Freedom Pass Project – Update

Last week was cold and wet most days which put a bit of a dampener on things. However, on the Monday I decided that I could go and visit the northern terminal points on the Bakerloo Line – the locations where trains terminate their journey. The core section of the Bakerloo Line runs from Elephant & Castle in South London to Queens Park, passing through the West End on the way. Half of the northbound trains terminate at Queens Park, a quarter continue north to Stonebridge Park and the final quarter of the trains that worked through the core section carry on to Harrow & Wealdstone. The line is worked by 1972 stock…

…Now the oldest trains, at over 50 years, in regular passenger service anywhere in the UK (not including preserved lines). For fuller details of the line, I suggest looking it up on Wikipedia.

On my day out I travelled on the Northern Line from East Finchley to Euston where I took the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus. At Oxford Circus I boarded a northbound Bakerloo Line train to my first terminus for the day, Queens Park. This is the station where the line first comes to the surface. Queens Park is unusual in having sheds to house trains at both ends of the station. This is the view looking back in the Elephant & Castle direction…

…There is a 2 road shed visible through the arch of the bridge which carries Salusbury Road over the line. The running line can be seen curving to the right and beginning its descent into the tunnels. At the opposite end of the station is a 4 road shed used for reversing trains…

…trains travelling beyond Queens Park join the Watford DC lines and share the route with London Overground. To do that, they have to travel through the shed!..

…A unique situation on the London Underground network. Apologies for the quality of the photo – the window was in a bit of a state. I’m on my way to Stonebridge Park – our next terminating point.

Stonebridge Park station sits on the north side of the North Circular Road – you can see the bridges that carry the line over the road in this view looking south-east from the northbound platform…

…Looking north-west, terminating trains leave the through lines and use the lines to Stonebridge Park Depot to reverse…

…The buildings behind our reversing train are Alstom’s Wembley Train Care depot which services mainline stock. The Bakerloo Line depot is hidden behind those buildings. You can get a clearer idea of how things are laid out by viewing Stonebridge Park on Google Maps.

I mentioned that the Bakerloo line north of Queens Park shares the tracks with London Overground. Here’s one of their Watford to Euston services…

…formed of a Class 710 Aventra unit. Here’s a final view of Stonebridge Park station before I move on…

…showing how bleak a location it can be in cold weather! The next train in will be a Bakerloo Line service taking me on the final leg of my journey to Harrow & Wealdstone.

Harrow & Wealdstone station is ‘proper’ – it’s a real railway station served by express and local services for passengers and it sees a lot of through freight trains too. This is the furthest north-west that the Bakerloo Line trains go. They did once go all the way to Watford and you can still see the 4th rail lying derelict between the tracks beyond. Our driver checks back for the all clear to close the doors and move into the headshunt…

…And this is the headshunt with a reversing Bakerloo Line train sitting in it…

…The tracks passing on either side go on to Watford. The 4 lines on the right of the photo are the mainline from Euston to the West Midlands and Scotland. This is a view of the Bakerloo and Watford platforms…

…As I said, a ‘proper’ railway station with awnings and waiting rooms😎

After a bit of spotting, I’ll be heading back to Euston on a fast service like this one operated by London Northwestern Railway Class 350’s…

…Another 3 termini cleared off my Freedom Pass Project list😊👍