0.40 to 1.09 From 1960 to 1963 I would often cycle to this very spot (Wagon Road, Hadley Wood) after school and lay in the grass just watching trains for an hour or so before tea. So sad to see the whole area is now fenced off, although the trains of today don't appeal to me, and such sights are now denied to train enthusiasts. Thanks for reviving my memories.
I also lived in High Barnet in those days and would similarly cycle to Hadley Wood and stand on the footbridge awaiting the next A4 to come roaring up from London. halcyon days.
Having been a young person then you wouldn't want to come back to the present. Less than a fiver fare to Newcastle ftom the Cross and a three course lunch in the dining car. Hang on, I couldn't afford that back then!
My word looking at the exhaust on those A4's there's some driving and firing skills on the footplate and a good load of Barnsley seam coal in the tenders. I loved the "German" smoke deflectors retro fitted to the A3's. They dragged an already pleasing 30 year old design up to date into the early 1960's. Pity the cleaners got lost on the way but there were some scruffy top link diesels by then as well.
The last A4 I saw on Gateshead was "Bittern" in January 1965. There was a little snow on it - guesswork suggested that it had come in from Scotland overnight. The last steam engine - of any type - on Gateshead was 60127 "Wilson Worsdell" - dumped at the back, facing out towards the river.
Same generation Andrew ,climb up the backlash heap to gain access to 52A memories of 3/4A3 locos on dead line 2iremember Fairway and I think Sir Hugo ,,went Heatonwith my mate Ethers armed with 2hacksaws ,intended to get the nameplate of60002 Sir murrough wilson ,not sure how we would got back to Sunderland on DMU!
@@jeffreyhodge5564 Memory - which might be faulty - tells me that the last Gateshead A3s were: Flying Fox, Saint Simon, Tranquil, Fairway, Captain Cuttle, Blink Bonny ... And that Prince Palatine (St. Margaret's) was on the last Newcastle to Edinburgh A3 turn - around about April or May 1965. New Year's Eve 1965: St Mungo (York) did York to Newcastle and return with the last A1 turn - albeit the engine was Darlington's main line pilot the next morning.
Thank you very much for this upload it would be very nice if we could have some more like this on the west coast main line great western and midland.thank you again.
@@AnthonySimpson-t7f Built 1934-36... ''Formerly London and North Eastern Railway Class A2/2 , 60504 Mons Meg, started life as LNER 2004, a member of P2 [2-8-2] Class of eight-coupled express passenger locomotives, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, and first built between 1934-1936, in a class of six, numbered LNER 2001-2006. Edward Thompson was appointed new LNER Chief Mechanical Engineer on the 28 April 1941 and decided to gain experience by rebuilding the P2 Class, the first of which to be rebuilt was No. 2005, Thane Of Fife in 1943. Thompson changed the wheel arrangement from 2-8-2 to a 4-6-2 'Pacific' configuration and all the other P2's were rebuilt similarly during 1944. LNER 2004 Mons Meg was rebuilt in November 1944, becoming LNER 504, then BR 60504, and continued in service until withdrawal and scrapping in January 1961.''
