The Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway was a railway built and operated jointly by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and Great Central Railway (GCR) between Northolt (in north west London) and Ashendon Junction (west of Aylesbury). 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; 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.
Before the joint line
By the final decade of the nineteenth century, the Great Western Railway had consolidated its network, and according to one point of view, had failed to develop its business further. It had acquired the epithet "the Great Way Round", as many of its principal main lines took a circuitous route to the destination. This was true of the West of England and South Wales routes, and the line from London to Birmingham and Chester took a roundabout alignment by way of Didcot and Oxford.
An alternative route from London to Oxford had been opened, by way of Maidenhead, High Wycombe,The place was known to the railway as Wycombe prior to 1864. Princes Risborough and Thame, but this had been engineered as a rural branch line and was incapable of providing trunk route facilities. The GWR obtained powers in the Great Western Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1897 (60 & 61 Vict. c. ccxlvii) for the Wycombe and Acton line: this was to provide a much more direct route to High Wycombe and on to Thame; but this was nevertheless designed as a rural branch rather than a future trunk railway route.
At the same time the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway had set about transforming itself from a northern industrial concern into a trunk line, and it planned to reach London. Sir Edward Watkin was the chairman of the MS&LR and also of the Metropolitan Railway, serving areas north and west of London, and he planned to join these lines. The MS&LR obtained the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (Extension to London, &c.) Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. i), giving powers for the line, from the southern end of its network at Annesley (near Mansfield) to Quainton Road, in 1893.
In addition, there was a two-mile section of independent route at the London end, from Canfield Place (near the present-day Finchley Road station) to a new terminus at Marylebone station, and south of Neasden the Metropolitan Railway provided a pair of tracks exclusively for the MS&LR trains. The line opened in 1899; but the intermediate 40 miles from Quainton Road was over the Metropolitan Railway, already a busy railway in its own right.
Unfortunately Watkin's health failed and he resigned on 19 May 1894. His successors as the prime movers were William Pollitt (MS&LR) and John Bell (Metropolitan) and their personal relationship was not cordial. From that time relations between the MS&LR and the Metropolitan Railway cooled, and became hostile and obstructive. Excessive charges and an unrealistic proposal for working mineral traffic from Baker Street to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway started the downward trajectory of the relationship.George Dow, Great Central: volume II, Locomotive Publishing Company Ltd, London, 1962
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name to the Great Central Railway from 1 August 1897.
The Metropolitan Railway had reached Aylesbury in 1892 and had taken over the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway in 1891, thereby gaining a route between Aylesbury and Verney Junction via Quainton Road. However, the Great Western Railway had sponsored the Wycombe Railway, which reached Aylesbury in 1863 with its branch from Princes Risborough. In 1898 the GCR wished to send coal trains to London over the GWR Aylesbury to Princes Risborough line, and on 30 July 1898 the first such train approached Aylesbury. This was one day earlier than the agreed start date. John Bell, was the General Manager of the Metropolitan Railway and William Pollitt the General Manager of the MS&LR. Bell personally went to Quainton Road and took charge, blocking the onward journey of the train. In fact he even refused to allow the engine to draw forward to run round its train; propelling a long mineral train back wrong line was out of the question, and a major disruption occurred. The mineral traffic started the following day. He had earlier refused to allow these trains to run the relatively short distance from Quainton Road to Aylesbury until the GCR London Extension was open throughout its length. This obstruction for the sake of one day was the clearest indication that the Metropolitan Railway was not going to be a co-operative partner to the GCR. This was compounded by Bell's absolute refusal to allow mineral traffic to be worked to the GWR at Aylesbury, nor to destinations south of London over its own system.
As the Great Central took stock of the Metropolitan Railway's attitude, it also re-assessed the practicality of operating a trunk main line with heavy mineral traffic as well as express passenger trains over the tracks of the Metropolitan Railway from Aylesbury southwards. As well as the congestion of a suburban passenger operation, the curvature and gradients of the Metropolitan line were unfavourable, and the GCR began to consider alternatives.
The Great Central Railway and the Great Western Railway had already collaborated successfully in the Banbury area and the GCR started to think of running some of its London traffic over the GWR via Oxford, or alternatively over the GWR Aylesbury branch to Princes Risborough and High Wycombe. The idea was discussed between the two companies, and a bold scheme for a new railway was developed, agreement being reached in September 1898. This would be constructed and operated by a joint committee representing the GWR and GCR, and some existing GWR route and powers for a proposed route would be taken over. A parliamentary bill was submitted and on 1 August 1899 the Great Western and Great Central Railways Joint Committee was incorporated by act of Parliament, the (62 & 63 Vict. c. cciv), with the necessary powers of construction and operation.
Although the rupture between the Great Central and the Metropolitan Railway was of the most violent nature, wiser counsel later prevailed: the GCR needed at the least to work over the Metropolitan line until the construction of the new route, and preferably permanently as an alternative. The Metropolitan Railway faced losing a substantial income from running powers charges, and it had already expended considerable sums on widening its line for the GCR. When tempers cooled, a co-operative relationship later resumed.
Moreover, in 1901 the two personal adversaries each retired; Sam Fay became General Manager of the Great Central and Colonel J. J. Mellor took over at Baker Street.
The joint line: planning
The scope of the joint line was ambitious, and it was coupled with connecting railways for the GWR and GCR separately. The southern end of the joint line proper would be at Northolt Junction. The GWR would build the 7-mile section of the Wycombe and Acton line from Old Oak Common West Junction on the Paddington to Reading main line, near Acton, to Northolt Junction.
The GCR would build a line miles long from Neasden Junction on its planned new route from Marylebone (at this point independent of the Metropolitan Railway, so permitting free access to the London terminus.) It was authorised by Parliament in 1898. The GCR line from Neasden to Northolt was let to a contractor in the value of £168,000 but a serious overrun in costs resulted in this section costing over £300,000.
From Northolt Junction the joint line would take over the relevant part of the powers of the (unbuilt) Wycombe and Acton line, and then take over the part of the GWR line (former Wycombe Railway) from there to Princes Risborough, taking the opportunity to improve the alignment for main line running and double the track. The contract for the line from Northolt to High Wycombe was valued at £580,000.
From Princes Risborough northwards there would be a new route to Grendon Underwood, on the GCR new "London Extension" route; this junction was a few miles north of Quainton Road, so that reliance on the Metropolitan Railway would be avoided.
The GWR had originally intended to use the Thame route to reach Oxford from Princes Risborough by upgrading the former Wycombe Railway route. This was however considered a roundabout route and the GWR now decided to build a mile direct link from further north on the GCR part of the new line to Banbury. A junction was to be made at Ashendon, between Princes Risborough and Grendon Underwood, and this GWR section of line would join the Oxford to Banbury line at a new junction at Aynho, not far south of Banbury. Under this revision, the actual joint section of the new construction was from Northolt Junction to Ashendon Junction, a distance of 34 miles, but the scheme involved a total of miles of new double track: the last major new railway construction in Great Britain until the Channel Tunnel Rail Link of 2003.
Between Saunderton and Princes Risborough, the Wycombe Railway single line descended steeply and had a tight curve, and the new down line was to be deviated from it somewhat to ease the gradient to a maximum of 1 in 87 and to ease the curve. The abandoned formation of the original Wycombe Railway may still be detected.https://www.flickr.com/photos/rpmarks/3651417684/in/set-72157622711559785/ Former Wycombe Railway formation at Saunderton Even 1 in 87 was considered to be too steep an uphill gradient for heavily laden freight trains heading for London, so the new up line was planned to take a slightly different alignment with a deep cutting and a short tunnel, enabling a maximum rising gradient of 1 in 167.
In addition a new short line was to be built by the GWR between Ealing on the Reading main line and Greenford on the Northolt line.
Construction and opening The single track from High Wycombe to Princes Risborough was taken over on 1 August 1899. Construction of the joint line and its approach routes was started in 1901, under the management of the Great Western Railway. R. C. Sikes was the resident engineer.
The easternmost part of the GWR line forming a circuit from Old Oak Common through Park Royal and then curving to West Ealing, was opened on 15 June 1903, enabling a passenger service to Park Royal for the Royal Agricultural Show there. The line was closed again west of Park Royal from 10 August because of concerns about the stability of embankments after exceptionally heavy rainfall. The line opened again on 1 May 1904, and in October 1904 the short extension from Greenford East Junction to Greenford station was opened.
The following year, on 20 November 1905 the whole line between Greenford and Grendon Underwood was opened for goods trains. At the same time the Neasden to Northolt GCR section was opened. On 1 March 1906 the latter section was opened for passenger trains in the form of railmotors. The first miles from Neasden were quadruple track; the remainder was double line. There were stations at Wembley Hill (on the four track section) and at Sudbury & Harrow Road railway station and at South Harrow; at the latter two places passenger loops were provided for the platforms, with the through lines in the centre.