LogoClive's UndergrounD Line Guides

"I know a land where the wild flowers grow,
Near, near at hand if by train you go,
Metro-Land, Metro-Land."

- untitled item
George R. Sims

"Through Amersham to Aylesbury and the Vale,
In those wet fields the railway didn't pay.
The Metro stops at Amersham today."

- Metroland
J Betjeman

LogoMetropolitan Line

A Subsurface Line

[Last modified: 2023-10-19]

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History
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Dates
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Features
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Services
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Topology
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Layout
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Depots
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Connections
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Rolling stock

History

For the early history of the Metropolitan Railway, and the entire history of the section from Aldgate to Baker Street, see the Hammersmith & City Line. Until about 1990 both that and the East London Line were described as being part of the Metropolitan Line.

North of Baker Street, today's Metropolitan Line follows a later route built by the Metropolitan Railway. It was known for a time as the Metropolitan Extension (on extension to Harrow the Board of Trade inspector wrote "This new line, practically speaking, is not a Metropolitan Railway"), but eventually the Metropolitan came to feel that this, rather than their original route, was now their main line; and this is why it retains the name Metropolitan today.

The Metropolitan Railway had a history of stubborn independence - see the Circle Line page for its conflicts with the MDR. Having been the only major [1] underground line not to be absorbed into the Yerkes group, and having successfully avoided being caught up in the 1923 Grouping on the grounds it only served the London area, it fiercely (but unsuccessfully) fought absorption into London Transport in 1933 with the claim that it was a main line!

The origin of the Metropolitan Main Line was the Metropolitan & St. John's Wood Railway, a branch from Baker Street to tap the northern part of Paddington. It was build as a single track, initially to Swiss Cottage, with passing loops at the intermediate stations of Marlborough Road and Lord's (then called St. John's Wood). For the first year trains ran through on to the "Main Line" - today's Circle Line - but after that for many years all trains terminated at Baker Street, with the connection used only for moving empty stock and normally blocked by a drawbridge at the southern end of the M&StJWR platforms. For a while, starting in 1874, the line abandoned the conventional "staff and ticket" arrangement for operating on single lines in favour of a system with two "human tokens", one with a red belt (southern section) and the other a blue belt (northern section) - a train had to have the correct person on the engine to run on the single lines. Meanwhile the passing loop at Marlborough Road was removed and the signal box there closed. To speed the working, as the trains arrived at St. John's Wood the men would jump off the engine and slide to a halt along the platform, a source of great public entertainment.

Some years later, the Manchester, Sheffield, & Lincolnshire Railway was looking to expand towards London, and at the same time the Metropolitan Railway had its eyes on the untapped commuter market of the northwest (the only rival, the LNWR, did not become interested in commuters until much later). Since the two railways had the same chairman [2] co-operation was natural, and the short branch to St. John's Wood bloomed into a major trunk route. The Metropolitan extended its route north through Harrow and Rickmansworth to Aylesbury. At the same time it bought out one failed railway - the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway from Aylesbury via Quainton Road to Verney Junction - and took over the operation of another - the Wotton Tramway from Quainton Road to Brill. It also built a branch to Chesham, an important destination in its own right as well as aiming at an eventual link to the LNWR at Tring. It would have seemed logical to extend the Brill branch to Oxford, and many such plans were made, but none came to fruition and the line remained a backwater of the system. The A&BR station at Aylesbury (shared with the GWR) had to be remodelled to handle the extra traffic the Metropolitan would bring, but this was not done in time, so the latter used a temporary terminus further south for the first 15 months.

Meanwhile the MS&LR extended its main line south to meet the Metropolitan at Quainton Road in 1899; its trains on this route ran along the latter's tracks to Finchley Road, where a separate line diverged west to a terminus at Marylebone. Following a dispute between the two companies, on 1906-04-02 the Metropolitan and the MS&LR (by now renamed the Great Central) transferred the route from Quainton Road to south of Harrow (and including the two branches) to a Joint Committee [3]. The lines south of Harrow were reorganized to give the GCR separate tracks from Harrow to Marylebone with no intermediate stations. The Joint Committee was to build one line of its own: the branch to Watford. As planned this would have served the town centre, but objections from the local council meant it finished in the middle of nowhere (something that is still the case today). Nonetheless it was given a frequent service to both Baker Street and Marylebone, though the latter was withdrawn after only 6 months, on 1926-05-03. Late the following year the Metropolitan attempted to drum up business by running a bus service from the station to the centre of the town. Though always running at a loss, the buses contributed greatly to the patronage of the branch for many years.

Following the success of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Metropolitan sponsored a similar but larger (353m or 1159') Wembley Tower, and in anticipation of the large crowds it would draw opened a new station at Wembley Park to serve it. As it turned out, only about the first 60m (200') of the tower was built as problems with the ground meant it was starting to topple; the venture was a financial disaster and the structure was removed in 1907, allowing the land to be used for building. Part of the area was reused in the 1920s for the Empire Exhibition and for Wembley Stadium. To serve these a separate Exhibition station was opened in 1923 on the east side just south of Wembley Park station, with non-stop trains to Baker Street; this remained until 1937, when it was replaced by an additional platform at the main station.

For much of its independent life, the Metropolitan was known for encouraging commuter traffic and new development on "green-field" sites; this policy was supported by a unique legal position that allowed the company to own property for such purposes rather than being required to sell off any land not needed for railway use. Both the Watford and Uxbridge branches - and the Stanmore branch now part of the Jubilee Line - were built to this end, and the whole became known as "Metro-land"[4], a term first appearing in publicity material in May 1915 and more recently popularized by the late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman.

The Metropolitan was also the only Underground line to run private trains. In 1895 the company ordered two special saloon cars for Lord Rothschild, who lived near Wendover station, and combined them with two first-class carriages to form a special train for him which ran non-stop between Wendover and Baker Street apart from a stop at Rickmansworth, officially "for water" but actually to evade a law concerning equipment on trains that made non-stop journeys over 20 miles. Later, the company also included Pullman coaches[5] (two luxury coaches with catering facilities, owned by the Pullman Car Company) in its trains; these were fitted with toilets, though they were locked out of use when the train was underground. In 1931 it even fitted chocolate vending machines in some trains. In 1965 the Pullman coaches were being used as beach chalets at Newhaven; meanwhile, the Rothschild saloons were broken up in 1945.

Traffic on the Metropolitan was heavy enough that it was quadrupled from Finchley Road to Kilburn in 1913, Wembley Park in 1915, Harrow in 1932, Northwood Hills in 1961, and Croxleyhall Junction (north of Moor Park) in 1962. Originally the fast lines were the eastern pair south of Wembley Park and the western pair north of there (meaning that most trains had to cross sides at Wembley Park), but in 1938 the lines south of Harrow were reorganized with the fast tracks on the outside and the slow on the inside (south of Wembley Park the Bakerloo Line was about to take over the latter). From 1901 the GCR had its own separate pair of tracks on the west side from Finchley Road to Harrow.

When the Joint Committee was formed, the Metropolitan was responsible for maintenance on the southern part and the GCR on the northern part. The original boundary was at milepost 28½ (92.29 km on the Ongar system), just south of Great Missenden. London Transport took over maintenance as far as 106.15 km (just south of Aylesbury) either on its formation in 1933 or on 1950-06-17 (sources disagree). This point became the ownership boundary between LU and BR when the Joint Committee was abolished, apparently on 1950-06-25. On 1961-09-11, when LU ceased to run trains north of Amersham, the section north of Mantles Wood Junction was transferred to BR, although LU retained responsibility for maintenance on it (other than signalling); on 1967-02-01 maintenance responsibility for this section was transferred as well. Mantles Wood Junction remains the boundary today.

North of Amersham, main-line trains from Marylebone run as far as Aylesbury Vale Parkway while beyond there it remains a goods line as far as Quainton Road (In addition there is an occasional passenger service in connection with the museum there.) The two Metropolitan routes further north have vanished. Operation of the Wotton Tramway ceased in 1935 and the Joint Committee handed back responsibility to the owners. Since they had neither locomotives nor carriages, the latter sold the track for scrap and let the route merge back into the countryside (though vestiges are still visible to the careful explorer and on aerial photographs). The sparse passenger service to Verney Junction via Winslow Road on the original A&BR was withdrawn the following year in order to make an annual saving of £42. Goods services along the route lasted until 1947, after which it was mothballed for 11 years before the track was eventually lifted.

The line as far as Quainton Road remained used by the LNER (with the Metropolitan returning for a few years to service wartime activities) and then BR, but beyond there trains used the GCR route towards Nottingham. A connecting curve was built during the war where this crosses the LNWR line from Cambridge to Oxford. When the GCR route was closed in 1966, that curve, and the line south of it, remained in use: currently it carries trains of rubbish from London to disposal facilities at Calvert on the LNWR line. Distances along it are still officially measured from Baker Street. The section of the LNWR Cambridge to Oxford line east of the connecting curve, including the bit through Verney Junction, closed on 1968-12-31.

From 1939-07-17 to 1941-10-05 trains from Uxbridge ran all the way to Barking via the Hammersmith & City Line.

[1] Two minor lines - the ELR and W&CR - were owned by main-line railways that were nationalized in 1948 as part of BR, and the GN&CR was owned by the Metropolitan for part of its lifetime before becoming part of the Northern Line.

[2] He also ran the SER, and had visions of a Manchester to Paris service via Baker Street, the ELR, and a Channel Tunnel.

[3] One effect of this was that Aylesbury station was now run by a Joint Committee of two Joint Committees: the Great Central and Metropolitan and the Great Central and Great Western.

[4] Note how the official spelling and the two quotes at the top of this page all disagree. The term (spelled "Metro-Land") was coined by James Garland, a copywriter in the Metropolitan Railway's publicity department, a few years earlier. A "Margot Metroland" appears in the satirical work Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh.

[5] These were named "Galatea" and "Mayflower" after the two yachts contesting the 1886 America's Cup. The two ran in separate trains, not together.

Dates

Note that dates are not given for services described on the Circle Line, East London Line, and Hammersmith & City Line pages, even when these were operated by the Metropolitan Railway. The term "Circle" in these dates always refers to whatever part of the line between Aldgate and Baker Street was open at the time.

The dates for the Brill branch are a little uncertain. Sources indicate that all the stations, including the endpoints, opened on dates rather later than the line itself. Very likely the line was first operated as a tramway with no formal stops, with stations being added later. The line had two goods-only branches, one about 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from Wotton to Kingswood Lane (later cut back to Moat Farm) and the other into the brickworks about half way between Brill and Wood Siding.

key to symbols

1868-04-13 2 Swiss Cottage to Baker Street opened with through running to the Circle
1868-09-23 [3] Verney Junction to Aylesbury (1) opened [ABR]
X Quainton Road (MR), Waddesdon, Aylesbury Vale Parkway
1869-07-03 Through running to the Circle withdrawn
1871-04-01 [0] {Wotton} to {Quainton Road (WT)} opened [Wotton Tramway]
1871-08-19 0 {Wood Siding} to {Wotton} opened [Wotton Tramway]
1871-11- 0 Brill to {Wood Siding} opened [Wotton Tramway]
1871-11- + Wood Siding, Church Siding
1872-01- + Wotton, Westcott, Waddesdon Road, Quainton Road (WT)
1872-04- = Brill
1879-06-30 1 West Hampstead to Swiss Cottage opened
1879-11-24 1 Willesden Green to West Hampstead opened
1880-08-02 [1] Harrow-on-the-Hill to Willesden Green opened
+ Neasden
1885-05-25 [0] Pinner to Harrow-on-the-Hill opened
1887-09-01 [1] Rickmansworth to Pinner opened
+ Northwood
1889-07-08 2 Chesham to Rickmansworth opened
1891-07-01 Verney Junction to Aylesbury (1) started [Metropolitan]
1892-09-01 3 Aylesbury (2) to Amersham opened
3 Amersham to Chalfont & Latimer opened
1893-10-14 + Wembley Park (football Saturdays only)
1893-12-31 - Aylesbury (2)
1894-01-01 0 Aylesbury (1) to {Aylesbury (2)} opened
1894-05-12 + Wembley Park (continuous service)
1894-08 - Church Siding
1896-11-29 - Quainton Road (ABR), Quainton Road (WT)
1896-11-30 + Quainton Road (MR)
1897-01-01 + Waddesdon
1899-03-15 Quainton Road (MR) to Finchley Road started [GCR]
1899-12-01 Brill to Quainton Road (MR) started [Metropolitan]
1904-07-04 [1] Uxbridge to Harrow-on-the-Hill opened
+ Ruislip
1905-01-01 * Uxbridge to Baker Street
1905-07-01 * Baker Street to Aldgate
1905-09-25 + Ickenham
1906-05-26 + Eastcote, Rayners Lane
1907-01-28 Through running to the Circle restored
1907-05- Through running to the Circle withdrawn
1908-05-21 + Preston Road
1909-07-01 Through running to the Circle restored
1909-10-01 + Dollis Hill
1910-05-09 + Moor Park
1910-06-01 Pullman coaches first operated
1912-08-05 + Ruislip Manor
1913-11-17 + West Harrow
1915-03-22 + North Harrow
1917-02-11 - Ruislip Manor
1919-04-01 + Ruislip Manor
1923-06-28 + Northwick Park
1923-12-10 + Hillingdon
1925-01-05 * Rickmansworth to Harrow-on-the-Hill
1925-11-02 0 Rickmansworth to Croxley opened *
1 Watford to Moor Park opened *
1931-11-22 = Preston Road, southbound only
1932-01-03 = Preston Road, northbound only
1932-12-10 [2] Stanmore to Wembley Park opened *
X Queensbury
1933-11-13 + Northwood Hills
1933-12-31 Rickmansworth to Croxley closed
1934-12-16 + Queensbury
1935-11-30 Brill to Quainton Road (MR) closed
1936-07-04 Verney Junction to Quainton Road (MR) closed
Quainton Road (MR) to Aylesbury (1) withdrawn
- Waddesdon[6]
1938-12-04 < Uxbridge
1939-10-07 Pullman coaches withdrawn
1939-11-19 Stanmore to Wembley Park withdrawn
- Marlborough Road, Lord's
1940-08-17 - Swiss Cottage
1941-03-29 -= Neasden, Dollis Hill, Willesden Green, Kilburn, West Hampstead
1941-10-06 0 Rickmansworth to Croxley reopened [Evening and Sunday only] [7]
1943-05-03 Quainton Road (MR) to Aylesbury (1) restored
1948-05-29 Quainton Road (MR) to Aylesbury (1) withdrawn
1959-12-27 Rickmansworth to Croxley closed [8]
1960-09-12 * Amersham and Chesham to Rickmansworth
1961-09-10 Aylesbury (1) to Amersham withdrawn
Last passenger steam services on LU withdrawn
1962-06-16 Last BR passenger steam services over the Metropolitan withdrawn
1963-03-02 - Quainton Road (MR) [9]
1966-09-03 Quainton Road (MR) to Aylesbury (1) closed
1987-05-11 0 Rickmansworth to Croxley reopened [occasional trains only]
1992-12-06 = Hillingdon
2005-01-02 - Ruislip Manor, southbound only (reconstruction)
2005-07-07 Moorgate to Aldgate closed (bomb explosion on Circle Line train at Aldgate)[10]
2005-07-09 + Ruislip Manor, southbound only
- Ruislip Manor, northbound only (reconstruction)
2005-07-25 1 Moorgate to Aldgate reopened
2005-12-22 + Ruislip Manor, northbound only
2005-12-26 + Willesden Green
2005-12-30 -= Willesden Green
2008-12-14 0 Aylesbury Vale Parkway to Aylesbury reopened
2010-02-26 Moorgate to Aldgate withdrawn
2010-03-07 Moorgate to Aldgate restored
2014-07-18 Uxbridge to Ruislip closed (track replacement)[11]
2014-08-11 2 Uxbridge to Ruislip reopened
2020-03-18 - Barbican (Covid-19)
2020-03-19 - Great Portland Street (Covid-19)
2020-06-08 + Barbican
2020-07-06 + Great Portland Street

[6] LNER trains stopped here for the last time on 1936-07-05, a Sunday and the day following the LU closure.

[7] The non-Sunday evening service was "mostly" withdrawn on 1945-09-29.

[8] One source claims that there was a Boxing Day service along this section in some years.

[9] In more recent years there has been an NR service on some bank holidays between Aylesbury and Quainton Road [MR], to serve the museum at the latter.

[10] On 2005-07-08 only, the closure extended from Aldgate to Baker Street.

[11] On some weekends the closure was extended to Rayners Lane. During part of the afternoon and evening of 2014-08-08, some trains ran through to Uxbridge.

Features

From Aldgate (where the Metropolitan Line has its own platforms) to Baker Street Junction, the line shares track with the Hammersmith & City and Circle Lines; this section is mostly in tunnel, but with short sections, and some stations, in the open. The connection at Baker Street Junction was initially single track, only being double track from 1912-11-04 onwards. From Baker Street to Finchley Road is in tunnel, surfacing at Finchley Road station. For some years there was a device on the southbound track at Finchley Road to detect a train with open swing doors before it entered the tunnel; this was removed when all such rolling stock had been withdrawn.

From Finchley Road to just south of Wembley Park, there are four tracks, with the Jubilee tracks between the Metropolitan, plus the National Rail line from Marylebone to the west. At Wembley Park the Metropolitan tracks split into fast (on the outside) and slow (on the inside), and there are 6 platforms including the Jubilee. After the Jubilee diverges, there remains 4 Metropolitan tracks (with the slow tracks remaining on the inside), plus two National Rail tracks on the west side, until Harrow-on-the-Hill, where again there are 6 platforms; LU takes over ownership of all 6 tracks just south of the station, and all platforms are electrified. Normal use of the platforms is:

1 northbound main-line services, plus a few fast LU trains
2 southbound main-line services, plus one LU train turning back south-to-north
3 northbound Watford, Amersham, and Chesham services
4 northbound Uxbridge services
5 southbound all-stops services
6 southbound services running non-stop to Finchley Road

The layout of the station and Harrow North Junction is (north is at the left):

                                                            SB fast
                   /---------*-----*-----6-----*-*------------------
                  /           \   /   ########  X           SB local
                 /   [----*----*-*--*----5-----*-*------------------
    SB local    /    [   /   ------*                        NB local
    -----------*     [--*---*-----*-*----4-----*-*------------------
    NB local  /              \   /    ########  X           NB fast
    ---------X--*-------------*-*--------3-----*-*-*----------------
    SB fast /  /                                  /         SB NR
    -------*--X--------------------*-----2-----==X==================
    NB fast  /                    /   ########  /           NB NR
    --------*--------------------*-------1-----*====================

(== indicates non-electrified track; [ is the diveunder to the Uxbridge branch).

The Uxbridge branch, after diving under the northbound tracks, is double track. The main line remains 4-track (fast lines to the west of the local lines) to Croxleyhall junction, where it reverts to double track. The Watford branch separates at Watford South Junction, and there are no intermediate connections between fast and local lines, meaning that Watford trains must use the local lines. There is a connecting curve between Watford East and North junctions; currently this is only used for empty stock movements and a few trains at the start and end of service, but has previously seen a full service.

The Watford branch and the main line north of Croxleyhall Junction are both double track. From Croxley to Watford the line is on a high embankment or viaduct as it crosses the valley containing the River Gade and the Grand Union Canal. Allegedly it is so high because the LNWR demanded clearance for the Croxley Green branch (see the Bakerloo Line page) to pass under it as part of a planned extension to Tring; the geography and the financial situation at the time make this unlikely, though.

The Chesham branch is single track, with its own platform at Chalfont & Latimer; the branch runs beside the main line for some distance.

Though the line beyond Quainton Road has been lifted, the platforms at Verney Junction are just about still visible from the LNWR line, itself currently out of use here (though it will be restored as part of "East West Rail" from Oxford to Bedford).

Services

The Metropolitan Line is the only line to operate express service, though currently this is only in the peaks. The off-peak service presently consists of:

while the peak service is:

MorningEvening
  • Amersham to/from Aldgate, fast
  • Amersham to/from Aldgate, semi-fast
  • Amersham to/from Baker Street, semi-fast
  • Chesham to/from Aldgate, fast
  • Watford to/from Aldgate, semi-fast
  • Watford to/from Aldgate, all stops
  • Watford to/from Baker Street semi-fast
  • Watford to/from Baker Street all-stops
  • Uxbridge to/from Aldgate, semi-fast
  • Uxbridge to/from Aldgate, all stops
  • Uxbridge to/from Baker Street, all stops
2tph
2tph
 
2tph
2tph
1tph
2tph
3tph
2tph
4tph
4tph
2tph
 
2tph
2tph
4tph
 
2tph
2tph
 
7tph
3tph

Semi-fast trains are non-stop between Wembley Park and Harrow-on-the-Hill. Fast trains call only at Harrow-on-the-Hill between Wembley Park and Moor Park. In addition, southbound fast and semi-fast trains in the morning do not call at Wembley Park. Trains normally only run fast or semi-fast in the peak direction, calling at all stops in the opposite direction, though there are a few northbound semi-fast trains in the morning peak.

At the start and end of service, and during engineering works, there are a few oddities, such as trains starting at Wembley Park (from Neasden depot) and then running non-stop to Harrow-on-the-Hill. Other oddities in the past have included:

The original use of the Watford North Curve, from 1925 to 1933, was a Watford-Rickmansworth shuttle. But in the 1941 to 1960 reopening, half of the 2ph Sunday service to Watford was diverted via Rickmansworth rather than running directly between Moor Park and Croxley.

From 1892-09-01 until 2010-12-11 there were few or no trains running directly to Chesham. Instead there was a shuttle between there and Chalfont & Latimer using the bay platform at the latter. The shuttle has been reinstated from time to time because of events such as adverse weather and engineering works.

From 2004-09-26 until 2005-02-13 reconstruction work at Wembley Park meant that southbound trains using the slow line could not stop there. All Amersham and Watford southbound services therefore ran fast from Harrow-on-the-Hill to Wembley Park, stopping there, while Uxbridge southbound services stopped at Northwick Park and Preston Road but skipped Wembley Park. Southbound trains due to terminate at Wembley Park terminated at Preston Road instead and then ran empty to the depot. Northbound fast Amersham trains were also unable to stop. From 2005-02-14 to 2005-05-28 the opposing arrangements were in effect: northbound Uxbridge trains skipped Wembley Park but called at Northwick Park and Preston Road, while all other trains stopped at Wembley Park but then ran fast to Harrow-on-the-Hill. Southbound Amersham trains (and two evening peak trains from Watford) ran fast from Harrow-on-the-Hill to Finchley Road.

From 2016-05-15 until 2018-12-20 trains did not run south of Wembley Park late on Monday to Wednesday evenings or early on Tuesday to Thursday mornings; the last trains were the 21:54 from Wembley Park to Aldgate and the 22:32 from Aldgate (departing Baker Street at 22:50), while the first trains were the 05:28 from Wembley Park to Baker Street and the 05:53 northbound from Baker Street. During these times the Uxbridge service was reduced to 6tph while Watford trains terminated at Harrow-on-the-Hill. This was to allow long-term track and drainage work and tunnel repairs between Baker Street and Finchley Road. The line remained open on evenings when there were special events happening at Wembley stadium.

The minimum running times from Baker Street for stopping trains are:

Aldgate 19 minutes
Amersham 50 minutes
Chesham 54 minutes
Harrow-on-the-Hill  21 minutes
Uxbridge 40 minutes
Watford 41 minutes

Trains that do not stop between Finchley Road and Harrow-on-the-Hill save about 2 minutes, while those that do not stop between Harrow and Moor Park save 4 to 5 minutes. The Chesham shuttle took 8 minutes each way.

For many years this line was unique in having extra allowances for problems with leaves on the line in autumn; the Piccadilly Line became the second with this property in 2017. Special speed-controlled signalling is active on the southbound line north of Rickmansworth during this period and southbound trains are allowed an additional 3½ minutes over this section in consequence (1 minute from Amersham and Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer, 1 minute from there to Chorleywood, and 1½ minutes from there to Rickmansworth).

The line north of Aylesbury only saw a few trains a day, consisting of perhaps two or three Metropolitan Line trains each way to and from London (some of those only running as far north as Quainton Road) plus a few mainline (Great Central Railway or LNER) shuttles from Aylesbury. The wartime reinstatement to Quainton Road was typically two trains per day. The Brill branch was generally operated separately, with the service running between Quainton Road and Brill and taking about 35 minutes each way; there were at most four trains each way per day. In the 1930s the first train from Brill continued to Aylesbury. Wood Siding and Westcott stations were request stops.

Covid-19: a 4tph service ran between Aldgate and Uxbridge and between Baker Street (occasionally Aldgate) and Watford. A 2tph service ran between Baker Street (starting 2020-04-27; Harrow-on-the-Hill before then) and each of Amersham (fast) and Chesham (all stops). When Harrow was their southern terminus, Chesham services were sometimes supplemented or replaced by a 2tph service between Watford and Chesham via the Watford North Curve (it's not clear whether this used separate trains or was an extension of alternate London to Watford trains).

On the weekend of 2020-04-04/05 there was a special service with 4tph Aldgate to Harrow-on-the-Hill and separate 2tph services between the latter and each of the four northern termini, meaning that all through passengers had to change at Harrow-on-the-Hill.

Normal weekday services were restored on 2020-05-18 and weekend services on 2020-06-13.

Topology

                        <= North   South =>

    1                           W
    |/-\                        |
    V   \           C           a                                  2
    |    \           \         / \                                /
    \--1--Q---Y---M---L-------b-c=d========H====P~~~~~F-----K----J--A--3
        /      \                          / \---4--*--4    /
    B--/        4                        /        /    \  5
                                U-------R--6     4      4

= = quadruple track
~ = double track with Jubilee tracks between
A = Aldgate
B = Brill
C = Chesham
F = Finchley Road
H = Harrow-on-the-Hill
J = Aldgate Junction
K = Baker Street Junction
L = Chalfont & Latimer
M = Amersham
P = Wembley Park
Q = Quainton Road
R = Rayners Lane Junction
U = Uxbridge
V = Verney Junction
W = Watford
Y = Aylesbury (1)
a = Watford East Junction
b = Watford North Junction
c = Croxleyhall Junction
d = Watford South Junction
1 = NR goods line to Bletchley
2 = Hammersmith & City Line to Barking
3 = Circle Line via Tower Hill
4 = Chiltern line (NR) from Marylebone via Amersham or via Ruislip
5 = Circle Line and Hammersmith & City Line via Edgware Road
6 = Piccadilly Line to Cockfosters

Layout

key to notation

Locations are listed down the page in the southbound direction.

SP735274 128=01 [-] [junction with LNWR]
SP736274 127=83 [BB=we=] (Verney Junction)
SP750260 125=58 [OP] (Winslow Road)
SP745242 123=73 [OP] (Granborough Road)
SP733192 118=18 [-] [junction with GCR]
SP737190 117=8 [NS=] (Quainton Road (ABR))
SP737189 117=65 [bb=NS=] (Quainton Road (MR))
SP757180 115=57 [OP] (Waddesdon)
SP786153 111=55 [B =T] {Aylesbury Vale Parkway}
111=31 [-] [Aylesbury Vale Junction]
[-] [gradual slew]
109=19 [-] [Aylesbury North GF Junction]
108=25 [-] [end of goods loop]
SP817134 107=83 [B=NS=] {Aylesbury (1)}
SP819133 107=73 [-] [Aylesbury Junction]
SP822131 [NS=] (Aylesbury (2))
SP839106 104=23 [OP] {Stoke Mandeville}
SP865077 100=37 [OP] {Wendover}
SP893012 93=08 [OP] {Great Missenden}
87.08 [-] [Mantles Wood Junction]
SU964982 84.83 [N=BS=] [Z9] Amersham
SU983978 83.0   [-] [divergence]
SU996975 81.58 [=NS=v] [Z8] Chalfont & Latimer
TQ025960 78.12 [OP] [Z7] Chorleywood
057945 74.52 [=NS=T] [Z7] Rickmansworth
070946 73.35 [-] [Watford North Junction]
73.10 [-] [Croxleyhall Junction]
073945 72.77 [-] [Watford South Junction]
086935 71.16 [N=SN=S] [Z6/7] Moor Park
092913 68.95 [NS =NS=] [Z6] Northwood
103902 67.33 [NS =NS=] [Z6] Northwood Hills
122894 65.25 [NS =NS=] ![Z5] Pinner
135886 63.77 [NS =NS=] [Z5] North Harrow
62.83 [-] [Harrow North Junction]
153880 61.78 [n=sN=NS=S] [Z5] Harrow-on-the-Hill
61.25 [-] [LU/NR boundary]
166879 60.49 [duNN=SS] [Z4] Northwick Park
182872 58.84 [duNN=SS] [Z4] Preston Road
193863 57.38 [du =NN=ns=SS=] [Z4] Wembley Park
213853 55.09 [du =Nn=sS=] [Z3] {Neasden}
222851 54.24 [duNn=sS] [Z3] {Dollis Hill}
233848 53.03 [du =Nn=sS=] [Z2/3] {Willesden Green}
245846 51.84 [duNn=sS] [Z2] {Kilburn}
256846 50.75 [duNn=sS] [Z2] {West Hampstead}
261848 50.14 [duN=ns=S] [Z2] Finchley Road
49.59 [OP] (Swiss Cottage)
48.83 [OP] (Marlborough Road)
47.88 [OP] (Lord's)
271827 47.68 [-] [tunnel mouth]
273825 47.02 [-] [tunnel mouth]
279820 46.75 [=6we5=-=1V1=NS=4V] [Z1] Baker Street
280820 46.59 [-] [Baker Street Junction]
288821 45.79 [OP] [Z1] Great Portland Street
294823 45.17 [OP] [Z1] Euston Square
302828 44.32 [CP] [Z1] King's Cross St. Pancras
304829 43.90 [=#NS#=|='B'du'A'=] [Z1] (King's Cross Thameslink)
315818 42.47 [=du=NS= X] ![Z1] Farringdon
320818 41.96 [=du=NS= X] [Z1] Barbican
324814 41.33 [=vv=VV=NS= X] [Z1] Moorgate
331815 40.81 [V=NS= X] [Z1] Liverpool Street
335813 40.32 [-] [Aldgate Junction]
TQ336812 40.19 [i=VV=o X] [Z1] Aldgate

SP656153   128=3   [BB=b] (Brill)
SP659153   127=9   [B] ((Brill)) (no platforms)
SP673154 [B=] (Wood Siding)
SP690156 [B] (Church Siding)
SP694153 123=54 [B=] (Wotton)
SP720167 120=56 [B=] (Westcott)
SP725175 119=58 [=B] (Waddesdon Road)
SP735188 [-] [divergence from original route]
SP737189 117=65 [BB=ns=] (Quainton Road (MR))

SP735188 [-] [divergence from later route]
SP736189 [V] (Quainton Road (WT))

TQ055841 73.03 [T=2T3=T] [Z6] Uxbridge
075850 70.93 [OP] ![Z6] Hillingdon
70.86 [OP] (Hillingdon Swakeleys)
081858 69.85 [OP] [Z6] Ickenham
086864 69.11 [-] [Ruislip siding entrance]
095869 68.00 [OP] [Z6] Ruislip
101872 67.28 [OP] [Z6] Ruislip Manor
112876 66.14 [OP] [Z5] Eastcote
129875 64!41 [OP] [Z5] Rayners Lane
131874 64.33 [-] [Rayners Lane Junction]
141880 63.03 [OP] [Z5] West Harrow
153880 61.78 [n=sN=NS=S] [Z5] Harrow-on-the-Hill

095965 76.08 [TT=TT] [Z7] Watford
079954 74.10 [OP] [Z7] Croxley
072948 73.26 [-] [Watford East Junction]
073945 72.77 [-] [Watford South Junction]

070946 73.35 [-] [Watford North Junction]
072948 72.80 [-] [Watford East Junction]
TQ079954 71=96 [OPX] [Z7] Croxley

SP960016 87.93 [=2T] [Z9] Chesham
SU983978 83.0   [-] [divergence]
SU996975 81.58 [=ns=V] [Z8] Chalfont & Latimer

Depots

The line is served by Neasden Depot, on the east side of the track between Neasden and Wembley Park stations. At the south end, trains can depart on to either of the southbound tracks, and enter from the northbound Jubilee Line. At the north end, the depot can be entered from any southbound track, and a diveunder allows trains to leave the depot northwards on to any northbound track (and also to cross to the southbound Jubilee line) without fouling southbound movements.

Connections

The Metropolitan Line runs over the Hammersmith & City tracks from Baker Street Junction eastwards, and shares tracks with the Piccadilly Line from Rayners Lane Junction to Uxbridge; the latter section also has a connection with Ruislip Depot on the Central Line, opened on 1975-09-28. Jubilee Line trains can use the Metropolitan Line tracks between Neasden and Wembley Park (both exclusive).

Until 2004 (northbound) or 2010 (southbound), Metropolitan Line trains could also use the Jubilee Line tracks between Neasden and just north of Finchley Road (but were normally barred because of ATO issues).

The line also connects to National Rail at Harrow-on-the-Hill and Mantles Wood Junction.

Rolling Stock

The line is operated by S8 stock trains.

The former A60/A62 stock trains operated for over 50 years but were finally withdrawn in 2012; the last service ran on 2012-09-26. They were 8-car trains consisting of two 4-car units, except that the Chesham shuttle, but not the through services, used a single unit (which had to be one with both cabs fully equipped[12]).

All LU stock may run on the line. NR stock running between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Mantles Wood Junction must be fitted with tripcocks. C stock was barred from Harrow-on-the-Hill siding because it fouled platform 5 on its way out.

[12] Some A stock units had most of the equipment removed from one driving cab. These units could only be used in service when that end was coupled to another unit.


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