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British Railways The First 25 Years Volume 9: London Midland Region

British Railways The First 25 Years Volume 9: London Midland Region


J. Allan and A. Murray

208 pages. 275x215mm. Printed on gloss art paper, casebound with printed board covers.

ISBN13 : 9781911038726

£22.50

The ninth in the series of books depicting the first 25 years of British Railways, this volume covers the London Midland Region lines in the London area, from the terminus stations at Euston and St. Pancras out as far as Watford and St. Albans respectively, the North London Line from Broad Street and the former London Tilbury & Southend Railway (LT&SR) lines out of Fenchurch Street. We look at the steam age Euston station and its rebuilding for the West Coast electrification in the 1960s. We visit the four principal motive power depots serving the Western and Midland Divisions, Camden, Willesden, Cricklewood and Kentish Town, and also Devons Road on the North London Line and Ripple Lane, Plaistow, Tilbury and Shoeburyness on the London Tilbury & Southend. A variety of locomotive types are featured, including ‘Jubilees’, ‘Royal Scots’ and Stanier Pacifics, English Electric Type ‘4’s, ‘Peak’ diesel-electrics, Sulzer and BRC&W Co. Type ‘2’s and ex-L&NWR 0-8-0s alongside ‘4F’ 0-6-0s and ‘8F’ 2-8-0s together with Fowler and Stanier 2-6-4Ts. On the North London Line the EMU-worked passenger services from Broad Street to Watford and Richmond contrasted with the variety of steam classes on cross-London freights. The LT&SR was the LM&SRs busiest commuter line into the Capital and there was also a healthy summer traffic of day trippers, primarily to Southend. The ‘Tilbury’ was almost exclusively a tank engine line with the LT&SR-designed 4-4-2Ts working alongside the LM&SR 2-6-4Ts until electification in 1962. As with the previous London volumes, we have included detailed maps of the principal stations and depots showing how they fit into the Capital’s streets. Platform layouts are also provided for each of the termini.

British Railways The First 25 Years Volume 9: London Midland Region - Sample Images

sample book illustration
The hustle and bustle of the early 1950s Euston is noticeable as a taper boiler and a parallel boiler ‘Royal Scot’ rest side by side after arrival in Platforms 2 and 1 respectively. The contrast in front end appearance is very noticeable: Bushbury’s No. 46110 Grenadier Guardsman on the right appears much more imposing than Edge Hill’s No. 46135 The East Lancashire Regiment on the left. This picture was taken after November 1950 when No. 46135 was fitted with smoke deflectors and before July 1951 when No. 46110 was transferred away from Bushbury shed to Carlisle Upperby; Grenadier Guardsman was itself rebuilt with a taper boiler in January 1953. No. 46135 had arrived first and its passengers are streaming off the train while the fireman has already changed the headlamps from Express Passenger to Light Engine ready to back down to Camden shed. No. 46110 with Express Passenger headlamps has only just come to a stand and the passengers are still on the train. Note the two boards indicating the ‘REFRESHMENT FACILITIES’ – ‘DINING ROOM’, TEA ROOM’, REFRESHMENT ROOM’, ‘REFRESHMENT BAR’ and ‘TEA BAR’; and, last but not least, at the foot of the sign ‘TEA TROLLEYS’. The buffer stops are a special design sliding on two additional pairs of rails on either side of the running rails and designed to assist the stopping of over-zealous arriving trains. They are fitted with sockets for lamps that date back to 19th century L&NWR designs. Note also the L&NWR ground signal, painted yellow indicating permission to use the crossover from Platform 1, but not restricting an engine from following departing coaches out. W.J.V. Anderson/Rail Archive Stephenson
sample book illustration
Diesels began to take over the transfer freights over the North London line from the end of 1957. On the same November day as the pictures on the previous page, English Electric Type ‘1’ No. D8019 works an eastbound transfer freight. It was built in March 1958 and was at Devons Road until February 1964 when the shed closed and it was transferred to Stratford. It subsequently moved many times, working on the Eastern and Scottish Regions before being withdrawn as No. 20019 for the first time in November 1983. It was reinstated to Toton in 1985 and was in service until October 1991. K.L. Cook/Rail Archive Stephenson