White disks on the front of steam locomotives

In an early post it was queried if passengers would know the codes. I think the answer is a definate maybe. You may wonder why I assert this. Well not seeing steam on our local lines we did have electrics with headcodes, My local line was Mid Kent to Hayes. During disruption and trains running out of order you could be sure of your train home when at London Bridge seeing headcode 24,25,34,35 or 36. You also noted when going up to town evens went to Charring Cross - odds to Cannon St. 20 series went via Lewisham and 30 series via parksbridge usually fast to LB from Ladywell.

Admitedly numbers are easier to remember but I could envisage the observant comuter recognising the codes of their regular train

 

Yep. I remember the two digit head codes on the front of the slam door EMUs in my commuting days used to indicate my fast or slow train, Now we have LED destination descriptors.

 

Great they are too. A Thameslink train pulled into London St. Pancras the other evening displaying 'Welcome...' on the front. Where the hell is that? If it ain't broke...

 

nearly as good as the windows blue screen of death that appeared on all the destination information screens at waterloo.

Oh there is a Welcome, in North Carolina. It has a rail road, but no station.

 

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I think that this refers to the real Alresford, which is in Essex.

 

I see Liverpool St. is a somewhat brighter location these days. Seems the stygian gloom I remember so well is now a thing of the past.

 

Oh I'm not so sure* - have a look at those roof panels in the photo. Yes Liverpool Street may have looked great back in 1991 but its obvious that some of the finishes (such a the roof panels) haven't stood the passage of time very well. Really the station needs another spruce up, with particular attention paid to the roof. Have a look at Paddington or Kings Cross to see just what a difference a decent refurbishment can do to daylight levels.

* Yes I am aware you are probably talking about LS in the 50s / 60s /70s, but 1991 is 24 years ago now.

 

I have 4 very distinct memories of Liverpool street spanning the late 50s up to the mid 60s. The darkness and claustrophobia, The overhead walkway that gave views of most of the platforms and the link to broad street, the vending machine that was the only place i knew (as a kid) that had chocolate milk, and being hauled up onto the footplate of 70037 Hereward the Wake by the driver - my father.

 

Who need's "daylight levels" in a London terminus? Liverpool Street was a wonderful place before the 1991 semi-destruction, like a great sooty maze, but that's part of what was wonderful about it. Thank heaven for John Betjeman, without whose campaigning the whole place would have been destroyed.

A couple of stories: There is a legend that Lenin, arriving at Liv St. from Harwich in a fog in in the early 1900s, was terrified, thinking he had arrived in hell. (No doubt he arrived at the real one a few years later.)

In 1990 I spent 3 nights there, removing various bits and pieces such as sections of the railings from the overhead walkway and ticket barriers, old loco buffers from the platform ends etc. At about 2 am the lights were dimmed and the place took on an even more sinister appearance. The track had been taken up for some yards at the end of the West Side platforms and I noticed, in the gloom, that the resulting piles of splintered sleepers and ballast seemed to be moving. Closer inspection revealed that they were crawling with hundreds of rats. I mentioned this to one of our volunteers, who worked there as an electrician and he assured me that there were, in fact, millions of them!

 

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Not strictly on topic but I find these front end signs to be a bit strange

 

That's actually quite a good idea, if they are sharing platforms with South Eastern services.

 

I also think they are a good idea. During my commuting days, 16 years Staplehurst to London, it was allways useful to know how long a train was so as to stand in the most likely place to get a seat.

Re dim stations Cannon st and Charring Cross are floodlit compared to Birmingham New St.

Re the old Liverpool St, darkest area was where the lines used to extend under the buildings at the buffer stop ends. I was once told that the lines used to connect with the underground. The messyest area was around the turntable and loco servicing area. The cosyest the buffet on the first floor

 

True but in our area, GWR, station announcements always say how many coaches there are on the train approaching.

 

I agree that this is a welcome assistance to passengers. As you will see from my avatar I am an exile from the south and ocasionally use the ex GWR Stratford to Moor ST / Snow Hill line and find said announcements useful

 

There's a sprinter knocking about the Midlands somewhere which can display things like 'Hong Kong' on the front. I know this because a friend is a train manager up there (or whatever guards are called these days) and has photographed it with silly destinations on the front.

As that Overground train is in a depot is it just a press thing to publicise strengthening the sets from 4 cars? I don't recall seeing one in service with this on the front, though have not been looking & don't use the Overground often, so I'm prepared to be corrected.

Number of cars on station displays is useful when they get it right. They don't always.

Not aware of a railway link between Liverpool St. main line and Underground and surely they are at 90 degrees to each other? The Underground station did have a bay platform until the 80s but that was on the far side. Not aware of other changes in that area; I will have to dig out some books. Of course, there was once a round-about link via Shoreditch, Whitechapel and reversing via St. Mary's Curve, but I suspect that's not what you meant!

 

I have read somewhere of a connection to the Metropolitan line. I think it fell out of regular use before WWI.

 

There was certainly a connection with the East London Line but which could only be accessed from the direction of the platforms at LS going eastbound. I suspect that made through freight workings a pain?

I think I've got that right - please correct me if I'm wrong!

Steve B

 

Actually, having now checked, the Met did originally run into LS mainline and terminated there. They later built their own station as the line was extended as part of the Circle line.

Steve B