How did they manage while Euston Station was being rebuilt?

[Comstock]

Hi, it's been too long since I last posted on here so I hope I'm using the right forum.

I've just been watching Timeshift about the heyday of British Rail. One of the biggest projects in the 1960s was the demolition and rebuilding of Euston. If they did that now, it would cause major disruption, and I can't imagine things were much different back then. How did they manage?

 

[NSEFAN]

Diversion to other London termini such as Marylebone and St Pancras would have been an option. To do such a thing now would be much harder because of the sheer congestion on the network. Running the system at max capacity makes upgrading much harder, as we shall see with the upcoming Euston rebuild.

 

[pablo]

As NSEFAN says. Like Blue Pullman from Manch to St.P.
Also, forshortened platforms with scaffold plank access between the platforms whilst the front end was built clear of pax traffic. It was mayhem I can tell you. And traffic was much lighter then. Compare BR's promotional vids then showing the wide open concourse space with the 500 or so pax filling the concourse today and arriving pax threading their way through them. No segregation of arriving and departing pax. Clever design.

 

[Comstock]

Diversion to other London termini such as Marylebone and St Pancras would have been an option.

Yes I was wondering if they did that

But some of our older members might remember?

 

[dave_wm]

There certainly was diversion on some level - as an example, services between Euston and Birmingham New Street were decimated for a few years, with an increase provided on the Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill route instead (IIRC it went up to an hourly service) - a sort of Indian Summer for that route before it was downgraded on completion of the WCML upgrade work.

 

[oldman]

The main Birmingham service went from Paddington; the main Manchester from St Pancras, not just the Pullman. There were far fewer trains - Liverpool had 5 or 6 daytime, Scotland about 4, a few to Blackpool, Carlisle and North Wales. The outer suburban service to Northampton was also limited. Timetable World has the 1962/63 LMR timetable.

 

[30907]

Remember the whole route was being electrified, it wasn't just the Euston job, so services were massively decelerated as well as Wolves and Manchester being diverted. Remaining long distance trains wouldn't generally have been turned round in the platforms, reducing occupancy.

IIRC some sleepers later went into Kenny O (mornings being more of a problem than evenings). Marylebone was also used, but it's a long diversion; it was used for the Starlight Specials in earlier years.

Haven't got a relevant timetable to check, but my 1958 one certainly confirms how infrequent the expresses were before the diversions.

Thanks @oldman for the more useful link, which says there were sleepers to/from Marylebone then, post duly corrected.

 

[Ploughman]

Less observation of Health and Safety.
Work on one track while trains run on the next line, or even between trains.
Trains could be rearranged at a moments notice or stock added / removed.
Drivers and other train crew more flexible in the routes known.

 

[Bevan Price]

Summer 1964 timetable:
Manchester - St. Pancras was almost hourly (with a few gaps) during WCML electrification work & Euston rebuilding.
Paddington - Birmingham Snow Hill was also mostly hourly.

On some sundays, some Liverpool & other WCML services could be diverted to Kensington Olympia - just one of many possible diversions on WCML due to engineering work.

On Sundays, apart from the Watford line DC services, the first departures from Euston were at 08:20, then 10:00. And the "outer suburban" departures, some going no further than Bletchley / Northampton **, were thin on the ground, especially on sundays (just the 08:20, 10:40, 13:33, 16:40, 18:12 and 22:07 from Euston), so it was a lot easier to find "quiet" times for rebuilding work than would now be possible.

And rail replacement buses over long distances were virtually unknown.

** - Or in some cases, longer distance services provided stops at Bletchley, Northampton, etc (e.g. 11:00 (Su) Euston - Carlisle & Workington included stops at Watford Jn, Bletchley, Wolverton, Northampton & Rugby.)

 

[Bletchleyite]

On Sundays, apart from the Watford line DC services, the first departures from Euston were at 08:20, then 10:00. And the "outer suburban" departures, some going no further than Bletchley / Northampton **, were thin on the ground, especially on sundays (just the 08:20, 10:40, 13:33, 16:40, 18:12 and 22:07 from Euston), so it was a lot easier to find "quiet" times for rebuilding work than would now be possible.

Indeed - commuter numbers from north of Watford would have been tiny in those days. I recall reading that the 1970s weekday service on the Northampton line was just 2tph - the Sunday service is now better than that. And talking of Sundays...it was as recent as the late 1990s when all shops in big cities like Liverpool were firmly closed on a Sunday. Last time I remember it being noticeable was about 1997 I think.

Then someone thought of building a 250,000+ population New Town in the North Bucks countryside, which would offer a large amount of London overspill housing to add to that already in parts of Bletchley (where I live these days), as well as bolting a smaller one onto Hemel and some onto Northampton. The rest was history, as they say...

Neil

 

[satisnek]

Indeed - commuter numbers from north of Watford would have been tiny in those days. I recall reading that the 1970s weekday service on the Northampton line was just 2tph - the Sunday service is now better than that.

In the late '70s it wasn't even that. There was an hourly service Euston - Harrow & Wealdstone - Watford Junction then all stations to Bletchley and an hourly service Euston - Watford Junction - Hemel Hempstead - Berkhamsted - Leighton Buzzard then all stations to Birmingham via Northampton. Throw in a couple or three Northampton-Euston services in the morning peak and similar return workings in the evening and that was your lot.

 

[Bevan Price]

On weekdays, the 1964 weekday (M-F) timetable showed just 13 services from Northampton to Euston, a mixture of "slow" and long distance services.

Northbound from Euston, the M-F "slow" service consisted of 17 services to Bletchley (some continuing to Northampton or beyond), plus 5 "short" workings to Tring. Bletchley also had a few stops by WCML express services.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Electrification of course stimulated much growth - not just Hemel new town , but the railway village of Leighton Buzzard flourished - not to mention MK of course....I ssupect some of the growth was there before the rebuilding.

The Watford - Euston / Broad Street / Bakerloo had its last and finest hour during the rebuilding - up to about 16 tph in the peaks before being summarily "done in" after 1967 !

Certain sleepers and so on (like Motorail went to Kensington Olympia for the duration ..which in those far off days had an Area Manager !)

 

[Bald Rick]

Most of the postal traffic - very significant back then - was relocated to a temporary depot on the down side near Queens Park. There is still a Royal Mail sorting office on the site.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I can think of a now long retired Electrification Manager (M+EE as it was , back in the day) - who might be able to opine on this. Will ask his son - next time I see him. As well as a pool of now long retired Watford and Bletchley drivers...

 

[Saltleyman]

Most of the postal traffic - very significant back then - was relocated to a temporary depot on the down side near Queens Park. There is still a Royal Mail sorting office on the site.

I think that the Mail trains were dealt with at Kilburn on the "Downside" I actually (being a Saltley Fireman on loan to Monument Lane depot at the time)worked to there with one of the mail trains diverted away from Euston.

 

[Andrew1395]

Kensington Olympia Area Manager merged with Euston about 1984. For the Euston rebuild, they built a temporary parcels and mail depot at Marylebone. All parcels traffic diverted here until the new PCD on the Euston "Deck" was opened. This had lifts to everyone of the new platforms to take BRUTEs of parcels direct to a large conveyor system to sort the parcels for local collection and delivery. Parcels and mail traffic was very significant in the 1960s
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Kilburn goods was open, but the current post office sorting depot that is on the site, was not built until the 1990s. I think the sidings shut in the 1970s. Certainly shunters at Euston 20 years ago had worked at Kilburn