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Greenwich Park, Minories, - Class 37 /pilot usage in compact urban termini


PL8180RM
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My big thing has always been the end of the Greenwich Park branch line in Lewisham. Diverging from the Victoria mainlines via Peckham it shot across the bow of the LBSCR and into a tiny cutting just a stone's throw from the Maritime Museum.

 

I've been tempted to model this countless times, but despite being a south Londoner through and through, EMUs leave me very cold - and I do want a bit of pizzaz!

 

This has drawn me to the pacific's, and onwards to plans that could possibly support their usage without being wholly out of character. The only other prototype relation I have is being blown away by a Class 37 thundering past Lee station one sunny afternoon - so I'm happy with organising the former into a layout, I've no real clue about whether the latter would work!

 

 

The reason this question is for here, is that I'm wondering if there were any similar cutting/viaduct type urban termini which would have seen early diesels acting in a fashion similar to late steam operations suggested by a plan like Minories.

 

A simple 'no' would suffice, should that be the case!

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My big thing has always been the end of the Greenwich Park branch line in Lewisham. Diverging from the Victoria mainlines via Peckham it shot across the bow of the LBSCR and into a tiny cutting just a stone's throw from the Maritime Museum.

 

I've been tempted to model this countless times, but despite being a south Londoner through and through, EMUs leave me very cold - and I do want a bit of pizzaz!

 

This has drawn me to the pacific's, and onwards to plans that could possibly support their usage without being wholly out of character. The only other prototype relation I have is being blown away by a Class 37 thundering past Lee station one sunny afternoon - so I'm happy with organising the former into a layout, I've no real clue about whether the latter would work!

 

 

The reason this question is for here, is that I'm wondering if there were any similar cutting/viaduct type urban termini which would have seen early diesels acting in a fashion similar to late steam operations suggested by a plan like Minories.

 

A simple 'no' would suffice, should that be the case!

I'ver got a plan and a couple of rather faded images of Greenwich Park and though simple it does look fascinating so I can see why you're drawn to it.

One small urban terminus with a viaduct approach that's long fascinated me is Hammersmith on the Hammersmith and City and wondering how that might have developed differently if, instead of becoming part of the Underground, it had remained an urban double track branch of the GWR (a bit like Uxbridge Vine Street) .It's also maybe worth speculating on what might have happened if the other lines serving London Bridge had gone elsewhere- probably not very far elsewhere- leaving it as the terminus of a rather self-contained London, Greenwich, Woolwich & Dartford Railway maybe never quite important enough to justify electrification but always having a strong association with seafaring. . 

 

Are you set on London or could the equivalent of a Birmingham Moor Street be awarded to another deserving city. Bristol maybe?

Edited by Pacific231G
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Well 31s and sometimes other locos (24s) worked passenger trains in and out of the terminal platforms at Moorgate, in a very similar situation to "Minories"; if a similar situation had arisen on the GE side of the Eastern Region in London, possibly 37s could have been used.

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You'd have to look at what area you want to set your layout in. 37s were not common on the Southern basic diesel traction being the 33s. However, loco hauled passenger trains on the Southern were also a rarity. apart from the Waterloo-Exeter services, boat trains to Southampton Docks or Dover WD, the Kenny Belle, Portsmouth-Bristol, and the Oxted line commuter services, I can't think of any regular loco hauled passenger services. Everything else was multiple unit! 

 

Probably the only other diesels that Southern men would know were the 08/09, 47, 50, and the Western hydraulics. Yes, other types visited the SR, especially in the mid 60's when all the early types would be seen on cross-London freights via the West London Line and the East London Line when that had conections at Shoreditch and New Cross to the Big Railway.

 

Kings Cross would use 31s as station pilot, usually with the headcode 1S or 2S, indicating 1 shunt or 2 shunt. Rarely was an 08 used, the 31s being a good general purpose loco, in the event of a failure could be used on anything. Waterloo had an 08 or 09 as a pilot, though sometimes a 33 was used. Euston used to be a 25 or whatever electric loco was spare.

Edited by roythebus
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