Kings Cross

[52D]

Gan on son you've trumped me.

[Malcolm]

The changing "face" of Kings Cross.

Malcolm

[redtoon1892]

For those not familiar.

http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/

[manna]

Malcolm
Those pic brought back some memories, I don't really remember the African village, out the front of Kings Cross, because as a kid, we hardly ever went out the front, we were to interested what was inside the station and if we did leave KX we only went over the road to St P's( all the times I went over there I never saw a steam loco ?)when we did it was via the suburban station
When I started working at KX the front of KX had been cleared to put up the new ticket office.
Redtoon1892
Liked the video of the 47( looked like Didcot) yes they do have a soft ride and a tendancy to rock and roll a bit, got caught on a 47 the night of the hurricane back in 86/87, standing on the platform at Eastleigh, was really moving side to side that night, I nearly got blown on to the third rails. Manna

[chaz harrison]

A couple of memories of Welwyn North...

There was a mid-afternoon lull in proceedings and one day I watched a WD 2-8-0 take advantage to shunt the small yards on both the up and down sides. It seemed to take for ever, only interrupted by an up stopper. When it had finally finished and departed the parade of Pacifics and V2s resumed.

At one time one of the signalmen at Welwyn North was black. This seemed most unusual at the time. The only black railway workers I had ever seen were porters or cleaners. I saw him several times when my visits coincided with his shift. I don't expect any trouble will come at this late stage (!) from this tale. One late afternoon or early evening he invited me up into the box. We had a chat (he proved to be a thoroughly nice bloke) and he showed me some of the work involved in the box. On a subsequent visit I was allowed to pull some of the levers. When it came to the up advanced starter I just couldn't manage. Welwyn North was unusual as there was no up starter at the platform end. The advanced starter was located at the far end of Digswell Viaduct, barely visible from the box. The "trick" was to get the lever half way, brace yourself and then take a second bite. I got the lever about a quarter of the way (probably just the slack in the wire!) and that was it. My puny body could do no more.

Chaz

[hq1hitchin]

A couple of memories of Welwyn North...


On a subsequent visit I was allowed to pull some of the levers. When it came to the up advanced starter I just couldn't manage. Welwyn North was unusual as there was no up starter at the platform end. The advanced starter was located at the far end of Digswell Viaduct, barely visible from the box. The "trick" was to get the lever half way, brace yourself and then take a second bite. I got the lever about a quarter of the way (probably just the slack in the wire!) and that was it. My puny body could do no more.


Chaz

Ha ha - me,too Chaz - the first lever frame I ever touched and I was a 16 year old. Couldn't manage the advance starter on the Up Main, either. The signalman, Roy Coombe, was very kind and told me that even the strongest man in the world couldn't do it unless he had the knack!
I also remember taking a GPO phone call from Whitemoor telling me that a wagon of coal destined for our coal merchant (cannot remember his proper name) was 'tick'. They never had taught me at school what that meant so the chap had to explain - stopped with a defect. Oh happy days...

[R. pike]

http://richard2890.fotopic.net/p46637184.html

It looks like the up road signals were colourlight by the time this diagram was in use however the down main and slow distants look like beasts..

[redtoon1892]

Unusual pics here :-

http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/Kin ... ation.html

[manna]

G'Day Gents
Like at of others I tried to pull a signal lever, mine was at Bowes Park, can't remember what signal, and I did manage to pull it off, but I ended up with my bum on the floor
Great pictures of the old Kings Cross underground, have passed it so many time on the tube and seen it from the cab of a class 31, I always found it a fascinating trip down the drain. When a train stopped at York Rd the secondman would climb down to track level and turn the tripcock into it's working position ie: vertical, but all secondmen did not 'activate' the tripcock by pulling a second lever, positioned just under the cab and just behind the buffer, you'll have probably seen it many a photo of a KX 31, I think thats why KX kept the same 31's for many years, I digress,after getting the right away, the train would drop down into the tunnel, after about 50 feet there was a unit for testing the tripcock and a yellowey/white light would light up at eye level to let you know your tripcock was OK, I did activate the other lever once and the tripcock was tripped by some junk on the side of the track, we came to a grinding halt in the very narrow tunnel, I had to squeeze out of the cab to reset eveything, never did it again? From there to Farringdon St it was a procession of tunnels and very deep dank brick lined cuttings that twisted and turned to cross under the tube lines,with water running dow the walls and through the tunnel roofs, on the way back the noise of a 31 going absolutely flat out, going over the crossing at Hotel curve and then up and around the curve into the platform was incredible! you could feel the engine throb in your chest, always a good day when your driver said at Moorgate 'have ago' AHHHHH!
I was reading on a site yesterday that there is a group that want to put a footbridge where the old Battlesbridge use to stand, because there not going to replace the removed footbridge in Kings Cross station?? would be an interesting vantage point
manna

[Flamingo]

Here's a KX picture from a different angle, showing part of the 'African Village' near the main road frontage.

Cover photograph from the 1952 Centenaries Exhibition brochure

I went to that exhbition but remember very little about it. There probably were large exhibits, if so I thnk they were somewhere over in the arrival side platforms.

[locojoe]

Hello All
In the late 1950s many Kings Cross railwaymen used the Earl Russell pub just outside Kings Cross Station, this was the pub my driver Arthur and I used a lot. There was also the Railway Club next door another one of our haunts. The railway club was run by an Irishman and we were sometimes treated to Irish dancing with dancers in traditional costume.

Here's a streetview photo of Kings Cross Station and it looks like the Earl Russell has been demolished.

[redtoon1892]

Not KX but a little good news for Euston.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... river.html

[giner]

That is good news, thanks for sharing. I haven't been in the area for many years, but what in hades is that hideous blue box to the left of the twin arches? Did someone actually spend years in getting an archtectural degree to come up with that? It looks like, and I hope it is, some kind of temporary structure.

Oh, I just had a read of the "memories" thread in Railway Chat and this quote from 'hq1hitchin' may explain it:

. . . "It was the bit of the West side offices above the old booking office. When the bombs fell, they hit the RTO, a military travel office, and killed ten soldiers, I think. The missing offices were never replaced, until recently, I believe". Could this be it?

[hq1hitchin]

That is good news, thanks for sharing. I haven't been in the area for many years, but what in hades is that hideous blue box to the left of the twin arches? Did someone actually spend years in getting an archtectural degree to come up with that? It looks like, and I hope it is, some kind of temporary structure.

Oh, I just had a read of the "memories" thread in Railway Chat and this quote from 'hq1hitchin' may explain it:

. . . "It was the bit of the West side offices above the old booking office. When the bombs fell, they hit the RTO, a military travel office, and killed ten soldiers, I think. The missing offices were never replaced, until recently, I believe". Could this be it?

No, giner - that awful looking bit of shuttering is temporary, all right. Notice how the GN Hotel has survived throughout it all? The best view of the missing chunk of the West Side offices was to be had standing outside where the Red Star parcels office used to be and looking east. Quite a station, still.

[hq1hitchin]

Here's a KX picture from a different angle, showing part of the 'African Village' near the main road frontage.

img542.jpg

I went to that exhbition but remember very little about it. There probably were large exhibits, if so I thnk they were somewhere over in the arrival side platforms.

From what I was told, they might have used the Milk Dock?