Waterloo Station - pictures, chat and stories
- Thread starter davesgcr
- Start date
davesgcr
Reading books
Up to 1967 - the "only" steam trains into Waterloo were from Southampton and Bournemouth , Exeter with some odd shorter workings from Basingstoke. Night time parcels and newspaper trains.
All of these , or arrival , uncoupled at the concourse end - and a smaller steam engine coupled on at the empty end and generally took the carriages to Clapham Yard or sometimes drew them out clear towards Vauxhall and shunted them back into the station to another platform , slightly tricky move. The engine now "released" would reverse out to Nine Elms Loco Yard for watering , inspection maybe a coal top up. (site of New Covent Garden today)
All a bit of a faff really - and complicated - so the coming of diesels made things much easier as they could shunt out to the station "throat" and reverse back onto a new train , without running out to Nine Elms. There was an early attempt at removing steam but the Bournemouth electrification made operations very much easier (and efficient)
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
The whole thing sounds like a right palaver.
Where there far fewer trains running then compared to today?
Where there far fewer trains running then compared to today?
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
That same picture hangs next to the ticket office at Godalming station.
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
I have fond memories of Waterloo. Arriving at Waterloo from Ash Vale (near Aldershot) then getting the Northern Line to King's Cross was the start of going home on leave.
The Kinks of course sang of the station in 'Waterloo Sunset'.
Bought flowers from a train robber outside the station.
The Kinks of course sang of the station in 'Waterloo Sunset'.
Bought flowers from a train robber outside the station.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
I have fond memories of Waterloo. Arriving at Waterloo from Ash Vale (near Aldershot) then getting the Northern Line to King's Cross was the start of going home on leave.
The Kinks of course sang of the station in 'Waterloo Sunset'.
Bought flowers from a train robber outside the station.
Buster Edwards.
davesgcr
Reading books
Not really - today there 18 trains per hour on the slow lines via Wimbledon and about 23 on the fast lines. Not counting the Windsor lines.
About the same in 1967 , just that the operations were incredibly slick , but there were a lot of extra staff around to do this. A fine tuned operation. Much on local signalling as well. I went to the old Clapham box on a visit one Sat AM about 25 years ago - and there were all sorts of interesting train descriptions - such as "Horse Box Special Epsom" , "Soton Docks special" , "Race Extra" etc.
Waterloo of course , excelled at heavy special workings , particularly for high summer Isle of Wight and West Country seaside traffics - not to mention maybe half a dozen extra trains on key days when the large liners came into Southampton Docks - The QM might have that number of "specials" - with Pullman car trains for the toffs in 1st class. Watch the BTF film "Terminus"if you have not already to get a feel for it.
I think the all time record for Waterloo was the Fleet Review in 1937 or so , when an incredible number of extras were squeezed in on top of the normal plan. This was the famous occasion when the BBC Announcer had been well refreshed in the Officers Mess on board one of the ships , and when going out was hit in the face by the night cold air - such that he could only manage "The Fleet is all lit up" - repeatedly , resulting in a personal interview with the Big Boss. (a tale of Wynford Vaughan-Thomas)
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Waterloo factoid; the station is named after the bridge. The bridge was to be called Strand Bridge, as it lands on the Strand on the north side. It was build in 1815, the same time we were giving Bonaparte a slap in Belgium and the public wanted a bridge to commemorate the battle, rather than build a new one they just changed the name of the one under construction.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
Sounds like a barracks type thing. I lived by there for a year or two "commuting" to Woking everyday.I have fond memories of Waterloo. Arriving at Waterloo from Ash Vale (near Aldershot) then getting the Northern Line to King's Cross was the start of going home on leave.
The Kinks of course sang of the station in 'Waterloo Sunset'.
Bought flowers from a train robber outside the station.
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
When the Eurotunnel rail link was nearing completion I remember reading various articles in the British press about the French being none too pleased about the British terminus of the historic first ever direct rail link between Britain and the Continent being named after one of France's most painful military defeats.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Remember that too. Paris has Gare d’Austerlitz though, so fuck ‘em.
Puddy_Tat
happy mew year
and not sure it's on record what the germans thought about using the station with the victory arch (built after 1918)
Puddy_Tat
happy mew year
at a tangent, have a tram picture
on Nine Elms Lane (not the current road alignment) about to turn left towards Vauxhall (took a certain amount of digging and arguing to nail the location down)
Since this thread's got onto the summer of 67, one of my favourite railway pics...
I scanned this in from an old railway mag years ago. It was taken in July 1967, just days before steam expresses out of Waterloo ended. A couple miles on from this shot 35008 was timed at 99mph through Fleet station, so this is one of very few shots of a steam engine actually doing the ton, or very near it.
I scanned this in from an old railway mag years ago. It was taken in July 1967, just days before steam expresses out of Waterloo ended. A couple miles on from this shot 35008 was timed at 99mph through Fleet station, so this is one of very few shots of a steam engine actually doing the ton, or very near it.
as far as main line engines are concerned, after coming in to waterloo from (say) bournemouth, they would go 'tender first' to nine elms depot where they would get another load of coal, then they would go on the turntable, thus-ish -
then run tender first to waterloo and take another train out.
IIRC engine crews were under strict instructions to keep their engines quiet on that turntable because of the flats nearby, and on no account to let them blow off steam. The message doesn't seem to have got through on this occasion!
Of course, Waterloo had trad loco-hauled trains into the 90s, until the class 50s were taken off the Waterloo-Exeter expresses:
davesgcr
Reading books
I had the joy of some cab rides on the 50's in the mid 1980's - (with a pass) - we never "guite" got the magic 100 , despite some good tries. It was easier on the 4-REP units on the fast Bournemouth with an 80 mph approach to Woking was possible.
Shall we say there were some drivers with spirit , one known as "Madman" ........
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
very surprised no one else has posted about fond memories of waterloo from 12/9/92
Puddy_Tat
happy mew year
I timed a 4 REP + 8 TC at just over 100 mph once on the mileposts / stopwatch method
(it was fairly late leaving Bournemouth, and the driver was obviously more keen on getting home than getting overtime)
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
Short article on the redevelopment of the former international terminus.
www.wallpaper.com
Waterloo Station terminal has got a new look
A clever intervention by AECOM and Weston Williamson + Partners breathes new life into the architecture of Grimshaw's iconic Waterloo Station terminal in London
www.wallpaper.com
oryx
Sitting on the bok of the day
Great thread, especially the historic photos and links. (I foresee a Festival of Britain site rabbit-hole coming on).
My first memories of Waterloo were in the mid-80s when I worked nearby and passed through the mainline station on the way from the tube to street level. It looked sooty and dark and had a very particular smell, like cleaning fluid, pleasant but pervasive.
One thing that always struck me was the queues to get on to the Waterloo and City Line. A mass of City workers, all dressed alike in smart suits, all with pink Financial Timeses, like clones. A really odd sight, and in my memory they are wearing bowler hats but I think my mind made that up as, surely, they wouldn't be wearing bowler hats in the mid-80s?
My first memories of Waterloo were in the mid-80s when I worked nearby and passed through the mainline station on the way from the tube to street level. It looked sooty and dark and had a very particular smell, like cleaning fluid, pleasant but pervasive.
One thing that always struck me was the queues to get on to the Waterloo and City Line. A mass of City workers, all dressed alike in smart suits, all with pink Financial Timeses, like clones. A really odd sight, and in my memory they are wearing bowler hats but I think my mind made that up as, surely, they wouldn't be wearing bowler hats in the mid-80s?
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
There was definitely the occasional bowler hat still in the late 80s, when I was doing my commuting through Waterloo, but they were quite rare. Lots of pinstripe and pink newspapers, though.
Puddy_Tat
happy mew year
convoy of 5 (at least) buses heading up the cab road from lower marsh to waterloo station
the buses are paraffin fired steam buses operated by the National Steam Car Company, probably from their garage at Nunhead.
Must have been a very hurriedly arranged private hire, as buses are still showing route 12 destinations rather than 'private' - pure speculation, but the presence of a few soldiers suggests a possible move of new army recruits early in the 1914 war.
the buses are paraffin fired steam buses operated by the National Steam Car Company, probably from their garage at Nunhead.
Must have been a very hurriedly arranged private hire, as buses are still showing route 12 destinations rather than 'private' - pure speculation, but the presence of a few soldiers suggests a possible move of new army recruits early in the 1914 war.
Just seen this thread. My late father was a train driver based out of Waterloo and before that a fireman on the last steam trains out of 9 Elms. Living in Batersea at the time, he'd sometimes go to the pub after work, still covered in soot, knotted hanky on head. I think there was still an operational turn table near by as I'm sure my uncle has mentioned you could see it from the houses and flats round there.
Not for several years but must have been in and through Waterloo hundreds of times. Once in the cab with my dad down to Bournemouth. I wore a shirt and BR cap to fane looking like a (very young) trainee if spotted by a signalman...
There was a rail workers club under Waterloo station, would be there quite often as a family. This closed when the Eurostar moved there. The newer offices, rest rooms, roster boards etc, looked like a space station or something. All silver and strip lighting.
More on 9 Elms history.
svsfilm.com
Not for several years but must have been in and through Waterloo hundreds of times. Once in the cab with my dad down to Bournemouth. I wore a shirt and BR cap to fane looking like a (very young) trainee if spotted by a signalman...
There was a rail workers club under Waterloo station, would be there quite often as a family. This closed when the Eurostar moved there. The newer offices, rest rooms, roster boards etc, looked like a space station or something. All silver and strip lighting.
More on 9 Elms history.
