MY LIFE IN TRAINS
My Story - Part Eight
Potter's Bar, Coppermill Junction,
West Ealing and Hanwell
I was part of an experiment at school where we were fast tracked to take our GCE ‘O’ Levels a year early at the end of the fourth year in 1959 – the experiment didn’t work well for me, and that meant I ended up repeating half my subjects for a year, while many of my friends started studying for their ‘A’ Levels. The upside was that I had plenty of empty slots in my school timetable – ample time to bunk off school to watch trains. My geography teacher introduced me to geology, which became a driving force in my life for the next 11 years, and geology field trips competed with train spotting for my spare time.
The best location within walking distance of school was Coppermill Junction, Walthamstow, where the Lea Valley lines to Liverpool Street and Stratford diverged. This was an important inter-regional freight route into London Docks via Stratford Low Level with many powered by LMS engines. The one downside was that the quickest route from our school went past the shop that my mother worked in – care was taken!
At weekends in between London shed bashing trips in the Spring of 1960, I managed some lineside photography on the main lines out of Kings Cross, Euston, Paddington and Waterloo. Here are few from Potters Bar, Coppermill Junction, West Ealing and Hanwell.
All Photographs by Alan Lewis Chambers ©
English Electric Type 1 No D8027 heads a northbound bulk grain hopper train through Potters Bar on 19 March 1960.
North of Potters Bar Gresley A4 No 60028 'Walter K Whigham' nears its destination at Kings Cross with an express from Newcastle on 19 March 1960.
A very clean WD 2-8-0 No 90063 heads an engineer's train south near Potters Bar on 19 March 1960.
GER J69 0-6-0T No 68571 heads a short freight towards Temple Mills near Copper Mill Junction on 9 April 1960.
By the time I had a camera, the Gresley B17 4-6-0s had almost vanished - here No 61657 'Doncaster Rovers' heads an express
from the Cambridge line towards Liverpool Street on 9 April 1960.
L&YR Crab 2-6-0 No 42759 heads into London near Copper Mill Junction on 9 April 1960.
GWR 6100 2-6-2T No 6163 passes West Ealing on a down train from Paddington on 15 April 1960.
GWR King 4-6-0 No 6015 'King Richard III' passes Hanwell on a down express from Paddington on 15 April 1960.
D8027, the hoppers are all Bulk Grain wagons. Possibly working from Sandy.