Changes Kings Cross to Wood Green since 1963

[sandwhich]

Recently I have been giving some thought as to the many changes in the five miles between Kings Cross to Wood Green since 1963;
Kings Cross Passenger Loco Yard. Closed
Kings Cross Top Shed. Closed
Kings Cross Goods Yard. Closed
Holloway Carraige Sidings. Closed
East Goods Yard. Closed
Ashburton Grove. Closed (Now the Emerites Stadium)
Clarence Yard & Depot. Closed
Western Sidings. Closed
Finsbury Park Carraige Sidings. Closed (Now part of the Park itself)
Ferme Park Down Freight Sidings. (Now used by East Coast & GB Railfreight)
Ferme Park Up Sidings (Now First Capital Connect Traincare Depot)
Hornsey Shed (Now also part of FCC Traincare Depot)
Hornsey Carraige Sidings (Now dormant stabling sidings but will be part of Thameslink Maintenance Depot)
Coronation Shed (Long Gone)
Waterworks Sidings (Also Long Gone)
Bounds Green Yard & Workshops (Now East Coast Traincare Depot)

Many changes indeed.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Then there's Motorail sidings at Holloway Up side.

Mac Fisheries, sidings at Finsbury Park

Sand yard, Wood Green.Up Side.

Down side Goods Dock, Wood Green

Rowntrees sidings, Wood Green.

Palace Gates, Coal concentration Depot.

Plus, the platforms at, Finsbury Park, Harringay, Hornsey and Wood Green,

Ohh, so much gone

manna

[Mickey]

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[Dave Cockle]

Interesting that some of the rationalisation from the 1970's will now be reversed with the conversion of the Up Goods line to Passenger status with consequential platform alterations at Alexandra Palace and Finsbury Park.

New platform to be constructed at Alexandra Palace between the new Up Slow Two (former Up Goods) and Up Slow One (former Up Slow), with the Up Fast line becoming platform less. The old platforms one and two at Finsbury Park being brought back into use thus mirroring the platform layout on the downside.

[Mickey]

Deleted

[sandwhich]

Thank you Manna for the additional info as regards lost sidings, some of it I had totally forgotten about. Micky has a point everything looks so good and shiny when its brand new but it did not take long for deteriation to set in, as regards the foliage i remember Western sidings being cleared after a number of years and the joke at the time was that they found a cravens 2 car unit with a grizzled old driver very annoyed because he was not given right away. But when some more foliage was being removed the local council objected because it may contain some rare plants. Sometimes you just cant win!
The extra platforms at Finsbury park and Alexandra Palace are interesting as it is a case of what goes around comes around.
Can anybody remember the remnants of the construction of a new underground station outside Finsbury Park Station that was going to be part of the underground northern heights scheme abandoned in 1940 and never resumed. It was into the 70s before this was finally pulled down and the bridges that were going to used kept in Hitchin stockyard until the same time before being disposed of.

[Mickey]

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[Hatfield Shed]

... the whole London area (and beyond) as a feeling of being neglected and run down which is unfortunate because back in 1976/77 it looked like a new dawn and a brand new shiny railway!.

Be thankful though that the railway itself still works very well. I use the service pretty regularly, and it is decently clean and reliable, with good staff.

What it desperately needs is the section between WGC and Knebworth four tracking. When this was last on the table, I went to a consultation in Old Welwyn and asked the Ove Arup guys there as technical consultants what the difficulty would be in doing the job in TGV style: start a ramp for the fast lines North of WGC station, and fly it above the viaduct, over the little pimple that had to be tunnelled through in past time, and resume current level just South of Knebworth. Far and away the best solution from an engineering standpoint; the mass apoplexy evident among the Welwyn residents present at the consultation the obvious obstacle...

Very interestingly talking to a couple of the Arup guys privately, they said their respect for the original track alignment across the Mimram valley on Welwyn viaduct was immense. The surveyor had very carefully exploited the relatively small patch of decent bearing subsoil to get the viaduct across. They reckoned it would happily carry a 'bolt on' top deck for the fast lines: wouldn't do anything for the aesthetics, but far and away the cheapest solution. Since it is already disfigured with power masts, I am all for that.

[Mickey]

Deleted

[Hatfield Shed]

If you used the route you would appreciate that the line occupation over the two track is a significant bottleneck. The one recurrent common flaw is disruption to the outer suburban schedule if there has been any problem on the network further North, meaning up long distance services out of path. These get preferance over the outer suburban operation, with consequent dealys to what would otherwise be a good service.

It is just plain silly to have four miles of double track in what is otherwise ( and needs to be ) a four track route, due to the poverty of the LNER in the now distant past. The cost of fixing this bug is a fly speck beside the price of HS2...

[Mickey]

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[sandwhich]

Mickey says that he does not want to see a flyover at Hitchin and that it may be overplayed by some people. Well things have changed over the years, there are now six main line trains per hour in each direction at Hitchin plus the two FCC trains to Peterborough in each direction and there are also five trains per hour in each direction on the Cambridge Line and there could be more when Thameslink services start to run, plus there are now a lot more peak hour services than there was 20 or so years ago. Overplayed I dont think so.

[Mickey]

Deleted

[StevieG]

G'Day Gents

Then there's Motorail sidings at Holloway Up side.

Mac Fisheries, sidings at Finsbury Park

Sand yard, Wood Green.Up Side.

Down side Goods Dock, Wood Green

Rowntrees sidings, Wood Green.

Palace Gates, Coal concentration Depot.

Plus, the platforms at, Finsbury Park, Harringay, Hornsey and Wood Green,

Ohh, so much gone

manna

Also, as well as other items mentioned in subsequent posts, how about :
- King's Cross Milk Yard (beside Plat. 17) - Gone,
- Caledonian Coal Yard (above and east of the S. end of Copenhagen Tunnel, only rail-reached from within KX goods yard - Closed,
- Holloway up sidings (power station? : Beside the Cattle Dock [which became that short-lived Motorail point] ) - Closed,
- How about Drayton Park depot (was LT's, but beside and formerly serving, what's now part of the 'main-line' railway) - Closed & Demolished,
- Highbury Vale (/ Gillespie Road) Sidings (on up-side, down at Finsbury Park No.1, below East Goods Yard) - Gone,
- Finsbury Park Diesel Depot (Been and gone),
- at Fins. Park, the yard (coal?) beyond MacFisheries sdg., across on the other side of Wells Terrace: named Lennox Road? [street near the end of the yard] - Long gone,
- Harringay up sidings - Closed,
- Siding(s? : For bricks?) at Wood Green Tunnel box (down side) - Vanished.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Also gone, Down Main, Copenhagen Tunnel through to KX, including Gasworks Tunnel
Down Slow, Copenhagen Tunnel through to KX, including Gasworks Tunnel
York Road platforms
All of the Widen Lines to Moorgate.
Platforms 14,15, and 16. and Hotel curve.
Some really nice footbridges?
Ohh....and about 26 !! signalboxes and at least 500 signals including all those wonderful signal posts

manna