British Railways Steam 1960's Hemel Hempstead

BR steam in and around Hemel Hempstead in the early 1960's Taken from 8mm cine film

[@likklej8]

Great camera work there Agd. I used to train spot as a youngster on Hemel Hempstead and Boxmoor Station, before the BR rebuild. There was a signal box on the London end of platform 2&3. Once the signal staff let us visit the box and watch. Great station master too, very tolerant of train spotting but only from platforms 2 and 3. Great Video it’s even got the Nickey Line. Respect

[@keithashley6298]

Great footage thanks for uploading.

[@MrRawMonkey]

Cathedral choir seeing as bride walks in

[@simonnelson7770]

Can't believe how little Hemel Hempstead station has changed

[@TheMiserablegit]

Some excellent footage there. And congratulations for filming the consists of the goods trains, not just the locomotives. This kind of footage is priceless for 1960s modellers. Thanks very much for sharing.

[@chrismorris5312]

Lived near to Godwins Halt from 61 - 72.Thats the only time ever I have seen an Ivatt come up the hill from Hemel tender first !!.Last remnents of freight in the box vans was Paper from John Dickinsons in Apsley.When that contract came to an end,so did the line down the hill to Midland Road Station.

[@johnhealy8513]

What a wonderful film this is showing a fabulous selection of freight workings still hauled by steam locomotives under the shape of things to come!

[@ChangesOneTim]

Excellent filming. Must be rare now, taken as it was during the brief transition between the OLE going up after resignalling from Watford Junction Power Box and the end of all steam traction through there. Had all the electrification trains not been busy during this time, the junior me would probably not have taken any interest in railways. Shows all that new contact wire getting a fair coating of soot!

[@davidhyde4329]

Great footage, and in colour. I am a railway modeller of the 60's era - thanks for sharing. Regards David

[@johnlewin150]

The road signs are correct, but you will see that Boxmoor is on the top line and Station is on the second line with the BR logo in front of the word Station. These two items will never be on the same line. The first line indicates that Boxmoor (the district) will come first and the second line indicates the next destination which is Hemel Hempstead BR station. It is unfortunate that it reads that way but that's the way the Department of Transport allocates destination signage.

[@EdVanMeyer]

Great old film

[@simongleaden2864]

Lots of steam-hauled trains under the wires. Did the electrification of freight trains have to wait a while before the electric locos were brought into service?

[@London1064]

Excellent!. Nice to see what Hemel / Boxmoor Station used to be like.

[@soundseeker63]

Brilliant! Can't wait to see that! I find this transitional period of BR one of the most interesting of all. Also there is precious little footage of the early WCML electrics, so what you have could prove to be a real gem of BR traction history. Please let me know when you've put the video up! :-)

[@johnbrown9092]

Superb footage thanks. Brings back happy memories.

[@pressstart1490]

The good old days. Remember me Thomas and Friends

[@London1064]

Excellent & thank you very much, I never knew that and often wondered why the station is still refered to as Boxmoor on the road signs. I guess if you were from out of town and looking for Hemel Hempstead railway station you could be confused. You may be interested to know that the original Hemel Hempstead bus garage that was where Halfords now stands was always called Two waters by the London Transport board yet was called Hemel Hempstead on the running plates on the side of the buses.

[@doloresmyatt9737]

hi, there was another station called hemel hempsted (note the missing A in the spelling) in the town in the 60's

[@LNER2265]

i live in Hemel and it hasent change much part from thats steam and now we got the class 350 and the 390s.

[@stephensmith799]

Priceless. Wish I could have been there....

[@5705Seahorse]

Excellent well shot footage. Interesting to see the number of coal trains I assume heading south to the capital, and all the other goods being carried by the railways. Thank you for posting.

[@MSwolfdog158]

@Thomaruby100 BR Black 5 was pulling a Goods train also in (US Version): Freight train it References: Flying Kipper in Season 1 and Fish Season 4.

[@prof.hectorholbrook4692]

Superb.

[@hirsutetone]

Splendid to see the almost total dominance of LMS motive power and the local stopper is 100% LMS coaches. They really did let things go to pot then didn't they? Ex-works 48510 really looks out of place!

[@gainsbourg66]

Some amazing shots. It must have been 1964 or early 1965 as there are no pacifics left.

[@michaelmiller641]

I like the fact that you haven't been tempted to dub sound effects over it, which doesn't always work, and my other bugbear, totally inappropriate music!

[@London1064]

You are correct, however have a look at the road signs at Moor End roundabout and at the traffic lights at Two Waters and you will see that it is still refered to as Boxmoor Station by some authorities. Could be confusing if you were new or unfamiliar to the area.

[@agdenyer]

With reference to the debate about Boxmoor, in my video BR 1960's Electric & Diesels Hemel Hempstead, there is a shot of the ground frame titled "Hemel Hempstead Yard Frame" I dont know if it still called that.

[@ChangesOneTim]

My folks always called the station Boxmoor when I was a puppy. The 1950s station rebuild included the wonderful sign over the entrance HEMEL HEMPSTEAD & BOXMOOR STATION BRITISH RAILWAYS in Gill Sans lettering, which survived until Network SarfEast signs replaced it. IIRC the official name has only been HH at least since the March 1966 electric service intro. Indeed HH was the name of the ground frame, which IIRC also worked the connection to the centre siding. Another was 'HH fast lines frame' which worked only an emergency trailing crossover. Thirdly there was a 'HH south frame' just by Roughdown bridge which controlled the connections with the Slow lines there. These three frames were installed new when Watford Power Signalbox took control of the Hemel area.

[@nickforbes-warren6602]

5.33 Looks like a German type hopper wagon behind the loco!

[@jamesarkell5419]

It's one of the Stonebridge Park power station hoppers. Usually they were all in one train.

[@soundseeker63]

Amazing! So where was the electric-steam/diesel changeover point at this time? All the overhead equipment appears to be in place so it can't have been far away!

[@markturner4219]

If the footage was taken the same period as the earlier slide show, it had already begun. As gainsborough 66 points out, there are no pacifics so this would likely be post September 64 when they were one of the several classes banned from working the WCML south of Crewe. In the ealier slide show you can make out the front of one of the AL type electrics. People tend to forget that steam continued south of Crewe on the WCML for a year after the Electric trains became operational, Willesden finally closing to steam in Sept 1965. As all the locos and some carriages have the white overhead electricity warning flashes I would guess this was filmed between Sept 64 and Sept 65.

[@ChangesOneTim]

@@markturner4219 Loco changes had been at Crewe for quite a while. As the wires and new signalling extended south, and more AL locos were built, BR did do some changes at Stafford or Nuneaton or Rugby...although as the later-stage OLE was allowed to be installed to tighter clearances, certain steam classes were banned south of Crewe as you say. So it was best to keep things simple and not introduce different arrangements, or timetabling would get even more complicated. I agree re timeframe of the footage. Old archive stuff I have is not to hand, but to best recall the Hemel/ Tring area signal boxes closed and Watford Power Box opened during early 1964. Meanwhile the overhead line equipment was erected, although it was a good 12 months (not unusual) before it was energised so I would say that happened in spring/ summer 1965 in time for the new AM10 suburban units to do trial runs between their new depot at Bletchley and Watford Jn later that year. I think it was in Sept 1965 that BR staged a Watford-Tring press demo run of the AM10s.

[@oldhempsteadian]

Hasn't been Boxmoor station for more than 60 years but old habits die hard don't they?

[@robertvanauker3275]

What amenities are in a brake van for crew comfort? CBSBOB

[@stephensmith799]

I was invited into a BR/LMS type brake while a goods train was looped at Llanymddyfry in the 1960s. It was quite cosy with a coal burning stove and benches. The walls were yellow (formerly white I guess). Whether they stayed warm on the move I cannot say! The goods guard was very welcoming and chatty.

[@tomhind266d6]

Wooden box seating half way up are two leather seating for guard to look out of side windows for signals also at the rear inside a coal stove