The LNER Encyclopedia

G'Day Gents

I noticed a while back, that there was a 'Fairly' long siding, leading from the tunnelmouth at Wood Green back towards the houses along the trackside, was this a coal siding, or a safety siding, after a 'Down' goods train had departed Wood Green tunnel box.

Any help would be appreciated.

manna

Hi Manna,

This siding has come up before on the Forum, because Frank Giles started his train spotting here in the early 1930s, it is very near Dagmar Road.
George Howe had a thought it may have had something to do with the local council, but I have not investigated that further. There are various names proffered, Alexandra Park Siding, or Brickfield Siding, I have no idea which might be right. I don't think it had anything to do with running trains as it was gated.

I think the Wood Green Tunnel sidings would be the name of the sidings on the Up side of the line?

John

G'Day Gents

Thanks for that JAS'd17, I can now see the thin line of the fence and gate. I never saw the siding in real life, always weeds and scrub in my time.

Anyone got any pics of the area ????????

manna

Evening Manna,
I have, hopefully, attached a picture taken looking north with the siding you are discussing to the left of the picture,
I hope this is of interest
Steve

www.gnrsociety.com

Steve a very interesting photo of the train which was the centre of a long discussion on Friday night, thanks for posting.
I was wondering if anyone else on the forum might be able to enlighten us on the train and what it was, we have decided on the individual wagons etc.
It has a very strange and mixed makeup.

G'Day Gents

Wonderful picture, and what a mix of wagons. Good to see all the signals to.

Thank you, manna

Well Dave, having studied the photo before for a long time, I am pretty sure it is in fact an Empty Carriage Working.

It is certainly either 1923 or 24, because of the N suffix. Most of the carriages are ex GNR or ECJS, and the loco was
at that time shedded at KX.

It was a much unrecognized practice to move carriages to certain points along the line back from say Welwyn Garden City,
or even as far up as Peterborough or Grantham. Returning loco would pick up vehicles along the way to allow timetabled
trains the following day to have a proper consist.

In earlier days, the GNR had been the largest user of Slip Carriages which needed returning to KX, so the practice was
well within the Southern Section timetables.

Of interest is the few NE vehicles in the train, because at this time few ex NER carriages travelled far South.

Paul

Thanks Paul, seems reasonable.

Hi all have done a bit of delving, white gates across a siding were uncommon in London(someone will prove me wrong)I await.."that" siding was named Brickfield Siding(s) & led to surprise a Brickworks,which when in operation contributed to the bricks used in the Wood Green Tunnel,would nice to have seen a J6 or J52 shunt through those open gates.jj

G'Day Gents

Thank you rockinjohn, you have enlightened me, amazing what pops up and where.

manna

Harry Fitzgerald who was a 'old time' resident signalman all his working life on the railways and who started on the LNER back in the mid 1930s and who also worked at a number of boxes around the London area in his time finally ending up as a resident signalman at Welwyn Garden City from the mid 1960s through until that box closed in 1976 once mentioned to me in a conversation inside WGC box one day back in the early 1970s that he had been a resident signalman at Wood Green Tunnel box at some unspecified date and also from that same conversation some mention was also made of 'the Khyber pass' I vaguely recall?. I believe old Harry died back in 1988?.

Hi Mickey,not sure if your seeking a meaning to the "Khyber Pass"comment but from vague memories it related to the over&under area of the Wood Green flyover.jj

It was just a bit before my time jj and I always took it to mean that bit of railway a 'Goods line' just north of Wood Green station that passed through a concrete cutting that passed underneath the Hertford loop just before reaching Wood Green Tunnel box the remains of which were still to be seen during the early/mid 1970s.

Mickey wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 10:22 am " .... I always took it to mean that bit of railway a 'Goods line' just north of Wood Green station that passed through a concrete cutting that passed underneath the Hertford loop just before reaching Wood Green Tunnel box the remains of which were still to be seen during the early/mid 1970s."

The Down Goods 'Khyber Pass' concrete cutting actually passed close round the outside of the curved rising approach to the Down Hertford llne flyover Mickey. Although for years now, when looking down on it from a Hertford line train, it's barely noticeable and so hard to imagine it was there : -
- although the top of the cutting walls can be seen - because it appears that most of its depth has been filled in at some time, and appears used for rail vehicular access from somewhere around the site of Tunnel Box's gated siding, along the lineside.

In approximately the same area, Wood Green OLE Feeder Station stands between the Down Slow and Down Hertford lines, on the site of two carriage sidings, which in Tunnel box days merged into one at their north end, and it was that road which passed under the flyover beside the DS on its way to also join the DG at Tunnel Box.

Yeah it was all a long time ago Stevie and well over 50 years ago and maybe 55 years ago so subsequently it's a bit hard to visualise how that bit of railway once was in the area on the Down side to the north of Wood Green station and before the Wood Green tunnel but I think that I vaguely can visualise your description of the 'Khyber pass' location Stevie thanks.