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The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partly on the surface and partly in deep-level tube tunnels. The line's name is a portmanteau of its original name, the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway. From to Harrow & Wealdstone (the section above ground), the line shares tracks with the London Overground Watford DC line and runs parallel to the West Coast Main Line. There is, however, a short tunnel at the western end of . Opened between 1906 and 1915, many of its stations retain elements of their design to a common standard: the stations below ground using
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
decorative tiling by Leslie Green, and the above-ground stations built in red brick with stone detailing in an Arts & Crafts style. It is the ninth-busiest line on the network, carrying more than 111 million passengers annually. The line uses
1972 Stock The London Underground 1972 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the London Underground. The 1972 Stock was originally ordered to make up the shortfall in trains on the Northern line's 1959 Tube Stock fleet, but is nowadays used on the Bake ...
trains, which are the oldest trains in passenger service in Britain at 50 years old.


History

The route had its origins in the failed projects of the pneumatic 1865
Waterloo and Whitehall Railway The Waterloo and Whitehall Railway was a proposed and partly constructed 19th century Rammell pneumatic railway in central London intended to run under the River Thames just upstream from Hungerford Bridge, running from Waterloo station to the ...
and the 1882 Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway. Originally called the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway, the line was constructed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) and opened between Lambeth North (at the time named ''Kennington Road'') and
Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...
on 10 March 1906. It was extended eastward to Elephant & Castle five months later, on 5 August. The contraction of the name to "Bakerloo" rapidly caught on, and the official name was changed to match in July 1906. When work on the line started in June 1898, it had been financed by the mining entrepreneur and company promoter
Whitaker Wright James Whitaker Wright (9 February 1846 – 26 January 1904) was a company promoter and swindler, who committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately following his conviction for fraud. Early life The eldest of five childr ...
, who fell foul of the law over the financial proceedings involved and dramatically committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice, after being convicted in 1904. As a result, work on the line was stopped for a few months and did not resume until Charles Yerkes and UERL stepped in and took over the project. By 1913, the line had been extended westward from its original northern terminus at Baker Street, with interchange stations with the Great Central Railway at Marylebone and with the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
at Paddington, and a new station at Edgware Road.


Watford branch

In 1915, the line was extended to Queen's Park, where it joined the LNWR's Euston-Watford DC line (now part of London Overground) to Watford Junction. Bakerloo services to Watford Junction were reduced in the 1960s and cut back in 1982 to Stonebridge Park. Services as far as Harrow & Wealdstone were gradually restored from 1984, and in 1989 the present all-day service was instituted.


Stanmore branch

By the mid-1930s, the
Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line i ...
was suffering from congestion caused by the limited capacity of its tracks between Baker Street and Finchley Road stations. To relieve this pressure, the network-wide New Works Programme included the construction of new sections of tunnel between the Bakerloo line's platforms at Baker Street and Finchley Road and the replacement of three Metropolitan line stations (
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
,
Marlborough Road Marlborough Place is a street in St John's Wood in London, England. Located in the City of Westminster it is a residential road running from Hamilton Terrace in the west to the Finchley Road in the east. Like many British streets, its name deri ...
and Swiss Cottage) between those points with two new Bakerloo stations ( St John's Wood and Swiss Cottage). The Bakerloo line took over the Metropolitan line's service to
Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...
on 20 November 1939. The branch remained part of the Bakerloo line until 1 May 1979, when similar congestion problems for the Bakerloo line caused by two branches converging at Baker Street led to the creation of the Jubilee line, initially formed by connecting the Stanmore branch to new tunnels bored between Baker Street and
Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...
. When the Bakerloo line was extended to Watford in 1915, it acquired an interchange at Harrow & Wealdstone with another route to Stanmore, the
Stanmore branch line The Stanmore branch line was a railway line in Harrow, Middlesex (now Greater London), in the United Kingdom. Located to the north of London, it provided commuter rail services between Harrow and the village of Stanmore. Beginning at Harrow s ...
. This branch line was operated by the LNWR and terminated at a separate Stanmore station (later renamed '). It was closed in 1964, partly due to the success of the rival Metropolitan/Bakerloo Underground line to Stanmore.


Camberwell extension

An extension at the southern end of the line to
Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...
and
Denmark Hill Denmark Hill is an area and road in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark. It is a sub-section of the western flank of the Norwood Ridge, centred on the long, curved Ruskin Park slope of the ridge. The road is part of the A215 road, A21 ...
was proposed and approved in 1931 as part of the ''London Electric Metropolitan District and Central London Railway Companies (Works) Act, 1931''. In April 1937, the estimated cost of the proposed extension was £5,000,000 (approximately £ today) and the London Passenger Transport Board announced that, due to rising materials prices, the extension had been postponed until the Board's finances improved. Apart from the extension of the sidings south of Elephant & Castle, no work on the extension took place before the Second World War, but the powers were renewed by the government in 1947 under the ''Special Enactments (Extension of Time) Act, 1940''. A projected extension as far as
Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...
was shown on a 1949 edition of the Underground map but no further work was done. The train describers at Warwick Avenue station showed ''Camberwell'' as a destination until the 1990s. Further extensions of the line were considered, south to Peckham Rye in the 1970s, and east to
London Docklands London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of London Borough of Southwark, Southwark, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets, London Borough of ...
and Canary Wharf in the 1980s. Neither proposal was proceeded with.


Electricity supply

One oddity is that, almost from its opening until 1917, the Bakerloo operated with the polarity of the conductor rails reversed, the outside rail negative and the centre rail positive. This came about because the Bakerloo shared a power source with the
District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...
. On the Bakerloo, the outside conductor rail tended to leak to the tunnel wall, whereas on the District Railway, the centre rail shared a similar problem. The solution was to reverse the polarity on the Bakerloo line, so that the negative rail leaked on both systems. In 1917, the two lines were separated when the LNWR began its 'New Line' service between Euston and Watford Junction, which the Bakerloo would share north of Queens Park. As a result, normal operation was restored.


Centenary

The line celebrated its centenary on 10 March 2006, when events were organised with actors and staff in Edwardian costume entertaining travellers.


2017 fire

In 2017, a big fire at Oxford circus station caused disruption on the Bakerloo line. A number of people were treated for smoke inhalation after the fire broke out.


Future developments


Re-extension to Watford Junction

Over the next few years the northern section of the line may again see changes following the decision in February 2006 to transfer responsibility for Euston-Watford suburban services (on the Watford DC Line) from the
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
(DfT) to Transport for London (TfL). This was in conjunction with the reorganisation of a number of north London railways under London Overground. Under a former London Plan, it was projected that by 2026 the Bakerloo line would be re-extended from Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction, restoring the pre-1982 service. The railway line from Queens Park to Watford Junction, currently shared with London Overground, would be shared with the Bakerloo line. The Best And Final Bid documentation for the
Croxley Rail Link The Croxley Rail Link, or the Metropolitan Line Extension, is a proposed railway engineering project in the Watford and Three Rivers districts of Hertfordshire, England, that would have connected the London Overground and the London Undergroun ...
project indicates that this Bakerloo line extension is now "unlikely" because "TfL's plans to extend the Bakerloo line to Watford Junction are on hold indefinitely due to funding and business case constraints".


Extension to Lewisham and Hayes

Since the late 2000s, Transport for London (TfL) has been planning an extension of the line, with a route to Lewisham via Old Kent Road safeguarded in 2021. Four stations would be built, at Burgess Park, Old Kent Road,
New Cross Gate New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwi ...
and Lewisham, with provision for a further extension along the
Mid-Kent line The Mid-Kent line (also referred to as the Hayes line by train operators, official bodies and the general public) is a British railway line running from Courthill Loop North junction (just south of Lewisham station) to Hayes railway station in t ...
to
Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Ha ...
and
Beckenham Junction Beckenham Junction is the main railway and tram station in Beckenham in the London Borough of Bromley, south London. The railway stop is on the Chatham Main Line, down the line from and situated between and . The tram stop is one of the east ...
. This could occur following the completion of the extension to Lewisham. Estimated to cost between £4.7bn to £7.9bn (in 2017 prices), the extension would take around 7 years to construct. Due to TfL's poor finances following the COVID-19 pandemic, work to implement the extension is currently on hold.


Rolling stock


Current rolling stock

The Bakerloo line is operated entirely by
1972 Stock The London Underground 1972 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the London Underground. The 1972 Stock was originally ordered to make up the shortfall in trains on the Northern line's 1959 Tube Stock fleet, but is nowadays used on the Bake ...
, displaced from the Jubilee line by 1983 stock. The trains are maintained at Stonebridge Park depot. All Bakerloo line trains are painted in the London Underground livery of red, grey and blue, and are the smaller size of the two sizes used on the network, since the line goes deep underground in small tunnels. In the early 2000s, the interiors of the trains were 'deep-cleaned' and the upholstery replaced using a blue moquette. The seating layouts are both longitudinal and transverse; some cars have longitudinal seating only. A TfL Finance and Policy Committee Paper dated 11 March 2015 revealed that the repair programme for the 1972 Stock would be more expensive than anticipated, due to the unexpectedly inferior condition of the fleet. In early 2016, a four-year refurbishment programme began with the first of the new-look cars operating on the line in March. Each car's interior is being cleaned, the seating moquette replaced with a variation of the Barman type seen on other lines, and handrails and lighting renewed. Each car is being assessed and repair work carried out to ensure the stock can operate safely. Based on a November 2021 paper, due to a lack of funding, replacement may not occur until the late 2030s or early 2040s, being possibly 60-70 years old at the time of replacement, likely double their design life. Since the withdrawal of the Class 483 on the Isle of Wight, the 1972 Stock have become the oldest non-heritage trains running in the United Kingdom.


Future rolling stock

In the late 1990s, the Labour government initiated a public–private partnership (PPP) to reverse years of underinvestment in London Underground. Under the PPP contract, Metronet – the private consortium responsible for the Bakerloo line – would order new rolling stock for the line. This would take place following the delivery of 2009 Stock and S Stock trains, with an order for 24 new Bakerloo line trains. These would have entered service by 2019. However, Metronet collapsed in 2007 after cost overruns, and the PPP ended in 2010. In the mid 2010s, TfL began a process of ordering new rolling stock to replace trains on the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City lines. A feasibility study into the new trains showed that new generation trains and re-signalling could increase capacity on the Bakerloo line by 25%, with 27 trains per hour. In June 2018, the Siemens Mobility Inspiro design was selected. These trains would have an open gangway design, wider doorways, air conditioning and the ability to run automatically with a new signalling system. TfL could only afford to order Piccadilly line trains at a cost of £1.5bn. However, the contract with Siemens includes an option for 40 trains for the Bakerloo line in the future. This would take place after the delivery of the Piccadilly line trains in the late 2020s.


Former rolling stock

When opened in 1906, the Bakerloo line was operated by Gate Stock trains, built at Trafford Park, Manchester. To cope with the extension to Queen's Park, 12 extra motor cars of the
London Underground 1914 Stock The 1914 Tube Stock was built for an extension of the BS&WR (Bakerloo tube). Twelve motor cars were built, ten by Brush in Loughborough, England and two by the Leeds Forge Company. Trailer cars were transferred from the Piccadilly line where ...
were ordered, ten from
Brush A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped durin ...
of Loughborough and two from the Leeds Forge Company. To operate services north of Queen's Park, 72 additional cars were built by the Metropolitan Carriage, Waggon and Finance Company of Birmingham. These trains, known as the Watford Joint Stock, were partly owned by the Underground and partly by the London and North Western Railway (later
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...
(LMS)). They were initially painted in LNWR livery. They were not equipped with air-operated doors and proved slow and unreliable, so they were replaced by new trains of Standard Stock in 1930 (although a few were retained by the LMS). For some years in the 1930s, Watford trains had a distinctive blue stripe at window level. In 1932, some carriages built for the
Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are n ...
by Cammell Laird in Nottingham in 1919 were transferred to the Bakerloo line. When built, these had been the first Tube trains to have air-operated doors. These were later replaced by more trains of Standard Stock, in turn being replaced by
1938 stock The London Underground 1938 Stock was a London Underground tube stock design. A total of 1,121 cars were built by Metro-Cammell and Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company, Birmingham RC&W. An additional 173 cars were added to the fle ...
and 1949 stock. Until the opening of the Jubilee line in 1979, the Bakerloo line was worked by both 1938 stock and
1972 stock The London Underground 1972 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the London Underground. The 1972 Stock was originally ordered to make up the shortfall in trains on the Northern line's 1959 Tube Stock fleet, but is nowadays used on the Bake ...
. The 1972 stock was intended for the Jubilee line, so from 1979 the Bakerloo line (now minus the Stanmore branch) was again entirely operated by 1938 stock. From 1983, the 1938 stock began to be replaced by trains of 1959 stock, but this was a temporary measure until 1972 stock became available. The last 1938 stock train was withdrawn on 20 November 1985. From 1986, the 1959 stock was transferred to the Northern line.


Map


Services

As of May 2021, weekday off-peak and Sunday services on Bakerloo line are: * 4 tph (trains per hour) from Harrow & Wealdstone to Elephant & Castle * 4 tph from Stonebridge Park to Elephant & Castle * 8 tph from Queen's Park to Elephant & Castle This forms a 16 tph service (or a train approximately every 4 minutes) between Queen's Park and Elephant & Castle. A 20 tph service runs on this section of the line during the weekday peak and all day on Saturdays.


Stations

''Note: For the former Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line, see the Jubilee line article.''


Former stations


Watford branch

Between 1917 and 1982, Bakerloo line trains continued along the DC line past Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction. These stations continue to be served by London Overground. Proposals have surfaced to re-extend the Bakerloo line to Watford Junction and service the following stations:


Stanmore branch

The
Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...
branch was originally constructed by the
Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
and was designated as the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line in 1939. It was transferred to the Jubilee line on 1 May 1979. It connected to the main Bakerloo line at Baker Street. *
Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...
* Canons Park * Queensbury * Kingsbury * Wembley Park * Neasden * Dollis Hill * Willesden Green * Kilburn * West Hampstead * Finchley Road * Swiss Cottage * St John's Wood *
Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...


Depots

The Bakerloo line is currently served by three depots: a main depot at Stonebridge Park, opened on 9 April 1978 on the site of a former
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
power station which contains the fleet's maintenance facilities; the original depot at London Road (between Elephant and Castle and Lambeth North, though connected to the line between Lambeth North and Waterloo); and a small depot immediately north of Queens Park, built in 1915. The Queens Park depot is unique on the London Underground network in that trains in passenger service run through it. When Bakerloo line services ran to Watford, there was also an additional depot, Croxley Green Light Maintenance Depot at Croxley Green; this depot closed in November 1985 following the withdrawal of services. When the Bakerloo had two branches at its northern end, to Queens Park (as currently) and to Stanmore (now taken over by the Jubilee line), the depot at Neasden on the Stanmore branch was the principal one on the line. The Jubilee taking over this branch from 1979 was the reason behind building the new Stonebridge Park depot. The London Road depot is unusual in that, although the depot is on the surface, the line passes nearby in tunnel, connected by a short and sharply graded branch tunnel.


See also

* Leslie Green, architect of the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway's early stations *
Stanley Heaps Stanley A. Heaps (1880–1962) was an English architect responsible for the design of a number of stations on the London Underground system as well as the design of train depots and bus and trolleybus garages for London Transport. Works ...
, architect of the extension stations from Warwick Avenue to Kilburn Park *
List of crossings of the River Thames The River Thames is the second-longest river in the United Kingdom, passes through the capital city, and has many crossings. Counting every channel – such as by its islands linked to only one bank – it is crossed by over 300 brid ...
*
Tunnels underneath the River Thames The table below lists many of the tunnels under the River Thames in and near London, which, thanks largely to its underlying bed of clay, is one of the most tunnelled cities in the world. The tunnels are used for road vehicles, pedestrians, Tub ...


Maps

*Harrow & Wealdstone – *Kenton – *South Kenton – *North Wembley – *Wembley Central – *Stonebridge Park – *Harlesden – *Willesden Junction – *Kensal Green – *Queen's Park – *Kilburn Park – *Maida Vale – *Warwick Avenue – *Paddington (Bakerloo line) – *Edgware Road (Bakerloo line) – *Marylebone – *Baker Street – *Regent's Park – *Oxford Circus – *Piccadilly Circus – *Charing Cross – *Embankment – *Waterloo – *Lambeth North – *Elephant & Castle – *Stonebridge Park Depot – *London Road Depot – *Queens Park Depot –


References


External links

* * * * {{Authority control London Underground lines Railway lines opened in 1906 Transport in the London Borough of Southwark Transport in the London Borough of Lambeth Transport in the City of Westminster Transport in the London Borough of Brent Transport in the London Borough of Harrow Tunnels underneath the River Thames Standard gauge railways in London 1906 establishments in England