1960 - Cravens on the 'Widened Lines'..
BR Cravens DMU at Aldersgate and Barbican station, on a bright sunny day in June 1960, with E51254 nearest the camera. The London Transport Metropolitan/Circle Line platforms are on the left.
The station had suffered from bomb damage during the war, and the overall roof was finally removed in 1955, and replaced with the rather austere platform awnings seen here. It was renamed to 'Barbican' in 1968.
The Cravens units lasted on this line until late 1976, and some were then relocated to East Anglia. The line was electrified for Midland Region 'Thameslink' services, which lasted until 2009, when the tracks became abandoned, after the link at Farringdon was removed to enable platform extension on the line from there to Blackfriars and the south.
Today (2021) the abandoned tracks are still in place, but overgrown, with steel mesh barriers at each tunnel and overbridge.
The Cravens DMUs - Class 105 - suffered from Asbestos contamination and corrosion, and only one two-car unit and a single trailer have survived into preservation..
Restored from an over-exposed faded grainy original..
Original slide - photographer unknown
1960 - Cravens on the 'Widened Lines'..
BR Cravens DMU at Aldersgate and Barbican station, on a bright sunny day in June 1960, with E51254 nearest the camera. The London Transport Metropolitan/Circle Line platforms are on the left.
The station had suffered from bomb damage during the war, and the overall roof was finally removed in 1955, and replaced with the rather austere platform awnings seen here. It was renamed to 'Barbican' in 1968.
The Cravens units lasted on this line until late 1976, and some were then relocated to East Anglia. The line was electrified for Midland Region 'Thameslink' services, which lasted until 2009, when the tracks became abandoned, after the link at Farringdon was removed to enable platform extension on the line from there to Blackfriars and the south.
Today (2021) the abandoned tracks are still in place, but overgrown, with steel mesh barriers at each tunnel and overbridge.
The Cravens DMUs - Class 105 - suffered from Asbestos contamination and corrosion, and only one two-car unit and a single trailer have survived into preservation..
Restored from an over-exposed faded grainy original..
Original slide - photographer unknown