IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Rosslyn Avenue, LONDON, SW13 0JY

Seen from Railway Side, which for most of its length is no more than a footpath. The buildings in the background stand on the far side of the railway line from Waterloo to Windsor. As I understand it, the apple tree is growing on what was once the track-bed of the old London & South Western Railway's Barnes Curve (hence the name Railway Side). More history here: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3986505

No longer quite as close to the railway as the name might suggest. These days a roughly triangular plot of land (used as allotments) lies between Railway Side and the Waterloo-Windsor line. However, a railway line once passed much closer. West of Barnes station the line out of Waterloo forks - one branch running west to Windsor, the other north-west towards Hounslow (the Hounslow Loop). The Barnes Curve - which once ran parallel to Railway Side - completed a triangular layout, leaving the Windsor line near White Hart Lane, and joining the Hounslow line close to Barnes Bridge. All the lines involved were built by the London & South Western Railway. The Barnes Curve opened to traffic in 1862, but was lifted as early as 1881. I can find no reference to it in Dendy Marshall's 'History of the Southern Railway' - and my prime source of information is Ian Yarham's Geograph: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2237211

This row of cottages known as Railway Side marks the line of the Barnes Curve, a double track railway line built so that trains could go from Mortlake on the Richmond line to Barnes Bridge on the Hounslow Loop and eliminate reversing at Barnes. The Barnes curve opened in 1862 and was removed in 1881.

Taking time out from waiting in ambush on our pink roses, this one joins the yellow movement lower down the eastern fence of our garden.

This row of cottages known as Railway Side marks the line of the Barnes Curve, a double track railway line built so that trains could go from Mortlake on the Richmond line to Barnes Bridge on the Hounslow Loop and eliminate reversing at Barnes. The Barnes Curve opened in 1862 and was removed in 1881.

Level crossings are relatively unusual in London, but the line from Clapham Junction to Richmond is characterised by a run of several. Plans to use this line for a fast link to Heathrow foundered repeatedly on this fact: increased use of the line would mean these gates were closed every few minutes, immobilising traffic, whilst replacing them with bridges in this low-lying terrain would mean many residents' view out of the front door would be of the side of a ramp carrying the road over the railway.