European Railroad Discussion > track work at Waterloo during August

Per National Rail (UK): "Between 5 and 28 August 2017, fewer trains will run in and out of London Waterloo. This includes the busiest times of the day – the morning and evening peaks. Between those dates, London Waterloo platforms 1-4... will be extended so longer 10-carriage trains can run. Platforms 1-9 will need to be closed throughout this time so the work can be carried out. Although Platforms 20 to 24 (the former Waterloo International terminal) will be in temporary use during this time, there will still be fewer South West Trains services."

I have looked at the timetables for August, and the changes are substantial. Furthermore there are worries about large queues of passengers at Waterloo during the evening peak. Be warned.

It will be significant, but the gain will also be significant.

From a history of London's train terminals, I recall that Waterloo was cobbled together from two parallel terminals operated by two pre-grouping companies. For awhile there were some strange platform configurations and track layouts, including some movable platform level pedestrian bridges over crossovers. A massive rebuilding by the Southern Railway took place. The terminal buildings show remnants of their pre-grouping ownerships.

Are you sure? Waterloo was always the home of the London and South Western Railway and no other company. While it was a mess at the end of the 19th century it was the LSWR which rebuilt the station, rather than the Southern Railway. Victoria was the two company station, London Brighton and South Coast on the west side and the London Chatham and Dover (later South Eastern and Chatham) on the east.

Actually for a while the Great Western Railway had running rights into the station as well. Significant rebuilding did take place at Victoria in the Southern era, for example making the two stations a single terminal rather than two. The Brighton side was more of a mess than the Chatham side and ended up with some 16 coach platforms which were split into two eights with crossovers half way.

cricketer8for9 Wrote:
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> Actually for a while the Great Western Railway had
> running rights into the station as well.
> Significant rebuilding did take place at Victoria
> in the Southern era, for example making the two
> stations a single terminal rather than two. The
> Brighton side was more of a mess than the Chatham
> side and ended up with some 16 coach platforms
> which were split into two eights with crossovers
> half way.

The GWR had running powers into the Chatham side of the station as they helped pay for it, the Chatham being perennially short of cash. I would have to disagree that the Southern did much rebuilding, all they did was punch a hole in the wall and call two stations one. They still operated, indeed still do operate, as two separate stations, Chatham side trains use platforms 1 to 8, Brighton side trains use 9 to 18. There is a single track lead connecting the Brighton side lines to the Chatham side which was mainly used by Newhaven boat trains, and which I've only seen used once in the 10 years I commuted through Victoria. It's instructive that as you approach Victoria on a train you pass signals labelled UBS and UCS - Up Brighton Slow and Up Chatham Slow - the old divisions are still there today. I'd also disagree that the Brighton side was 'a mess'. It had been rebuilt by the LB&SCR in the first decade of the twentieth century, but the rebuilding was constrained by Buckingham Palace Road to the west and the Chatham station to the east so the only way of increasing capacity was to rebuild outwards, hence the 16 coach platforms. It wasn't ideal but was all they could do to accommodate the increased volume of traffic and was accompanied by 6.6kV AC electrification and a power signalling system.

The only time I used the Newhaven boat train I managed some rare mileage as the train turned off the up fast at Pouparts Junction and headed along the very old route via Stewart's Lane to head into platform 7 having crossed Grosvenor Bridge on the Chatham side.

The use by Southern services of the connection to the Chatham side seems very occasional now, though a few years ago there did seem to be a more regular service in the off peak.