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Monday December 30 2013
Strange yellow train on the underground
by Brian Micklethwait

This evening, in the Tube, at Embankment Station (Northern Line), I was sitting waiting for my train, but when it arrived it wasn’t my train.  It was this:

image image

A strange yellow train, with lots of yellow wagons, containing sort of cementy rocks, or something similar.  Biggish light grey coloured lumps, of the sort which looked like they might, if broken into smaller bits, make the small white rocky bits they put under railway tracks.

Not the greatest pictures, I know, but I was in a hurry, in low light conditions.  I had to get my camera out and going before the train had completely gone.

So is that what this train was?  A train transporting material to make more track, or to replace the stuff underneath existing tracks?

Here is a blog posting from 2006 which asks a very similar question.  The train looks very similar, and this time, the big grey lumps appear to have been crushed into smaller lumps, exactly as I speculate above.  It was spotted “at Euston”, which could also mean the Northern Line.

London | My photographs | Television

Brian, from the larger ‘sub surface’ train in the background I would say that’s the District/Circle line. From what I remember and confirm with a bit of Googling the Northern line platforms are in individual bored tunnels, not together in one large tunnel as pictured.
As for the load, I understand that ballast (the rock under railway tracks) comes in different sizes for different situations, so I would say that’s what it is. It is necessary to replace or add to the ballast under track periodically, so the train may be for that purpose. I don’t know of any new track being constructed locally other than Crossrail, but it may be for that too.

Posted by Friday Night Smoke on 31 December 2013
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