Kingston Loop Line

Kingston Loop Line
Class 455 crossing Kingston Bridge
Overview
Type	Commuter rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Greater London
Operation
Opened	1 July 1863/1 Jan 1869
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	South West Trains
Rolling stock	British Rail Class 455 Class 456 Class 450
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Kingston Loop Line is a railway line built by the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) in South West London. It runs in an overall southeasterly direction from a junction west of Twickenham on the Waterloo to Reading Line to join the South West Main Line west of New Malden; both connections face Central London, permitting a continuous "loop" service from Waterloo back to Waterloo. The five stations on the loop line are:

• Strawberry Hill
• Teddington
• Hampton Wick
• Kingston
• Norbiton.

Between Strawberry Hill and Teddington a triangular junction connects the Shepperton Branch.

History

Class 416/2 near Strawberry Hill Depot, 1986

Kingston Loop Line
Legend
Whitton Twickenham on the  Waterloo to Reading Line Strawberry Hill Wellesley Road/Tower Road Strawberry Hill depot Shepperton Branch Line Teddington Hampton Wick Kingston Railway Bridge over Thames Kingston Norbiton New Malden on SWML  ◄ The Southwest  Waterloo ►

The line opened as far as Kingston on 1 July 1863 from a flat junction west of Twickenham station. The line on to the station now named "New Malden" was opened in 1869. The Shepperton Branch was built in 1864 with its connection facing Twickenham, Strawberry Hill station was not opened until 1 December 1873. The connection at Twickenham was converted to a flying junction in 1882. The Shepperton Branch chord towards Teddington opened for freight on 1 July 1894 and was first used by passenger trains on 1 June 1901. The engine depot built inside the triangular junction in 1897 is now a base for Siemens to maintain EMUs for South West Trains, currently classes 450.

Teddington, Kingston and Norbiton stations had adjacent goods yards. That at Malden or Coombe and Malden, as it was called before 1957, was accessed from the Kingston Loop as the station itself is on an embankment with the Loop Line junction grade-separated from the start. A long west-facing bay platform at Kingston has been used for past curtailments of the Shepperton service and allows reversal of trains coming via Twickenham when there is a closure east of Kingston of either the loop or the main line.

The line was electrified by the L&SWR on the third rail system at 630 volts in 1916.