Grange Hill via Woodford (RIP)

[superteacher]

This destination is as rare as hen's teeth these days - there are no scheduled trains booked to stable in Hainault depot (via Grange Hill) in the current timetable, and I think there was only one in the previous timetable.

At one time, there were 5 - 7 trains which used to run to Grange Hill via Woodford, and then stable in Hainault depot. Is the reason for all trains now stabling running to the depot via Hainault due to the train wash?

[towerman]

I think they still enter service via Grange Hill,as for the wash pass,when I left Hainault 62TS still ruled and the wash was still south of the cleaning shed.

[superteacher]

towerman said:

I think they still enter service via Grange Hill,as for the wash pass,when I left Hainault 62TS still ruled and the wash was still south of the cleaning shed.

Yes, some trains do still enter service via Grange Hill. The train wash is now located on a track next to the inner rail main running lines. I'm assuming that trains run through it, then into the shunting necks beside Grange Hill station, then back into Hainault depot.

[ongarparknride]

Awwww. Thanks for these brief comments evoking Memories of the Woodford-Hainault branch. Their drivers, probably long retired, were so good at forgetting to close their cab doors so a young enthusiastic schoolboy on a "Twin Rover" could get a DEV from the passenger compartment....

On a serious note, now I'm 57 is there any "proper" way to go through the proceedure to be allowed in a driving cab as an observing enthusiast these days? After 9/11 and 7/7 I doubt it. Let alone all the H&S Legislation. Willing to study and take practicals in any necessary "essential" safety courses though...

Even more serious suggestion, why doesn't LU take an old Motor Car due for scrapping, and convert it into a single or double ended car (one or two car lengths) with tiered seating for observers behind an opened up driving compartment, like for use in route-training etc?

Copyright, my idea, in return for a free pass if the idea is adopted :-)

Gee - the cost could easily be split between the Press Office budget (for making Video125 DEV etc. type films, and Staff Recruitment (to encourage Driver applications) and General Operations (for Staff Route Familiarisation etc) and on special occasions like observing and compliance and reporting on things like Signal Aspect viewing/siting problems etc. etc. etc....

Errr, and sorting out problems like on the Piccadilly OPO mirror thread :-)


Just an idea.

OPNR

[Deleted]

I do believe there is a gift on ebay which includes many things also an upfront cab ride!
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250189587887&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP

Hope your rich!

[ongarparknride]

Thanks for your #4, James. Been and looked at it. Unfortunately I'm not in the bidding league irrespective of the good cause. :-(

Guess I just have to recall my memories :-)

Just by-the-by, I wonder if many school-kids want to grow up to be train drivers these days?

Cheers,
OPNR

[superteacher]

ongarparknride said:

Thanks for your #4, James. Been and looked at it. Unfortunately I'm not in the bidding league irrespective of the good cause. :-(

Guess I just have to recall my memories :-)

Just by-the-by, I wonder if many school-kids want to grow up to be train drivers these days?

Cheers,
OPNR

Will have to ask the children in my class - I doubt it though, different world these days.

[ongarparknride]

Hiya Superteacher - overlooked your nickname and you OP'd this thread. No offence intended. My mind was on a different plane with my last post to James.

I sure agree with you that it is a different world these days, compared with my days of late 50's-early '60's when both my parents and I were happy for me to go out alone on a school holiday day on a child Twin Rover ( 5/- ?) and first saw the Met Line up to Amersham. And rode the unusual LT bus fleet such as the GS's and the few low-height double deckers around North London - forget the class - RLH's

I covered a lot of the LU in various trips in those days, but for whatever reason mainly recollect the then "new" A60 Met stock, plus visiting some lines I knew had technical interest such as the deepest part of the system on the Northern Line, and other stations I also "knew" from my upbringing like South Ken for the tunnel to the Science and Natural History Museums, etc. etc.

No offence intended to anyone, but forty years on would a parent of a 9 - 11 year old TODAY be happy he took off for a day on his own on LU?

It is, sadly, a different world. And, merely IMHO we have lost it as a result. I was fortunate to be able to go for my Private Pilot's Licence, and have enjoyed the privilege of several hours on the flight decks of various annual holiday charter flights, including one where starting from just inside the French border from Spain I volunteered to return to my seat as a passenger after the Captain had put the seat belts on for the final approach to Gatwick. I got a massive amount of "training" on the aircraft radar and radio including ATC, weather and traffic avoidance etc. on that particular and very memorable flight.

9/11 ruined that for everyone.

I was fortunate in belonging to a generation where a Captain (or a tube train driver) assessed a person for access to the private "pointy end" without fear of hi-jack, assault or worst.

For that I have my memories and am grateful.

Indeed, the children these days are growing up in a different world. IMHO Society these days is all about asserting one's rights, and demanding good service or respect etc.

Again, IMHO, where British Society has lost out in the last 40 years or so is we used to be polite, respectful, and appreciated our fates depended upon fellow Britains to Do A Good Job.

Indeed, superteacher, it IS a different world these days.

Cheers,
OPNR.

[ruislip]

Weren't most of the "Grange Hill via Woodford" trains peak-hours only that reversed/originated at either Ruislip Gardens or Northolt?

[tubeprune]

ongarparknride said:

and have enjoyed the privilege of several hours on the flight decks of various annual holiday charter flights, including one where starting from just inside the French border from Spain I volunteered to return to my seat as a passenger after the Captain had put the seat belts on for the final approach to Gatwick. I got a massive amount of "training" on the aircraft radar and radio including ATC, weather and traffic avoidance etc. on that particular and very memorable flight.

9/11 ruined that for everyone.

Yes it did. I once sat in the jump seat for a landing at Kai Tak (the old airport in Hong Kong) with a Cathy Pacific 747. It really was as scary as it looks from the back! But a wonderful experience which will never be repeated.

I went to school on my own on the train from the age of 7. I wouldn't let a 7 year old cross the road on his own now, let alone travel alone on public transport.

[superteacher]

ruislip said:

Weren't most of the "Grange Hill via Woodford" trains peak-hours only that reversed/originated at either Ruislip Gardens or Northolt?

They were usually at the end of the peak hour and were trains stabling in Hainault depot, although even then most trains stabled via Hainault.

As for where the trains started from, it varied from timetabke to timetable, but they were never exclusively from Ruislip Gardens or Northolt.

[Deleted]

ongarparknride said:

I sure agree with you that it is a different world these days, compared with my days of late 50's-early '60's when both my parents and I were happy for me to go out alone on a school holiday day on a child Twin Rover ( 5/- ?) and first saw the Met Line up to Amersham. And rode the unusual LT bus fleet such as the GS's and the few low-height double deckers around North London - forget the class - RLH's

they would have been RLH's as they were the only low height double deckers at that time. For a short time (before the RM and after the STLs) they were the only double deck buses in the fleet that weren't in the RT family.

There's your bus fact of the day ;D

[superteacher]

rob said:

ongarparknride said:

I sure agree with you that it is a different world these days, compared with my days of late 50's-early '60's when both my parents and I were happy for me to go out alone on a school holiday day on a child Twin Rover ( 5/- ?) and first saw the Met Line up to Amersham. And rode the unusual LT bus fleet such as the GS's and the few low-height double deckers around North London - forget the class - RLH's

they would have been RLH's as they were the only low height double deckers at that time. For a short time (before the RM and after the STLs) they were the only double deck buses in the fleet that weren't in the RT family.

There's your bus fact of the day ;D

The RLH class finished its London service before I was born, but ironically for this thread, my first ride on one was on a Central line bus replacement service in about 1992 - 1993. Although they weren't part of the RT family, they still had the distinctive AEC front, so in effect they didn't look greatly different from the RT's IMO.

[Oracle]

I think it was Addlestone Garage that had some green RLHs because of bridges in the Woking area. We used to catch an RLH from Staines West station building to Woking, and it was very weird to sit on the top deck with the sunken aisle on the right.

[towerman]

RLH's were mainly used out of Dalston Garage on the 178 which ran from Clapton Pond to somewhere south of the river via the Rotherhithe Tunnel.

[superteacher]

Saw a Grange Hill via Woodford train on Thursday 27th. The train wasn't a midday stabler, so wasn't quite sure why it was going to depot, and in particular why it was running via Woodford. However, the service was disrupted, and all sorts of odd things happen then!

[londonboy]

towerman said:

RLH's were mainly used out of Dalston Garage on the 178 which ran from Clapton Pond to somewhere south of the river via the Rotherhithe Tunnel.

This is the route of the 178 - CLAPTON POND, Lower Clapton Road, Urswick Road, Homerton, Ponsford Street, Morning Lane, Wick Road, Hackney Wick, Chapman Road, White Post Lane, Hepscott Road, Rothbury Road, White Post Lane, Carpenters Road, Stratford Broadway, The Grove, STRATFORD Maryland Station, The reason for the low hight buses was because of low height rail bridges

Route info from www.busesatwork.co.uk/Routes/178rlh.htm