The Outer Circle was a London & North Western Railway service in London that operated from 1872 to 1908. The route was from the District Railway station at Mansion House to Earl's Court, then via the West London Railway to Willesden Junction and then via the North London Railway to Broad Street. Although not a complete circuit, it was one of several 'circle' routes around London that opened at the same time, such as the 'inner circle' that is today's Circle line.[1] Trains would run once every 30 minutes. In 1908 the service was cut back to run from Earl's Court to Broad Street.
On 1 February 1872 the London & North Western Railway (L&NWR) began a railway service between Broad Street and the District Railway station at Mansion House via the North London Railway, Willesden Junction, the West London Railway and Earl's Court,[2] replacing a service that had run along much of the same route to London Victoria.[3] This service became known as the 'outer circle' and was worked with L&NWR locomotives and carriages and there was a train every thirty minutes.[2] When the District electrified in 1905, it built electric locomotives to haul the carriages between Earl's Court and Mansion House.[4] The service appears on the 1908 'London Underground' map between Earl's Court and Uxbridge Road as a District Railway service.[5]
The service ceased to run east of Earl's Court from 1 January 1909.[4] The L&NWR electrified the West London Railway and an electric service between Willesden Junction and Earl's Court on started 1 May 1914.[4] This was initially with electric multiple units provided by the District Railway until 24 November 1914 when LNWR electric units took over.[6] Passenger services on the West London Railway ended on 19 October 1940 following bomb damage to the line[7]
Uxbridge Road station closed with the line in 1940[7] and Shepherd's Bush opened on the same site in 2008.[8] The line is currently served by the District line between Mansion House and Kensington (Olympia) and then the London Overground to Haggerston.