SXHALL Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Just been Google'ing the Thornton Fields sidings, had forgotten about them. Last I saw they were 8' high covered in weeds and that was from the road that ran past them! I did stumble upon the below link though, Stratford gold to me. Some superb shots of Stratford, some in the snow looking rather serene. Favourite shot is eleventh down on the page. It shows a nice aerial view of the MPD not one I've seen before. http://www.flickriver.com/groups/1922176@N23/pool/interesting/ Also third pic down of Ripple Lane, must get to modelling that again one day. Also found some pics of an 08 working to Silvertown for the scrap train to Ward Ferrous Metals, it was an exciting day if I ever caught sight of this as was not a regular occurrence. Oddly enough met the bloke who used to drive the shunter at Ward Ferrous metals on holiday this year, small world. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I'm sure that in the past couple of weeks I've seen aerial pics then & now, in one of the prototype mages. Could be Rail (the issue just finished)? I haven't got the chance to check right now, but will do later if nobody comes up with the answer. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted September 7, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 7, 2012 Also found some pics of an 08 working to Silvertown for the scrap train to Ward Ferrous Metals, it was an exciting day if I ever caught sight of this as was not a regular occurrence. That would be this working Not frequent but usually reliable for a trip once a week which IIRC was on a Tuesday. Not always worked by an 08 either as this shot shows a 37 returning from Wards having left some wagons down there. Found a couple more. With apologies for the quality (taken on an Instamatic and scanned from a square negative but in 35mm format) these show another view of the typical 08+scrap train and the three TW Ward shunters parked up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilwell Park Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I'm sure that in the past couple of weeks I've seen aerial pics then & now, in one of the prototype mages. Could be Rail (the issue just finished)? I haven't got the chance to check right now, but will do later if nobody comes up with the answer. Stewart Hi There was an article in a recent Railway Magazine with "then & now " maps. I had a week on duty in the Olympic Stadium and it was difficult to relate to what used to be there. From the upper level I could see the GE main line and the Bow match factory to orientate myself. It was fascinating to see the Overground service and freightliners running through the park, picture attached. The train service was brilliant, loads of extras from Stratford up the Lea Valley line to Hertford & Cambridge, handy for Tottenham Hale and the Victoria line. One night I got home to Chingford via a Javelin to St Pancras, Victoria line to Walthamstow and a bus to Chingford. Roger Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SXHALL Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 That would be this working Not frequent but usually reliable for a trip once a week which IIRC was on a Tuesday. Not always worked by an 08 either as this shot shows a 37 returning from Wards having left some wagons down there. Found a couple more. With apologies for the quality (taken on an Instamatic and scanned from a square negative but in 35mm format) these show another view of the typical 08+scrap train and the three TW Ward shunters parked up. That's the working. Caught site of the 37 a couple of times as well. It was a rare sighting for me as I was in school (Infants!) and only saw it if on holidays and was out at the right time. A good shot of the docks there as well, all changed now. Are those shots from the old Custom House building? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted September 7, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 7, 2012 Are those shots from the old Custom House building? They are taken from the Flying Angel building on Victoria Dock Road. The front of that still stands but the accommodation "decks" (always referred to as such in a seafarer's hostel) have been replaced by modern buildings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tetleysmooth Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Hi everyone. Newbie here. I came across this forum and thread while I was surfing the net for articles/pictures of bygone Stratford. I lived in Temple Mills Lane from 1953 until about 1961/62. Our house was about halfway between the L.I.F.T and Eton Manor. Of course, it was not the L.I.F.T then, but a BRS depot, with the railway sidings beyond. One of my most vivid memories was standing in the lane, watching railway carriages being burned. They just used to set fire to them!! I also used to stand at my front window watching the shunting going on in the sidings. They had some sort of inclined track there, and the shunter just used to push a rake of wagons up to it and let them go. I used to love watching the steam trains working back and forth and just thundering through. The railway was my playground. Just over the railbridge in Temple Mills Lane, almost opposite Leyton Road, was a gateway, it was never locked, and me and my mate just used to go through, down the bank, and play on the railway. We didn't realise how dangerous it was at the time, but to us boys, it was the ultimate play area. I won't ramble on any more, but I did also find this: http://www.newhamstory.com/taxonomy/term/1105 Hope the link works. If I can help anyone with my memories of Temple Mills and surroundings, please let me know. Some memories I have, are like they happened yesterday, but others....... Getting old now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
croydon junction Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 look at this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/25347284@N04/3177544113/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LONDON SHEDBASHER Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Fantastic to find a thread about the wonderful complex that was Stratford by far the most fascinating depot in London and we had some good ones-Top Shed with its wonderful pacifics Willesden and Old Oak Common each housing around 130 locos and other smaller but fascinating places i.e Neasden,Camden Kentish Town,Cricklewood,Nine Elms,Stewarts Lane Norwood Junction, Bricklayers Arms Hither Green,Hornsey and Devons Road..Bunked them all many times between the ages of 11 and 16 but nothing came close to Stratford-it was so huge and unlike the other sheds you always had the feeling you had not seen it all.There were so many buildings-some just containing a couple of locos. First attempted a bunk with a mate in the 1959 school summer holidays at age of 12-went via the tunnel but at the end of this was an office and we were sent back from there-found out years later that a traditional bunking route was to wait until an official party with a permit entered the tunnel and to tag on the end. After 1959 Christmas holidays a friend came into school telling us that he had found a back way into Stratford via Temple Mills Lane and had got round unchallenged so on a freezing cold Saturday afternoon in January 1960 me and a pal gave it a go. Dead easy-across the boarded crossing over the tracks and nobody bothered us-must have been i there about 2 hours going round-remember it was dark by the time we left and got home very cold but thrilled at the number of locos seen.This was probably just before things got quieter there-Jazz Trains were still steam hauled so plenty of N7 tanks and Britannias still worked the Norwich services.After this probably visited about every 4 weeks-other sheds to bunk for a bit of variety but never tired of Stratford-very rarely got kicked out only person who gave us grief was the official guide who would tell you to leave if he spotted you whilst taking an official party round-guess he didn't like the fact that we were doing it the unofficial way but the place was so big the chances of him seeing you again was remote so we just carried on.. By far the most fascinating thing about the place was that unlike other London Sheds locos were sent to Stratford for breaking up- these came from all over the LNER system and included many from sheds that never had workings into London so were previously unseen or were from far out Great Eastern Sheds such as Norwich Yarmouth and Lowestoft.On my first visit I was surprised to see a couple of J39 0--6-0 s from Doncaster shed which had been sent to Stratford for cutting up-even to my 12 year old brain it made no sense to send a loco nearly 200 miles to be scrapped with all the costs involved when it could have been cut up at the works 5 minutes away.Still they kept coming-J39s from Colwick and Lincoln a K2 from Boston and best of all coupled together A5 69821 from Lincoln and 62663 Prince Albert from Staveley .Also remember another A5 tank no.69829 from Immingham and a couple of Tillbury tanks which I think came from Spital Bridge Peterborough. Sad sights were seeing my favourite locos the B17 footballer class being cut up-remember seeing 61659 East Anglian 61670 City of London and 61672 West Ham United all reduced to just frames wheels and cab sheets outside the cutting up shop, Talking of the cutting up shop recall going in there with mate and the guys were dismantling consecutively numbered N2 tanks 69588 and 69589.One of the fellas said to us "Thought you boys had come in for a job- 15 quid a week if you fancy it"-seemed like a fortune in 1960 and we were chuffed to bits but not quite 13 at the time so it had to wait.One last recollection was of seeing 61657 Doncaster Rovers waiting to be scrapped with nameplates still in place-mate jumped onto running plate and started kicking the small brass football that formed part of the nameplate.Wonderful memories and hard to believe that somewhere so vast has been totally wiped away Fantastic to find a thread about the wonderful complex that was Stratford by far the most fascinating depot in London and we had some good ones-Top Shed with its wonderful pacifics Willesden and Old Oak Common each housing around 130 locos and other smaller but fascinating places i.e Neasden,Camden Kentish Town,Cricklewood,Nine Elms,Stewarts Lane Norwood Junction, Bricklayers Arms Hither Green,Hornsey and Devons Road..Bunked them all many times between the ages of 11 and 16 but nothing came close to Stratford-it was so huge and unlike the other sheds you always had the feeling you had not seen it all.There were so many buildings-some just containing a couple of locos. First attempted a bunk with a mate in the 1959 school summer holidays at age of 12-went via the tunnel but at the end of this was an office and we were sent back from there-found out years later that a traditional bunking route was to wait until an official party with a permit entered the tunnel and to tag on the end. After 1959 Christmas holidays a friend came into school telling us that he had found a back way into Stratford via Temple Mills Lane and had got round unchallenged so on a freezing cold Saturday afternoon in January 1960 me and a pal gave it a go. Dead easy-across the boarded crossing over the tracks and nobody bothered us-must have been i there about 2 hours going round-remember it was dark by the time we left and got home very cold but thrilled at the number of locos seen.This was probably just before things got quieter there-Jazz Trains were still steam hauled so plenty of N7 tanks and Britannias still worked the Norwich services.After this probably visited about every 4 weeks-other sheds to bunk for a bit of variety but never tired of Stratford-very rarely got kicked out only person who gave us grief was the official guide who would tell you to leave if he spotted you whilst taking an official party round-guess he didn't like the fact that we were doing it the unofficial way but the place was so big the chances of him seeing you again was remote so we just carried on.. By far the most fascinating thing about the place was that unlike other London Sheds locos were sent to Stratford for breaking up- these came from all over the LNER system and included many from sheds that never had workings into London so were previously unseen or were from far out Great Eastern Sheds such as Norwich Yarmouth and Lowestoft.On my first visit I was surprised to see a couple of J39 0--6-0 s from Doncaster shed which had been sent to Stratford for cutting up-even to my 12 year old brain it made no sense to send a loco nearly 200 miles to be scrapped with all the costs involved when it could have been cut up at the works 5 minutes away.Still they kept coming-J39s from Colwick and Lincoln a K2 from Boston and best of all coupled together A5 69821 from Lincoln and 62663 Prince Albert from Staveley .Also remember another A5 tank no.69829 from Immingham and a couple of Tillbury tanks which I think came from Spital Bridge Peterborough. Sad sights were seeing my favourite locos the B17 footballer class being cut up-remember seeing 61659 East Anglian 61670 City of London and 61672 West Ham United all reduced to just frames wheels and cab sheets outside the cutting up shop, Talking of the cutting up shop recall going in there with mate and the guys were dismantling consecutively numbered N2 tanks 69588 and 69589.One of the fellas said to us "Thought you boys had come in for a job- 15 quid a week if you fancy it"-seemed like a fortune in 1960 and we were chuffed to bits but not quite 13 at the time so it had to wait.One last recollection was of seeing 61657 Doncaster Rovers waiting to be scrapped with nameplates still in place-mate jumped onto running plate and started kicking the small brass football that formed part of the nameplate.Wonderful memories and hard to believe that somewhere so vast has been totally wiped away Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Great topic this! Back in November 1983 myself and another secondman from Old Oak spent two days at Stratford doing boiler training, the first day was spent in the classroom (a prefab near the depot as I recall) with the second day spent inside the works where there were three stationary boilers, a Clayton, a Spanner and a Stone Vapor. The place was heaving with withdrawn Peaks at the time, they were scattered around everywhere, during the lunch break we had a wander round, I'd never seen so many locos all in one place. R.I.P. 30A ! Nidge Hi I went to that open day and i still have the open day book as well from my visit. Darren Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Nice one 'London shedbasher', I always found the best time to 'bunk' Stratford was late on a Saturday afternoon, via the tunnel, and no trouble. Stratford was the last visit on the way home after the usual London circuit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkman Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Similar to the previous poster, during the early 80's we always went via the tunnel hoping not to meet anyone coming the other way. Once past this, we used to avoid the running shed as experience had shown this was a good place to get chucked out, so we went out into the yard, past the foremans office very quickly, and over the track foot crossing to the DRS. This was usually open so we shot round and got everything there, then the running shed was on the way out so it didn't matter too much if we got booted at that stage. as we could say we were going. Stratford was usually the first stop on our London tours, getting the train out there from Liverpool St after checking the station pilot and usually a silver roofed 47 or two. We then used to carry on to Kings Cross, Finsbury Park (never got round), Cricklewood, Stonebridge Park, Marylebone (sometimes), Euston, Willesden and walk to Old Oak. Typically I don't have many 'depot' shots but found this one, taken during the 1983 open day looking towards the rear of the DRS and with the Freighliner Depot in the distance. Scrapper 46 is 021 I think. red-Open_Day_09_07_1983_9.jpg Aha.. here's a better shot, I wonder how many forumites are in this picture ?? 9th July 1983. red-Open_Day_09_07_1983_view.jpg I remember that day, going down by train with a mate and he's dad (sadly no longer with us) and being their also was a good period for shed open days. Days long gone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.