Just curious.

B2003

Don't know if it's the steepest, but the Met line drop into Baker St after
crossing the GU Canal is quite steep. Years ago I remember my stomach going
quite light when drivers were speeding over the canal bridge, but these days
they seem more circumspect; maybe a speed limit has been imposed!

"Boltar" wrote in message
ups.com...
Just curious.

B2003

"Orienteer" wrote in message
. uk...
Don't know if it's the steepest, but the Met line drop into Baker St after
crossing the GU Canal is quite steep. Years ago I remember my stomach
going quite light when drivers were speeding over the canal bridge, but
these days they seem more circumspect; maybe a speed limit has been
imposed!

"Boltar" wrote in message
ups.com...
Just curious.

B2003


I believe its coming out of ealing common depo tinto acton town known
locally as th ealps. On passanger moves not sure.
Andy

On May 4, 10:14 pm, "Andy" wrote:
"Orienteer" wrote in message

. uk... Don't know if it's the steepest, but the Met line drop into Baker St after
crossing the GU Canal is quite steep. Years ago I remember my stomach
going quite light when drivers were speeding over the canal bridge, but
these days they seem more circumspect; maybe a speed limit has been
imposed!

"Boltar" wrote in message
oups.com...
Just curious.

B2003

I believe its coming out of ealing common depo tinto acton town known
locally as th ealps. On passanger moves not sure.
Andy



That is definatly quite steep.

Coming out of the flyunder approaching Earls Court from High St
Kensington is a bit of a climb

From memory...

Many or most deep tube stations have a 1 in 30 fall on leaving the station,
to aid acceleration. Some of the earlier stations have a 1 in 30 climb
before the station to aid deceleration, but the newer stations have a 1 in
60 climb because it is difficult to get a train going if it has come to rest
for some reason on a 1 in 30 climb. There is no gradient in passenger use
steeper than 1 in 30.

The steepest gradient on non-passenger track is a 1 in 28 gradient in Ealing
Common depot.

John Rowland, writing from memory...
Many or most deep tube stations have a 1 in 30 fall on leaving the station,
to aid acceleration. Some of the earlier stations have a 1 in 30 climb
before the station to aid deceleration, but the newer stations have a 1 in
60 climb ...

I've just looked through "Rails Through the Clay" and Lascelles's book
on the City & South London Railway, and I find no mention of the climb
to assist deceleration being 1 in 30 anywhere. On the C&SLR neither
book mentions a number, on the rest of the early lines only 1 in 60
is mentioned, and on the newest lines it's 1 in 50.

There is no gradient in passenger use steeper than 1 in 30.

That seems to be true. And the steepest *climbing* gradient I found
mentioned was 1 in 40 near the Camden Town junction.

These sources do not cover the subsurface lins, though.

Of course, the all-time record for lines now part of the Underground would
be the original C&SLR route near King William Street station, which was
used only from 1890 to 1900. Since they were going to use gradients
since they were going to use cable haulage, not electric locomotives,
they built the station shallow and hence required steep gradients.
Uphill the steepest in the area was 1 in 40, but downhill it was 1 in 14.)
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "If you wish so, we write your consummations
| on your bill." --Swiss hotel services handbook

My text in this article is in the public domain.

On passenger lines isn't eastbound from Bow Road?

On May 5, 4:05 am, "John Rowland"
wrote:
for some reason on a 1 in 30 climb. There is no gradient in passenger use
steeper than 1 in 30.

The steepest gradient on non-passenger track is a 1 in 28 gradient in Ealing
Common depot.

Whats the gradiant from east finchley to highgate then? That always
struck me as fairly severe especially the bit just before the tunnel
mouths.

B2003

Boltar wrote:
On May 5, 4:05 am, "John Rowland"
wrote:
for some reason on a 1 in 30 climb. There is no gradient in
passenger use steeper than 1 in 30.

The steepest gradient on non-passenger track is a 1 in 28 gradient
in Ealing Common depot.

Whats the gradiant from east finchley to highgate then? That always
struck me as fairly severe especially the bit just before the tunnel
mouths.

I'm sure Mark Brader will be along to correct me in a minute ;-) but from
memory it's something like 1 in 50 or 1 in 60. The issue with that one is
that it goes on for so long and has a reasonably sharp horizontal curve near
the bottom, making runaway trains a potential problem. IIRC this was the
first place on LU (or perhaps the world) that signalling to detect and stop
speeding trains was introduced.

Whats the gradiant from east finchley to highgate then?

I'm sure Mark Brader will be along to correct me in a minute ;-)

Chortle.

but from memory it's something like 1 in 50 or 1 in 60. The issue
with that one is that it goes on for so long and has a reasonably sharp
horizontal curve near the bottom, making runaway trains a potential
problem. IIRC this was the first place on LU (or perhaps the world)
that signalling to detect and stop speeding trains was introduced.

After explaining the renaming of the original Highgate tube station to
its present name Archway, RTTC says:

# At Archway the running tunnels had continued for a short
# distance beyond the sttaion to provide to dead-end sidings.
# The northbound siding was extended to form the northbound running
# tunnel to East Finchley, and the southbound was retained as a
# nine-car reversing siding between the two running roads, with
# the new southound running tunnel joining the old from the east
# side, just north of the station. Since this tunnel came in with
# a 990ft radius curve at the foot of a long 1 in 50 descent from
# Highgate, speed-control signalling was installed to ensure that
# southbound trains kept within the 30mph limit. Two successive
# signals would clear only if the train passed through the two
# timing sections at less than 40 and 30mph respectively. If a
# train had exceeded these limits, and was held at the signal
# as a result, the signal would clear automatically after it had
# been brought to a standstill. During the 1960s, speed-control
# signalling was also installed to reduce the speed of southbound
# trains entering Highgate station, where heavy braking caused
# noxious fumes.
#...
# From Highgate, the line continued beneath the LNER in 12ft
# iron-segment tunnels, at first rising at 1 in 61 and then at 1
# in 100. Near the tunnel mouths there were short stretches of
# 1 in 50 northbound and 1 in 40 southbound.

So this source doesn't say anything specific to answer the question,
except to mention a "short stretch" at 1 in 40, and the need for
"heavy braking" on arrival at Highgate. But John's 1 in 50-60 sounds
reasonable enough, even if he did confuse the two installations of
speed-control signaling.
--
Mark Brader | "We may take pride in observing that there is
Toronto | not a single film showing in London today which
| deals with one of the burning issues of the day."
| -- Lord Tyrell, British film censors' chief, 1937

My text in this article is in the public domain.