On 19 Sep, 16:02, Tom Anderson wrote:
How important is the ECML as a freight route?

Enough to have freight lines between Ally Pally and Finsbury (the ones
being upgraded to passenger grade)....though I'd imagine the Welwyn
bottleneck forces much of the traffic onto the WCML and MML.

There's already a link from the westbound (what you call southbound there)

Yeah, I was taking the NLL as my base, and it runs North-South through
the site, so that's what I went with. You are of course correct.

Goblin to the northbound MML, which is what freight trains need. A link
from the westbound Goblin to the southbound MML seems less useful - unless
you're thinking of opening a freight terminal at Kentish Town?

Point noted...IIRC that curve was formerly used for the passenger
services to Moorgate before electrification, and Kentish town
afterwards, and would be useless for freight unless this was 1930-odd
and freight was still running to St Pancras goods or via the snow Hill
tunnel It is however, the easiest of the curves to build, but
that's the way it goes, I guess.

Indeed, what's currently missing from the system is your blue line - a way
for westbound freight on the NLL to get onto the MML. Score one for the
Goblin! I don't believe there's any way for it to do this without
reversing at the moment, and even with a reverse, it has to go via the
WCML, Acton Wells and Dudden Hill. Or am i missing something?

What stops freight running west to Hampstead Heath, reversing through
Gospel Oak to Junction Road, then running west via Junction Road
Junction to the MML?