North and South Western Junction Railway

A passenger service linked LSWR stations with the North London Railway, and a branch was built to Hammersmith.

It carries the heavily used Richmond to Stratford passenger service, and the whole of the main line remains an important freight connection.

However, the Hammersmith branch has closed and no regular passenger service remains on the southern section of the main line.

Continuing to enter territory that the LSWR considered its own, the N&SWJR got authority in 1853 to make a branch to the small rural town of Hammersmith, although the terminus was some distance west of the place.

The purpose of the branch is not clear as the area was still undeveloped, and a shareholders' committee found that the directors had improperly arranged construction outside the authorised capital of the company.

Goods trains started working to the terminus on 1 May 1857, but the main line companies were reluctant to operate a passenger service, and the N&SWJR itself acquired a Sharp, Stewart 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive.

[5] Turning up the heat even further, the N&SWJR flirted with the idea of an extension to Richmond, and this gained considerable support but failed in Parliament.

In 1874 the Metropolitan District Railway ran through trains along the LSWR alignment to the West End of London and the City.

The GWR, in 1870, had already operated a service via Hammersmith Grove Road onto the Metropolitan Railway tracks, but this was withdrawn after a few months.

Goods trains continued to serve a coal depot and asphalt plant at Hammersmith until 2 May 1965, after which the branch finally closed.

The LNWR electrified the N&SWJR main line to both Richmond and Kew Bridge in 1916, on the fourth rail d.c. system.

The Hammersmith branch has long since been built over, but remains very easy to trace until south of the Bath Road, where the 'level' crossing hump is still very clearly evident.

This involves a major development area for London, based around a new Old Oak Common railway station for High Speed 2 and Great Western Main Line, including Crossrail.

Climbing the stile at the crossing, he seems not to have heard the approaching North London Railway passenger train, and he was run over by it and died of injuries.

The following day the Times newspaper[10] reported The accident took place between 10 and 11 o’clock in the morning at a point about three-quarters of a mile north of the Hammersmith and Chiswick terminus of [the N&SWJR].

[11] The inquest found accidental death; the evidence added some minor details: the train left Chiswick for Acton at 10.20.