Neasden shed ex GCR

[chuffchuff]

I am particulary interested in Neasden shed and its locomotives.Can anyone help me by telling me the allocation of A3s over the years, also I would love to see more photos of the shed and track diagrams if possible.

[Flamingo]

Most of the A3s on the GC Sectin were based at Leicester rather than Neasden. In 1951 Neasden had only 3, nos. 60050/51/111, whereas Leicester had 9 A3s. This was mainly because Leicester was roughly half way between Marylebone and Manchester and it made for easier rostering of the motive power, rather than having through engine workings from London to Manchester.
The engines were swapped around over the years with those from the GN Section, until in about 1957-58 they all left thr GC line when the L M Region took it over.

[Pyewipe Junction]

Did the Pacifics work through to Manchester?

You normally see photos of only V2s and B1s, etc on expresses north of Nottingham.

[rob237]

Very rarely...

Marylebone-Manchester workings were normally B1 hauled, south of Sheffield...occasional A3/V2 south of Leicester.

The only 'almost certain' A3 working to, and from, Sheffield was the Master Cutler - taking B&B at Darnall, with the headboard still affixed, and leaving early next morning - and then usually handing over to another A3 when back at Leicester.

Cheers
Robt P.

[kudu]

Neasden was a 6-road straight shed built to the GCR standard design; I'm not sure there was anything unusual about its layout, but you can see a 1954 track diagram in the Paul Bolger BR Steam MPDs series (ER).

But its allocation was interesting as it changed over the years. In 1923 it had 69 locos, 1948 74, 1950 79 and 1959 68 (excluding 3 GW locos in 1950 and 2 GW locos in 1959 which were sub-shedded at Aylesbury and never appeared at Neasden). It always had a high proportion of tank locos - 42 in 1923, 62 in 1948, 67 in 1950 (!) and 45 in 1959.

Class breakdowns are:

1923 : 6 B7, 3 D10, 11 D11, 7 J11
21 A5, 1 C14, 2 E8, 1 J58, 1 J59, 6 L3, 10 N5

1948 : 9 B1, 3 J11
30 A5, 3 C13, 2 L2 (ex-Met), 8 L3, 2 M2 (ex-Met), 2 N2, 14 N5, 1 Y3 (Sentinel)

1950 : 3 A3, 6 B1, 3 J11
5 A5, 2 C13, 37 L1, 6 L3, 11 N5, 5 N7, 1 Y3 (Sentinel)

1959 : 5 B1, 8 LMS Black 5, 10 Std 4 Moguls
3 N5, 19 LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T, 9 LMS Stanier 2-6-4T, 4 LMS Ivatt 2-6-2T, 10 Standard 2-6-4T.

But maybe Neasden's main focus of interest was its proximity to Wembley Stadium, which brought many "foreign" locos on shed on sporting occasions. The Rugby Cup Final was always the occasion for B1s and the odd B16 from exotic NER sheds, while Schools and West Country Pacifics were also visitors for other events. I lived within walking distance and witnessed the changeover from ER to LMR rule as the L1s disappeared and LMS tanks, mainly from the north-west (Newton Heath, Bolton etc, as I recall) arrived. And I never missed the Rugby Cup Final, though on one occasion I was kicked out!

Wish I'd seen that Sentinel.

Kudu

[Flamingo]

The GWR locos allocated to Neasden, or rather its subshed at Aylesbury, were 14XX 0-4-2 tanks and 61XX 2-6-2 tanks. The 14XXs worked the auto-train shuttles to Princes Risborough while the 61XXs took the through services from Aylesbury to Paddington that went that way. I remember both services very well as we had relatives living near Risborough and always travelled by train when visiting them. The autotrains were replaced by N5s hauling 2 coaches, I'm not sure what happened to the through trains.

[Dublo6231]

I remembered reading about Neasden shed in E. S. Beavor's excellent book "Steam Was My Calling".
There is a very good picture of the shed taken from the top of the coaling tower on page 110, and it also reveals that in 1954 "(the celebrated Flying Scotsman, which for no apparent reason had been thus 'demoted' from the East Coast main line)" was one of three A3's to be based at the shed.
Hope that is of interest.

[Andy W]

In the 1970's I spoke to several old KX people about why 60103 wasn't rated and ended up on the GC. She was regarded by those at KX as a bit of a nag - "NBG" and "a bag of bits" were the phrases used by some of those fitters who worked on her. Even though Alan Pegler got her when she was not that long out of shops, there was quite a bit of chat that there were much better examples in the fleet, 60106 being particularly rated.

However you just can't argue with her pedigree, can you?! There is only one Flying Scotsman.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's the WR daily steam inspections passed across my desk, usually done by Bob Judge, a well respected WR Inspector and one time of Gateshead Works (although by no means a Geordie!). We used to have a competition to see what was "nag of the year", the engine that required most remedial work to get it to run. Unfortunately 4472 won it every year, except one.

That's no disrespect to the team that looked after her but you can only do so much with ageing kit and, to their credit, she performed perfectly reliably on the road for years, giving pleasure to millions but, given how some of the KX staff spoke about her, I am not in the least surprised that the NRM are having so much fun in trying to sort her out.

[enterprise]

I was at neasden loco depot from 1952 to 1958. I started as a cleaner (1 week) then after 3weeks training I became a past cleaner.After about 9 months I was sent to Kings X for my written and oral tests and then I was promoted to fireman.
I worked shunting,local goods and local trains.On locals we used L1s mostly but we also used Br tanks Midland tanks 42222, 42225 and 42223.We also used A5s 69813, 69814 ,69826 and 69829. Our local passenger trains went from Marylebone to High Wycombe, Princes Risborough and Aylesbury.We also did short passenger trips over the met extension from Rickmansworth to Aylesbury.They experimented,for a short time with midland class 42328 but they were not very sucessful because they didnt carry the same reserve of water that the L1s did. I also worked stopping trains to Woodford and Brackley. I once did a week on the Bletchly parcels with a B1 61136,61083 and my favourite B1 61001 Elland. On Christmas day 1957 I worked the "10 oclock " Marylebone to Leicester with a Green Arrow,can't remember the number. Great days, Great memories!

[60129 GUY MANNERING]

Enterprise,
can you remember any of the Drivers such as Archie Moore,Jack Hill, Bert Axtell,his son Brian,Bert Parker,Bill Archer,Tom Butcher,Alf Conroy,Bill Reynolds and Mr ?? Jaycock are names that spring to mind. The Blacksmith was Jack Lock. I also remember a nasty accident when a fireman lost half of his foot under the wheels of a Tank Engine in the Yard. That incident apart, they were very Happy Days spotting there as a kid. I was lucky as my dad was a fitter there with Bill Stanton,Ted Milchrist, Mr Seymour and many more.
Regards,Derek.

[enterprise]

Hi Derek,
Yes I do remember the drivers you mention.One of them, Bill Reynolds, was a friend of my dad. Did you know his nickname was Banjo Bill? My dad said he played mean banjo! my driver in the relief link was Vic Myers and when I was on local passenger my driver was George Jones. George came to us from Kings X where he was a fireman on the nonstop.Loved to grab the shovel and do a bit of firing. In fact he quite often used to give the fireman half the shift behind the regulator!
Regards, Enterprise