Rugd1022 Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Spent a very pleasant forty minutes or so wandering round my favourite old haunt this morning after working a train down to London.... it's remarkable how little some parts of dear old Padd have not changed in all the years I've known the place, it still has a certain magic which so many large stations have lost in recent years.... * First attempt at posting resulted in the rest of the photos not loading up... will try again in the morning...! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Right, third attempt at posting this lot...! At first, I thought this sign under Westbourne Terrace bridge in the old parcels bay was of GWR origin, but it's more likely to have been put up in BR days... Still can't get used to the sight of overhead wiring at Padd... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisf Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 That last shot is so atmospheric! Paddington is one of my spiritual homes but I've not spent any length of time there for years. It never seemed to bustle quite like other termini. Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Cheers Chris . It always had a different kind of bustle to the other London termini, if that makes sense.... at night, with all the newspaper trains being shunted and loaded up the constant movement and noise was quite remarkable. More pics to load up shortly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Next batch... Shame about the FGW signs getting in the way a bit.... only just noticed they're on rollers, perhaps I should have moved them out of shot... The great man himself... Here's a view not often seen in books or magazines - the entrance to the roadway / ramp that leads down to the area between platforms 10 and 11.... the Old Oak - Padd staff minibus used this way in sometimes, certain drivers of which rarely slowed down for the sharp left hand turn on the way in! (see recent posts in the Railway Motors thread for details). Likewise, in the days of newspaper trains being sent out of the station, vans from Fleet Street would come tearing down here in the small hours laden with the next mornings fish and chip wrappers... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted July 11, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 11, 2012 must admit it was nice to work into paddington the other sunday, made a nice change! i take it the ramp in the last picture is this one... (taken last year when we were diverted, amazing how much the station has come on in the 12 months since then Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 The very same Jim, nice photo too... and you can see just how sharp that bend is! I was looking through Chris Leigh's book ''The Heyday Of Old Oak Common & It's Locomotives'' over my morning cuppa today and your pic above has struck me how much this side of the station still resembles some shots in the book, albiet taken from the stop block end.... it looks much more like c1962 now than it's done for a long while, as the original grey and red colour scheme dates from that year. Some more pics... (Can't seem to upload any more pics in this post... will try again later with the parcels depot and Ranelagh Bridge shots) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Onwards... The GWR canopies have had a lick of paint, but the brickwork at the country end of No.1 platform still has over a century of grime encrusted on it in places... The basement offices of the old parcels depot (which actually fronted onto Bishops Road Bridge above)... The old unloading area is now part of the public car park... first hour costs you three quid, the next hour is an arm and a leg...! Ranelagh Bridge looking north with the A40(M) flyover dead ahead... once upon a time this was where rows of three or four storey tenaments stood.. Looking back south... A weathering challenge... Looking south again with the famous flats behind the old stabling point... I should be on a London job again next week so hopefully I'll have the chance to grab more shots in this area and probably out towards Westbourne Park and Ladbroke Grove.... anyway, having a gentle wander about did wonders for the old brain cells, it wasn't difficult to magine previous generations of enthusiasts enjoying the spectacle of Kings, Castles, Halls, Large Prairies and Pannier Tanks and shiny new Diesel Hydraulics filling the area with noxious fumes, not to mention the excitement of it all... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn1 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Nice to see the cab ramp looking restored, my dad used to drive down it and park up on the platform while I went spotting in the early 60's - did't cost an arm and a leg then - in fact I don't think it cost anything! Les Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 Nice to see the cab ramp looking restored, my dad used to drive down it and park up on the platform while I went spotting in the early 60's - did't cost an arm and a leg then - in fact I don't think it cost anything! Les I wish I hadn't read your post now Les... I'm insanely jealous that you saw Paddington in the '60s.... it must have been something else back then! I don't suppose either you or your Dad managed to take any photos at the time did you...? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted July 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 13, 2012 The shots of the end of Platfrorm 1 brought back some memories of the early 60s for me. I don't recall ever taking a camera though, I could afford about 1 film a year with d & p, which usually got used on holiday. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Where are the photos of the rats? I remember sitting on the last train to Cardiff (via Gloucester! it took hours!) on Sunday evenings in 1970 and watching the rats run back and forth along the track. Remarkable photographs, it hasn't changed anything like as much as most of the railway infrastructure. Paul Bartlett Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted July 14, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 14, 2012 The first time I went to london from Devon instead of Sussex on the return Journey we departed from platform 1(a Western on the front) and they were filming a Dalek or two when we passed 1A early on a Sunday morning in Late October or Early November, this would have been in '71. I don't know if the footage ever made it to an episode. SS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 Where are the photos of the rats? I remember sitting on the last train to Cardiff (via Gloucester! it took hours!) on Sunday evenings in 1970 and watching the rats run back and forth along the track. Remarkable photographs, it hasn't changed anything like as much as most of the railway infrastructure. Paul Bartlett Oh they probably weren't very far away Paul! I often wondered why some of the carriage shunters at Padd wore bicycle clips all of the time in the old days...! Aside from the shiny platform surfaces, posh ticket barriers, electronic display boards and FGW signage everywhere, it hasn't really changed that much, even the OHLE gear isn't to obtrusive and anyway it doesn't cover all of the platforms. It would be nice though, if NR and FGW followed the example of the Looe bay at Liskeard and put up a full set of BR WR brown and cream enamal signs for old time's sake... I'm all fired up to grab some more photos next week now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted July 16, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 16, 2012 I well remember visits in my bashing days to what was by then the TOPS office at the end of Platforms 8/9 to get the loco gen. Most of the chaps there were helpful - many a time I was able to head down to Exeter (or even beyond) to get a loco I wanted that was allocated to an up train (or even on one occasion from Plymouth to Brum). Haven't been to Paddington in years unfortunately, but then its simply not the same place anymore without the locos. In fact the absence of trains, with that one exception, in your photos is what makes them so timeless and evocative. Great stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Some great photos there, and the overhead wiring does not really intrude at all in some of them. I can just imagine the place reverberating to the sounds of an assortment of hydraulics as it did in 1967 when I first went there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted July 17, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 17, 2012 I have mixed feelings about Paddington, it was the departure point for my trains back to my hated boarding school back in the 1980s but I loved the 50s and Valenta fitted HSTs screaming out of the centre roads! Nice to see such timelessness in the 21st Century. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Thanks for the comments chaps... plan is to nip down to Padd when my shift finishes tomorrow morning and grab some more photos Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted February 4, 2013 Author Share Posted February 4, 2013 A rather shameful 'bump' this but I didn't really want to start a new thread for a nice set of photos I found whilst googling 'Paddington in the 1960s' just now... anyway, have a look at these lovely black and white photos which I'm pretty sure were all taken in late 1967, since the FX4 taxi seen heading down the cab road bears an F' plate, and the liveries of the attendent Diesel Hydraulics and Blue Pullman units fits just nicely, not to mention the corporate BR signage in one particular shot... http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/09405o/097B405B8AEEEF225101DDB383D8E01D34FFA55E.html?start=8 ... clicking on each image will give also give you a film strip of additional ones at the bottom of the page, keep clicking back and forth and you should be able to see all forty seven images ;O) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn1 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 A rather shameful 'bump' this but I didn't really want to start a new thread for a nice set of photos I found whilst googling 'Paddington in the 1960s' just now... anyway, have a look at these lovely black and white photos which I'm pretty sure were all taken in late 1967, since the FX4 taxi seen heading down the cab road bears an F' plate, and the liveries of the attendent Diesel Hydraulics and Blue Pullman units fits just nicely, not to mention the corporate BR signage in one particular shot... http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/09405o/097B405B8AEEEF225101DDB383D8E01D34FFA55E.html?start=8 ... clicking on each image will give also give you a film strip of additional ones at the bottom of the page, keep clicking back and forth and you should be able to see all forty seven images ;O) Tnaks for this link Nidge - superb pictures. I a may have said somewhere else - my dad used to drive down the cab ramp and park on the paltform while I went spotting in the mid / late sixties, usually on a Wednesday afternoon. Imagine trying to do that now! Les Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Tnaks for this link Nidge - superb pictures. I a may have said somewhere else - my dad used to drive down the cab ramp and park on the paltform while I went spotting in the mid / late sixties, usually on a Wednesday afternoon. Imagine trying to do that now! Les My pleasure Les - I was looking at the pics yesterday wishing I had a time machine, with the controls set to 1967! I think you can actually drive down from the top of the ramp but the exit from the station up to Praed Street beyong the stop blocks is blocked now with traffic bollards.... a shame really as I'd love to drive one of my classic cars down there and nab some photos. I should be on the Acton job again very soon so I'll make a point of nipping back to Padd and 'finishing what I started' with this thread Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Can I put my hat in the ring and offer some samples of my work. This was on a lovely warm day last summer, travelling from Peterborough to Didcot. I had half an hour or so to kill at Paddington so took a couple of shots. A remarkable station, I still have the sway towards the honest grimey nature of KGX, but Paddington is a real style king. DSCF1158 by Coldgunner, on Flickr DSCF1157 by Coldgunner, on Flickr DSCF1159 by Coldgunner, on Flickr Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted February 9, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 9, 2013 Some lovely photos. Though a confirmed Midland man I used to see quite a bit of Paddington when I lived in London in 1971. From 40 plus year old memories (and no camera at the time) I have fond memories of the blue pulmans, the hydraulics and the various prototype type 4's. Happy times. Like several posters above I always thought that Paddington, and St Pancras had a less bustling atmosphere than the other London termini apart from Mareylebone and a rather sad and forlorn Broad Street. All great stuff for an 18 year old from rural Yorkshire loose in the capital for the first time. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted February 9, 2013 Author Share Posted February 9, 2013 Nice photos Coldgunner - keep 'em coming, I don't mind one bit.... ;o) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted February 9, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 9, 2013 I have many memories of arriving and departing from Paddington, but this was a particularly special day, 17th September 2011, when I travelled from Worcester to Paddington and back behind (and for part of the Up journey, on) 5043: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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