Banking....

[mrfs42]

On another forum, far, far away we've had a long discussion about the means and practices of signalling assisting and banking engines, although the discussion about the pre-'Green Book' practices are inappropriate for here, I thought I'd share Banking Alterations at Farringdon from 1958 - an interesting variation on the theme of using tunnel telephone wires.

[rincew1nd]

I do wish you'd clean your fingernails my little bowl of purple soup.

Your clicky featured an amazing number of adverts for jobs in the financial sector, not sure why

Those points aside, fascinating. I wonder if the Mersey Tunnel wires ever did anything similar.

[mrfs42]

Aug 15, 2011 20:39:58 GMT rincew1nd said:

I do wish you'd clean your fingernails my little bowl of purple soup.

If you'd you seen the filth I was dealing with before those pictures were taken you wouldn't comment. That's genuine ancient Baker Street and Waterloo filth in those nails I'll have you know!

[Deleted]

mrfs42, what forum was that other discussion on?

An interesting historic map of the Farringdon / Snow Hill area is HERE.

Would love to see a plan of the old Smithfield depot, marked "GW Depot" on your doc.

[mrfs42]

Aug 16, 2011 6:25:04 GMT @lemmo said:

mrfs42, what forum was that other discussion on?

www.signalbox.org/forum/index.php - there are a few familiar faces from here and the occasional UndergrounD topic

[Deleted]

Yes, there are diagrams there for Snow Hill, Farringon (various dates), Smithfield etc.

I found the diagram of the Farringdon GN depot (above) on this site. They are interested in this area for their modelling project, and asked what the purpose of the Smithfield Sidings was? Perhaps banking engines were stabled here, but there was a short spur for banking engines at Farringdon on the Down side to Snow Hill. It appears that the Smithfield Sidings were originally built for the LSWR service from Richmond to Ludgate Hill.

Interesting part of town, any more info appreciated

[mrfs42]

Aug 29, 2011 7:13:44 GMT @lemmo said:

Interesting part of town, any more info appreciated

Have you searched on the signalbox for 'Holborn Low Level': you get an interesting selection of threads, that I can't really do justice to here.

Are you interested in the layouts or the physical operation of things?

If it's the physical operation of things then there are a few other bits around on this forum about the CWL and I've got various signalling regulations and other jazz from c. The Great War, my fellow mod Harsig has some really fab plans here.

[Deleted]

Thanks mrfs42, I'm interested in the layouts, partly for historical interest and partly in terms of what infrastructure can still be used today.

I'd certainly be interested in a plan similar to the Farringdon GN Goods (above), showing the layout beneath Smithfield and Barbican. I believe a lot of the old GW depot still exists beneath the markets, as car park. But how far did the Met-Widened exchange sidings extend west of Barbican?

The Farringdon plan showed the extent of railway lands on the Holborn side. As an example, when they redeveloped Holborn Viaduct, if they'd provided a 4-track box through what is now City Thameslink then it's possible we could now have terminal platforms at Farringdon from the south side, providing a much better interchange than Blackfriars.

[tubeprune]

Interesting thread. I must have missed something but I can't understand why a loco that's got its train up the 1 in 40 into Farringdon EB CWL would need a banking engine to get it up the 1 in 120 up to Holborn?

[Deleted]

Sorry to bump this thread...

There is a track plan and some photographs of Smithfield Sidings in the book "GWR Goods Services - Part 2A - Goods Depots and their Operation" ISBN 978-1-905184-33-0 written by Tony Atkins and published by Wild Swan.