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Sutton Loop Line
Railway line in London
  • v
  • t
  • e
Sutton Loop Line
mi+ch
Portsmouth line
to South Bermondsey Junction
Streatham
Brighton Main Line
Victoria–Brighton
0+00Streatham South Junction
Portsmouth line
via Mitcham Junction
0+76Tooting
Tooting Junction
Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway
to Merton Park
2+18Haydons Road
South West Main Line
to Waterloo
3+07
7+21
Wimbledon
Wimbledon–West Croydon line
to West Croydon
7+51Wimbledon West Junction
South West Main Line
to Weymouth
8+13Wimbledon Chase
8+61South Merton
9+32Morden South
9+69St Helier
10+67Sutton Common
11+47West Sutton
Portsmouth line
via Mitcham Junction
12+50
Portsmouth line
to Horsham
│Sutton
Epsom Downs line
to Epsom Downs
│
London & Croydon Rly
to London Bridge

The Sutton Loop Line, also known as the Wimbledon Loop, is a railway line that diverges from the Portsmouth Line at Streatham South junction and rejoins it near Sutton station. Trains leave southwards from Streatham to enter the loop and then return going northwards. The short section between West Sutton station and West junction is known as the "Wall of Death", possibly due to the very steep concrete walls to the cutting on both sides and the sharpness of the curve which resemble the motorcycle ride at a funfair.

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Stations

In a clockwise direction round the loop, the stations are:

Infrastructure

Traction current is supplied at 750 volts DC via the third rail. The supply for this is overseen by Selhurst Electrical Control Room.5 Signalling is Track Circuit Block with multiple aspect colour light signals, controlled from Three Bridges rail operating centre. The line is double track throughout, except where a short bi-directionally signalled single line section passes through Wimbledon station platform 9. Originally the Down St Helier Line used platform 10 at Wimbledon, but this is now used for the Tramlink terminus which currently comprises a single platform at the southern end, split into two sections so two trams can be held at the same time.6

History

Further information: Wimbledon and Sutton Railway and Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway

Services

Thameslink

Thameslink runs services from St Albans, via Blackfriars round the loop. Clockwise services are described as "Sutton via Mitcham Junction" and anti-clockwise as "Sutton via Wimbledon". Occasionally, during service disruption or when the core section of the Thameslink route is closed, Sutton Loop services start and end at London Blackfriars.

Recent proposals were to increase the frequency of the Thameslink service by terminating at Blackfriars. This would have allowed the trains through the core section to be replaced with longer trains which could not use the loop, but this did not proceed due to objections from loop passengers about the withdrawal of their through service.7

References

  1. Southern Appendix. Vol. Module SO. Network Rail. April 2001. p. 1/272. A0260A03. ↩

  2. "Government safeguards future of the Wimbledon Loop" (Press release). Department of Transport. 21 January 2013. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-safeguards-future-of-the-wimbledon-loop ↩

  3. Southern Appendix. Vol. Module SO. Network Rail. April 2001. p. 1/272. A0260A03. ↩

  4. Quail Map 5 - England South & London Underground [page 22] September 2002. ↩

  5. Southern Appendix. Vol. Module SO. Network Rail. April 2001. p. 1/272. A0260A03. ↩

  6. "Wimbledon to Croydon tram link - Transport for London". www.tfl.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140328153428/http://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/wimbledon-to-croydon-tram-link ↩

  7. Herne Hill website http://www.hernehill.org.uk/direct-trains-may-end-thameslink-programme http://www.hernehill.org.uk/direct-trains-may-end-thameslink-programme ↩