British Railways The First 25 Years Volume 9: London

British Railways The First 25 Years Volume 9: London

The London Midland Region including the London, Tilbury and Southend Line

Hardback, 208 pages.

The ninth in the series of books depicting the first 25 years of British Railways, this volume covers the London Midland Region lines in the London area, from the terminus stations at Euston and St. Pancras out as far as Watford and St. Albans respectively, the North London Line from Broad Street and the former London Tilbury & Southend Railway (LT&SR) lines out of Fenchurch Street. We look at the steam age Euston station and its rebuilding for the West Coast electrification in the 1960s. We visit the four principal motive power depots serving the Western and Midland Divisions, Camden, Willesden, Cricklewood and Kentish Town, and also Devons Road on the North London Line and Ripple Lane, Plaistow, Tilbury and Shoeburyness on the London Tilbury & Southend. A variety of locomotive types are featured, including ‘Jubilees’, ‘Royal Scots’ and Stanier Pacifics, English Electric Type ‘4’s, ‘Peak’ diesel-electrics, Sulzer and BRC&W Co. Type ‘2’s and ex-L&NWR 0-8-0s alongside ‘4F’ 0-6-0s and ‘8F’ 2-8-0s together with Fowler and Stanier 2-6-4Ts. On the North London Line the EMU-worked passenger services from Broad Street to Watford and Richmond contrasted with the variety of steam classes on cross-London freights. The LT&SR was the LM&SRs busiest commuter line into the Capital and there was also a healthy summer traffic of day trippers, primarily to Southend. The ‘Tilbury’ was almost exclusively a tank engine line with the LT&SR-designed 4-4-2Ts working alongside the LM&SR 2-6-4Ts until electification in 1962. As with the previous London volumes, we have included detailed maps of the principal stations and depots showing how they fit into the Capital’s streets. Platform layouts are also provided for each of the termini.