Kings Coss Passenger Loco

[Andy W]

I'd quite forgotten about Met-Cam units being allocated to 34G until I saw that evocative picture of the Pass Loco. Finsbury Park had a few of them (2 cars?) allocated in the summer of 1970. They were ex-NER cars that had come south to Cambridge and Norwich in 1968 to help see off the original Met-Cams and Derby lightweights.

Why 34G got them nobody seemed to know but they had all gone by the Autumn. I remember copping them and seeing at least one in green - very rare at that date.

The later allocation (to Cambridge) of the refurb'd units for the post electrification shuttles gave Hitchin fitter Alf Sails some useful overtime as he had to make sure the heaters worked before start of service. He was the last fitter left at Hitchin after it closed to traction in February 1978.

Most of those sets found their way to Old Oak Common in the late 1980's and gave me a headache when it came to disposing of them. The floors were rammed with blue asbestos.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Hi Bryan, sorry haven't seen what the passenger depot looks like today, don't know if I want to !!!

Carrying on from a chat we were having about the milk dock a little while ago, and seeing that it it was almost the same bit of railway, try these, it gives you an idea how cramped this area was to, there was often No1 shunt, a couple of brake 2nd's, full brakes, buffet car, crammed in, plus loco's coming into the milk dock, so that they could access the passenger loco, it could get very hectic

manna

[hq1hitchin]

G'Day Gents

Hi Bryan, sorry haven't seen what the passenger depot looks like today, don't know if I want to !!!

Carrying on from a chat we were having about the milk dock a little while ago, and seeing that it it was almost the same bit of railway, try these, it gives you an idea how cramped this area was to, there was often No1 shunt, a couple of brake 2nd's, full brakes, buffet car, crammed in, plus loco's coming into the milk dock, so that they could access the passenger loco, it could get very hectic

manna

Great photos, Manna - brings it all back.

Just imagine anyone getting much sleep in Culross Buildings with all the noise outside? Even they've gone now, no listed building status for them - they were demolished in 2008

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

Not much wiggle room there, even with the sidings empty.

[JeffB]

Great photo,s Manna and hq1hitchin, trying to suss out which was Jock Cairns window in the Culross buildings now. He used to moan when we filled him with smoke !

[sandwhich]

Some great photos of the pass loco and the milk dock, as regards the Culross Buildings there were efforts to preserve the building but they came to nothing, in all truth nothing could be done they were well beyond the pale and in fact were empty and boarded up for some years before demolition.
At one time there were three station pilots at the Cross and now there are none,No 3 went in the mid 60s, No 2 in the late 70s and finally the last went around 1994 there were occasions when the shunt engine was left foul in the milk dock and a Deltic could not quite clear the inlet signal, more shunting which held things up a bit whilst it was put right, in the end they would put the shunt engine in the old Platform 17 (remember that). Oh happy days!

[Mickey]

Deleted

[All thumbs]

Just caught this thread. I was at Kings Cross on Tuesday afternoon to take some photos and these may be of interest.

Looking across to Gasworks tunnel from the embankment behind Passenger Loco - now all gone.

Almost all reminders of a loco servicing facility have vanished but the brickwork to the central and eastern portals has cleaned up amazingly!

Looking down from Goods Way - the brickwork is the western end of Gasworks Tunnel portal.

Looking down at where the mess room and then the 'Elephant Shed' were sited. To the left is the strange triangular brickwork that projects above the western portal - does anyone know why this was built? Is it connected with the two surviving arches of the original GN retaining wall which was demolished when Passenge Loco was created in the 1920s?

Further to the west along Goods Way.

Just as I was about to take a shot across the station throat, suddenly the afternoon Flying Scotsman arrived!

Looking to Gasworks Tunnel from the end of platform 2.

My money's there for a digital camera with a "Make OLE vanish" mode!

Just to the left of the western portal, it looks like the footings for the turntable pit and guard rail remain from bottom shed steam days!

Long term, I am thinking off modelling the Passenger Loco but in steam days pre-1950. Can some kind soul point me to a decent side view of the mess room which doesn't have a loco or clouds of smoke/steam obscuring it? Also which roads would have been used for loco movements to and from bottom shed and the station and/or top shed? I can see from the 1943 track layout in GN Engine Sheds how suburban tanks would have moved but would a loco like an A3 have stopped on one of the main lines before setting back? (You can tell I am not a railwayman!)

[manna]

G'Day Gents

OH DEAR ! What a mess, everyone used to complain that KX was a mess 40 years ago, it was a paradise then, compared with what it looks like today.

Most loco's would have to shunt to get into the 'milk dock' can't say to much about steam days, bit to young to remember every move in the 'Cross' but in diesel days almost all loco's would shunt into Gasworks tunnel, so that they could access the passenger loco.

manna

[Mickey]

Deleted

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

If this is "progress", give me nostalgia every day.

[JeffB]

Same in steam days manna, would go into the tunnels about 50 to 100 foot then set back into the milk yard. Which tunnel you went into, Main 1 or Main 2 depended on which platforms the engine had worked in to.

[thesignalman]

Passenger loco in the sixties.

Elephant House to the right of the Brush type 4.

John

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

Interesting piccies. My first visit to the Cross, circa 1971, had a mixture of blue and green livs, memorable for the trip north which had "Ballymoss" in green with full yellow ends. Reminds me of that - all engines on Loco seemed to be green both out and home.

[Mickey]

Deleted