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Alexandra Palace Miniature Railway around the boating lake.


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Apologies for putting this under UK prototype, but couldn't think of anywhere else.

 

For those of us brought up in North London in the 50's, one of life's treats was to be taken up to Alexandra Palace and wander through the fair and down to the boating lake where they had a miniature railway. I still have pics of myself, my brother and my three girl cousins all having fun in one of the open carriages and I'm guessing that would have been in 52/53.

 

Since those days, I've often wondered what happened to the railway and have picked up snippets of info from the LNER forum where others had similar memories. Photo's of the railway were very few and far between and until tonight little more could be found.

 

Whilst trawling through the web this evening looking for pics of Wood Green station and buildings, I came across a few B & W pics and clicked on them only to find they were video!

 

I feel I've won the lottery as in 10 years of trying to piece together bits of info, I never ever imagined there might be film.

 

Of course these will mean little to anyone brought up outside North London, but for those of us from the area, enjoy....

 

No wonder I love A4's....:D

 

https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/video/people-ride-a-minature-railway-at-alexandra-park-in-news-footage/450032314

 

https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/video/people-ride-a-minature-railway-at-alexandra-park-in-news-footage/450032320

 

https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/video/people-ride-a-minature-railway-at-alexandra-park-in-news-footage/450032318

 

https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/video/people-ride-on-a-minature-railway-at-alexandra-park-news-footage/450032322

 

https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/video/dignitary-cuts-the-tape-at-the-opening-of-the-minature-news-footage/450032316

 

https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/video/people-ride-a-minature-railway-at-alexandra-park-in-news-footage/450032312

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  • 1 year later...

This is amazing. I lived in the area and dad often took me to this railway round the lake. We moved away in 1953 when I was 4 but I went back to the model railway exhibition a couple of years ago. After over 60 years I knew exactly where to go for the lake and railway. I've been looking for years for any pictures of the railway and I'm so pleased to see these clips.

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I know how you feel. I spent ages trawling the web and searching forums for some pics, when I stumbled across these after several months. Getting pics was one thing, but video was the Holy Grail......

 

Wonderful memories.....

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I'm sure that loco ended up at Southport. I believe that it came from from Battersea Park in London. I remember riding behind an identical loco (or 2?) there in the 50s. Whether this was the same line as the Emitt line I don't know. Later on I came acros the "A4" at Southport - also on the Lakeside Railway ! I later read somewhere that it/they were ex the Festival Gardens at Battersea.

 

Stewart

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On 06/03/2019 at 22:38, jamie92208 said:

The loco looks like one of the Hudswells similar to the ones at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and several other such lines.   I would be happy to be corrected though.

 

Not Hudswell Clarkes but Barlows and nowhere near as realistic, though there were several versions of these pseudo A4s. They were also used at Battersea.

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I've done a little bit more Googling on these A4s, but not read anything through properly, just skimmed it at the moment. It seems the Festival of Britain 1951 had the Far Twittering railway, with the rather exotic Emmett rolling stock built by Barlow in Southport. The 3 locos used his "standard" underframe. Following a fatal accident in 1953(?) the railway closed, the stock returned to Southport. Using the underframes, the locos were rebuilt into psuedo A4s, and the Battersea line re-opened using at least 2 of these locos, and on a different course. In 1975 it closed; the 2 locos ended up on the IoW for an abortive project and were scrapped in c.1982. The 3rd one, Prince Charles may have gone to Battersea, and apparently is presently at either Southport or Windmill Farm. It seems Barlow produced a quanity of rolling stock in the early 50s, including a number of A4s.

Google Battersea Park for the miniature railway and there are loads of links. As usual, you have to take everything at face value on the net!

 

Stewart

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