The years of my childhood awkwardly straddled the end of steam on the East Coast Main Line. I was too young to sample the full flavour, but old enough to get some idea of the momentous changes that were taking place in rail transport.
In 1962 I was nine years old. With one of my school-friends I made my first solo spotter's outing. It involved taking the bus, a green London Transport RT, from Stevenage to Hitchin (fare one shilling and sixpence) and nosing around the railway installations of that town. It was an emotional experience--a taste of (relative) freedom and the chance to start learning the art of how to trespass discretely on railway property.
Architecturally, the station buildings at Hitchin were typically understated in the GNR manner, low-pitched and vaguely Italianate. On the south side, the Hertfordshire clunch had been excavated into chalky cliffs, beneath which there were rows and rows of sidings full of a tantalising array of rolling stock. Indeed, the copious stabling areas on all four sides of the station were jammed full of coaches and wagons. The shear variety was amazing. The propensity to name the types of wagon after creatures of the sea was well in evidence, for there were examples of Catfish, Crocodile, Dogfish, Grampus, Mullet, Plaice, Salmon, Shark and Sturgeon, many of which were used on engineers' trains during weekend possessions of the permanent way.
In 1952 Hitchin (34D) MPD had an allocation of 29 locomotives: eight Thompson 'B1s' (one of which, no. 61105, may have been in its localised role as Departmental no. 27), eight Thompson 'L1s' tank engines, nine Ivatt 0-6-0s of the 'J1', 'J3', 'J5' and 'J6' classes, and a Gresley 'N2/2' non-condensing tank. By 1955 it still had eight 'B1s', six of them unchanged (including Dept no. 27), but the other two substituted by 61027 Madoqua and 61251 Oliver Bury. At that time Kings Cross (34A) had five 'B1s' and New England (34E) had five. These eighteen 4-6-0s were often to be seen rolling along on semi-fast passenger trains and miscellaneous freights, sometimes on the Hertford loop as well as the GNR main line and Cambridge branch. So were Hitchin's six 'J6' 0-6-0s, which worked the dwindling traffic of pick-up freights, Ten further examples of the class were stabled at Hornsey (34B).
By 1962 the cramped two-road shed behind the up platform of Hitchin station was reduced to servicing locomotives and stabling three 'B1s' that were used for Departmental work (heating stationary passenger trains, hauling engineers' trains and marshalling stock in the sidings). They were 61314, 61389 and no. 25 (alias 61272). On that day two of them were in steam in the yard, easily visible from the station.
Until 1963 'B1's would occasionally work a late afternoon class 'D' freight in the up direction south of Hitchin. They would bowl steadily along at 35 mph amid clouds of steam with a heterogeneous mixture of trucks behind them, including some vacuum-breaked vans marshalled next to the engine.
Until 1964 a double junction was situated north of Hitchin station. Not only did the line to Cambridge branch off to the northeast, as it still does, but on the other side there was the line from Bedford. This very minor railway connection, little more than 14 miles end to end, was the epitome of the rural branch railway.
The line curved gracefully through the Bedfordshire countryside avoiding the parkland and ancient monuments, which were many and romantic, for exmaple Warden Abbey, Deadman's Cross, Old Warden and Southill Parks, Ickwell and Campton Manor Houses and Meppershall Motte and Bailey. It ran 13.5 miles from Bedford station to the junction with the GNR main line, which was three quarters of a mile north of Hitchin station. Travelling southwards the first mile and a half ran fairly straight through Bedford itself. That this was the Midland Railway's original route to London is testified by the fact that it continues the straight drift of the northerly route, whereas the line to St Pancras, built subsequently, curves off to the southwest. A spur was added to the old LNWR line from Bletchley to Cambridge, which crossed above the Bedford-Hitchin branch.
There were four intermediate stations: Cardington, Southill, Shefford and Henlow (renamed Henlow Camp in 1933 as the nearby Army barracks grew in size). A total of four miles of the route was embanked and two and a half miles were built in cuttings. A half-mile long tunnel was built through the Greensand ridge (not without loss of life among the labourers who worked on it). On top of this local eminence an Ordnance Survey triangulation point is located. From Old Warden, south of the tunnel, to Shefford the line was double tracked for slightly more than two and three-quarter miles.
The MR line to Hitchin was authorised in 1853 and opened on 8 May 1857. At its apogee in 1910 there were six passenger trains each way per day. But it lasted little more than a century. The last passenger train ran on 30 December 1961. It was composed of two auto coaches hauled by the Bedford (15D) standard locomotive no. 84005. Freight traffic ceased in December 1964 and the line was lifted soon afterwards with that peculiarly British zeal to eradicate as many of the traces as possible.
But Old Warden tunnel could not be so easily obliterated. One fresh, warm summer's day when I was about 13 years old a friend and I decided to walk along the trace of the line from Hitchin to Bedford. The tunnel, with its oval opening was completely intact (except for the lack of rails, sleepers and ballast), so in we went. We had no torch and the contrast with the sunlight was intense. At first we were acutely fearful that the shadows on the sandy floor would mask deep holes that we might fall into, but there were none. The sound of dripping water echoed off the walls and the atmosphere was cool and damp. When we had gone a quarter of a mile the light at each end was reduced to a small aperture and we blundered along in terror towards the bright pinpoint ahead of us. But all was well and we emerged unscathed and triumphant. In the tunnel the ghosts of Midland Railway trains seemed all around us: 2-4-0s with shiny brass safety-valve covers and trundling four-wheel coaches with prominent footboards along their sides.
Clearly, the very small number of passengers that used the railway from the four adjacent villages were not enough to keep it going, and neither were the people who travelled between Hitchin and Bedford. A bus service was more economical and the line ended up with negligible freight business. But the Bedford to Hitchin branch was built, in the first instance, as part of a major route from the Midlands to London. It could have been retained, mothballed at insignificant cost, as a diversionary route of some strategic importance. But that would have required long-term foresight, and little or none of that was present in the 1960s' urge to modernise at all costs.
When the last vestiges of steam had finally gone from the East Coast main line, I hung around the diesel depot at 34D. A kindly driver, perhaps remembering his own early passion for trainspotting, gave me a driving lesson on the Type 1 D8028--another emotional moment.
In 1962 I was nine years old. With one of my school-friends I made my first solo spotter's outing. It involved taking the bus, a green London Transport RT, from Stevenage to Hitchin (fare one shilling and sixpence) and nosing around the railway installations of that town. It was an emotional experience--a taste of (relative) freedom and the chance to start learning the art of how to trespass discretely on railway property.
Architecturally, the station buildings at Hitchin were typically understated in the GNR manner, low-pitched and vaguely Italianate. On the south side, the Hertfordshire clunch had been excavated into chalky cliffs, beneath which there were rows and rows of sidings full of a tantalising array of rolling stock. Indeed, the copious stabling areas on all four sides of the station were jammed full of coaches and wagons. The shear variety was amazing. The propensity to name the types of wagon after creatures of the sea was well in evidence, for there were examples of Catfish, Crocodile, Dogfish, Grampus, Mullet, Plaice, Salmon, Shark and Sturgeon, many of which were used on engineers' trains during weekend possessions of the permanent way.
In 1952 Hitchin (34D) MPD had an allocation of 29 locomotives: eight Thompson 'B1s' (one of which, no. 61105, may have been in its localised role as Departmental no. 27), eight Thompson 'L1s' tank engines, nine Ivatt 0-6-0s of the 'J1', 'J3', 'J5' and 'J6' classes, and a Gresley 'N2/2' non-condensing tank. By 1955 it still had eight 'B1s', six of them unchanged (including Dept no. 27), but the other two substituted by 61027 Madoqua and 61251 Oliver Bury. At that time Kings Cross (34A) had five 'B1s' and New England (34E) had five. These eighteen 4-6-0s were often to be seen rolling along on semi-fast passenger trains and miscellaneous freights, sometimes on the Hertford loop as well as the GNR main line and Cambridge branch. So were Hitchin's six 'J6' 0-6-0s, which worked the dwindling traffic of pick-up freights, Ten further examples of the class were stabled at Hornsey (34B).
By 1962 the cramped two-road shed behind the up platform of Hitchin station was reduced to servicing locomotives and stabling three 'B1s' that were used for Departmental work (heating stationary passenger trains, hauling engineers' trains and marshalling stock in the sidings). They were 61314, 61389 and no. 25 (alias 61272). On that day two of them were in steam in the yard, easily visible from the station.
Until 1963 'B1's would occasionally work a late afternoon class 'D' freight in the up direction south of Hitchin. They would bowl steadily along at 35 mph amid clouds of steam with a heterogeneous mixture of trucks behind them, including some vacuum-breaked vans marshalled next to the engine.
Until 1964 a double junction was situated north of Hitchin station. Not only did the line to Cambridge branch off to the northeast, as it still does, but on the other side there was the line from Bedford. This very minor railway connection, little more than 14 miles end to end, was the epitome of the rural branch railway.
The line curved gracefully through the Bedfordshire countryside avoiding the parkland and ancient monuments, which were many and romantic, for exmaple Warden Abbey, Deadman's Cross, Old Warden and Southill Parks, Ickwell and Campton Manor Houses and Meppershall Motte and Bailey. It ran 13.5 miles from Bedford station to the junction with the GNR main line, which was three quarters of a mile north of Hitchin station. Travelling southwards the first mile and a half ran fairly straight through Bedford itself. That this was the Midland Railway's original route to London is testified by the fact that it continues the straight drift of the northerly route, whereas the line to St Pancras, built subsequently, curves off to the southwest. A spur was added to the old LNWR line from Bletchley to Cambridge, which crossed above the Bedford-Hitchin branch.
There were four intermediate stations: Cardington, Southill, Shefford and Henlow (renamed Henlow Camp in 1933 as the nearby Army barracks grew in size). A total of four miles of the route was embanked and two and a half miles were built in cuttings. A half-mile long tunnel was built through the Greensand ridge (not without loss of life among the labourers who worked on it). On top of this local eminence an Ordnance Survey triangulation point is located. From Old Warden, south of the tunnel, to Shefford the line was double tracked for slightly more than two and three-quarter miles.
The MR line to Hitchin was authorised in 1853 and opened on 8 May 1857. At its apogee in 1910 there were six passenger trains each way per day. But it lasted little more than a century. The last passenger train ran on 30 December 1961. It was composed of two auto coaches hauled by the Bedford (15D) standard locomotive no. 84005. Freight traffic ceased in December 1964 and the line was lifted soon afterwards with that peculiarly British zeal to eradicate as many of the traces as possible.
But Old Warden tunnel could not be so easily obliterated. One fresh, warm summer's day when I was about 13 years old a friend and I decided to walk along the trace of the line from Hitchin to Bedford. The tunnel, with its oval opening was completely intact (except for the lack of rails, sleepers and ballast), so in we went. We had no torch and the contrast with the sunlight was intense. At first we were acutely fearful that the shadows on the sandy floor would mask deep holes that we might fall into, but there were none. The sound of dripping water echoed off the walls and the atmosphere was cool and damp. When we had gone a quarter of a mile the light at each end was reduced to a small aperture and we blundered along in terror towards the bright pinpoint ahead of us. But all was well and we emerged unscathed and triumphant. In the tunnel the ghosts of Midland Railway trains seemed all around us: 2-4-0s with shiny brass safety-valve covers and trundling four-wheel coaches with prominent footboards along their sides.
Clearly, the very small number of passengers that used the railway from the four adjacent villages were not enough to keep it going, and neither were the people who travelled between Hitchin and Bedford. A bus service was more economical and the line ended up with negligible freight business. But the Bedford to Hitchin branch was built, in the first instance, as part of a major route from the Midlands to London. It could have been retained, mothballed at insignificant cost, as a diversionary route of some strategic importance. But that would have required long-term foresight, and little or none of that was present in the 1960s' urge to modernise at all costs.
When the last vestiges of steam had finally gone from the East Coast main line, I hung around the diesel depot at 34D. A kindly driver, perhaps remembering his own early passion for trainspotting, gave me a driving lesson on the Type 1 D8028--another emotional moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment