The Problem of Merton Park
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- Опубліковано 28 лис 2024
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The history of Merton Park is longer and more complicated than you might think.
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As a boy in the late 1960’s, early 1970’s I lived in the houses next to the Merton Park level crossing
It had four gates, two on each side
The man in the signal box turned a huge wheel ( similar to a ship’s wheel) to open and close them
No lifting barriers back then!
These were wooden strong gates with a red disc in the centre of each
The footbridge you mentioned was what we used to cross the railway when the gates were closed
As a child I used that bridge countless times
Either to get a hair cut at the traditional barbers 💈 where I sat on plank across the arms of the barbers chair or to walk into Wimbledon
I also walked across the abandoned platforms to get a train to London
The footbridge, all nicely painted is now at Corfe station and I’ve walked across it again with my children
That footbridge was a heck of the way from the station, you must have been quite a fast runner to make its use worthwhile.
I remember the footbridge too - today I learned it went to Corfe! In fact, I remember it when was bigger - crossing not only the remaining line but the closed line!
I lived there also and have similar memories. I especially recall the large area, vaguely triangular, in between the two sets of rail lines, basically wild.
I remember riding across this bumpy level crossing on my motorbike around 1960 and the chain came off the cogs. Luckily, I managed to get it on again and rode on with greasy hands! The telephone exchange (Liberty in the old code system) was only a few hundred yards away towards Wimbledon Chase.
@@crossleydd42 I remember that exchange was doubled in size in the 80’s just before the whole lot went digital and none of that extra capacity was actually needed.
So how did William Shears get by? With a little help from his friends, I should imagine...
To quote a line form the Merton Parkas - "A man ain't a man with a ticket in his hand - you need wheels!" Sums up much of the 1980's thinking on public transport.
Indeed
I make a fake poster that says the opposite
Get out those jams
Get a Ticket
Be a free man
To quote Margaret Thatcher, "Any man in his thirties who uses public transport must be considered a failure."
I saw the title of this video in my update feed, and immediately started thinking of The Talbot Connection... 😆
Very Margaret Hilda. Grrr!
And just as I was getting ready to complain that the Merton Parkas didn't get a mention, you went and dropped it in right at the last knockings! Such a tease. 😊
They were truly awful. So all the more surprising that pretty much everything Mick Talbot has done since has been excellent (Style Council, Bureau, Dexys, Jools Holland orch. etc.)
The Problem of Merton Park - kind of expecting Poirot to put in an appearance...
I dunno, that sounds more like a Holmes title to me.
Then, we need a couple of villains. Now, if only we could think of shady characters who have made an appearance in Jago Hazzard features...
@@SynchroScore Agatha Christie wrote a short story that is literally called 'Problem at Pollensa Bay'.
Great to hear the verb 'filch' being used. An under appreciated word.
...like pilfer, another rarely-used word nowadays.
Good job it wasn't 'felch' - just one letter away from something very different indeed.
19th Century Railway Political Drama: (exists)
Jago the Journalist: “Please, tell me more.”
This explains everything... JAGO IS A TIME TRAVELLER!
Fun fact:
John Innes also sponsored a 'research farm' on the Merton Park estate, which researched agricultural improvements. Hence, 'John Innes No. 3' compost.
Sponsored in the form of a legacy in his will. He died in 1904, the John Innes Centre opened in 1910, the four compost recipes (two mixes: seedling and general, the only difference between 1+2+3 being the concentration of added nutrients) were developed in the 1930s (the Centre never sold any compost, it released the recipes free of charge), while the Centre moved out of Merton Park in 1945. His home is now used by the school he established in his lifetime, while most of the grounds are a public park (another will legacy).
Lots of memories for me who went to the school (Called Rutlish)
@@mittfh thank-you. Well done him! Our nursery and Garden Centre at Trimley St Mary was close to the Levington Compost ?Research? Centre in Suffolk.
And John Innes was also a member of the Masonic Lodge in Mitcham, I believe. This I found out when I was researching for my biography of Doreen Valiente, a witch who was born in Colliers Wood. Philip Heselton
The John Innes Institute still exists it moved some years ago to the outskirts of Norwich.
I'm very impressed that you managed to make an entertaining and interesting 15 and a half minute long video (and make enough B-roll footage) about a tram stop. Next level Jago!
Billy Shears. Well played Mr Hazard, Well played. I did indeed enjoy the show/video.
Merton park was only ever a single line on the Croydon side (platform 3) until the trams doubled it so there was only one line that could be electrified. It was only the tooting track that was double here. You used to have to cross the Tooting line at track level to get to the Croydon platform - very exciting! - but when the track was finally lifted they installed an earth bank at platform level to serve as a more accessible walkway to get to Plat 3.
Fun fact, part of Platform 2 can still be found if you choose to root about in the undergrowth at the end of the new houses beside the old station.
Until I was 7 I used to live on Tramway Path, overlooking the station. We occasionally went to Wimbledon for some reason ( just remember the dog on the platform), but never went the other way beyond Mitcham Junction. I used to wonder about the wonderful, exciting world beyond Mitcham Junction - romantic, far away places like Croydon...
At that time, Croydon was a wonderfully beautiful place with a rich culture, outstanding architecture and other picturesque features, at least one equal to the Taj Mahal. One had to be careful visiting during the Summer, as it tended to be overcrowded with tourists anxious to appreciate its uniqueness!
The advert for freight at 3d per chaldron sent me down a rabbit hole. It's a volumetric measurement used for but not necessarily limited to coal with a convoluted history of definition both in terms of volume and weight, simultaneously.
Since it was a volume used for tax and rate calculations, the more solids you could cram into the space, the more you got away with.
There was the Newcastle chaldron for coal and also the London chaldron.
It started to fall out of use form 1836 when coal then had to be calculated by weight, and was finally abolished by the Weights and Measures Act of 1963.
Superb piece of research. Love it!
That station was so useful to me in the years when I lived on the fringe of Wimbledon and worked in Croydon, admittedly a long time ago now.
I remember the mostly empty two coach trains that shuttled between West Croydon and Wimbledon via Mitcham Junction - just like those on the Elmers End to Sanderstead line. It's great that the trams have revitalised both of these routes.
Yes, but in a right muddle this week. The Tramlink shows that 'if you build it, the people will come'.
The same is the revitalised Green Line limited stop services just opened called 'Superloop': the one from East Croydon to Bromley North is gast and very well used!
But at least the class 465 in the last years had a toilet! Also the way to the Purley Way shops from Croydon.
A tram stop and abandoned station in one episode! You do spoil us young Hazzard.🤣
The Merton Parkas' ace drummer, Simon Smith, worked for London Country Bus Services for a while, but he was still a bit of a petrol head. We used to call the West Croydon to Wimbledon line the Waddon Marsh Flyer.
I used to call it the Wimbledon Flyer. Another name was the 2-train as it consisted of 2 very elderly coaches. I used it to go to Wimbledon to get the Tube to Fulham Broadway to go and watch Chelsea. I'm 81 and still a fan but sometimes I wonder why.
I love your videos for three reasons: 1) I'm an Anglophile, 2) I'm a railway nerd, and 3) I love your segues and puns. Keep up the good work!
Used to use Merton Park at weekends to go shopping in Crydon some 50 years ago. The level crossing (as at Dundonald Rd) had a footbridge and the trick was to race over it before the gates opened (leaving behind friends with vertigo who wouldn't use it). Trains were awful 2 coach slam door stock, and there used to be a diesel shunter trundling coal wagons presumably to the Croydon power station. The station building was pretty. As I remember Crydon wasn't a brilliant destination, nor were the intermediate stops blessed with joyous views. That much remains, but the tram is now at last well used..
Dont really recal coal along the line to Croydon from Wimbledon. There was coal to the factories and coal yard at Merton Abbey and the stub at Tooting Junction
No footbridge at the Level Crossing (road) at Merton Park
@@highpath4776 Thanks - I always wondered where they went.
There wasn’t a footbridge at Dundonald Road and the one near Merton Park was the other side of the station a good what down Dorset Road. Trying to get over that before the crossing opened feels like a mission that could never be won.
@@allanfstone I hate to say but when the crossing barriers changed to the full width drop ones on a bike one did feel you could beat them (Some folk folded up the dangly bits and ran over the tracks as the trains were not exactly fast, but not recommended
Ironic that my late father was passed out for Merton Park and like the footbridge spent his remaining years at Swanage railway as their senior signally chap, I remember him talking about signing out a signal box around that time and wonder if Merton Park was that one as he had maintained his grade D passings despite being grade E based at Wimbledon A with BR using him as a "lite" reliefman paying him E grade for a lesser grade box.
Bravo on the totally seamless segues into and out of the ad read.
William "Billy" Shears, is a Paul McCartney look-a-like who joined the Beatles in 1966 after McCartney was killed in a car crash. I love a good conspiracy theory and this one has been running for years. McCartney / Shears denies the whole thing, but then of course he would, wouldn't he? 😁
Also known as William Campbell. Campbell wrote Hey Jude, Blackbird and Band On The Run. So I have no problem with him taking over.
I have a feeling that Paul Merton took his stage name from the area too.
He just couldnt milk that Citizen Smith-Tooting vibe...
Loving the Billy Shears reference !
As a local, I can already guestimate that 15 mins of runtime will be inadequate to the task of explaining the problems of Merton Park. Perhaps an 134 part series...... With charts.
Bravo for the Billy Shears comment.
I see that Carshalton is mentioned at 1:05.There is an excellent pub there, not 3 minutes from the station, called "The Hope." I highly recommend it.
Shhh! Don't tell everybody! (I recommend it too!)
Carshalton ponds has ducks.
@@CarolineFord1 I've seen them. Quack.
Some years ago it was bought out by the community - both the leasehold and the freehold - from Punch Taverns, who were planning to dispose of it unkindly. Before then it had an unsalutary reputation, but now as a community pub it has gone from strength to strength as a family-friendly pub with no frills. The monthly beer festivals are a wonder.
@@brucegoatly I've heard that story and about how it became a community pub,being a CAMRA member for many years. I was in there years ago and the barman came over and I asked for a Tim Taylor Landlord. All the punters heard my Canadian accent and once I ordered they all nodded in approval. The festivals are great and so is the grub. Love that place and I will be there in about two weeks when I come over again.
The level of detail and research on this channel is unprecedented. What a time to be alive (and a self identifying nerd). Thanks Jago.
There was a photo of The Merton Parkas on scooters outside the entrance to (the British Rail era) Merton Park Station.
Talking of Tyneside, it has another connection to the Tyneside in that some of the last trains to run on the line where 2EPBs, of which the tyneside varient did regularly visit the line. The survior (5791/5793) i have seen pictures of it opperate on the line. The unit is owned by the Suburban Electric railway association.
As in the Tyneside Electrics
@@sglenny001 yes.
'...they merged [...] in 1846.'
It never ceases to amaze me how long railways have been around, especially so in the UK.
Indeed. At 1:04, the printed notice about the Surrey Iron Railway (printed in 1804) uses the long 's': the kind which looks like a lower-case 'f'. Since I unconsciously associate this with much older printing, it's a shock seeing it used in connection with a railway, which I think of as belonging to the modern world. It's like seeing a Roman centurion using a mobile phone. (This would have been quite a late use of the long 's': I believe it began dying out in the 1790s, and most London printers abandoned it by the turn of the century)
Merton Place, situated between what are now Merton High Street and Merantun Way, was Lord Nelson's house between 1801 and 1805, and was demolished in 1823. There are roads named Hamilton, Hardy, Nelson, Trafalgar, and Victory to the north of Merton High Street.
When I went to Merton C of E Secondary School, on the corner of Church Lane and Melrose Road (the facade is still there, now flats) late 40s and early 50's, some of the grounds of Merton Place was our sports ground. St. Mary's Church (where I was Christened) had a seat inside where Lord Nelson and his mistress, Lady Hamilton, used to sit. Almost next to the church was a tin tabernacle-style Community Centre where we had our school lunches, now demolished in favour of a hideous concrete monstrosity replacement.
My Dad grew up locally to Merton and went to Wimbledon Tech, crossing the footbridge you mention daily. Following relocating to Dorset he was amused to be able to cross the footbridge at Corfe Castle once more.
Looking forward to Jago's 750 page book, "The Unannotated Listing of All These Goddamned Railway Company Names, Victorian Era to the Present Day".
... subtitled "With an Illustrated Appendix of Rude Acronyms".
The line from Merton Park to Tooting served what was once the largest toy factory in the World, Tri-ang. A lot of that railway is now Merantum Way (A24) and the factory location is retail including a large Sainsbury's/M&S complex.
The factory only closed when the asset stripper Jack Barclay bought Tri-ang on the cheap as their shares were worth less than the Pedigree pram factory. He closed the factory, sacked all the employess then demolished it to buiild houses .
The train station for the industrial estate with Triang's factory was Morden Road, still called that, but not really Morden at all! But it was on the Wimbledon - Croydon line , not Tooting.
I take it that this line was what was known (when I lived in Sutton for a short time in the late 80s) as the "Wimbledon Ghost Train". Described to me as a rarely seen, almost mythical, service that meandered into central London by heading off in the opposite direction out of Sutton station from the "normal" services via Carshalton or Carshalton Beeches.
No. That’s now the Thameslink line between Sutton and Wimbledon.
Good video...and just down Kingston Road was Merton Park studios, i think closed down in 1969. It also had the record of being the closest film studios to a railway station in Britain narrowly beating Elstree studios.
And the William Morris connection if I recall correctly.
@@johncourtneidge that was further up in Abbey Mills area but thanks anyway.
The swanage footbridge seems seriously lacking in a long section and the footbridge over the Merton Abbey route, which enjoyed three sets of stairs on that.
A seamless presentation.
Always love your work Jago! Please come back up north sometime and give us more Manchester stuff in your beautiful eloquent style!!
Interestingly explained, this is of an area rich in history, for which here the railway here has its own story to reveal.
Thanks for this Jago - scenes of my childhood. I remember the footbridge, in fact I remember when it was a complicated, sort of double bridge, with a section crossing disused line. Until today I didn't know it had been moved to Corfe Castle.
Love the Billy Shears joke. 😎😆❤️
The Merton Park old station house, reminds me of the many houses and businesses in my neighbourhood, that are in converted stables of bigger old houses, next to them and the original Osterley Station building, on a bridge which is when I last saw it, was a bookshop.
Lovely! Thank-you.
The Wandle Industrial Museum near Mitchham Green Man is a much-loved by me place to visit. Its 3-d map of the Wandle valley is great!
For the History/Archaeology Nerds (and I'm sure theres an overlap) Time Team did an episode right by those water wheels looking for Liberty's lost factories. If memory serves they even investigated the river to see if anything remains in it.....
I note that the Tramlink's system uses the catenary wire as the contact wire.
Anyone else remember The Merton Parkas? Useful band.
Remembering the old Wooden Level Crossing Gates, that were on the Kingston Road.
They were there until construction of the Tram Link started.
Quite often, I used to run into ITV's The Bill, being Filmed in that area, and if I didn't, I used to "Location Spot" on the Television!!!!
😂😂😂😂😂
Ah, good ol' Billy Shears... You got me cracking there, Jago 😁
Wasn't Merton Park the site for a film studio as well?
and you can probably see most of their output on Talking Pictures TV.
The Merton Parkas (featuring Mick Talbot who was in the Style Council with a bloke from Woking) had their big hit with “You Needs Wheels” it contains a line that retorts, “You need a car, if you wanna get far” therefore their mention on your wonderful channel should be removed.
Was the bloke from Woking called Paul Weller?
There's also Paul Merton, real name Paul Martin, who grew up round there. Did he name himself after the station... Well his dad was a tube driver, so maybe! You'd have to ask him!
Incredibly plausible. Like it.😉✌️
Yes! Got it! You are the footpath to my abandoned railway! That makes me, what, 2 for how many? Jago?
We used to call the Wimbledon to West Croydon line “The Winkle Line” (possibly someone misheard “Wim -Crow”?).
In the 1970’s it was half-hourly, operated by 2 two-carriage trains (2EPBs) which would cross at Mitcham Junction where the single-line tokens would be returned to and withdrawn from the interlocking machine.
In the 1980’s the service was reduced to a single train running every 44 minutes. This made it impossible to remember what time the next train would be.
Ten upvotes for "Merton Park yourself right there"
A surprising amount of history for a small station / tram stop - great stuff, Jago!
I was going to mention The Meron Parkas in the comments, but as you mentioned them in the video I don't need to bother.
Damn.
Great video thank you Jago. I spent many a year around Merton although Merton park was a bit upmarket for me. Merantun Way was a bit of unused railway that got turned into a road. Also always amazed that railway and now road were able to cut through Merton Abbey (trashed by Henry 8). I used to live in Nelsons back garden :), there was a sign saying this was the site of.....but someone pinched it, not me i hasten to add.
Most enjoyable and beautifully filmed. Thank you.
For convenience, you should say WC :)
Bidder needs a video of his own, including his archealogical work
The Wandle has interesting history as well. The water wheels, obviously, driving industry and then appaently an abilitty of the river to generate supermatkeyt trolleys. Cleanups which worked (it was a drain in living memory, and not like The Drain) and of course the Borribles.
All that rabbiting on caused by another HazzardVid, of which I am very fond. Thanks.
another brilliant video, very pleasing for someone from Mitcham!
Tube challengers may be well-acquainted with this station.
Why?
@@LunaDragofelis It may well be on the route.
You might be thinking of Morden Rd for the change from Wimbledon to Morden.
goodness, what a complex chain of events. Would not like to write that up as a flow-diagram.
Why can't you board a tram if you are feeling unwell? (6m40s)
In all seriousness, to prevent service disruption caused by the driver having to wait for an ambulance.
Nice and informative as always, jago.
Yay trams! Do you know why there is a single track bit of tramlink? I've had to wait there a few times for the tram going the other way, and as it's a new(ish) system it seems suboptimal.
A lot of that track was already single before it was the tram. I do want to look at it in more depth though.
@@JagoHazzard lovely!
There are some single-track bits of line and one _interlaced_ bit, where the tracks going in opposite directions partially cross over each other to save space, but don't actually join together to become single track. It saves on points, but still has to be signalled and controlled as if it is single track, so it can cause the sort of delay you describe.
It's just west of Mitcham station, to get through the bridge that carries the A217 London Road over the tram line.
The historical companies have filtered down to this day. Southern run to Portsmouth, Southwestern through Wimbledon
Thinking of london's trains in general, having just tried the Lizzie line just yesterday and being disappointed, dark and dinghy carriages with hard seats, how about a video on the comfort of all the trains under the TLF banner. My vote being the S stock, soft seats, good head room and bright carriages. Over to you.
Edit, blame android text for the small boats on the elixabeth line trains.🤣
Ooh, that's new! I've never encountered a dinghy with carriages...
@@John2Ward blame productive ticks😉
but on thinking about it a dinghy is just as uncomfortable.
Is this the last station in the area for Jago to cover? Or are there still some nearby?
I remember travelling along the line in. The early 1990s.I would describe it as a dilapidated country branch line in the middle of suburbia! Was is still electrified then?!
I feel like this video was made just for me, as someone from Wimbledon, now living in the northeast, who goes to Swanage and Corfe every year on holiday!!
I remember Merton Park Station around 1979, I worked on High Path, and we had a satellite office in Hartfield Road, we used the old railway track which was lifted by this time as a short cut between the two. Later we moved offices to Deer Park Rd and I would use Morden Rd station occasionally. Back then it felt very much like a rural branch and not part of the London commuter network.
An honorable mention for @Highpath4776
Great video, as always. Any chance of a history of the LBSCR's attempt at electrification, with overhead wires?
It’s on the list!
Cracking video sir!
I’ve been going to Rutlish for the last 7 years, and it’s honestly fascinating about the history of my local stop.
Cheaper, more frequent and faster services = more passengers. Who'd have thought.
Yes!
Love your videos!
Where is that section of rail from the Surrey Iron? I wonder if it was the section of rail that used to be in the grounds of Wallington Library, where I saw it in the 60s.
It’s now at the Bluebell Railway.
There is one at the Wandle Industrial History Museum in Mitcham. It used to be open, pre-Covid, on Sunday- and Wednesday-afternoons. A real gem!
There’s also a small section in merstham with a small display - the Surrey iron railway had an extension down to there.
@@JagoHazzard Thanks for the three replies (@johncourtneidge and @MrGreatplum) I hadn't realised there were so many. I wonder if the Wallington one is at one of these.
"...who would join Sgt. Pepper's Lonely hearts Club Band"
More of this kind of thing please
I thought Mr Hazzard was supposed to be taking things easier for a while? Oh, of course - trams are slower than trains.
also available for kids under title The Little Station That Refused To Die :)
Not the same John Innes who invented compost?
The very same. I lived in one of the first houses built in Merton Park, opposite the John Innes Park, which had been the site of the Horticultural Institute.
Yes: and Merton Park is very attractive and well-populated, as I found when living nearby from the 1950s...
yes but Innes made far more money from property development (including Brickworks at mostyn gardens), assisted but the architectural designs of Quartermain
In the mid 80's I used to get off at Morden Road, very near Merton Park. Why is this station never mentioned...did I imagine it? 😊
It existed. I’m planning to cover it in the future.
@@JagoHazzard nice!
Very good. Interesting and informative.
Local history, the things you can turn-up.!
I discovered recently that there was a WW2 Italian POW camp at the end of the road where I used to live in NW London.! Now a council housing estate.
Fine video JH 😊
For sure I would have complained about a band nobody ever heard of…😂😂😂
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hears Club...Railway Adventure? That would be one helluva series! Nice one Jago. Cheers!
Really interesting. Can still remember passing Merton Park in 1997, could say as sitting right at the back of the train like to think was the last paying train passenger on the last train. I really liked the Video camera had at the time as could swivel the eye piece and film safely at any angle. You can if so wish see the route with the film I took, and good friend put it on UA-cam titled "The Last in Last Out Tour - LILO - May 1997". As well as Wimbledon-West Croydon. So many people on route giving a final wave was a wonderful thing to see. it was the same day as was also the last triain to Addiscombe.
Ah, William ' Billy' Shears - the one and only.
Jago, at 11:03 you say that they used two-car trains - but the picture is a three-,car overhead electric train. Was this used on this line? I thought all electrification down south was third rail (apart from some goods sidings)
The only Merton I know is Robert K. Merton who was well known in the field of sociology.
Merton Park station was used in the movie 🎥 Horror Hospital starring Michael Gough, Robin Askwith & Dennis Price.
One thought just occurred to me, what would've happened, if the Wimbledon to Croydon line became part of the Overground? IF the Overground had existed around the late 90s
Billy Shears and Sgt. Pepper. When you look at it, it really was just a foolish theory about Paul being Dead. As a pedantic engineer to a "railway nut", I think that steam powered rail motor coach, or railcar, was not a locomotive. 😆
Very interesting, thanks Jago,
I used to know the area well, strange to see the level crossing with a tram crossing and a new building on the corner.
But Jago! Will Surf Shark protect me from Charles Tyson Yerkes???
Did a trek of that footpath on Tues, quite nice walk. Mind if I ask, would it be possible to do a video on Beddington Lane?