Wood Green (Alexandra Palace)

[trainspotter1948]

I want to make a model of my trainspotting memories and it would appear from reading the archives that many of us probably stood beside each other at various locations between Finsbury Park and Wood Green. Had we known then what we don't know now!
Anyway, I had originally though of building a model of Hornsey, my main spotting location of "died whilst waiting for......" usually a streak.
However, it's just too big for my available space and budget and so I have moved further up the line to Wood Green. I have memories of the Hertford North trains struggling up over the main lane, which would make an interesting structure to make.
For me, I would have lots of N2s shuttling back and forth and of course the main line expresses thundering through. I have the maps from the 1950's and also Peter Coster's book which gives me the start needed.
The back of the model would be Bedford Road (where my now wife lived and where I used to wait at the bus stop for the 233 bus) and primarily viwed from the Palace Gates side, which I now know to be Buckingham Road. I had a school pal whose father used to work in - I think they were coal merchants - one of those little shops down from the station entrance.

The knowledge in this forum is amazing and though much is not relevant to my own interests, the emails, photographs and information is always interesting to read and enjoy.

So, any drawbacks in choosing this location?
Can anyone point me in the right direction of more photos? I did see one or two Wood Green photos at Wigan last week on one of the stands, but they were of locos and not structures.

TIA

[Manxman1831]

There are some good photos of Wood Green (area not station) in the 'Trams in Outer North London' book. I don't think that this is in print at the moment, but copies are turning up on EBay now.

[mossie]

Hi Trainspotter1948

Is this of any use, got it off the internet sometime in the last couple of years.

Regards

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Wood Green was my home station also, the picture above was the racecourse entrance, which was always closed, except once when I saw it open, when they were doing some engineering work, I used to climb up behind the telephone box and sit on the wing wall, next to the gas lamp, wonderful view.

Personally, I wouldn't model the station (to big) I'd move mine to the other side of the Station Rd bridge and use Bounds Green C/S and shed as the backscene, but keeping the Hertford flyover and Kyber Pass, and Rowntrees chocolate warehouse,( if it was there in your timeframe) and the Wood Green Tunnel mouths.

I have a couple of color pictures of Wood Green, taken in 1970, showing parts of the station, if that would be of any help.

manna

[StevieG]

Hi Trainspotter1948

Is this of any use, got it off the internet sometime in the last couple of years.

Regards

[ I see manna just beat me to it in identifying this photo : Still, there might still be a snippet or two n the following which may be of interest to someone. .... ]

While obviously a Wood Green Booking Hall building, it is not that in Station Road/Buckingham Road, of which it least part still remains in use; the slope of the roadway is wrong.
If I have my bearings right, TIA, this photo is of the long-gone west side Booking Hall structure, built by the GN at the bottom corner of the slope of Bedford Road and of the long Palace Way hill down from Alexandra Palace, presumably to properly cater for the then hordes to/from Alexandra Park and racecourse.
I vaguely remember it still standing in about 1968, when it appeared to have been out of use for some time, but I've a feeling didn't last too much longer.

[60526]

I used to go down to Wood Green with my brother from the early 60's and sit at the south end of the down platform with our jam sandwiches trainspotting. You need to search the net and it will take you down some links which should show you some details. Attached is one I came across a while ago, I was also looking at modelling the station but space was the problem. Come to think of it how many Gresleys would you need to run it properly?
Books - Middleton Press, Kings Cross to Potters Bar - Steam Memories 1950's-1960; S East Coast Main Line; 1: Kings Cross to Peterborough, there is a few in this series. If you come across Booklaw at an exhibition then you'll be spoilt for choice. Mr Carroll is on this forum, he has a few WG photos in his collection.

[trainspotter1948]

As I hoped - lots of useful replies - thank you all.
Manna, that's good advice on my choice of Wood Green itself; an opinion that was already forming
I had started to enlarge the old maps to the scale of modern maps so I could measure the overall distance at 00 scale and it dawned on me that although the 'front to back' width would be OK, the length to start at the Wood Green tunnel and get south through the station would be too long for my available space.
So your suggestion gives me the number of train movements, points and signalling the aspects of 'playing with trains' that interest me and less modelling of platform structures that are very time consuming to recreate.
I don't recall the Rowntrees factory though I remember a sweet factory further south - I think it was Bassetts - where they made Liquorice Allsorts?
60526 - (I see you were an A2 based in York called Sugar Palm) I'll look out for the suggested books.
StevieG - I think you are right. This was the western entrance to a footbridge that spanned the lines over to Buckingham Road and did not have access to the platforms. Peter Coster says is was to give punters coming into Palace Gates station access to the racecourse and was built by the GER.

[Atso]

Two sources of photos and information that I can think of off the top of my head are: GNR Engine Sheds Volume 1 (Yes Woodgreen did once have a loco shed!) and Kings Cross to Potters Bar (which I think includes a trackplan/map).

This is a favourite station of mine as well, mainly from my days working at Alexandra Palace. The old branch line station building is still up there too!

[60526]

"60526 - (I see you were an A2 based in York called Sugar Palm) I'll look out for the suggested books."
There are certain things in life that you can remember, getting married is apparently one, although my memory is a bit vague on that one, but I have a good memory of seeing Sugar Palm on an up express through WG, also 60054 Prince of Wales, it helps that we have photos of them. A full green Deltic on a down express, also a WD and B1 on the down side.

[StevieG]

" .... StevieG - I think you are right. This was the western entrance to a footbridge that spanned the lines over to Buckingham Road and did not have access to the platforms. Peter Coster says is was to give punters coming into Palace Gates station access to the racecourse and was built by the GER. "

In the cause of trying to establish true records, how confident are you about which footbridge it was the entrance to, 'trainspotter'?

I only ask because though I only came to know the station in about 1968, and then not that well/frequently. But I had a nagging doubt about that statement somewhere in the 'leetle grey cells', so I've had a look at my approx. 10-year old edition of the Alan Godfrey 'Old OS Map', "approx. 1:4340", reprint of London Sheet 7, 1:2500, "Wood Green" "Edition of 1914", "Revised 1912".
While this doesn't show footbridge-platform stairways, the station footbridge is of course shown diagonally connecting the east side booking hall with the platforms, but then, on continuing and attaining the above-track level cutting ground on the west side of the station, the bridge/path turns almost due south and is then shown as connecting into the rear of the pictured west side booking hall building.

The narrower, public footbridge, further 'south', from Station Road/Buckingham Road is shown arriving further into the angle of the corner of Bedford Road/Palace Way(possibly not its name then), by passing about 5 yards away from the booking hall's SE face, and the break in kerb and wall, extreme right in the photo with wooden fencing leading away (which I had initially glanced at and thought was for the curving, south-to-east GN 'roadway' down to the loading dock near No.1 signal box), I'm now thinking was instead for the public footbridge: As suggested by the direction of the wooden fencing; and right at the photo's edge, is that part of a be-coated lady walking away, towards the bridge?

As to the Peter Coster information, if the GER did have this booking hall built with Palace Gates passengers in mind, I can only think it must have been some sort of joint arrangement with the GNR, but the building's style suggests GN to me, though I'm certainly no GN or GE architecture expert.

[trainspotter1948]

StevieG is correct!
I have just looked at a 1;2500 map of the 1950s and I agree with your memory.
The building is linked to the overbridge and the platforms and to the south there is a narrower bridge that spans the tracks.
If you go to Google Streetview and have a look, the side wall might be preserved as part of the boundary.
I'll go and look at Peter Coster's map when I get home tonight and see how they match.

[StevieG]

" .... Books - Middleton Press, Kings Cross to Potters Bar - Steam Memories 1950's-1960; S East Coast Main Line; 1: Kings Cross to Peterborough, there is a few in this series. If you come across Booklaw at an exhibition then you'll be spoilt for choice. .... "

Some further old-ish (prob'y 1970s- 80s) books that may have some handy photos (at least one or two almost certainly will have), if you can get access somewhere :
Great Northern Suburban; John N Young; David & Charles
King's Cross Lineside 1958 - 1984; David Percival; Ian Allan (good coverage from KX to at least Hitchin)
Diesels Out Of Kings Cross; Peter Dobson; Ian Allan
East Coast from Kings Cross; Eric Neve; Ian Allan
LNER Album Volume One; Stephenson; Ian Allan
LNER Album Volume Three; Stephenson; Ian Allan.

Sorry I can't give fuller details of them at the moment. It's the embarrassing situation, no doubt familiar to some (and incredulous to others), that I can see them but can't actually get to their shelf at present.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

The sweet factory, south of Wood Green stn was Barratts ?. they used to/ still do make Jamboree bags, if you can remember that far back.

Roundtrees, had a small/medium warehouse, rail-served about a 100 yds south of Wood Green tunnel on the up side, just before the flyover, I can remember shunting in there, early to mid 70's, there were 2/3 sidings outside and one inside, access, was via a roller type door, we would shunt up to 10 wagons every 2-3 days, IE Mon-Wed-Fri, this was part of the Palace Gates/ Bounds Green shunt job

manna

[Mickey]

Roundtrees, had a small/medium warehouse, rail-served about a 100 yds south of Wood Green tunnel on the up side, just before the flyover, I can remember shunting in there, early to mid 70's, there were 2/3 sidings outside and one inside, access, was via a roller type door, we would shunt up to 10 wagons every 2-3 days, IE Mon-Wed-Fri, this was part of the Palace Gates/ Bounds Green shunt job.

Yes i done it a couple of times as well manna back around 1974 as a secondman with a Kings Cross driver usually with a 350hp 0-6-0 diesel shunter (a latter day class 08 shunter). After finishing shunting Roundtrees sidings the shunter would usually bring an assorted box of chocolates & sweets up to the loco and hand it over to either the secondman or driver to share out between us then it could be back into Bounds Green carriage sidings or around the back of the shed at Palace Gates for some more shunting or a short trip to the south end of Wood Green station pass Wood Green Up box no.4 to do some shunting on the Sand Road?.

I remember being a secondman to a Kings Cross driver one day called Jagger the same surname as Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones that has always stuck in my mind.

[trainspotter1948]

You boys are going to be my granddaughter's favourite great uncles!
Shunting with sweeties!
We'll need the bogie-bolster for that Flake and how many chocolate peanuts can we get into that open wagon?
No need for coal bays - just different ones for different sweets.....

I suppose there must be a logical reason why the sweet manufacturers were all so close - a sort of silicone valley of sugary delights.