‘Underground Then and Now’, by Brian Hardy, 3rd October 2023
3rd October 2023 Meeting.
We welcomed back ever popular presenter Brian Hardy, former Head Controller at London Transport and author of various railway books, his talk being titled ‘Underground Then and Now’.
He covered a vast majority of the Underground and we started with East Acton with a 1923 Standard Stock train at a station that was in the country with wooden platforms and now of course surrounded by houses with a proper platform. On to Chesham with a great ‘then’ photo from 1961 of an A60 in the new bay road, a Dreadnought set in the main platform and Electric Loco No. 16 'OLIVER GOLDSMITH' on the line next to the signal cabin. Northwood with a couple of T Stock in the sidings and an interesting ‘now’ photo of a S Stock heading south with an A60 in the siding being taken away for scrap! Uxbridge with a P Stock entering, Northwood Hills with the reversing sidings when the line was being 4 tracked; Stanmore with W Stock and 1983 Stock, both now gone; Wembley Park with the old covered car sheds; Neasden with a temporary platform on the LNER line alongside the down Met Line, this was due to bomb damage at Marylebone in 1940. Willesden Green was next with an MW Stock; Acton Town for the one car South Acton Shuttle; Piccadilly Circus with 1927 Standard Stock; London Road Depot on the Bakerloo Line Looking in and out. Then out to Ongar, Blake Hall and North Weald where we saw 1935, 1938, 1956, 1962 and Standard Stock trains; Loughton Station being rebuilt with a London Transport STD Bus standing outside; Bank Station with one of the three original electric locos; Ealing Broadway with a Central Line train entering in the 3-rail days. On to Hendon Central under construction and East Finchley during re-building.
These were the pick of the photos but there were many more and we finished with a 15 minute Q&A session. All 23 of the audience really enjoyed the evening and we look forward to welcoming Brian back again in June 2024.
Rob Davidson, Branch Secretary