Sunday 28 August 2022

Sunday Variety

It's All On-Line - But Wrong (no 134)

From memory, the above snap appeared in a collection published in the Daily Mail's on-line offering. The caption says ...
... that its is the first outing of a brand new London Underground train in 1960.

It is neither! But maybe we must allow the Mail to be ignorant of the subtle distinction between the London Underground (capitalised) and an underground train in London. It is, of course, a Waterloo and City (W & C) line train, owned and operated by the Southern Railway until 1947, then taken under the Underground wing in 1994.

The new W & C trains for the Southern Railway were introduced in 1940, not 1960.

They lived in troglodyte isolation for fifty years! Here is one ...
... snapped a few years before replacement with Network SouthEast branded Central Line units.
Both the black and white pictures are at Bank Station.

HCT : Farewell to London
Interestingly it is not that many years ago that Stagecoach left the London Buses market by selling to Macquarie Bus, based in Australia. A year or so later Stagecoach bought to business back for about half what they paid for it. Good deal, eh?

Ash Grove is one of three new garages opened in 1981 by London Buses at a cost of £3.5 million. 
It had space for 140 buses undercover and a further 30 in the yard. The roof was unusual in being carried by ten 35-ton triangular trusses, said to be the largest in the UK, supported on reinforced concrete columns. When London Buses was split into eleven separate companies Ash Grove became part of the London Forest operation and was closed in 1991 when London Forest was wound up, but reopened in 1994 by Kentish BusEast Thames Buses have previously also used the site.

The depot is by the Regents Canal in Hackney.

Walthamstow bus depot is much smaller ...
... and sits near the junction of the North Circular Road and Chingford Road, A112.

RMC Cement Tank Wagon
It was about the mid 1980s when the final versions of air-driven cement tanks appeared. The system was "branded" Metalair; and the bright orange Hornby model is supposed to be one of those.
In fact its is a standard Hornby petrol/oil tanker moulded in orange plastic. It is meant to be one of these:-
Here is similar carrying Rugby Cement branding:-
The various pipes for pumping the powdered cement (behaving like a liquid, remember?) are tastefully concealed in the lump under the tank. Some batches of Metalair wagons we almost "styled" with a tasteful rounded end to the piped part!
It is a model of this variety that fbb has acquired for his collection ...
fbb was fortunate to find one still in a retail shop's stock at the original price (£23) as EBay versions now sell at a premium.
Note - nearly £50 including postage!

Cement wagons users on the real railway then started to look at bogie wagons.

What Am I?
The bus stop is called "Twin Bridges" ...
... whence Stagecoach bus 35 will whisk you hourly to Guildford or Woking and Camberley..
There are two bridges across the bifurcated south western lines west of Working station.
Alas, Streetview has not walked the footpath which crosses the twin bridges, If it had, we might be able to see more!

The "item" in question is actually linked indirectly to the art deco station at Woking ...
... and, at one time, slightly more directly to the art deco Woking signal box.
The fbb's had a chum called Dennis, now deceased, who used to work there.

Non-subtle clue - he was an electrician!

Answer tomorrow.

 Next Bank Holiday Quiz blog : Monday 29th August 

1 comment:

  1. I knew a Dennis that worked at Woking station too. Wonder if it is the same person

    ReplyDelete