Dudding Hill Line
The Dudding Hill Line passing through Harlesden station
Overview
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Greater London
Termini	Cricklewood and Brent Curve Junctions Acton Wells Junction
Stations	0 (2 stations closed)
Service
Type	Freight railway
History
Opened	1875
Closed	1902 (passenger services)
Technical
Line length	4 mi (6.4 km)
Number of tracks	Double track throughout
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Operating speed	30 mph (48 km/h)
Route map Legend Midland Main Line Cricklewood Midland Main Line Dudding Hill Metropolitan line Neasden Jubilee line London– Aylesbury line Chiltern Main Line Chiltern Main Line Neasden Junction Harlesden Harlesden West Coast Main Line Watford DC &Bakerloo lines West Coast Main Line Acton Canal Wharf Junction North London line Acton Wells Junction North Acton Acton–Northolt line North Acton Great Western Main Line Central line Acton Central Great Western Main Line North London line

TheDudding Hill Line (orDudding Hill Loop) is a railway line in west and north-westLondon running fromActon toCricklewood. It is roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) long, with a 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) speed limit, andsemaphore signalling. The line has no scheduled passenger service, no stations, and is notelectrified. It is lightly used byfreight trains and, very occasionally, passenger charter trains.

Map of line.

The southernmost point of the Dudding Hill line is inActon, where it branches north from theNorth London Line betweenActon Central andWillesden Junction stations, immediately to the west of the site of the proposedOld Oak Common High Speed 2 station. From there it heads north then east, passing throughGladstone Park and terminating at a triangular junction with theMidland Main Line betweenCricklewood andHendon.

There are intermediate junctions with theWest Coast Main Line from the south atHarlesden and theChiltern Main Line from the south atNeasden.^[1]

The line was opened through open countryside on 1 October 1868 (goods) and 3 August 1875 (passengers) as theMidland and South Western Junction Railway,^[2] as part of theMidland Railway's extension to London. It connected theMidland Main Line, and what would become its large Cricklewood goods yard, to theNorth and South Western Junction Railway, now part of theNorth London Line, at Acton Wells (an area now calledNorth Acton).^[3] It had stations atDudding Hill andHarlesden (the latter also calledHarrow Road andStonebridge Park).^[4]

The M&SWJR was authorised on 14 July 1864 and absorbed by the Midland Railway on 30 July 1874.^[2] Confusingly, the similar nameMidland and South Western Junction Railway was later used for a completely differentrailway inGloucestershire, which was eventually taken over by theGreat Western Railway.

From 1878 to 1880^[3] it formed the basis of the Midland Railway'sSuper Outer Circle, which ran fromSt Pancras toEarl's Court via Cricklewood, Acton and theDistrict line.^[5] Various other, shorter routes were then used, but passenger demand was low, and it was closed to regular passenger traffic in 1902.^[3]

DuringWorld War II,air-raid shelters were constructed within the embankment.^[6]

Although railway usage is almost always "Dudding Hill Railway", the geographical area is usually called "Dudden Hill", and there is aLondon Borough of Brent electoral ward of that name. Dudden Hill is named after aSaxon settler called Dodda. The earliest known record, asDodynghill, dates from 1544. "Dudding Hill" has been regarded historically as the more genteel spelling of the name.^[7]

The line became an important freight line, and southwest-to-northwest chords were later added to theWest Coast Main Line at Harlesden, and what is now called theChiltern Main Line (originally theGreat Central Railway) at Neasden. War-time traffic was particularly heavy.^{[citation needed]}

At various times,^[when?] summer special trains were run on the Dudding Hill Line, to carry holidaymakers from theMidlands to south coast holiday resorts.

Nowadays the freight traffic is perhaps a dozen trains a day each way. The line is hardly mentioned in the April 2007Network Rail Freight Route Utilisation Strategy report, or the August 2007London Rail 'Rail Freight Strategy' report.^[8]

The main traffic is aggregates (including to a cement depot at Neasden) and compacted household waste from depots atBrent Cross andDagenham to the land-fill site atCalvert in Buckinghamshire.

The line is still authorised for passenger services. Very occasionally, it is used for chartered passenger trains, includingPullman heritage coaches.

In 2009, the track received considerable maintenance in parts, including complete track and ballast removal and replacement.

Chiltern Railways use the line to take faulty rolling stock to Willesden Depot via Neasden Junction, accessible from the "up" line at Wembley Stadium.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990Crossrail plans were announced by Secretary of State of TransportCecil Parkinson, which would have seen trains using part of the line to reach the Chiltern line toAylesbury. A new viaduct would have run alongside theGrand Union Canal fromOld Oak Common toHarlesden, and the first stop out ofPaddington station would have beenWembley Park, for connections to theMetropolitan line andJubilee line. Later plans replaced all this with a new tunnel connection,^[9] and finally the Aylesbury branch was dropped completely from the scheme.^[10]

During the late 1990s,BAA planned to run some or possibly allHeathrow Express trains along the line toSt. Pancras.^[11][12]

In early 2008, the London Group of theCampaign for Better Transport published a plan for aNorth and West London Light Railway.^[13] The line has been identified by Campaign for a Better Transport as a candidate for reopening.^[14]

In July 2008, ahigh-speed rail network was proposed by the2M Group, a campaigning group representing people affected byHeathrow Airport expansion, as an alternative to increased air traffic. A rail route running from Heathrow toCambridge would connect with theMidland Main Line at a "Cricklewood Interchange" station, using new track north from Heathrow to Ruislip, then the Great Central Line (nowadays the Chiltern main line) to Neasden, then a short northernmost section of the Dudding Hill Line from Neasden to Brent Cross.^[15]

After several independent efforts, in early 2009 the British Government began an official detailed study of possiblehigh-speed rail routes.

In June 2013, the Mayor of London and the London Boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham released 'vision' consultation documents^[16] about theOld Oak Common area of west London. This involves a major development area for London, based around a newOld Oak Common station forHigh Speed 2 andGreat Western Main Line, includingCrossrail.

The vision mentions various connections to theTransport for LondonLondon Overground system, connecting Old Oak to theNorth London Line,West London Line, and two new branches, to Hounslow, and via the Dudding Hill Line toThameslink stations on theMidland Main Line.

In October 2016, a report by Jonathan Manns and Dr Nicholas Falk, on behalf of the UK Government's All Party Parliamentary Group for London's Planning and Built Environment, proposed new orbital rail links in West London modelled on Swift Rail or Rapid Transit, connecting existing communities and those which could accommodate additional growth. It encouraged West London Business (West London Alliance) to reconsider work it had commissioned in 2001 which flagged the scope to connect Old Oak Common and Brent Cross along the Dudding Hill line. This connection was supported in addition to smaller connections using underused or unused existing connections.^[17]

It was agreed at the following meeting of the West London Economic Prosperity Board, in December 2016, to undertake further analysis on the feasibility of establishing an orbital passenger rail connecting regeneration schemes.^[18] The findings were presented in June 2017, on the basis of which the Board voted to progress engagement with theMayor of London around aWest London Orbital.^[19] The Mayor put forward a proposal to work with the West London Alliance and others to deliver a West London Orbital in March 2018, following publication by the West London Alliance of a proposal.^[20]

In September 2017, theWest London Alliance, a partnership between the local authorities ofBarnet,Brent,Ealing,Hammersmith and Fulham,Harrow,Hillingdon andHounslow, proposed a newWest London Orbital Railway passenger service that would connect Hounslow withHendon andWest Hampstead via the Dudding Hill line. New stations would be built atNeasden andHarlesden, and an interchange with theElizabeth line and theOverground's North London line in the vicinity ofOld Oak Common on Victoria Road, North Acton.

On the Midland Main Line new platforms would be built at Hendon and atCricklewood and West Hampstead, while the Hendon service could also call atBrent Cross West. The West Hampstead branch would be complete by 2026 and the Hendon branch by 2029 with 4 trains per hour on each branch end.^[21][22] The project's benefit-to-cost ratio is estimated to be in excess of 50:1.^[23][24]

• 
  The line at Neasden
• 
  The southern junction at Acton

• Heathrow Airport transport proposals

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDudding Hill Line.

• Dudding Hill station Subterranea Britannica
• Dudding Hill junction Trainspots web site
• Craven Park bridge Trainspots web site

51°33′25″N0°14′02″W / 51.556929°N 0.234017°W /51.556929; -0.234017

• Railway lines in London
• Railway lines opened in 1875
• Standard gauge railways in England
• 1875 establishments in England
• Heathrow Airport transport proposals

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Webarchive template archiveis links
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Use dmy dates from February 2018
• Use British English from February 2018
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2017
• All articles with vague or ambiguous time
• Vague or ambiguous time from November 2017
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension