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Wembley Stadium Station.


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No, not the one on the Chiltern Railways line to High Wycombe and beyond, but the one originally called Wembley Exhibition and situated on a return loop off the High Wycombe line. How many people can remember that line I wonder? There are many people that do not know that it even existed as it was only used when there was a major football match or other big event at Wembley Stadium.

 

I have a few pictures of it in my archives and there are two now on Flickr. They are only black & white and not very good scans. However, here they are and clicking on them will enlarge them :

 

7755313088_19dd098f9a_m.jpg

1961-05-06. Up for the Cup! V2 class 2-6-2 60890 at Wembley Stadium. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

 

7765133964_8c87dc3742_m.jpg

1961-05-06.2. 61104 near Wembley Stadium. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

 

Hope that they are of interest. I have some more which I shall put on Flickr in the fullness of time.

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Hello Ron

 

It is good to see the pictures. I have the following information recorded:

 

Exhibition Station Wembley opened 28.04.1923 at 0m 40ch approx on the up side (outside) of what was known as the Wembley Stadium Circular Railway. It was renamed Wembley Exhibition station at an unknown date and again renamed Wembley Stadium station by February 1928. It officially closed to passengers on 01.09.1969, although it was last used on 18.05.1968.

 

I hope this is of interest.

 

Andy Rush

 

The Ruschbahnfuhrer

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did the return loop come back on to the met line?

 

we are all sat in the mess room at marylebone looking at old ariel pictures of wembley to try and identify the location, we can see where it comes off the wycombe line but cant see how it turns back on itself!

 

 

 

 

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Hello Ron

 

It is good to see the pictures. I have the following information recorded:

 

Exhibition Station Wembley opened 28.04.1923 at 0m 40ch approx on the up side (outside) of what was known as the Wembley Stadium Circular Railway. It was renamed Wembley Exhibition station at an unknown date and again renamed Wembley Stadium station by February 1928. It officially closed to passengers on 01.09.1969, although it was last used on 18.05.1968.

 

I hope this is of interest.

 

Andy Rush

 

The Ruschbahnfuhrer

 

Hello Andy,

 

Nice to hear from you again. As you have probably noticed, I don't live in Buckden any more!

 

Anyway, thanks for the additional information. I didn't want to make the captions too long and wordy, so cut the history down to the bare essentials. For a little known and little used line, it certainly had an interesting history. The station buildings were in the art deco style which was all the rage around that time. It even had mini towers not unlike the famous ones that used to be Wembley Stadium before they ruined it with that, in my view, hideous arch.

 

Ron.

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did the return loop come back on to the met line?

 

we are all sat in the mess room at marylebone looking at old ariel pictures of wembley to try and identify the location, we can see where it comes off the wycombe line but cant see how it turns back on itself!

 

No, it came back onto the High Wycombe a bit further to the east but before Neasden Junction. Trains always travelled round the loop in a clockwise direction. You could, and probably do, pass it every day and never know that it used to be there.

 

One of the pictures that I've still go to put on Flickr is looking towards Neasden Junction and just about shows where the line diverged from the main line to Northolt Junction and beyond. Watch this space...

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As a PS to my previous message, looking at Google Maps and Satellite View, I see that there is a road called Hannah Close which appears to on, or very close to, the old railway formation. So much has changed over the years that it's hard to tell exactly.

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You can easily pick out the route on Google maps once you have seen the old OS map. At the start there are trees, but then its a gap between buildings (a car park at one point), until it crosses fifth way - looping along where fourth way is and then heading back along a line of trees.

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Yes, it clearly shows the line, with the overlay showing how it is now.

 

If you look at my picture of the V2 backing through the station, you can see a building across the road with two gables and a half gable.

 

If you now look at this Google Satellite view, you can still see the same building and can thus pin-point the exact site where the station was :

 

http://maps.google.c...m, Wembley&z=19

 

Certainly nothing to indicate that there was once a railway station there if you didn't know!

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using the combined brain power of half a dozen drivers who all sign the route we worked out between us where the line came off the mainline from the picture in the first post, also the location of the station by the fact that it is the only straight section of line on the loop as well as the course of it until just beyond the station but we thought it rejoined the met line around the current jn of hannah way and forth rd

 

if you street view the junction of the B4557 and southway you can see the bridge parapets where the line went under, although looking at it when i passed earlier it has been back filled

 

have a look at this link to see the wembley back on fa cup day 1928 and the area as it is now, the what i suppose then was a new station is clearly visable, however the shallow angle of the photo means you cant see the return loop

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1355388/Britains-iconic-landmarks-90-years-development-seen-air.html

Edited by big jim
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post-4034-0-70103000-1344790849_thumb.jpg

 

Wonderful ! That really shows the railway layout well. Where did you find it?! The two signals shown as Nos. 2 and 4 can be seen in one of the pictures I've still go to upload to Flickr. I'll try and give those pictures some priority. Watch this space...

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Wonderful ! That really shows the railway layout well. Where did you find it?! The two signals shown as Nos. 2 and 4 can be seen in one of the pictures I've still go to upload to Flickr. I'll try and give those pictures some priority. Watch this space...

 

 

It's lurked in my collection for a while. I can't remember where i got it from though. It is worth studying the signal numbers as there are some odd goings on...

 

I look forward to more of your superb photo's of this rather interesting bit of railway.

Edited by LNERGE
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Fascinating topic as I was only there a week ago to see the Senegal v Mexico Olympics game.

As it closed in 1968, I wonder if it was used for the 1966 World Cup.

I could ask someone who I know attended a game there at the time if he used the station, but I'd doubt it as he would have travelled on the tube from central London, did anyone take any photos of trains on the loop at that time?

The decline of rail excursions due to the greater use of coaches and private transport, coupled with only occasional use of the infrastructure, must have surely sealed the line's fate.

 

It has appeal for those who like modelling excursion specials with unusual combinations of locos and rolling stock, in particular one could go to town on some of the variety of carriages used.

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Fascinating topic as I was only there a week ago to see the Senegal v Mexico Olympics game.

As it closed in 1968, I wonder if it was used for the 1966 World Cup.

I could ask someone who I know attended a game there at the time if he used the station, but I'd doubt it as he would have travelled on the tube from central London, did anyone take any photos of trains on the loop at that time?

The decline of rail excursions due to the greater use of coaches and private transport, coupled with only occasional use of the infrastructure, must have surely sealed the line's fate.

 

It has appeal for those who like modelling excursion specials with unusual combinations of locos and rolling stock, in particular one could go to town on some of the variety of carriages used.

It's also the ideal single line roundy - with all the trains going the same way (I think there was an element of permissive working on the loop at times as well?)

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using the combined brain power of half a dozen drivers who all sign the route we worked out between us where the line came off the mainline from the picture in the first post, also the location of the station by the fact that it is the only straight section of line on the loop as well as the course of it until just beyond the station but we thought it rejoined the met line around the current jn of hannah way and forth rd

 

if you street view the junction of the B4557 and southway you can see the bridge parapets where the line went under, although looking at it when i passed earlier it has been back filled

 

have a look at this link to see the wembley back on fa cup day 1928 and the area as it is now, the what i suppose then was a new station is clearly visable, however the shallow angle of the photo means you cant see the return loop

 

http://www.dailymail...t-seen-air.html

 

No, as is shown by the signal box diagram, it came back onto the up Wycombe slow line a bit further towards London. I used to think that it went back via the Aylesbury line, but I was wrong. Thanks for the idea of checking Google street view; that certainly shows two concrete bridge parapets which pin-point where the line used to be.

 

The picture in the Daily Mail link is in a book that I've got. Can't remember which one as I have several on the Great Central although it might be in one I bought on the railways of Wembley last year. The link and the station were built in early LNER days for the 1924 British Empire Exhibition so it would have been well under construction by the time of the previous year's cup final.

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It's also the ideal single line roundy - with all the trains going the same way (I think there was an element of permissive working on the loop at times as well?)

 

It had colour light signaling, so that might have enabled one train to closely follow the preceeding one. It was designed for an intensive service in 1924 when thousands of people used it to visit the British Empire Exhibition.

 

There was a branch line / siding off the loop leading into the exhibition grounds; that's how Flying Scotsman, Caerphilly Castle and other railway exhibits were got in and out.

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I've found this old forum discussion about this line on LondonBanter.co.uk (unfortunately many of the links quoted no longer work) but mentions the book "Lost lines: London", by Nigel Welbourn (Ian Allan, 1998) ISBN 0-7110-2623-8

the chapter that mentions the line is called "A loop to a lost empire"

http://www.londonban...-wembley-2.html

 

Just found an image of Wembley Stadium maroon station totem:

http://www.railwayana.net/Totems&Targets/Totems/totem_variations.htm

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As it closed in 1968, I wonder if it was used for the 1966 World Cup.

 

 

I wasn't living in Wembley in 1966 so can't answer that question. However, it could well have been. Had I still been living there I would have probably gone along to take some pictures and most likely colour ones, too. However, the trains would have been DMUs by then I would imagine.

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Interesting to see the photograph of 45532, which would have worked a Cup Final Special from Leicester Central on the morning of May 6th 1961.

 

There are a couple of photographs in Colin Walker's "Great Central Twilight" - one showing 45532 approaching Lutterworth (10 miles South of Leicester) on the return leg and obviously taken later on the same day, and one, taken on the morning of Sunday May 7th 1961, showing 45532 in company with Scots 46140 and 46160, which had also worked Cup Final Specials the previous day, all on Leicester Central Shed.

 

I wonder if any photos exist of the "Scots" at the London end on Cup Final day- still one down - two to go.

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