Mystery Location.

Morning All,

I put a couple of pictures taken in 1964 on my Flickr site yesterday, but I have no idea where they were taken. So I wondered whether anyone on here might be able to put me out of my misery:

R2148. 45393 - but where? by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

R2149. 45393 - but where? by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

London area possibly? From April 1964 45393 was allocated to Willesden before moving to Crewe in 1965.
Before moving to Willesden she was at Bletchley.

 

Are the angles right for Acton Wells Jct?

 

Well, I lived in Wembley at the time, so it's quite possible - but where? There appears to be a coal mine or a power station in the background if that helps at all.

 

I did wonder whether it could be in that area somewhere, but aren't there electrified lines around there? None are visible in the pictures.

 

Yes. so perhaps Mitre Bridge?

 

That's another junction I wondered about, but there appears to be a coal mine or power station in the background of my pictures and there's nothing like that at Mitre Bridge, just Wormwood Scrubs. Very useful, Google Satellite!

Someone else has suggested Leeds, but I have no idea what I would have been doing up that way if it is!

 

I think at Leeds at least some of the buildings would have looked black.

The picture before in your list is of 42118, another Willesden loco. I am sticking with W London and wondering what sort of train that might have been and possibly a footex at one of the junctions around Neasden. Ring any bells?

 

I doubt that this helps much, but I travelled behind 45393 on the 22.30 Newhaven - Glasgow Car sleeper on 24/8/64 from Newhaven to a loco change at Willesden, her home base at the time. The train itself carries an empty stock headcode and the first two coaches appear to be a BG and a Mark 1 sleeping car. Vegetation suggests early spring time. I would think the West London area is most likely.

Peter

 

I have no idea of the location but looking at the smoke and steam trail could it reversing or very windy?

 

I think this might be Neasden Junction where the Acton to Cricklewood goods line is joined by the spur from the GC main line on which the Black Five is travelling. I seem to remember there was a coal yard here with Neasden loco shed being behind the train. I don't think that is a coal mine, there was a stone crushing plant and roadstone depot around here as I remember. If I'm right the brick viaduct in the background is the North Circular Road.
Turning to the train, it is an empty stock working so could be a Wembley Stadium special that came down the GC, The chalk inscription on the smokebox reads WE? The Cup Final that year was between Preston North End and West Ham so not likely to be that and I don't know any details of other events that year, a pity the month in 1964 cannot be deciphered |

 

And I think that you might be right! In fact I was coming to that conclusion myself having spent an hour studying Google Maps and Satellite views. I, too, had suddenly twigged that the brick viaduct leading to an iron girder bride is not a railway viaduct as I had first supposed, but the North Circular Road. By enlarging the original scan I think I could just see a lorry and street lights. The iron girder bridge is near the Ace Café, a popular haunt of motor cyclists at the time. (Maybe it still is?) They used to go for burn ups on the North Circular and one of them commented that if you took the bend by the bridge too fast you came out the other side like chips!

What I first took to be a coal mine or power station is the site of Neasden MPD which had closed in 1962. The site is now occupied by an asphalt company, so perhaps the black heaps that I took to be coal are heaps of asphalt. The whole area has changed so much since the 1960s, it's almost impossible to recognise anything!

The train has the ECS headlamps, but the second vehicle is a sleeping car. Could this be being transferred between regions, or could it have been on its way to or from the menders? The chalked inscription reads "ALL OUT WED 23/12/64" which suggests that ASLEF or the NUR were planning a strike on that day. However, there is no mention of such a strike on the internet that I could find, so perhaps a negotiated settlement was reach and the strike called off. I had assumed that the date on the smokebox door indicated that the picture was taken in December, 1964, but someone else has suggested that it looks like early spring, so perhaps February or March, 1965 would be more accurate. One would have thought that the chalked inscription would have been rubbed out by then though, but there was a shortage of cleaners in those days. The next pictures in my index numbering system are at Willesden shed, so that ties in with these two being at Neasden.

Thanks for taking the trouble to get in touch.

 

I think the train might be stationary, so smoke is just drifting. Presumably the train was being held at the junction signal.

 

It certainly is. A Mecca for motorcycles, cars and rock and roll.

 

Ah - but that's where you're wrong! It helped a lot and led me to Neasden Junction which was then confirmed by johnb who had the same idea. The Class 3 headlamp code also includes ECS from an empty motor rail train, so perhaps that explains the sleeping car.

Thanks for taking the trouble to get in touch.

 

Do they still come out of the other side of the girder bridge like chips? Or are they a bit more subdued these days?

 

A lot of Italian bikes nowadays, so probably more likely to be spaghetti.

 

I think that, between us all, we've cracked it and the location is Neasden Junction. See the various other posts and my replies to see how we got there!

Thanks for taking the trouble to get in touch.

 

Ho-ho!

 

Yes, you're right. It's Neasden Junction; see the other posts and my replies to see how we got there. Thanks for taking the trouble to get in touch.