Train spotters

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rockinjohn
GER D14 4-4-0 'Claud Hamilton'
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Re: Train spotters/Eastmans

Post by rockinjohn »

Hi Mickey, yes Gamages was a very large departmental store in High Holborn which closed in March 1972,& moved to a smaller site the same year in Oxford Street, which didnt last to many more years after the move,so thats where you went.
Mickey
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Re: Train spotters/Eastmans

Post by Mickey »

rockinjohn wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 1:22 pm Hi Mickey, yes Gamages was a very large departmental store in High Holborn which closed in March 1972,& moved to a smaller site the same year in Oxford Street, which didnt last to many more years after the move,so thats where you went.
It was around 1962 or 1963 jj

With regards to the Eastman Dental hospital I have visited the establishment on several occasions in the distant past to have some dental work performed the first time around 1971-72 and the last time around 2012.
Original start date of 2010 on the LNER forum and previously posted 4500+ posts.
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strang steel
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Re: Train spotters/London Terminals

Post by strang steel »

Mickey wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:27 am
rockinjohn wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 6:45 am Hi Mickey not sure of steam finishing dates but the G.E. diesel take over early with the LTSR
With regards to steam workings at London terminals finishing dates I believe it was the following years-

1.Paddington 1965
2.Marylebone 1966
3.Euston 1962
4.St Pancras 1962 although steam was still seen at the terminus as late as 1964 on occasional ECS workings from Cricklewood
5.Kings Cross 1963 although occasional steam workings lingered on well into 1964
6.Broad Street I think regular steam finished very earlier around the time of WW1 although steam still occasionally visited the terminus until the early 1960s.
7.Liverpool street towards the end of the 1950s
8.Fenchurch street 1961-62
9.London Bridge Don't know?
10.Canon street Don't know?
11.Charing Cross Don't know but possibly the very early 1960s?.
12.Waterloo 1967
13.Victoria 1961

Where I am I saw two train spotters both aged about late 50s standing on the station platform end for about 2 hours on Saturday afternoon before they both decided to go and caught a train to somewhere else only to miss x4 southern region class 73s turn up on a Derby track recording train about 10 minutes after they had both left!.
That sounds like my kind of luck.
John. My spotting log website is now at https://spottinglogs.co.uk/spotting-rec ... s-70s-80s/
rockinjohn
GER D14 4-4-0 'Claud Hamilton'
Posts: 349
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Re: Train spotters/Eastmans/Gamages

Post by rockinjohn »

Hi Mickey&all,if you went to Gamages that early in the piece it was @ High Holborn,so your "West End"store may have been Hamleys who sported a large model railway layout also, who got bought out by Triang(Lines Bros) after receivership simply because they were the biggest creditor,although it continued as a separate entity after takeover,Eastmans Dental Hospital for treatment? after your Dentist Couldn't,Wouldn't/Wished they hadn't or just straight to the to "hard basket"for your dental needs.jj
Mickey
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Re: Train spotters/Eastmans/Gamages

Post by Mickey »

rockinjohn wrote: Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:12 am Hi Mickey&all,if you went to Gamages that early in the piece it was @ High Holborn,so your "West End"store may have been Hamleys
It was Gamages jj I remember my dad saying "We're go to Gamages" in fact I had never heard of Hamleys until about the 1980s?. My reference to the 'west end' was just a general location we mite have gone towards because I didn't know where Gamages was I was only about 6 or 7 and it was outside my immediate area of Crouch Hill and Finsbury Park at that time 1962-63.
Original start date of 2010 on the LNER forum and previously posted 4500+ posts.
Mickey
LNER V2 2-6-2 'Green Arrow'
Posts: 1192
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 7:27 am
Location: London

Re: Train spotters/London Terminals

Post by Mickey »

strang steel wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 9:37 pm
Mickey wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:27 am Where I am I saw two train spotters both aged about late 50s standing on the station platform end for about 2 hours on Saturday afternoon before they both decided to go and caught a train to somewhere else only to miss x4 southern region class 73s turn up on a Derby track recording train about 10 minutes after they had both left!.
That sounds like my kind of luck.
Yeah it was bad timing/luck John to leave shortly before x4 southern class 73s show up.
Original start date of 2010 on the LNER forum and previously posted 4500+ posts.
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strang steel
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Re: Train spotters/London Terminals

Post by strang steel »

Mickey wrote: Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:20 am
strang steel wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 9:37 pm
Mickey wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:27 am Where I am I saw two train spotters both aged about late 50s standing on the station platform end for about 2 hours on Saturday afternoon before they both decided to go and caught a train to somewhere else only to miss x4 southern region class 73s turn up on a Derby track recording train about 10 minutes after they had both left!.
That sounds like my kind of luck.
Yeah it was bad timing/luck John to leave shortly before x4 southern class 73s show up.
I was once told in no uncertain fashion to get my hair cut, by my father in the early 1960s. My mates took the p*ss out of me for having to get a short back and sides, but even worse - while I was away for about 20 minutes an A1 came past my house on a railtour or some special working. Pacifics were virtually unheard of on that line, and it would have been a massive cop for me. Boy, was I angry.
John. My spotting log website is now at https://spottinglogs.co.uk/spotting-rec ... s-70s-80s/
SeniorGricer
NER Y7 0-4-0T
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Re: Train spotters

Post by SeniorGricer »

A bit late to the party (and to this forum) on this one.

I lived a fifteen minute brisk walk (or five minute bike ride) from Finsbury Park and spent many a happy hour on the Train Spotters’ Platform. I believe I may actually be in one of the photos provided:

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-child ... 23125.html

It certainly looks like me, on the top level fourth from the right (next to the boy who can barely see over the barrier.

Perhaps I can fill in a few gaps. The platform was not provided by BR. It was built by the LCC, who owned Finsbury Park in which it was situated. It was built in two distinct stages. The upper platform was built first and it was a rudimentary affair made mainly of scaffolding-type poles but permanently jointed. It was so popular that not long after it was built it was extended. The lower level, which was far larger, was built of poured concrete with a cast iron balustrade. Both levels provided superb views across the tracks, although the very nearest track was invisible from the platforms as the lines ran in a cutting 20 or 30 feet below. The upper level provided a particularly fine view southwards to Finsbury Park Station. The platforms were adjacent to the park’s “cinder” football pitch and the protective netting is clearly visible in the shot of the upper platform. Attached to this fence was the BR list of departures from Kings Cross. Above this was a sign which read “Trains pass this point approximately six minutes after the departure times shown below.” I believe Azumas manage it in half that time today.

Just to the south of the platforms two tracks crossed the main lines to disappear between two buildings. This was the branch to Highgate and Alexandra Palace and can be seen among the steam in the photo of the lower platform. This was to form part of the London Underground’s “Northern Heights” scheme but BR’s service was abandoned in 1954 and the scheme dropped. Adjacent to the park to the south were some sidings which were used to stable empty suburban stock. The tracks across the bridge were used occasionally to shunt empty coaching stock from the sidings and most days a set would be seen creeping across the bridge. The sidings, together with the bridge are long gone and the siding area now occupied by tennis courts. Crossing the tracks immediately adjacent to the spotters’ platforms was a footbridge leading from the park to the Tollington Park area (this is also visible in the same photo). This bridge still exists and forms part of the “Parkland Walk” which has been constructed on the trackbed of the disused Alexandra Palace branch.

Although we didn’t realise it, we were incredibly lucky to see the trains in Finsbury Park. I was lucky enough to be around to see the Gresley Pacifics ploughing their way northwards with all the named trains of that era (“Flying Scotsman”, “The Elizabethan”, “The Heart of Midlothian”, “The Tyne-Tees Pullman”, "The Queen of Scots" and many more). We saw the shape of things to come when the prototype Deltic, in its striking blue livery, speed whiskers and headlamp put in the occasional appearance. The demise of top link steam began when the Deltics took over most long distance services from 1961.

Also to be seen from the spotters' platform were the early Type 2 diesels (latterly class 31), the “Baby Deltics” on the outer suburban services to Hatfield, Hitchin, Cambridge and Ely and the early Craven DMUs. The occasional 9F would clank its way past either light engine or pulling a few wagons (never knew where from or to).

Alas the spotters’ platforms are no more. Here’s a view from the rear looking towards the railway, taken a few year’s ago:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/albedo/18 ... otostream/

Deserted and heavily overgrown. They were demolished four or five year’s ago; there was an article in the local rag but even that seems to have disappeared.
Mickey wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 7:27 pm ...from The Lady Killers that were filmed either from above the tunnel mouth of Copenhagen tunnel overlooking the Up & Down goods lines and also from the eastern side above Copenhagen tunnel looking down towards Belle Isle in 1955 all in Eastman colour.
The Ladykillers is a superb film. Alas every time I watch it I scream that it is geographically incorrect. The front door of Mrs Wilberforce's house faces the front of Kings Cross station (so seems to be in what is now Birkenhead Street). But her back yard overlooks the railway lines out of the terminus! :D
Last edited by SeniorGricer on Fri Mar 18, 2022 10:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mickey
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Location: London

Re: Train spotters

Post by Mickey »

SeniorGricer wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:56 pm
Mickey wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 7:27 pm ...from The Lady Killers that were filmed either from above the tunnel mouth of Copenhagen tunnel overlooking the Up & Down goods lines and also from the eastern side above Copenhagen tunnel looking down towards Belle Isle in 1955 all in Eastman colour.
The Ladykillers is a superb film. Alas every time I watch it I scream that it is geographically incorrect. The front door of Mrs Wilberforce's house faces the front of Kings Cross station (so seems to be in what is now Birkenhead Street). But her back yard overlooks the railway lines out of the terminus! :D
Yeah in one scene the old lady Mrs Wilberforce opens her front door and St.Pancras station is clearly seen at the end of her street.

The first time that I travelled into and out of Kings Cross by train was during the second half of 1967 and when the train I was travelling on ran through Belle Isle I remember that I could clearly see 'the gap' at the end of the street where Mrs Wilberforce's house stood although I believe the house was actually a film prop that the film company had built.

With regards to the Finsbury Park train spotters platform as previously posted the first time that I can vaguely recall visiting it was during 1964 when I was 7 years old and as I previously posted I was wanting to see a 'streak' (a A4) but I didn't see any steam although I didn't know at that time that steam had pretty much finished a year earlier in 1963.
Original start date of 2010 on the LNER forum and previously posted 4500+ posts.
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