The Old and the New - advert issued by Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company 1949 showing Loughton Underground station, Essex
Westinghouse Brake & Signal of London (and latterly Cheltenham) had a very long relationship with London Transport and its pre-1933 predecessor, the Underground Group having provided signalling and train equipment since the earliest days of the electric tube. In fact several lines of today's Underground system still rely on Westinghouse equipment and technology for their operation.
This advert (from 'Locomotive Railway Carriage & Wagon Review of 1949) shows a moment in time with the extension of the electrically operated Central line services to Loughton that occurred on 21 November 1948 as part of the long war delayed conversion of the mainline Epping/Ongar branch to tube operation. This had been planned and initiated in pre-war days as part of the 1935-40 'New Works Programme' of investment in London's transport system. Until 25 September 1949, when electrification as far as Epping was introduced, trips beyond Loughton required a change of train on to a by then British Railways steam service as seen here. The Epping branch formed part of a network of intensively operated steam services based on Liverpool St mainline station that had been instituted by the Great Eastern Railway prior to the Grouping of 1923 when the London & North Eastern Railway took over. This is alluded to in the advert with the description of the 1907 ex-GER locomotive 589, latterly LNER Class F5 7213. The tube train seen is of the 'Standard stock' type that ran Central line services at the time. Many of the cars required to operate both the eastern and western extensions of the lines that opened in the late 1940s had been stored during the war and despite reconstruction had a reputation for poor service. The Central line would eventually, after a 'false start' with the trial 1960-tube stock be wholly re-equipped with a new fleet of 1962-tube stock that ran until the current 1995-ts was introduced. The photo is taken from the east end of the platforms looking south with the brick 'box' of the station building behind the Standard stock and an odd illusion caused by the airbrshing out of the gull-wing canopy immediately above the steam locomotive!
The station at Loughton is now Grade 2 Listed having been constructed by the LNER in 1938-40 on behalf of London Transport in anticipation of the transfer to London Underground. Designed by John Murray Easton and Partners the station is firmly of the modern European style of architecture and one of the best of its type in the UK and indeed northern Europe. Then again, I'm slightly biased!
The Old and the New - advert issued by Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company 1949 showing Loughton Underground station, Essex
Westinghouse Brake & Signal of London (and latterly Cheltenham) had a very long relationship with London Transport and its pre-1933 predecessor, the Underground Group having provided signalling and train equipment since the earliest days of the electric tube. In fact several lines of today's Underground system still rely on Westinghouse equipment and technology for their operation.
This advert (from 'Locomotive Railway Carriage & Wagon Review of 1949) shows a moment in time with the extension of the electrically operated Central line services to Loughton that occurred on 21 November 1948 as part of the long war delayed conversion of the mainline Epping/Ongar branch to tube operation. This had been planned and initiated in pre-war days as part of the 1935-40 'New Works Programme' of investment in London's transport system. Until 25 September 1949, when electrification as far as Epping was introduced, trips beyond Loughton required a change of train on to a by then British Railways steam service as seen here. The Epping branch formed part of a network of intensively operated steam services based on Liverpool St mainline station that had been instituted by the Great Eastern Railway prior to the Grouping of 1923 when the London & North Eastern Railway took over. This is alluded to in the advert with the description of the 1907 ex-GER locomotive 589, latterly LNER Class F5 7213. The tube train seen is of the 'Standard stock' type that ran Central line services at the time. Many of the cars required to operate both the eastern and western extensions of the lines that opened in the late 1940s had been stored during the war and despite reconstruction had a reputation for poor service. The Central line would eventually, after a 'false start' with the trial 1960-tube stock be wholly re-equipped with a new fleet of 1962-tube stock that ran until the current 1995-ts was introduced. The photo is taken from the east end of the platforms looking south with the brick 'box' of the station building behind the Standard stock and an odd illusion caused by the airbrshing out of the gull-wing canopy immediately above the steam locomotive!
The station at Loughton is now Grade 2 Listed having been constructed by the LNER in 1938-40 on behalf of London Transport in anticipation of the transfer to London Underground. Designed by John Murray Easton and Partners the station is firmly of the modern European style of architecture and one of the best of its type in the UK and indeed northern Europe. Then again, I'm slightly biased!