"I also believe that one of the two crossings on Bollo Lane are part of this bygone line, as is the line that runs under Gunnersbury Avenue. Am I correct?"Yes you are, except that this is not a "bygone line"; it's one of London's major rail-freight links. HISTORYBack in 1851, we had the London & South Western Railway's Hounslow Loop line through Chiswick and Brentford, and less than 4 miles away the London & North Western Railway's main line (Euston to Birmingham and the North West) through what is now Willesden Junction. The North & South Western Junction Railway (NSWJ) was formed to link the two, which they did with a line from Willesden Junction to Old Kew Junction, behind Green Dragon Lane, where the line joined the Hounslow Loop heading towards Brentford.Passenger trains started in 1853, with the route extended first to Twickenham and then on to Kingston. To avoid having to reverse the train in mid-journey, the LSWR built a new curve (often called the "Kew Curve") from the NSWJ line to New Kew Junction, so that trains could run via Chiswick and Barnes Bridge, then via another (but short-lived) new curve at Barnes on to the LSWR westbound line through Mortlake to Richmond, Twickenham and Kingston. Around that time, a station was built on both the lines that meet at New Kew Junction, and it was called Kew Bridge from 1868.However, this route was so indirect that the LSWR then opened in 1869 the line from South Acton through Brentford Road (now Gunnersbury) across the river to Richmond, the present North London / District Line. North London Railway trains ran alternately to Richmond on the new line and to the now-abandoned platforms at Kew Bridge. Those Broad Street-Kew Bridge services ceased in 1940.By the way, it was the NSWJ who also built the branch to Hammersmith & Chiswick that featured in the original ABC Café thread.ROUTEHere's a rough diagram ... Old Kew Kew East South Acton Junction Junction JunctionBrentford ------------------------------------------------------------------ \ / / South Acton \ / / \ / KEW / \ / CURVE (to Gunnersbury \ / & Richmond) Kew Br. \ / Station \/ New Kew | Junction | (to Chiswick) Starting at Kew Bridge, the line curves round sharply to join the original NSWJ line at Kew East Junction, one of the few still left in London with semaphore signals. Then under the M4/A4 and the North Circular Road, over the northern of the two level crossings in Bollo Lane to join the North London Line at South Acton. (Photos in my next message.)Where does the line ultimately lead to? Well, anywhere really! Between Acton Central and Willesden Junction, the North London Line passes through Acton Wells Junction which has links to the West, the North-West, the Midlands, the East Coast and East Anglia, using all the major railways out of London. FREIGHT TRAFFICI got to know this stretch of line quite well while doing the research in 2004 for Hounslow's proposal for a Crossrail branch to Hounslow ("Corridor 7"), after Corridor 6 through Turnham Green and Gunnersbury was dropped. One factor which had to be studied was the freight traffic. A sample taken in September 2004 showed about 20 freight trains a day using the Kew triangle, of which typically about half ran over the "Kew Curve". With pressure to put more passenger trains on the West London Line through Olympia, the Kew Curve is likely to grow in importance for freight traffic.I'll dig out a few photos and put them in another message.
Richard Jennings ● 7418d