The iconic 37's, love em! I used to live next to the mainline at Brentwood and you could hear the double headed freight trains tackling Brentwood Bank over half a mile away, made my windows rattle a bit when they passed. I was also fortunate to visit Stratford TMD on it's last open day before closure, what a great day that was. Thanks for these vids Soi, bringing back great memories.
Thanks.....still lots more to come! I grew up with the barking to Woodgrange Park line at the bottom of the garden. When a pair of 37s started away from a signal stop nearby, the whole house shook and windows rattled! Friends thought it was an earthquake!....
I would have thought all my birthdays have come at once with so many double headed 37s Absolute gem ! I loved sneaking round Stratford sheds. Brilliant depot 🚂
I'm pleased you like the vid. Have a look at this one if you remember Stratford ua-cam.com/video/CkZEEDCGusg/v-deo.html. I think it may have changed just a tad today, not many locos but plenty of shoppers!
I used to love getting there with a few mates, going under the tracks through the spooky alleyway then, as if by magic, you're right in front of the locos. Fantastic stuff. They let you get on with it too. You could walk anywhere, as long as you showed respect for where you were and behaved sensibly, even in the sheds. They knew we weren't causing trouble. Was mid to late 70s onwards for me. None of this modern, foreign stuff.
A friend of my Dad was a fitter and then a Foreman in the DRS, then the Running Shed, so getting round SF was no problem. I remember the tunnel well, out of SF station and it was first left and back on yourself under all the running lines with a couple of twists and turns and out on the other side of platform 12 and alongside Stratford Old Yard until you passed under the archway and there it all was--loco heaven! I have an upload of the TMD here ua-cam.com/video/CkZEEDCGusg/v-deo.html, enjoy!
The good old days! It brings back memories of Stratford where I started as a traction trainee in 1976. My Favourite loco to drive as a second man was the class 47! I don't know what the two guys were doing walking on the track without a HV jacket on!!
Yes, by then BR were getting a bit hot on the HV vest wearing.....I too worked with some ex Stratford men in the early 1990s, we still had 47s and of course lots of 37s by then as well. I found class 60s to be one of the best locos to drive, nice & comfy plus they rode like a MkIII coach, very smooth compared to other loco types.....
I started my railway hobby on the LTS only casually. The minute i went to Stratford for the first time i was instantly hooked. Great video Soi, brought back a lot of memories.
Funnily enough, i do have more from here and a few shots of the TMD. I slowly but surley keep up-loading little gems from the past. I'll see what i can find!
WHEN IT TRULY WAS GOD'S WONDERFUL RAILWAY, BRITISH RAIL AT IT'S BEST, happy days. What a video, it's made my week, BRILLIANT EXCELLENT EXQUISITE. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
In the 60s there was a staff access tunnel to the depot and we used to go round the yards on a Sunday. Occasionally got turfed out but most workers were fine, lots of old redundant steam stock stabled there in those days. Happy days! The lines through to Temple Mills yard were something of a mystery then as they were freight only.
There was a passenger service that passed by Temple Mills but it was peaks only, an extension of the North Woolwich-Stratford service taht went to Tottenham Hale via Lea Bridge. The staff tunnelwas there until around 1999 time when it was closed and a new access point to the TMD was put in on platform 12.
The whole of the Stratford area was marshland basically when the railways arrived in the 1840s. They built hugh great workshops, locomotive sheds, carriage sidings, good yards and such like. As the years passed London expanded and built itself around it. It was from the late 1950s onwards it began to contract until today where, apart from the expanded station, nothing is left.......Here is an upload of Stratford TMD taken in 1991 you might like to see as well ua-cam.com/video/CkZEEDCGusg/v-deo.html
Great clips 👍🏻 I can remember traveling down from Manchester in the late 70s to Stratford such happy memories 😊 Trying to speak round the shed through the long tunnel out side the station 🤔
The class 47 freight train (@16.32) has an impressive rake with a wide variety of stock that could be easily replicated by modellers. Another gr8 video Soi.
Woodgrange Park was my local, lots of freight there as well some of which went via the T&H so missed Stratford. Used to get round SF shed easily enough, a friend of my Dad's was a fitter and later Foreman over there both in DRS & TMD, happy days! I have a few shots taken on shed, i'll have to get them up as well.
I couldn't count the number of times I walked the gauntlet under the long tunnel at Stratford station to walk around the depot. I got turned away only once actually in the tunnel and then just went back five minutes later. A great depot! I'd go to London and hit quite a few depots in one day, SF, OC, WN, SL, HG, so easy back in the day.
Good catch at 6:00: a rake of YHA Whale ballast, they were not common due to limits on usefulness and where they could operate due to the high capacity. Thanks for the film Soi.
My pleasure.....It's a real blast from the past this one. All my time on freight i think i may have only worked one train of Whales, and that wasn't on a ballast site either! Probably a trip to or from Leyton Ballast Hole....( as the Engineers Depot was supposed to be known.....).....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus it was always known as the Leyton ballast hole when I worked out of Stratford, I was surprised that I never derailed when hauling out engineers trains as the state of the tracks in the depot was unbelievable!!!
@@orsoncarte8536 Tell me about it! I was working with Brian Batt bringing a ballast train back in with a class 37 when we came off on a set of points! We had already worked our our train back earlier but had been threatened with 12 hours to go back to Manor Park and bringing another train back....and that's was the one that came off!!!! Brian was not happy......
Used to do my train spotting Stratford and Liverpool Street in the 50s. My Grandad was a yard inspector, dad, uncle, cousin was carriage/wagons. Brother was over in Temple Mills and another uncle Liverpool Street
Quite a nostalgia rush to hear that female platform announcement! Remember that so well.. and the small bar where you could grab a pint on platform 8. Always an array of freight through there, great times...
Yes, that's the Stratford station i grew up with......lots of blue trains running about, the old Shenfield Sliders running in with a Gidea Park local, with their deep seats!
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus lol yes you could almost disappear in those! And like you Soi my childhood revolved around Stratford in many ways. Moving from Plaistow to barkingside then out to east Anglia. Many happy memories of those times. I used to love travelling on the Cravens to Camden Road to buy a bag full of records lol
I was born near here and lived in east London for nearly 30 years. When i go back i don't recognise the place! I've worked locos of the TMD and now it's disappaered under that shopping centre! I rather have the shed back!!!!!
Hi Steve, yes it was a Panasonic M1. It took full sized E180 tapes so i always had the master tape, no copying across from a smaller format and loosing quality. Now all is on DVD and MP4, the tapes were starting to degrade sadly.....
Well, i believe all the 59s have worked passenger trains on railtours, plus i had the joy of driving 206 on a cross country working one Sunday around 2000 time!
I guess there was still quite a bit of sand and gravel traffic to Bethnal Green at the time, although the initial Canary Wharf frenzy was slowing down. There was a frequent shuttle from Marks Tey. I used to see the 08 parked up by Globe Road in the mid 70s. at the weekend. Any DLR clips from that period? Thanks for uploading.
I have driven all 3 types (inc 59 003) and the 37s were much more fun...and LOUD!!! Well, if you thrashed them right! The 66's were very noisy in the cab, you almost had to shout to talk to the Guard or Shunter, and they were only sat on the other side of the cab! The 59's were better than 66's, they had a lot more power, 7A09 used to weigh around 4800 tons and ran with just the one loco up to Acton.
By then it would have been the 310s and some 312's. I do recall some 317/1's ran for a while with 1st class de-classified. I have a couple of shots on film somewhere!
Soi Buakhao - not that sure but they definitely had corridors - I remember br blue slam doors without the corridors on the great eastern in the very early 80s - emus aren’t really my thing, but have very fond memories of them - I’ve subbed your channel
Thank you. The EMU's on the GE were probably the 307 stock (i have a vid up of them in action at Bethnal Green) with the odd 302 while the Chingford/Enfield side had 305 & 308's knocking about. I will put another LTS vid up from 1988 showing the variety of classes at work at that time.
@@dieseldave3879 No worries, your YT name is the nickname of an ex Stratford Driver, i thought you may have been him! Check out my vids, i have some from the West Country from the 1990s you may like......
all sadly missed because of clowning around by councils and local govenments and do gooders,why did stratford have to close because of the olympics, could they not put it else where. i believe Devons Rd, 1d was one of the first to go quite a long time ago..
Yes, and that was the first all diesel depot! Depot's shut over the years as the work fell away and/or traction went over to unit operation and needed a different sort of depot. At Stratford, at the end there wasn't a lot left going on there. It actually shut in order to build the Channel Tunnel rail link, and the Westfield Shopping Centre now occupies the site. The Olympics Park was further west where Thornton Fields sidings used to be.
The iconic 37's, love em! I used to live next to the mainline at Brentwood and you could hear the double headed freight trains tackling Brentwood Bank over half a mile away, made my windows rattle a bit when they passed. I was also fortunate to visit Stratford TMD on it's last open day before closure, what a great day that was. Thanks for these vids Soi, bringing back great memories.
Thanks.....still lots more to come! I grew up with the barking to Woodgrange Park line at the bottom of the garden. When a pair of 37s started away from a signal stop nearby, the whole house shook and windows rattled! Friends thought it was an earthquake!....
I would have thought all my birthdays have come at once with so many double headed 37s Absolute gem ! I loved sneaking round Stratford sheds. Brilliant depot 🚂
I'm pleased you like the vid. Have a look at this one if you remember Stratford ua-cam.com/video/CkZEEDCGusg/v-deo.html. I think it may have changed just a tad today, not many locos but plenty of shoppers!
Brilliant, good memories. Love how you pick out the numbers.
Yes, i liked to know what i had filmed although sometimes the trains whizzed by too fast!
The old Stratford was an exciting place for a spotter. Great stuff.
It was local to me at the time and i've been visiting since i was a child. There are lots more vids from here to upload over time, keep watching!
I used to love getting there with a few mates, going under the tracks through the spooky alleyway then, as if by magic, you're right in front of the locos. Fantastic stuff.
They let you get on with it too. You could walk anywhere, as long as you showed respect for where you were and behaved sensibly, even in the sheds. They knew we weren't causing trouble.
Was mid to late 70s onwards for me. None of this modern, foreign stuff.
A friend of my Dad was a fitter and then a Foreman in the DRS, then the Running Shed, so getting round SF was no problem. I remember the tunnel well, out of SF station and it was first left and back on yourself under all the running lines with a couple of twists and turns and out on the other side of platform 12 and alongside Stratford Old Yard until you passed under the archway and there it all was--loco heaven! I have an upload of the TMD here ua-cam.com/video/CkZEEDCGusg/v-deo.html, enjoy!
The good old days! It brings back memories of Stratford where I started as a traction trainee in 1976. My Favourite loco to drive as a second man was the class 47! I don't know what the two guys were doing walking on the track without a HV jacket on!!
Yes, by then BR were getting a bit hot on the HV vest wearing.....I too worked with some ex Stratford men in the early 1990s, we still had 47s and of course lots of 37s by then as well. I found class 60s to be one of the best locos to drive, nice & comfy plus they rode like a MkIII coach, very smooth compared to other loco types.....
Memories are made of this lovely 😊
Thank you....i still have plenty more.....
I started my railway hobby on the LTS only casually. The minute i went to Stratford for the first time i was instantly hooked.
Great video Soi, brought back a lot of memories.
I'm pleased you enjoyed it.....
Ahhh, Stratford when It was varied and interesting. Great video.
Another great video 👍👍
Another great video.
What a great place Stratford was, almost every type of traction supply was to be seen from the station.
Looking forward to more.
Funnily enough, i do have more from here and a few shots of the TMD. I slowly but surley keep up-loading little gems from the past. I'll see what i can find!
WHEN IT TRULY WAS GOD'S WONDERFUL RAILWAY, BRITISH RAIL AT IT'S BEST, happy days.
What a video, it's made my week, BRILLIANT EXCELLENT EXQUISITE. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thank you.....my pleasure!
In the 60s there was a staff access tunnel to the depot and we used to go round the yards on a Sunday. Occasionally got turfed out but most workers were fine, lots of old redundant steam stock stabled there in those days. Happy days! The lines through to Temple Mills yard were something of a mystery then as they were freight only.
There was a passenger service that passed by Temple Mills but it was peaks only, an extension of the North Woolwich-Stratford service taht went to Tottenham Hale via Lea Bridge. The staff tunnelwas there until around 1999 time when it was closed and a new access point to the TMD was put in on platform 12.
Remarkable how much wide open space there was around there then. The Lea Valley platform was virtually defunct, look at it now!
The whole of the Stratford area was marshland basically when the railways arrived in the 1840s. They built hugh great workshops, locomotive sheds, carriage sidings, good yards and such like. As the years passed London expanded and built itself around it. It was from the late 1950s onwards it began to contract until today where, apart from the expanded station, nothing is left.......Here is an upload of Stratford TMD taken in 1991 you might like to see as well ua-cam.com/video/CkZEEDCGusg/v-deo.html
Great clips 👍🏻 I can remember traveling down from Manchester in the late 70s to Stratford such happy memories 😊 Trying to speak round the shed through the long tunnel out side the station 🤔
I have some shots taken on the TMD, locos shunting around and such like. All now sadly under the Westfield Centre!
The class 47 freight train (@16.32) has an impressive rake with a wide variety of stock that could be easily replicated by modellers. Another gr8 video Soi.
Thank you.....i forget how far back these early ones are now.......well over 30 years ago with plenty of old BR still around.....
Awesome vid
I commuted through Stratford a lot between 2007 and 2012 but sadly never visited as a spotter in my youth. Nice to see some spotters too!
Used to be a great place to see a great variety of traction.
Excellent vidioes
My old home station just as I remember it growing up and spotting there on weekends ! My great uncle was a senior fitter at 30A
Woodgrange Park was my local, lots of freight there as well some of which went via the T&H so missed Stratford. Used to get round SF shed easily enough, a friend of my Dad's was a fitter and later Foreman over there both in DRS & TMD, happy days! I have a few shots taken on shed, i'll have to get them up as well.
Hi Soi, another great video, bet most of this traffic is on the roads now😢🤓
The Liners still run and the Mendip traffic of course.
I couldn't count the number of times I walked the gauntlet under the long tunnel at Stratford station to walk around the depot. I got turned away only once actually in the tunnel and then just went back five minutes later. A great depot! I'd go to London and hit quite a few depots in one day, SF, OC, WN, SL, HG, so easy back in the day.
Yes, i remember walking along that damp, dank tunnel....and the excitement of seeing what was on shed and around the DRS......great days.....
Good catch at 6:00: a rake of YHA Whale ballast, they were not common due to limits on usefulness and where they could operate due to the high capacity. Thanks for the film Soi.
My pleasure.....It's a real blast from the past this one. All my time on freight i think i may have only worked one train of Whales, and that wasn't on a ballast site either! Probably a trip to or from Leyton Ballast Hole....( as the Engineers Depot was supposed to be known.....).....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus it was always known as the Leyton ballast hole when I worked out of Stratford, I was surprised that I never derailed when hauling out engineers trains as the state of the tracks in the depot was unbelievable!!!
@@orsoncarte8536 Tell me about it! I was working with Brian Batt bringing a ballast train back in with a class 37 when we came off on a set of points! We had already worked our our train back earlier but had been threatened with 12 hours to go back to Manor Park and bringing another train back....and that's was the one that came off!!!! Brian was not happy......
Great historical train video. I subscribed. Joe's train world videos
Thanks for the sub! I have plenty more vis still to upload.....
Used to do my train spotting Stratford and Liverpool Street in the 50s. My Grandad was a yard inspector, dad, uncle, cousin was carriage/wagons. Brother was over in Temple Mills and another uncle Liverpool Street
Wow! A real railway family...... and lots of places, long since disappeared, for them to work at......
I don’t know why but everytime I see a 37, it reminds me of a basset hound.
Quite a nostalgia rush to hear that female platform announcement! Remember that so well.. and the small bar where you could grab a pint on platform 8. Always an array of freight through there, great times...
Yes, that's the Stratford station i grew up with......lots of blue trains running about, the old Shenfield Sliders running in with a Gidea Park local, with their deep seats!
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus lol yes you could almost disappear in those! And like you Soi my childhood revolved around Stratford in many ways. Moving from Plaistow to barkingside then out to east Anglia. Many happy memories of those times. I used to love travelling on the Cravens to Camden Road to buy a bag full of records lol
Great video soi,how things have changed.
I was born near here and lived in east London for nearly 30 years. When i go back i don't recognise the place! I've worked locos of the TMD and now it's disappaered under that shopping centre! I rather have the shed back!!!!!
Another great video Soi can you remember what camcorder and format you were using back then cheers Steve ..
Hi Steve, yes it was a Panasonic M1. It took full sized E180 tapes so i always had the master tape, no copying across from a smaller format and loosing quality. Now all is on DVD and MP4, the tapes were starting to degrade sadly.....
@ 14:06 - I bet not many people can say theyve been bashing behind a Yeoman on a main line ?
Well, i believe all the 59s have worked passenger trains on railtours, plus i had the joy of driving 206 on a cross country working one Sunday around 2000 time!
Where did the 2 branches go ?
Temple mills/lea bridge and the sheds ?
Right to Temple Mills and the Lea Valley, left to Channelsea Jct and the North London line
Now London overground operate around channelsea and greater Anglia to Tottenham hale and beyond through temple mills (now Eurostar depot)
To think we practically had the awful 66s in the shape of them 59s, thankfully only a handful and it took a while before the rot set in.
The 59s are much better than a 66! Nowhere near as noisey in the cab and they can actually pull heavy trains with ease......
I guess there was still quite a bit of sand and gravel traffic to Bethnal Green at the time, although the initial Canary Wharf frenzy was slowing down. There was a frequent shuttle from Marks Tey. I used to see the 08 parked up by Globe Road in the mid 70s. at the weekend. Any DLR clips from that period? Thanks for uploading.
Thanks for your comments....No, very little DLR action i'm afraid.
That old banana van on channelsea curve was there years up until it was all ripped up for the Eurostar and crapfields shopping centre
I have shots of trains leaving Stratford Old Yard, all now under that heidious shopping centre!
Doubleheaded 37s: better than a class 66? You decide!
59003 still going though.
I have driven all 3 types (inc 59 003) and the 37s were much more fun...and LOUD!!! Well, if you thrashed them right! The 66's were very noisy in the cab, you almost had to shout to talk to the Guard or Shunter, and they were only sat on the other side of the cab! The 59's were better than 66's, they had a lot more power, 7A09 used to weigh around 4800 tons and ran with just the one loco up to Acton.
Is that a deltic at the beginning of the video
No, they are class 37s although they are also built by English Electric.
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Oh Ok
people on the tracks without hi-vis
Tha's how things were back then.....
- slam doors were on LTS till the year 2000 or there abouts
By then it would have been the 310s and some 312's. I do recall some 317/1's ran for a while with 1st class de-classified. I have a couple of shots on film somewhere!
Soi Buakhao - not that sure but they definitely had corridors - I remember br blue slam doors without the corridors on the great eastern in the very early 80s - emus aren’t really my thing, but have very fond memories of them - I’ve subbed your channel
Thank you. The EMU's on the GE were probably the 307 stock (i have a vid up of them in action at Bethnal Green) with the odd 302 while the Chingford/Enfield side had 305 & 308's knocking about. I will put another LTS vid up from 1988 showing the variety of classes at work at that time.
Soi Buakhao - that’s great, thanks a lot
👍
Are you Dave who is an ex Stratford driver?..... With a son who is ex Blue Triangle?....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Sorry no, just a rail enthusiast in the West Country.
Enjoyed the vid though!
@@dieseldave3879 No worries, your YT name is the nickname of an ex Stratford Driver, i thought you may have been him! Check out my vids, i have some from the West Country from the 1990s you may like......
all sadly missed because of clowning around by councils and local govenments and do gooders,why did stratford have to close because of the olympics, could they not put it else where. i believe Devons Rd, 1d was one of the first to go quite a long time ago..
Yes, and that was the first all diesel depot! Depot's shut over the years as the work fell away and/or traction went over to unit operation and needed a different sort of depot. At Stratford, at the end there wasn't a lot left going on there. It actually shut in order to build the Channel Tunnel rail link, and the Westfield Shopping Centre now occupies the site. The Olympics Park was further west where Thornton Fields sidings used to be.