Hitchin - Brighton train in 1962

[geoffk]

I've just acquired a second hand book on the Southern Electric which includes a photograph of a Derby/Sulzer diesel (later class 24) hauling the 9.10 am Hitchin - Brighton train near Honor Oak Park on a Sunday in June 1962. I had no idea such a service existed then. Was it just a summer weekend service and what route would it have taken through London? The Snow Hill tunnel remained in use for goods traffic until the end of the 1960s so was this the route taken, via Blackfriars and london Bridge, or did the train take the East London line, reversing at Liverpool Street?

 

[Bevan Price]

I've just acquired a second hand book on the Southern Electric which includes a photograph of a Derby/Sulzer diesel (later class 24) hauling the 9.10 am Hitchin - Brighton train near Honor Oak Park on a Sunday in June 1962. I had no idea such a service existed then. Was it just a summer weekend service and what route would it have taken through London? The Snow Hill tunnel remained in use for goods traffic until the end of the 1960s so was this the route taken, via Blackfriars and london Bridge, or did the train take the East London line, reversing at Liverpool Street?

I was on a similar train in 1963 or 1964 which I joined at Finsbury Park (not sure where it originated). It was an ADEX, and ran via York Road, the widened lines and the Snow Hill Tunnel, and formed of ex-LNER corridor stock.

Sunday ADEXes were not uncommon at that time - I also once took one to Southend with (as it was then) a Class 30.

 

[contrex]

Original British Railways Handbill Poster 1956 Hitchin to - Etsy UK

An Original British Railway Handbill dated 1956 Nicely framed measures approx 33x25cm including frame

www.etsy.com

Handbill for excursion on Sunday 3 June 1956. You can zoom to see the times. Hitchin 9.35 Finsbury Park 10.40 Brighton 1.24 PM, return 6.18 PM Hitchin 10 PM, Unfortunately does not give the route after Finsbury Park.

 

[geoffk]

Thanks for that information.

 

[30907]

Original British Railways Handbill Poster 1956 Hitchin to - Etsy UK

An Original British Railway Handbill dated 1956 Nicely framed measures approx 33x25cm including frame

www.etsy.com

Handbill for excursion on Sunday 3 June 1956. You can zoom to see the times. Hitchin 9.35 Finsbury Park 10.40 Brighton 1.24 PM, return 6.18 PM Hitchin 10 PM, Unfortunately does not give the route after Finsbury Park.

The Widened Lines route would have been the obvious one - there were parcels trains as well as freights that way. The East London Line was used by excursions off the GE, but that involved going in and out of Liverpool Street, and the West London wouldn't have got you to Honor Oak Park.

 

[delt1c]

The Widened Lines route would have been the obvious one - there were parcels trains as well as freights that way. The East London Line was used by excursions off the GE, but that involved going in and out of Liverpool Street, and the West London wouldn't have got you to Honor Oak Park.

Then if an advertised service used the tunnels then it wasnt closed for passenger use, however it was shown as closed at that time. Confused I am

 

[Sad Sprinter]

The Widened Lines route would have been the obvious one - there were parcels trains as well as freights that way. The East London Line was used by excursions off the GE, but that involved going in and out of Liverpool Street, and the West London wouldn't have got you to Honor Oak Park.

Wasn't there a connection from New Cross Gate to Peckham?

 

[30907]

Wasn't there a connection from New Cross Gate to Peckham?

Yes, it connected to the LBSCR at Old Kent Rd Jn (goods-only from before WW1), but the LBSCR had no connection to the West London Line at Factory Jn before about 1980, so the route from the WLL to Honor Oak Park would have been via Clapham Jn, Tulse Hill, Queens Road. Pointless if your destination is the South Coast!

 

[contrex]

In the 1950s and 60s I was a child in Norwood Road, Herne Hill, and the Herne Hill- Tulse Hill spur was behind our house, which I think first got me interested in railways. On summer weekends you would see (and hear!) steam hauled inter-regional trains labouring up the incline. Probably headed for the LBSCR lines to the South Coast. It was extra special if the loco slipped to a stand, and even more so if the sparks from the chimneys (sometimes they were double-headed) set fire to the dry vegetation on the embankment. Fire engines in the road, hoses passed through houses, assistance from an EMU at the rear (much whistling).

 

[Bevan Price]

Then if an advertised service used the tunnels then it wasnt closed for passenger use, however it was shown as closed at that time. Confused I am

Freight lines could always be used by passenger trains, subject to approval / conditions set by the appropriate department / manager. Otherwise, there would have been a lot fewer railtours......

 

[30907]

Then if an advertised service used the tunnels then it wasnt closed for passenger use, however it was shown as closed at that time. Confused I am

Not unusual - though an excursion is different from a service advertised in the public timetable. There were timetabled services over lines with no timetabled services, for example both the West London and the Dudding Hill routes were well used for timetabled holiday trains. Like the Widened Lines they were maintained and signalled to passenger standards, so there was no problem.