green is still there, although I don't know what it is used for.

Another thing which has changed but which isn't apparent from the photo is frequency, there are more trains than 50 years ago.

In the 1970s there were nine trains an hour on the Met, all of which started at Baker Street except during rush hours. There were four all stations to Watford; four all stations to Uxbridge and a fast to Amersham. After Finchley Road, which is the first station after Baker Street, the fast trains called at Harrow-on-the-Hill, Moor Park, Rickmansworth, Chorleywood, Chalfont & Latimer and Amersham. Passengers for Chesham changed at Chalfont.

Today both Amersham and Chesham are served by two trains an hour each, Watford still sees four trains an hour and there up to seven an hour to Uxbridge. The retrograde step is that outside the rush hour all trains, including the Chesham and Amersham services are all stations. Chiltern's half hourly Marylebone to Aylesbury services provide the limited stop service north of Harrow-on-the-Hill during off peak hours. 

Riding an A stock train on a fast service was quite entertaining, as they were notoriously rough riding despite being theoretically capable, with a fair wind, of 70 mph. When I commuted on the Met in the late 70s their maximum had been reduced to 60 mph, and later it was reduced further to 50 mph although today, with the new S stock, the maximum has again been raised to 60 mph. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/16 07:19 by 86235.