Why Bakerloo line trains occasionally call at Kilburn High Road station
It’s very rare, but on odd occasions, a Bakerloo line train can be seen at Kilburn High Road, a station it doesn’t usually call at.
To explain the situation, it helps to understand the layout of the Bakerloo line in the Queen’s Park area.
The tracks heading north emerge from the tube tunnels between Kilburn Park and Queen’s Park stations. Just past Queen’s Park station, there’s a large depot shed that the trains pass through to head north. The shed is also used overnight to store trains, which is significant as it means the shed is full, and that blocks the Bakerloo line tracks at night time.
On either side of Queen’s Park station is a second railway used by the London Overground, and here, the Overground tracks are also fitted with London Underground’s fourth rail power supply. That addition allows Bakerloo line trains to swap over to the Overground lines when needed.
That is needed for a number of reasons.
The main one is that when the weather is cold, the London Underground runs a “sleet train” on the above-ground section of the Bakerloo line overnight to keep the tracks clear.
It’s possible to run a Bakerloo line train from Harrow and Wealdstone to Queen’s Park, but when it reverses northwards, it can’t crossover to the northbound track until just outside Willesden Junction – leaving the northbound railway between Queen’s Park and Willesden Junction untouched by the sleet train.
But there’s a solution – run the train southbound past Queen’s Park onto the Overground tracks to Kilburn High Road station, where it can then reverse onto the northbound tracks again.
So, Kilburn High Road station, which generally only sees London Overground (Lioness line) trains, can occasionally see a Bakerloo line train pulling into the platform.
They don’t carry passengers, partly as they are engineering moves and usually also usually only take place when the line is shut. However, the platform at Kilburn High Road is, aptly for its name, too high for passengers to get in/out of a Bakerloo line train.
These sleet trains only run overnight when needed.
However, almost as rare these days, there is a very slight chance that you could see a Bakerloo line train at Kilburn High Road during the daytime, as they occasionally run a “rusty rail” service to keep the extra power rail clear for the Bakerloo line trains, and also for staff training.
A slot exists in the timetable for a Bakerloo line train to call at Kilburn High Road station at either 6:44am or 8:44pm — but only if needed, and that’s also very rare.
If you want to see the Bakerloo line train at Kilburn High Road, the problem is that sleet and training trains are very difficult to predict in advance.
However — there’s one time when you might be able to risk a visit to Kilburn High Road — and that’s when there are disruptions on the Bakerloo line, and they need to reverse trains during the disruption. So, while disruptions are very bad, if you hear about a problem on the Bakerloo line and can get to Kilburn, just maybe you will see a fleeting glimpse of a Bakerloo line train reversing where you would never usually see one.
This is an utterly CRAP site, as when attempting to read an article adverts keep popping up and the page keeps moving upwards without scrolling thus prevents any article from being read.
Thats a USER fault and not the sites
Check your browser settings and do some basic browser hygiene such as clearing cookies and checking for malware.
As it’s a free site, where do you expect the revenue to come from? Also, it’s one of the lesser advert clogged sites I’ve come across, and of course, full of great info.
Why are you being so rude?
It works perfectly in my browser.
Fell free to use other sites and never return or post here. That goes double if you are some sort of troll. I for one genuinely appreciate the info here and the efforts that go into making it.
This is a GREAT site. What are you talking about? No issue with the design of the site on my PC. Maybe you have a virus that’s serving lots of ads
bad attitude- this is, generally a great site!
Funnily enough you can see a Bakerloo line train in the platform at Kilburn High Road on google maps!
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5366108,-0.1922766,71a,35y,15.07h,58.55t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Behave Jay, you utter quilt. This occasionally pops up on my google news, very informative for me as a regular transport worker to London.
If you want a truly dreadful website for ads wrecking the site, go and try a Reach newspaper site like the Mirror or Liverpool Echo.
Just for the record: this is my FAVOURITE site! Londoner in exile (how’s that for melodrama?), I can use it to make virtual visits and plan real ones. As for the ads, they pay for it!
I would have guessed that the “fourth rail” on the Lioness/Overground line is a legacy of when the Bakerloo used to run to Watford Junction pre-1982?
Both the Watford DC lines and the North London Line out of Broad Street to Richmond used to be electrified on the 4-rail system the same as LT. The Cl 501 EMUs were built with this system. Use of the 4th (centre) rail ceased in the 1970s. Check the Wikipedia page for the Watford DC Lines.
Ian: I think your site is great and I love the variety of articles. I also donate to you every month.
Ignore the troll and keep your head high.
Fascinating. I had no idea about this.
BTW of course this is a marvellous website – it’s become one of my most recent go-to sites every day and I’ve been to several places because of this site. I don’t think anyone needs to react or overreact to the first message – it’s just someone having a frustrating five minutes and I’m sure Ian is not remotely fazed by it.
I live in Queens Park and commute to the city. In the last 5 years, I’ve seen a southbound Bakerloo line train calling at platform 1 at Queens Park once. Just once. This was when there was a signal failure at Paddington. I wasn’t sure if the train went all the way to Kilburn High Road and reversed or pulled in to the south sidings at Queens Park. Is that a possibility as there are sidings south of the station?
Inman, no, the South Sheds at Queens Park are only accessible from Platforms 2 and 3. Platform 1/Fourth rail and the KHR move (for Bakerloo) is purely to reverse trains from up to down without using the tunnel section. For anyone interested there is also an extra tripcock tester on the down line as you return back towards Platform 4.
I’m a little confused as to why this would be necessary?
Any move such as that could be completed using the south shed which only gives access to the bakerloo line platforms anyway…
I know the ownership/maintenance boundary between NR and LUL is basically just to the north of the North shed, but I don’t quite get why platforms 1 and 4 are within LULs maintenance purview given that the south boundary must fall on lines that ONLY NR trains use anyway? NR rusty rail and weather management trains must also have to run on the lines from Euston to Kilburn High Road anyway so why is it necessary for LUL to complete these moves?
You can’t get to the south shed if using Platform 1 when the north shed is full overnight.
I have never seen this site before! And have thoroughly enjoyed it. It strikes me as somehow typically English eccentricity and it brought a big smile to my face as I read it.
Thank you.
Has it been possible to board a Bakerloo train from platform 4?
Also, did there once be a crossover north of Queens Park where the north- and south-bound tracks come together?
Alan, boarding a Bakerloo train on P1 should never be possible. It’s an OOS move. Drivers are not licensed to carry passengers to KHR.
Re: Reversing south to north using the South Sheds – the move is so slow (5mph both ways) and locks down the whole area, that it isn’t feasible during the day, for anything other than getting defective trains back up towards the depot at Stonebridge.
The move is most often used when the service is so badly degraded, it moves to a “special service”. The usual 201, 202, 203 etc are replaced with 001, 002 and are managed by on duty managers rather than signallers or conforming to a regular TT. Two independent shuttles are introduced between EC and QPK, and QPK and HAW (using KHR to reverse trains Up to Down).
Excellent website, Thanks.
I think this is a great site and very interesting articles that I knew nothing about. Very minimal advertising when you consider sites like My London where you can hardly read the articles as they are completely covered with adverts all over it.