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  • RMweb Gold

Guys,

Part of me says this must have come up in the past but i’ve searches Google and rmWeb and not found an answer, so....

 

Kings Cross has the small loco depot by the tunnel (when did that open?) and top shed. I understand that top shed was the main depot etc, but a couple of questions.

 

How was KX loco used (was it local tanks or non Top Shed based locos) from the 1930s through to the end of steam?

 

For locos running out to Top Shed were they dispatched always on the slow line or could they go fast line to Belle Isle? Presumably locos coming back to KX used which ever route was free?

 

Were KX tunnels bi-directional or did each of the three portals have a specific designation?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Rich

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  • RMweb Gold
25 minutes ago, MarshLane said:

Guys,

Part of me says this must have come up in the past but i’ve searches Google and rmWeb and not found an answer, so....

 

Kings Cross has the small loco depot by the tunnel (when did that open?) and top shed. I understand that top shed was the main depot etc, but a couple of questions.

 

How was KX loco used (was it local tanks or non Top Shed based locos) from the 1930s through to the end of steam?

 

For locos running out to Top Shed were they dispatched always on the slow line or could they go fast line to Belle Isle? Presumably locos coming back to KX used which ever route was free?

 

Were KX tunnels bi-directional or did each of the three portals have a specific designation?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Rich

 

In answer to the Bold it was the 1920's. 

 

It replaced KX passenger loco which was sited where suburban platforms 14 & 15 (?) were built. The very first loco servicing facilities were where Suburban platforms 11, 12 & 13 were sited which previously had been a carriage shed......does that make sense ..

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31 minutes ago, MarshLane said:

...How was KX loco used (was it local tanks or non Top Shed based locos) from the 1930s through to the end of steam?...

'Bottom shed' as it was humorously referred to. Principal use was turning, coaling and watering main line power diagrammed to return 'home' within an hour or two of arrival. Locally based locos could be seen there at need.

 

There's a lot of such LNER specific information on https://www.lner.info/

 

A good read, Top Shed by Peter Townend, a summary history of the KX steam loco depots by the last shedmaster.

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks, I’d looked at LNER.info but couldn’t bring anything that specifically answered those queries. I’ll try and get hold of that book. Met Peter Townend once, lovely gentleman.

 

Rich

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And remains so at last report. Now in his mid-nineties, I imagine that very few of his contemporaries in such a role now survive. Were this Japan, he would probably be recognised as a 'living national treasure'.

 

Have you put your questions on the LNER forum? There are time served railway staff participating who probably know.

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks, I haven’t actually, despite looking at  the LNER forum it didn’t occur to me to actually post on there!! Doh! I’ll go do that now.

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  • RMweb Gold

I’ve added the post on the other forum as suggested, but another query has arisen on the same topic. Did empty stock work out to Ferme Park during the 1930s or were there other carriage sidings?

 

for reference, and anyone else looking at this thread in the future, the question on the LNER forum is on this thread.

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carriage sidings were everywhere coming out of KIngs Cross. I think one of the main ones was the Holloway set on the down side before Finsbury Park. AfterFP there were thw sub sidings where most of the quadarts grazed between rush hours. Bounds Green,where the current HST complex is also has a few and there were sidings on the up side between Wood Green And Hornsey aka the coronation shed IIRC

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks guys, 

I knew about the sidings at Bounds Green/Alexandra Palace, and of course Hornsey but had forgotten about those at Holloway.

 

Rich

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Have a look at NLS Maps for details of how many sidings there were along the way to Barnet! there must have been more miles of sidings alongside the ECML  than going to Aberdeen and back! New E Sidings were on the up side at Finsbury Park, just north of the station where the Edgware branch joined the main line. Ashburton Grove, next to Drayton Park was another lot. 

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G'Day Folks

 

On the Down side as far as Wood Green tunnel (that I can remember) was Holloway C/S, Western Sidings, (later the DMU stabling point), The you had, C/S along side the reservoirs, between Hornsey and Wood Green (can't think of there darn name), then you had three sidings, almost under the Hertford fly over, they were called 'Park sidings'.

On the up side you had Bounds Green, Coronation shed and sidings, Hornsey C/S, then Finsbury Park C/S, which handled most of the Suburban coaches.

 

manna

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18 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

And you ought to see 'bottom shed' now (or maybe not) as there is a massive great concrete wall there just about as close as it can get to the operational railway and totally obliterating the site.

I find all those straight lines and right angles jarring against the flow of the tracks.

Depressingly claustrophobic now! 

The Nim.

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