page_title: Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway
section_title: Suburban development
hierarchical_section_title: Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway / Suburban development
caption_attribution_description: English: Up empty Cup Final special local at Neasden Junction. View westward, towards Northolt Junction, Harrow-on-the-Hill - and Wembley Stadium (from which the train is coming onto the ex-GC main line into Marylebone. The view is in the opposite direction and on the same day as TQ2185&#160;: Marylebone - Wembley Stadium special Cup Final local train passing Neasden Station. On the left is Neasden Junction Box and Sidings - where one of the long-distance Cup Final Specials is parked; the LT Metropolitan/Bakerloo Lines are over on the right. The train is headed by LMS Stanier 4P 2-6-4T No. 42437.
context_page_description: The Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway was a railway built and operated jointly by the Great Western Railway and Great Central Railway between Northolt and Ashendon Junction. It was laid out as a trunk route with gentle curves and gradients and spacious track layouts. The two companies each needed approach railways at both ends of the line to connect their respective systems, and these were built as part of a single project.
  The joint line opened in 1905 and gave the GCR a better route than previously for its London Extension from Nottingham and Leicester. When the GWR completed its "Bicester Cut-off", combined with the Joint Line itself the GWR had a much shorter and better route for its Birmingham and Birkenhead traffic.
  Most of the GCR's London Extension was closed in 1966 but the Joint Line, the GCR approach through Wembley and the GWR Bicester Cut-off are still in use as a secondary main line from London to Birmingham, in intensive use by Chiltern Railways.
context_section_description: At the time of opening of the line, much of the route passed through undeveloped rural terrain. The companies anticipated the development of new suburban housing, as had happened on the Metropolitan Railway main line, although this proved slower to take place than was hoped.
  New stations were opened progressively to encourage business: Old Oak Lane Halt in 1906; Northolt Halt in 1907; Brentham Halt in 1911; Denham Golf Club Platform in 1912; Beaconsfield Golf Links Platform in 1915.
  Steam railmotors were used on the London end of the line from 1903, giving the potential for frequent low-cost local passenger train operation.
  In 1907 a branch line was opened by the GWR from Denham to Uxbridge; the work cost £87,459. The trains ran from Gerrards Cross, starting on 24 April; goods traffic started on 11 May 1914. The line was originally intended to connect through to the Vine Street station, terminus of the earlier Uxbridge branch from West Drayton. Although some land for the connection was acquired, the through section was never built, and the branch remained a dead end; it as two miles in length and double track until 1922, when it as reduced to single line.
  In 1912 the GCR purchased a rail-car using petrol-electric traction. It was a small bogie vehicle equipped with a 90 hp six-cylinder petrol engine driving a 55 KW multi-polar dynamo. Maximum speed was 40 m.p.h. on the level. The rest of the car consisted of two passenger saloons accommodating between them 50 passengers on rattan covered reversible seats; hanging straps were also provided for standing passengers. A middle entrance gave access to both compartments.
  Fay told the press that ‘My view is that we shall see oil electric cars running on the railways and supplanting ordinary steam engines to a very great extent.' On 28 March 1912 it ran a trial trip from Marylebone to South Harrow and back, when it attained 50 m.p.h. For a period it remained in the London area, sometimes hauling an ancient ex-MS&L six-wheeled composite as a trailer, but it was unsuccessful and its last days were spent on the Great Central & North Stafford joint line in the mid-1930s.
caption: Neasden Junction looking north; a football special from Wembley is leaving the route from Northolt
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "EPSON scanner image", "Image Make": "SEIKO EPSON CORP.", "Image Model": "EPSON scanner", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "400", "Image YResolution": "400", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:12:16 19:54:26", "Image ExifOffset": "260", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "398", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6041", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "585"}