Thank you for taking me back to my childhood. Living near Upminster I fondly remember the R stock "Stormtroopers" and amazing footage from inside. Keep 'em coming!
One thing I never got to film was the rotating key the guard used to open and close passenger doors. Alas, these were removed / replaced with buttons when I was a young child.
I have been to Kensington Olympia on only one occasion - to visit the Personal Computer World show in the 1980's. The show was decadent and the station was surreal. The only train I saw was the LT train I travelled on. The station was extremely quiet and you could only hear the sounds of birds tweeting in the summer sun. Now I see the quaint signal box and semaphore signals are all gone and it just looks like any tube station. Thanks for uploading a well made contribution with informative captions. I hope you are inspired to get out with your camera and upload this summer!
I lived in a garden flat at number 92 Sinclair rd. Our garden backed onto the railway line.I lived there from 1974 until summer 1976.Back then in summer it was back to back motor rail services with double headed 47,s, very busy.
As a child I experienced a different kind of motor rail - we had a motorised caravan and took it on the train through the Swiss Alps! Especially for trips to the Lake District or even further north, to Scotland (or south-west to Cornwall) motor rail sounds far more attractive than the M1 and M6 (or M4 and M5).
Good video. This station saw many different roles. In the early 1980s BR Merrymakers (BR's own charter trains) often used to reverse here. I did Shenfield to Newton Abbot via Kenny O, with a loco change and reversal here. For a while, BR also did Motorrail services from Kenny O to Stirling.
Once a very neglected line, hideously underused, with the "missing link" between willesden junction - Kensington Olympia- clapham junction only being plugged by a ½ hourly dmu shuttle in 1994, but it was a start, and paved the way for better things, including the 1999 connections with Parsons green,, and it's a well patronised busy line these days with 4 intermediate stations and a frequent service
+class37100 Wow! yes, indeed that is so. Online Video added sound. If I had of known when I filmed those trains what I know now, I would have filmed enough for a long film of them... and used a cassette machine to record stereo sound. Not just these trains but also the 1960 Tube Stock on the Central Line in the days when they used the standard stock trailers plus the 1967 tube stock on the Central Line. And probably other trains (more BR slam door, etc).
my understanding is that there is a very limited service from Olympia the rest of the time inasmuch as trains fresh from the nearby depot will generally start from Olympia
A shame no pics of KO North signalbox or the Motorail terminal which still had its rails when I lived behind in Sinclair Rd but tarmac'd early eighties into a carpark and was often seen commuting in my leading railmans uniform when I was blessed enough to get a train, I would often hoist a jar with the station charge hand who spent much of his time in the Hand and Flower up by the over road bridge or the smaller pub behind Olympia on the corner of Sinclair Rd, he was an unrepentant toper and started drinking when the shunter was killed some years before in the Motorail terminal get caught between the flats and the coaches which had shifted, a sad night as we were on our way to Scotland to go on holiday and my poor old dad being senior operational railwayman on site had to stay behind and it was even sadder in that the man killed was one of me late fathers friends.
Sorry about the omissions. I agree that it would have been better had I filmed more of the station and its buildings, features, etc. There is so much that if I had known 'then' I would have filmed - both more and better. In the 'old' days I filmed for me, I never contemplated that one day I would be able to share my films in this way... even the concept of the Internet etc., was unknown.
in a way, yes - they both come from the same train builder and in many ways are similar trains but with very different seating layouts inside the train.
Thank you for taking me back to my childhood. Living near Upminster I fondly remember the R stock "Stormtroopers" and amazing footage from inside. Keep 'em coming!
One thing I never got to film was the rotating key the guard used to open and close passenger doors. Alas, these were removed / replaced with buttons when I was a young child.
I have been to Kensington Olympia on only one occasion - to visit the Personal Computer World show in the 1980's. The show was decadent and the station was surreal. The only train I saw was the LT train I travelled on. The station was extremely quiet and you could only hear the sounds of birds tweeting in the summer sun. Now I see the quaint signal box and semaphore signals are all gone and it just looks like any tube station. Thanks for uploading a well made contribution with informative captions. I hope you are inspired to get out with your camera and upload this summer!
I lived in a garden flat at number 92 Sinclair rd. Our garden backed onto the railway line.I lived there from 1974 until summer 1976.Back then in summer it was back to back motor rail services with double headed 47,s, very busy.
As a child I experienced a different kind of motor rail - we had a motorised caravan and took it on the train through the Swiss Alps!
Especially for trips to the Lake District or even further north, to Scotland (or south-west to Cornwall) motor rail sounds far more attractive than the M1 and M6 (or M4 and M5).
Good video. This station saw many different roles. In the early 1980s BR Merrymakers (BR's own charter trains) often used to reverse here. I did Shenfield to Newton Abbot via Kenny O, with a loco change and reversal here. For a while, BR also did Motorrail services from Kenny O to Stirling.
P, R, CP & CR stock footage always appreciated :)
Thank you- most informative.
14:37 reminds me of a stormtrooper ;-) lovely looking train, that.
I like your video
Thank You :-)
Once a very neglected line, hideously underused, with the "missing link" between willesden junction - Kensington Olympia- clapham junction only being plugged by a ½ hourly dmu shuttle in 1994, but it was a start, and paved the way for better things, including the 1999 connections with Parsons green,, and it's a well patronised busy line these days with 4 intermediate stations and a frequent service
before WW2 this was a busy enough route to justify electric trains
the R38 in the film is featured by you in the online video underground trains remembered but it does have sound unless jim connor and co added that
+class37100 Wow! yes, indeed that is so. Online Video added sound.
If I had of known when I filmed those trains what I know now, I would have filmed enough for a long film of them... and used a cassette machine to record stereo sound. Not just these trains but also the 1960 Tube Stock on the Central Line in the days when they used the standard stock trailers plus the 1967 tube stock on the Central Line. And probably other trains (more BR slam door, etc).
its a shame that the district line branch to olympia is only open on weekends and public holidays
my understanding is that there is a very limited service from Olympia the rest of the time inasmuch as trains fresh from the nearby depot will generally start from Olympia
Middle circle also equals inner rail circle line
in part, yes
What was the class 455 doing there?
There was disruption to the service - the 455 was sent to Olympia to rescue stranded passengers who wished to travel south towards Clapham Junction.
A shame no pics of KO North signalbox or the Motorail terminal which still had its rails when I lived behind in Sinclair Rd but tarmac'd early eighties into a carpark and was often seen commuting in my leading railmans uniform when I was blessed enough to get a train, I would often hoist a jar with the station charge hand who spent much of his time in the Hand and Flower up by the over road bridge or the smaller pub behind Olympia on the corner of Sinclair Rd, he was an unrepentant toper and started drinking when the shunter was killed some years before in the Motorail terminal get caught between the flats and the coaches which had shifted, a sad night as we were on our way to Scotland to go on holiday and my poor old dad being senior operational railwayman on site had to stay behind and it was even sadder in that the man killed was one of me late fathers friends.
Sorry about the omissions. I agree that it would have been better had I filmed more of the station and its buildings, features, etc. There is so much that if I had known 'then' I would have filmed - both more and better. In the 'old' days I filmed for me, I never contemplated that one day I would be able to share my films in this way... even the concept of the Internet etc., was unknown.
R Stock Train Video has no sound
R38 Stock?
Are the Class 377 and 378 siblings?
in a way, yes - they both come from the same train builder and in many ways are similar trains but with very different seating layouts inside the train.
+citytransportinfo Interesting stuff there.