A trip down Memory Lane, NW1
A good number of the early slides I took didn't survive a cull back in the late 1980s - for the most part down to a combination of poor exposure, out of focus, or sloppy composition.
The advent of digital has pretty well kicked the first two issues into touch but thankfully the latter is still down to the skill of the photographer .... well, for the timebeing at least.
The image above is number 18 in the collection. It's not the best one I've ever taken but the subject matter is interesting (for me) in that it's one of the only images I have of a Class 501 London District 3-car 630v DC set.
In fact there are two 3-car sets in this train: set 45 (M61145, M70145, M75145), and set 71. They are arriving into London Euston from Watford, from where I'd ride them back out as far as Willesden Junction, for reasons which will become obvious below.
Having studied my Locospotters' Annual 1967 (a treasured possession from when I was barely into double-digit age) I'm fairly certain I'm stood on platform 10. The reason I mention this is because platform 9 is also 3rd rail electrified but, judging by the rust on said rail, I'm guessing it wasn't seeing much action from these units.
Completing the scene is class 86 no. 86218 heading an express for the north. Originally numbered E3175 (given the date I'm guessing the TOPS number was only recently applied) she was finally withdrawn in 2004 from Anglia Railways, before eventually being exported to Hungary in 2011. Immediately behind the loco is a Mark 1 parcels van, a quite typical inclusion in the carriage formation at the time and reflecting the then importance of mail and parcels to the railway network.
The three apartment blocks, which lie just off the Hampstead Road, are still there today and, for folk with a certain sense of humour, those apartments that are west and north facing should have a very nice view of nearby Mornington Crescent. Humph would no doubt be tickled.........
It turned out to be quite a productive day in the capital with a visit to Old Oak Common depot (a short walk from Willesden Junction) producing Hymeks 7000 7029 7030 7031 7032 7044 7100, as well as twelve Blue Pullman cars. In a sign of things to come however, class 50 no. 401 was also ominously present, and probably sending a shiver down the backs of the Western class locomotives stabled there.
Agfacolor 50asa
19th January 1974
A trip down Memory Lane, NW1
A good number of the early slides I took didn't survive a cull back in the late 1980s - for the most part down to a combination of poor exposure, out of focus, or sloppy composition.
The advent of digital has pretty well kicked the first two issues into touch but thankfully the latter is still down to the skill of the photographer .... well, for the timebeing at least.
The image above is number 18 in the collection. It's not the best one I've ever taken but the subject matter is interesting (for me) in that it's one of the only images I have of a Class 501 London District 3-car 630v DC set.
In fact there are two 3-car sets in this train: set 45 (M61145, M70145, M75145), and set 71. They are arriving into London Euston from Watford, from where I'd ride them back out as far as Willesden Junction, for reasons which will become obvious below.
Having studied my Locospotters' Annual 1967 (a treasured possession from when I was barely into double-digit age) I'm fairly certain I'm stood on platform 10. The reason I mention this is because platform 9 is also 3rd rail electrified but, judging by the rust on said rail, I'm guessing it wasn't seeing much action from these units.
Completing the scene is class 86 no. 86218 heading an express for the north. Originally numbered E3175 (given the date I'm guessing the TOPS number was only recently applied) she was finally withdrawn in 2004 from Anglia Railways, before eventually being exported to Hungary in 2011. Immediately behind the loco is a Mark 1 parcels van, a quite typical inclusion in the carriage formation at the time and reflecting the then importance of mail and parcels to the railway network.
The three apartment blocks, which lie just off the Hampstead Road, are still there today and, for folk with a certain sense of humour, those apartments that are west and north facing should have a very nice view of nearby Mornington Crescent. Humph would no doubt be tickled.........
It turned out to be quite a productive day in the capital with a visit to Old Oak Common depot (a short walk from Willesden Junction) producing Hymeks 7000 7029 7030 7031 7032 7044 7100, as well as twelve Blue Pullman cars. In a sign of things to come however, class 50 no. 401 was also ominously present, and probably sending a shiver down the backs of the Western class locomotives stabled there.
Agfacolor 50asa
19th January 1974