jointline

The only time I travelled on this was later on in the 1960's,  from Euston by then.   Was going to Portmadoc,  but there were NO refreshment facilities on the train at all...... we had to dash out to a nearby cafe to grab whatever they had.

And they say they were the good old days!

21 hours ago, Damo666 said:

 

Thanks Jason,

 

These were very interesting reads. I recall wandering around the derelict buildings to the north of the A4 beside the canal in the mid 90s before they were demolished for the new apartments and taking some pictures, and then managing to get into the wonderful mess of docks to the south. Gave me an sense of what Dickensian London might have been like.

Yes, Three bridges should really be two as you  say!  Remember it well.  There was a very heavy traffic load from the Docks at Brentford, even in the early sixties.   I have a couple of pictures somewhere, so will see if I can dig them out.

It was used muchly for testing AEC railcars  from Southall, and many of the publicity pictures of them were done there (as is probably in the references above).

9 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

There were two forms of steam tram, 0-4-0 and 0-6-0, which looked the same at first glance.

 

More broadly, many branches had the same class, even the same few locos, for donkey’s years at a time. Restricted loading gauge, tight corners, restricted axle-load could all be reasons, but sometimes it was just a case of ‘if it works, don’t change it’.

 

Folkestone Harbour and the Canterbury & Whitstable spring to mind for obvious reasons.

As Nearholmer has said, a lot of branch lines used pretty much the same class of engine for years at a time, particularly if used as part of an auto train.

LT's Brill branch used No 23 for years!

The problem I found when modelling a similar situation in my garage is what sort of access do you want for your trains to a circuit or fiddle yard?  If a bridge cut off/scenic break is being used, and 36" radius curve beyond it, you have immediately lost three feet of your station space.  Also think about signalling, and whether or not the block sections, if any, are a realistic length.

Best of luck!  Remember Weymouth in the '60s, and would make a great model with unlimited space!

Following my previous post, I attach some pictures.   There are a lot more knowledgeable people on this topic than me, but I think I am right in saying that parcels vehicles were common user after 1948,  so you could expect to see, and did see, all sorts on parcels trains.   

The following pictures were all taken about 1961 to 1962 in the London area.  There is only one of a parcels train on the line you are particularly interested in, at Bourne End. 

The vehicles comprise BR GUV's, both long and short, SR utility vans, again, long and 4 wheel;  siphon G's, internal framed  (external framed were a bit scarce by then in my recollection), Gresley full brakes,  LMS 50ft full brakes, Hawksworth full brakes;  Churchward full brakes; Collet full brakes; BR Mk 1 full brakes;  Fruit D's; fitted goods vans;  an old LMS brake 3rd.

I also have records of  LMS Luggage and Parcel Van ( to D1870, ie 42ft Parcel Utility Vehicle) and LMS CCT vans.

I think all of these are commercially available, so no need to kit build!

I also think that you could pretty much put any sort of parcels van in a train of that time, so long as the livery matches the period.   Most newer vehicles, and those used in passenger trains were often shiny maroon.  The rest were grime colour!

Can't imagine they were much different to those used in the rest of the London area. I have a few pictures of parcels trains at that time so will dig them out in the next couple of days and post them here.

You may be interested in Tony Cooke's   

Track Layout Diagrams of the Great Western Railway: Taunton and West Somerset Section 16

Cooke, R.A.

which is available here:  

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9781871674057?cm_sp=bdp-_-ISBN10-_-PLP

They give all the details, and, more importantly, the dates of changes.

Yes, the 117's had the toilet in the middle coach, and it was a welcome change when they were introduced, as before that the compartment stock, eg on the Western Region services out of Paddington,  had no toilets at all. 

But has been mentioned,  you had to make sure to sit in the centre car of the three car set, as there were no gangways originally.  They came in quite soon after though.

121s/122s often replaced GWR  single unit railcars or auto-trains, none of which ever had toilets,  so no change there.

6 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

If you can get hold of a big multi-volume book published pre-WW1 called ‘Living London’, I think that might have photos taken in the London Dock.

Thank you for that.  I have the set somewhere (!) so I'll have a look in!

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Look at those aerial shots I linked to, especially the second one.

Yes, thank you.   But odd how so many of these depots had so few pictures taken.  GWR Smithfield was another, although the Wild Swan book has provided a lot not seen before.

It seems uncertain when the line to the London Dock went out of use.  Well before the first war I assume, judging by its disappearance from the OS maps from the 1890's onwards.   

The lack of photographs would be partly accounted for by the fact that the Docks were not "open access", and wandering photographers would not have been able just to take pictures, as they did on the streets. 

For interest I attach an image of the map I referred to in an earlier post.   It is notionally dated 1903,  but I think that the railway lines it shows would have been long gone by then, even if the extensions beyond the wool warehouse ever existed. 

12 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

 

Or, St Katherine, which is what I was trying to say....... one didn’t need to use rail from the big docks to St K, because lighters did the job.

 

I’m guessing that St K took-in raw materials for the very many small manufacturers that were based just outside the City, plus foodstuffs, and possibly took-out manufactured goods.

 

It probably had a small hinterland, so didn’t need much in the way of onward rail transport, and anything to be exported that began its journey by rail would be better routed direct to a big dock, avoiding a lighter trip.

 

Whatever the detail, the amount of handling and in-line-storage in ‘classic logistics’ never ceases to amaze me, and it all had to be paid for in the final price of the goods/product ....... it’s no wonder that containerisation and JIT came into being!

Yes, spot on!

4 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

I'm not so sure. Most general cargo was unloaded from ships to adjoining warehouses and from there broken down into separate loads for distribution and loaded into railway wagons. While the dock cranes were unloading cargo on to the quayside, barges could be loaded directly from the ship on the other side using its own gear and then sent up river to docks like  Brentford (I assume customs clearance could be handled at Brentford).For the GWR at Brentford that would avoid a lot of trip working from various PLA docks through London, presumably via the widened lines (at night?)  Instead, a good proportion of the cargo for their customers could be brought up river by barge and concentrated in their own warehouses for onward distribution. I'd hazard a guess that the journey by barge from the London docks to Brentford would on average take a lot less time than trip working a cut of wagons across London to whichever marshalling yard on the GW main line it would be shunted into a train for onward distribution.

The whole question of goods/warehousing in the Pool of London is quite involved, and actually very well documented now.  

The London Docks were of course constructed before railways became universal for the movement of goods, and the whole of warehousing and cargo handling on the river was generally by means of lighters.  Reference has already been made to Chris Ellmer's book,  but looking at it you can better appreciate the vast number of small warehouses lining London River, which had been there for a very long time, and had always been water served. So it was a lot easier to load anything in and out of lighters to get to the riverside destination, rather than taking it on land.   The expertise in particular trades and the trade commercial connections would have been tied to all these small warehouses, and inate conservatism would mean that it wasn't going to move to "greenfield" sites (to use the modern jargon).    I won't even touch on Watermens' rights and established rights of wharfage along the Thames.

Labour was really cheap of course, and double, triple or whatever handling didn't seem to enter into the calculations in a big way, and specific skills were of course needed for each and every type of cargo. 

By the time the St Katherine docks were opened they were really  already too small for the size of vessels being thought about, and, like the Caledonian Canal,  didn't achieve what they were intended to do  (as well as destroying a large area of historic London ;-( ).  So they, and the London Docks,  which combined as one company,  didn't attract the attention of the railways, as I imagine the cost/benefit would have been too small, and there were better opportunities opening up all the time further east.

All the maps I have been able to access have shown the line to the London Docks crossing East Smithfield, and then, by using wagon turntables, ran along the west side of the Wool Warehouse, and that was it!    Only one map, that a Bacon street map, shows a bigger set of lines, running to the west end of the dock.   I have never been able to validate this, and it might have indicated intention rather than construction.   

But I still have failed  ever to see a picture of the wool warehouse with railway trucks in it!  Or the actual goods station to the north of East Smithfield!!

As a PS,   interesting that the GWR had sleepers for the Hayes Creosoting Yard brought up by lighter from Brentford  via the Grand Union Canal (presumably from the Surrey Docks), and did not use rail transport.

On 18/02/2020 at 11:27, jim.snowdon said:

The branch was quite comprehensively covered in "Great Eastern in Town and Country", which Wild Swan Irwell Press published a while back in 1990. It is probably out of print now but I have a copy and will update with the ISBN details shortly its full details are -

 

ISBN 1 871608 16 3

Publisher - Irwell Press, 1990

Author - Chris Hawkins

Title - as above.

 

Jim

Have just got a copy,  but it doesn't actually give any pictures of either the goods depot or the line in the London Docks, accessible only by wagon turntables.   If anybody ever finds any I should be delighted to hear about it.  The pictures which it does give are also in the Middleton Press books about the area and some others.

Having said that it is a good read, and worth buying if you can pick up a copy cheaply.  (I just paid £14 including postage). 

16 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I only know the cover for the E&SB and as late as 1962 London Underground could still call on Crane No 16 at Old Oak Common  (R&R 45 ton - as per Bachmann) to assist with incidents on the E&SB although by then it obviously couldn't get to all of it and couldn't actually get on any of the LT lines.  I presume that arrangement remained in force until the Steam Lines were closed in the 1960s, 

 

Prior to the opening of the Steam Lines the arrangement was that the GWR attended to a breakdown of a steam train and the Central london Co. attended to the breakdown of an electric train.  But in the case of a breakdown of an electric train requiring the use of a heavy lifting crane the GWR would, on application, supply a 'breakdown train'. (i.e including a crane) but they were not permitted to work east of the flyover bridge at Wood Lane Jcn. Perhaps this type of crane assistance continued as long as the connection remained at Ealing Broadway although some incidents could just as readily be tackled from the Steam Lines - hence the assistance remaining in place, although in slightly different form of words, until the Steam Lines were closed.

That would definitely seem to answer the reason for it remaining, thank you.

On a slightly different note,  the running connection from the Met District to the GW was a little to the west.  Using the rather amazing National Library of Scotland Georeferencing Maps you can superimpose it on the current station structure.   The platforms were of course much shorter,  and the double track went across what is now the east end of the up suburban platform.

On 17/04/2020 at 23:32, The Stationmaster said:

I've just had a further thought about the connection at Ealing Broadway - it would have allowed the Old Oak Common breakdown crane to still access the ES&B.  officially the breakdown crane cover was provided by the Central London and its successors but there was provision in the 1927 Instructions for the Old Oak crane to be called in to assist if necessary.  The connection at Ealing Broadway would have been the easiest way of getting it onto the ES&B as it would have required additional works at North Acton to recreate the junction with the ES&B and the connection at the Wood Lane end was sensibly removed once the Steam Lines were available.

 

Stock transfer to & from Acton Works could presumably have normally been dealt with by the shunt connection between the ES&B and the District at Ealing Broadway.

That would certainly make sense.  Need an expert on breakdown provision to LT lines to come in on this!

On 16/04/2020 at 12:54, The Stationmaster said:

Nidge that isn't Derek (Fangs) behind Ernie Stewart in the picture in my thread is it?  Looks a bit like it might be him but he's not clearly visible but it seems to be somebody fairly tall.

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58165-the-stationmaster-looks-at-old-oak-common-open-day-in-1981/

 

Thanks for that.  I haven't got a copy of that part of Tony Cooke' series so hence I had some gaps and some surmise regarding the connection at North Acton but at least the dates clarify that the additional pair of lines were a consequence of the works for the extension of the Central Line northwards to West Ruislip.  I've just checked the Summer 1938 STT and that shows several Up direction milk trains as 'Via E&SB' and the times indicate the route was via Ealing Broadway but the re were no booked down direction movements via Ealing Broadway - there was a light engine in the Down direction which was definitely booked via North Action.

 

'Freight' use is an interesting question - apart from milk trains which remained a staple of the route,  latterly via the additional lines until their closure.  In later years the 'serving yard' for freight traffic for the West London Line and southwards via the WLL traffic was Old Oak Common which obviously accessed the Victoria Branch at Old Oak with no need to cross the Main and Relief Lines (although trains from the west entering the various yards on the Down side at Old Oak obviously did need to cross the Mains).  the implication of GWr information is that freight used the line in earlier times - I shall have to look back through my earlier STTs to see if I have any which cover the period between 1917 and 1938 but I suspect not as the earliest Section 2 I think I have is Summer 1938.

There was a lot in the local press as well!  It created a lot of interest. 

4 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

A bit more.  The 1942 Section 1 STT is of little use - as I expected.  But the July 1939 Section 2 STT, which was considerably amended on issue, contains some interesting stuff.

 

1.  It still quotes the speeds through the connection between the relief Lines and E&SB at ealing Broadway but all the other speeds to/from the E&SB which I mentioned above are not shown.  instead there are speeds through junctions to/from the 'Steam Line' and various matters in respect of the 'Steam Line' noted in the original issue and not altered by the amendment.  Effectively it implies the connection at the Ealing Broadway end was still in existence andt that there was no other connection with the E&SBR electric lines apart from the crossover to the 'District Railway' lines at Ealing Broadway - for which the method of exchanging rolling stock between the two lines is noted including use of a CLR electric loco.

 

Perhaps the junction at Ealing Broadway was retained at that time purely to provide an emergency connection between the GWR network and the E&SBR?

 

2. In the timings a section a quick glance  showed that one movement which in 1938 had been shown as 'Via ES&B' was now shown as running via North Acton and the 'Steam Line' making clear that the Steam line had been brought into use sometime between publication of the Summer 1938 STT and publication of the July 1939 STT.

Unfortunately the Ordnance Survey maps for this period are hopeless.  The large scale ones were still showing the E&SB under construction in the 1920's and later!  They are usually very good.   Later on the detail of railway configurations was simplified so much that they are hopeless for working out track layouts. 

I think you are absolutely correct, and that the running connection at Ealing was kept for emergency or infrequent use.  It would also be handy for getting Underground stock to Acton  works  I suppose, if necessary etc.  The GWR was never very speedy about removing unused trackwork and connections. (The one at Yeoveney to the SR was still there in 1962, having been put in in 1944, and out of action a year or so after that.....)

The physical connection at North Acton had gone when the new steam lines were opened, so a GW train would have had nowhere to go but continue along the electrified tracks when it reached there. The "official" date for the opening of the steam lines from N. Acton was 19th June 1938  (from two reliable sources).   

Curiously as a very young boy I can remember seeing LT stock going west through Hayes in the 1950's.   Would be intrigued to know where it was going, and by what route.

I'll have a look at the Railway Magazine for the relevant period and see if I can find anything mentioned,  I think I have those years somewhere!

3 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Nidge that isn't Derek (Fangs) behind Ernie Stewart in the picture in my thread is it?  Looks a bit like it might be him but he's not clearly visible but it seems to be somebody fairly tall.

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58165-the-stationmaster-looks-at-old-oak-common-open-day-in-1981/

 

Thanks for that.  I haven't got a copy of that part of Tony Cooke' series so hence I had some gaps and some surmise regarding the connection at North Acton but at least the dates clarify that the additional pair of lines were a consequence of the works for the extension of the Central Line northwards to West Ruislip.  I've just checked the Summer 1938 STT and that shows several Up direction milk trains as 'Via E&SB' and the times indicate the route was via Ealing Broadway but the re were no booked down direction movements via Ealing Broadway - there was a light engine in the Down direction which was definitely booked via North Action.

 

'Freight' use is an interesting question - apart from milk trains which remained a staple of the route,  latterly via the additional lines until their closure.  In later years the 'serving yard' for freight traffic for the West London Line and southwards via the WLL traffic was Old Oak Common which obviously accessed the Victoria Branch at Old Oak with no need to cross the Main and Relief Lines (although trains from the west entering the various yards on the Down side at Old Oak obviously did need to cross the Mains).  the implication of GWr information is that freight used the line in earlier times - I shall have to look back through my earlier STTs to see if I have any which cover the period between 1917 and 1938 but I suspect not as the earliest Section 2 I think I have is Summer 1938.

Hi,  just to follow this up briefly.  And thanks for the new information,  very interesting.  The new tracks on the E&SB were opened on 19 June 1938, and were in anticipation of the West Ruislip Central line extension as you mention. 

By the use of the word "freight" I really meant non-passenger,  but Edwin Course in "London Railways" mentions that the running connection at Ealing Broadway was little used in the early days,  although there was a workmen's train from Clapham that used it to end up at West Ealing and Greenford!   He states later:  "At Ealing, the running connection was removed in 1945, and G.W. freight trains from the main line to the West London via the E & SB use the link line to Greenford  from which point they can reach the West London line without using the electrified lines."  He may have only been thinking non-passenger ie milk,  but this is not clear. 

Even Cooke  (in the first edition, which is the only one I have) doesn't actually give a date for the removal of the junction at North Acton from the Ealing direction,  but it's difficult to imagine this lasted after 1938, unless there was some traffic, or a pressing need for it, as it would have required , in effect, a  new double crossover from electric to GW  and vice versa.  In which case the 1945 date for the Ealing running connection removal may have had nothing to do with existing traffic, and was taken out later because of wartime delays. 

If you have any WTT for the period 1938 to 1945 it would be interesting to know if there were any services  clearly using the Ealing running connection then.    Of course it might have been retained for  potential wartime flexibility, as many other junctions were. 

The additional problem is that there are quite a few references to steam trains on the E&SB,  but it is usually not clear whether this refers to the Ealing to North Acton section,  or is actually just referring to the traffic coming off  the Birmingham line heading for the WL.    Most of the time it is the latter,  by inference..

21 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

By the early 1980s it had acquired a reputation as 'mugging alley' and many Old Oak staff refused to use it for that reason while one or two specifically used it for the same reason hoping to either give one or two low life a good sorting out or to prove to the doubters that their fear of it was misplaced. 

The Ealing & Shepherds Bush railway was a fascinating bit of line and still has much of interest in its current TfL incarnation with some of its original GWR buildings still in very good external condition including some painted in a faux version of light & dark stone.   Its start in life was very long drawn out partly to the Great War but although it was authorised in 1905 construction did not commence until 1911 and was then delayed by the war. It opened to goods traffic in April 1917 but not to passenger traffic until August 1920.     

 

It was a very odd line by normal GWR standards being electrified from the start - on the centre third rail principle - which made it the only wholly owned GWR route to be electrified apart from a short stretch at Paddington (the Hammersmith & City was jointly owned by the GWR and Met) but unlike the H&C the GWR had no ownership share of the electric trains which used it.  From the outset passenger services were operated by the Central London Railway hence GWR maps showing a service through to Liverpool Street via that route.  Freight services were steam worked by the GWR accessing the line through a connection at Ealing Broadway and thence to West London Line via connection from Wood Lane Jcn to Viaduct Jcn.  It was converted to LPTB standard 3rd & 4th rail electrification system in 1940.  One interesting feature of the line which remains is that because of the way it was connected to the original CLR line at Wood Lane there is a short section of right hand running although this is most likely a hangover of the original reversing loop (yes!!) at Wood Lane which trains used in an anti-clockwise direction.  The line also boasted what I believe, at 4 miles 15 chs, was probably the longest ever continuous stretch in Britain equipped with 3 position UQ semaphore signalling including automatic signals in the sections between the signal boxes.  

 

A couple of things I have never been able to accurately date are when the  the connection to the GWR at North Acton was installed (one possibility - but see comment below re signalling - is that it was part of the works for the postwar northern extension of the Central Line to West Ruislip - which incidentally led to the closure of the adjacent GWR North Acton Halt as well as Old Oak Common Halt) and when the separate double tracks for steam worked trains were added although I think that was also part of the Central Line extension scheme.  The parallel steam worked lines lasted into the early 1960s and were principally used by milk trains by then as it enabled them to avoid the flat Victoria Branch Junction at Old Oak Common East.   The 3 position signalling lasted until 1946 at which time the electrified lines were converted to standard LT colour-light signalling which suggests the steam lines might have been opened at that time.  There was definitely a connection from the electric lines to the GWR lines at North Acton by then but it is not clear when that was provided.

 

The date of transfer to LPTB is quoted as various dates by different sources but it certainly took place no later than 01 January 1948 

You make some very interesting points here!  Thank you. You might be interested in the "wiring  diagram" from the reconstruction work, which shows the new track plan.  I'm not quite sure what you mean when you talk about "the connection to the GWR at North Acton".  I had always assumed this was there from the building of the Ealing and Shepherds Bush line onwards, (as North Acton Junction,  (the box opened on 3 Aug 1920)), enabling traffic to access the E & SB line from the direction of Greenford?  After the building of the parallel GW tracks through East Acton to the W London line in about 1938,  this junction became a junction from the GW  Birmingham line to the new tracks only, and the default junction to the Central Line disappeared (as they now had their own electrified tracks).  There was no longer  any steam traffic via Ealing Broadway  (freight via Ealing was discontinued in 1938 apparently), and traffic from the Greenford direction would use the new GW dedicated tracks. R A Cooke shows it his map of Section 26/13.

( To be honest I had not known that freight went via Ealing :  I had always assumed it went up the Greenford loop and then along the main line through Park Royal. )

I attach a couple of pictures of the construction work at Hangar Lane which might be of interest.  Carried out by the GWR of course. 

Also, from a picture in Alan Jackson's London's Local  Railways ,  Old Oak Lane just before closure (with grateful acknowledgement of copyright to J J Fisher)  showing a couple of loco men getting the auto-train, which is where I started with this topic!

21 minutes ago, chrisf said:

I don't know whether the walking route from North Acton is still open.  It comprised a path along the south side of the Central Line to Acton Wells whre it crossed on a bridge past the site of Old Oak Lane Halt to steps down to Old Oak Common Lane.  For part of its length the path was cantilevered out over the Central Line tracks.  It scared the cr@p out of me when I was very young!  The bridge made a good vantage point for photographing trains on the Central Line and the tracks which used to run alongside to Wood Lane.  One Sunday morning in 1960 my father got all mysterious and took me with him to that bridge.  He photographed a ramblers excursion from Greenford to Ardingly, hauled as far as East Croydon by City of Truro. 

I wish I knew what happened to the photo.

 

Chris

Yup, a fascinating area.  When I was younger I could never quite work out why the WR lines went under the main line (down to Kensington Milk) , or where they went to, as never saw any trains on them.  Never there at the right time I guess...!  The GWR always took advertising advantage of the Central Line extensions;  one  GW map I have showed that GW trains actually ran to Liverpool Street  (and not via the Widened Lines...!)

29 minutes ago, jim.snowdon said:

In the 1970s and 80s London Transport used to run various staff bus services in the small hours that served the railway depots, and probably quite a few other LT establishments, using full size buses and crews that were otherwise standing spare. Certainly on the underground there were duties that started late, bringing in the last trains, sleeping on the cushions overnight and taking the first trains out in the morning. I guess it I a practice that dates back to an era when fewer people had private cars. By the late 80s buses had been replaced by taxis working on contract.

LT also ran quite a network of staff buses from Chiswick Works and, presumably, Aldenham Works, but I can't remember them being a feature of life in Acton Works.

 

Jim

Thanks for this.  Only really became aware of the logistics of getting to work for Underground drivers when I read  What We Talk About When We Talk About The Tube: The District Line (Penguin Underground Lines).  Quite an entertaining read!

39 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Simple answer is that it depended where they lived.  many of the longer established (at Old Oak) staff lived on the railway estates at Acton and Hayes so generally they would make their way via various public transport routes with quite a few walking from North Acton on the Central Line (dependinh where they loved on the Acton estate the quickest route was to use the Central line from West Acton to North Acton and then walk while those who lived at Hayes would change at Ealing Broadway.  Prior to the post-war Central Line Extension there was of course also Old Oak Common Halt (on the Park Royal Line) and it was an easy walk from there.

 

In later years quite a number of Drivers moved further out buying their own houses in various parts of north west London.  there was also of course the hostel which was built after the war and replaced - so I understand - the dormitory coaches which had previously been used (ordinary corridor stock, not sleeping car).  By the early 1950s Old Oak was very much a depot where men went for their Firing grade as local recruitment was poor and the hostel assumed considerable significance with a few men living there for 20 years or more although those who settled permanently at the depot inevitably sought out their own housing particularly if they were married.

 

Other public transport routes have already been mentioned and eventually there was the workabus introduced from Paddington which was principally for people on duty but was used (unofficially) as residential transport.  I'm not sure when that started but it was running by the latter half of the 1960s using larger vehicles than the 12 seat 'people carrier' sort used in its later years.  

Thanks for this Mike.   It really only raised itself as a question when I was looking at an early map of West London this morning,  and thinking about how far out OOC was, and relatively inaccessible by passenger train.  Must admit I had it in mind that railwaymen would normally use the railway to get to work,  but there of course is no obvious reason not to use other means of transport, except cost?

Southall also had a large hostel,  which lasted until at least the end of steam.

Fascinating piece of social history about the how and where of working life. 

2 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

 56048 at platform 1A at Paddington acting as the “staff bus to Old Oak Common”. 23 August 1990.

Great picture,  thank you!

2 hours ago, 37501 said:

I worked as a fitter at OOC HST depot for a few months in 1991 and was a regular traveller on the worker bus to and from Paddington. Always good when this was replaced by a Class 47 or on one Friday night, 56001. The passengers on a due to depart charter thought that this was their loco...

 

On the early shift I and several others took the Greenford service which was a bubble car which stopped adjacent to the depot and the guard would allow us to climb down onto the ballast and dart across. Wouldn’t get away with doing that these days.

 

John

Thanks for this!  Nice bit of history.  I still remember the auto-trains going to Greenford.  (Some of the family used to take them from Shepherds Bush to Northolt when they had trotting races there, but that was a very long time ago!)

1 hour ago, Commoner said:

During my time working at the Station Manager's Office Paddington 86-88, there was a staff bus service which ran between Padd and OOC, from memory every hour.  On some occasions if it wasn't running, or it had been disrupted, the service would be replaced by a loco.  In that event we would get a call from the platform supervisor informing us that the Loco was in their platform and a staff announcement would be made advising train crew of it's availability... 'staff announcement, staff announcement for train crew travelling to Old Oak Common, the LocoBus is on platform 1A'.  

Thank you for that!   London Underground drivers used to be, maybe still are, picked up by minibuses to be taken to their depots,  but most preferred to be within walking distance because of the early starts.   I used to use the night staff trains from Paddington to Reading after going out in London.   They weren't advertised of course, but I never found the staff minded who got on so long as you had a valid ticket.   Would have been stumped without them!