The superiority of third rail
Christian Wolmar also wrote a superb piece in RAIL 832 regarding the need for a strategic body to run the railway. His description of the work of Sir Herbert Walker on the Southern Railway before the War was entirely apt.
I did, however, disagree with him on one point - his belief that a mistake was made in choosing the third rail system of electrification, when overhead would have been preferable.
As it happens, I read his piece when returning from Waterloo to Bournemouth on a Class 444 Desiro doing 100mph! It’s perfectly capable of 110mph, but signal spacing dictates the lower line limit.
The third rail never blows off in wind, nor do units knock it off in the way wires are pulled down. So what exactly are the advantages of overhead?’
In fact, when the Advanced Passenger Train was planned in the 1970s, British Rail planned a third-rail version for Bournemouth and Brighton.
The only problem used to be ice, but in recent years better de-icing equipment run daily overnight in cold weather seems to have largely solved the problem. I’d suggest that overhead suffers from far more weatherrelated problems, especially strong winds.
As for Chris Gibb’s suggestion that Uckfield be electrified using overhead, requiring dual-voltage units, I am astounded at his naivety.
One piece of railway that nearly got third rail was Amersham to Aylesbury when, in 1984, BR proposed the closure of Marylebone station. Aylesbury trains would have run from Baker Street as an extension of the Metropolitan Line.
It is interesting to ponder the benefits, had it gone ahead. New stock for the Aylesbury Line would have come decades earlier than the current S8 Tube stock, and no doubt been more suitable for the longer distance.
It would also probably have prevented today’s dreadful Metropolitan off-peak timetable, that features all off-peak Amersham and Chesham trains using the slow lines and calling all stations.
Of course, Marylebone is now very busy - indeed, it can’t really cope with its six platforms. It doesn’t help that Chiltern Railways insists on using it as a parking lot for empty stock most of the day. It’s rare being able to enter the barriers and join a train without a lengthy walk.
I recently returned from Rickmansworth on a three-car unit. We were signalled into Platform 6, where there was already a fourcar unit out of use and a three-car bound for Oxford. As a result, only the front coach of our unit could get on the platform.
The driver announced that he couldn’t open the doors and instead we must all walk through to the front coach, where the doors would be released from the outside. Having alighted, we were then faced with what is effectively a 16-car length walk to exit the barriers.
Incidentally, trains arrive and depart Rickmansworth without announcements, but the station does have departure screens. In the Up direction, the destination for Marylebone services is shown as ‘Chiltern Train’, while in the Down, services to Aylesbury appear as “see front of train”. Will London Underground ever join the 21st century?