The Outer Circle was a London & North Western Railway service in London that operated from 1872 to 1908. The route was from the District Railway station at Mansion House to Earl's Court, then via the West London Railway to Willesden Junction and then via the North London Railway to Broad Street. Although not a complete circuit, it was one of several 'circle' routes around London that opened at the same time, such as the 'inner circle' that is today's Circle line.[1] Trains would run once every 30 minutes. In 1908 the service was cut back to run from Earl's Court to Broad Street.
The Midland Railway operated a kind of Super Outer Circle from St Pancras to Earl's Court for two years from 1878 to 1880, via the Dudding Hill freight line.
On 1 February 1872 the London & North Western Railway (L&NWR) began a railway service between Broad Street and the District Railway station at Mansion House via the North London Railway, Willesden Junction, the West London Railway and Earl's Court,[2] replacing a service that had run along much of the same route to London Victoria.[3] This service became known as the 'outer circle' and was worked with L&NWR locomotives and carriages and there was a train every thirty minutes.[2] When the District electrified in 1905, it built electric locomotives to haul the carriages between Earl's Court and Mansion House.[4] The service appears on the 1908 'London Underground' map between Earl's Court and Uxbridge Road as a District Railway service.[5]
The service ceased to run east of Earl's Court from 1 January 1909.[4] The L&NWR electrified the West London Railway and an electric service between Willesden Junction and Earl's Court on started 1 May 1914.[4] This was initially with electric multiple units provided by the District Railway until 24 November 1914 when LNWR electric units took over.[6] Passenger services on the West London Railway ended on 19 October 1940 following bomb damage to the line[7]
La estación de Uxbridge Road cerró con la línea en 1940 [7] y Shepherd's Bush abrió en el mismo sitio en 2008. [8] Actualmente, la línea es servida por la línea District entre Mansion House y Kensington (Olympia) y luego por London Overground hasta Haggerston.
Las siguientes estaciones, enumeradas en sentido antihorario, fueron atendidas por el Outer Circle:
El ferrocarril Midland operó una especie de Super Outer Circle desde 1878 hasta 1880. En 1876, el Midland había negociado derechos de circulación sobre el Metropolitan District Railway desde el London & South Western Railway en Hammersmith hasta South Kensington . El principal interés del Midland era suministrar carbón a Kensington , y en 1878 abrió depósitos de carbón en Kensington High Street y West Kensington . [9] Desde el 1 de mayo de 1878 también operó un servicio de pasajeros desde Earl's Court hasta St Pancras vía Hammersmith , South Acton y la línea de carga de Dudding Hill hasta Cricklewood . Dos trenes por hora funcionaron hasta el 30 de septiembre de 1880. [9] [3] Los depósitos de carbón cerraron en la década de 1960. [9]
