London's Lost Railways Ep.15 - Bonus Episode!

[@Parborway]

I feel it crucial to point out that along Mandela way, on the site of bricklayers arms, there was a parcel of land that the owner could not get planning permission to build a set of flats on, so Instead he asked if he could install a tank. The council thought he meant a septic tank, so complied, but the owner actually parked an ex-soviet T-34 war tank with its main gun pointed at the council offices.

[@geofftech2]

yes yes! i actually did that in an old Londonist video back in 2017 .. it's here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2XWY4qOZdp-pdk

[@jack_sugg_agriphotography]

Awesome

[@anthonydefreitas6006]

Stompie

[@mariataif]

Actually I vaguelly remember seing a Picture of this.

[@mariataif]

Yes Google is your friend its still there Nicknamed Stumpie. So everyone you need to find and film this tank on your travels.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I love Geoff when he’s aware that we’re all playing BINGO 😂

[@thexalon]

Some of us had to drink when he said "allotment" instead.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@thomaslovestrains3333 Hello!

[@PokhrajRoy.]

4:50 Next Station: Allotment. Change here for the Geoff Vocab Bingo 😂

[@Paul_Lucas]

Good news about North Woolwich Station. It has a new owner! Indifferent news - it’s an evangelical church which doesn’t usually mean sympathetic upkeep of the premises in line with its character. Still, it’s good to see the building will have some sort of future 👍🏻

[@christinaburton9297]

Great! I hope it gets listed status.

[@1258-Eckhart]

Hope they can worship the Great Eastern Railway awning and the tank engine turntable mountings as we do.

[@jeremybuck1818]

@@christinaburton9297 It is Grade II listed.

[@thomasedwards5700]

If I had the money I would have bought it and returned it to being a railway museum!

[@tomkandy]

@@jeremybuck1818 lol as if they're going to care, or Newham are going to bother enforcing it.

[@tmb8807]

The mad thing about North Woolwich is that the grand old GER building hadn't been in use as a station building for years prior to the line's closure. It was a museum for quite a while, but there was a grotty little shack next to it that served as the entrance and exit to the station.

[@robertyoung9611]

I remember visiting the museum, it's a shame it's no longer used as such.

[@AnnabelSmyth]

It was a lovely museum; I wish it hadn't closed as my grandsons would have loved it. I went with friends and it was a wonderful day out.

[@ianmcclavin]

You've informed me of something completely new in this one Geoff...I knew nothing of Central Croydon Station!

[@Maltloaflegrande]

@@AnnabelSmyth When my son was very young: about four or five or so, I used to take him on the occasional "mystery tour". he loved traveling on trains and buses so I'd get us one-day Travelcards (early 90s this was) and we'd just travel about all day usually having a visit to a nice big park as the centrepiece. We lived in Canning Town so the trips usually started off going down to North Woolwich and even at that young age, he loved that museum. It was him visiting the area recently who told me it was currently unused and that is a great pity.

[@srfurley]

Until it was closed by the pandemic I was one of the projectionists at the David Lean Cinema at the Croydon Clocktower on the site of Central station. If you walk along the lower level part of the Queen’s gardens where the track used to be towards the main road and pass the plaque to your left the old wall turns to the right in front of you blocking the old route, though there’s a hole in the wall forming a subway under the road coming up on the other side near the Fairfield Halls. It can still clearly seen that this part of the brickwork is newer than the original retaining wall. A part of the line survived after the station closed. It is still shown on old maps passing just under the road, and seems to have served a gravel pit.

[@CasperJoosten]

This series has more endings than Return of the King

[@sgthree]

Thank you so much for doing this video. The Newbury Park bit is very special to me as my grandparents lived in Glebelands Avenue from about 1940 until they died (1980s and 2002), and my mother was born in the house there, just beyond the substation from where you spoke. Mum remembers the old railway at the bottom of the garden very well from her childhood in the 1940s. Living in Devon now, it is great to see the old place (I remember as a child having to jump up to catch a glimpse of the tube lines coming out of the tunnel on the Eastern Avenue bridge). Now fast approaching 80, I showed mum this on Sunday when I visited her, and she thought it was wonderful to see the old places she remembered so well from her childhood and beyond. The tube trains used to pass about 8ft below my grandparents' dining room and would make the whole house shake. A bit alarming if you weren't used to it!

[@geofftech2]

lovely comment, Daniel. thank you!

[@ThatMikotan]

This is like a gift that keeps on giving! You find some pocket change in your laundry, you go a bit further, and look, more change!

[@tsrgoinc]

As a kid, I used to love the single line from the old Custom House station to Silvertown and North Woolwich, through the tunnel, past Tate and Lyle’s and get the ferry over to woolwich. I loved the 70’s and early 80’s!

[@automotivetales]

Geoff apologising that he found content for another lost railways video is utterly charming! Clearly you enjoy making the videos, so don’t apologise for doing what you love, and hey - we love watching them so don’t apologise to us! But what a exciting high to end the video on! Roll on episode 15!!! 🥰

[@Hammondfreak]

Interesting video professionally made. It's got everything - old platforms, bridges, a shopping trolley, allotments and your comment "We're NOT playing bingo!" really made me laugh.

[@geofftech2]

thank you! i put a lot of effort into these, so thank you.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Geoff, we all love exploring yet another lost railway station.

[@selorm]

I used to use North Woolwich station to get home via West Ham - and also to get to Dalston when I was a kid/teen. I remember once I made the mistake of using it before checking the schedule. I was waiting for so long in the cold that I caught one. I also liked the museum.

[@MrHovis44]

I love Geoff's videos. I find them so calming and informative. I so worry though that when he puts his video camera down for a walking into or out of shot clip some callow youth will run off with it.

[@HenrysAdventures]

Fantastic! I didn't know about the Edmonton to Angle Road Line. I walked the Bricklayer Arms Line a few years ago and near the football stadium there is still some track in place. Such a shame North Woolwich Station is now derelict, I used to be a lovely museum with steam locos on display and a miniature railway!

[@PlanetoftheDeaf]

Great stuff, and not just for the allotment mention (and yes I cheered 😁). That walk from Angel Road to Edmonton looks surprisingly nice considering how grim Angel Road station and its immediate environs are!

[@Eurobazz]

I agree. That whole area used to resemble Beirut High Street.

[@andyhartley]

Geoff in 2022 ... "There's actually one more episode of London's Lost Railways as I've found a old 105 yard section of track near Waterloo which is now some allotments"

[@lbicknell]

I'm convinced this video series will never end....just when you think we've seen them all a new bit of lost railway is found!

[@Twannnng]

Next video location: down the back of Geoff's sofa.

[@GenXBecks]

The Enfield Town line is my nearest train, so I used to take it daily. The Edmonton Green area is so strange, this explains quite a lot.

[@Eurobazz]

Read my entry above.

[@Steven_Rowe]

Geoff, finally you have done the other end of the line to Palace Gates, you may remember I sent you a link to a 1960 video of a run from North Woolwich to Palace Gates. Always sad to see lines closed or it is for an old but like me.

[@axma128]

I live in Norway, and I`ve only visited London a couple of times. Yet I find your videos very interesting and entertaining. Keep up the good work.

[@BrianWalshSF]

Lost Railway Bonus Bits sound like a tasty snack

[@badhrihari1705]

Quite healthy as well

[@johnstilljohn3181]

Cool stuff. The dates, as you stated, for Croydon Central make it unique. As far as I have ever been able to find out, it's the only station ever to open and close twice in the 19th century...

[@OneKnifeYeHand]

It's not the only one, but AFAIK it's the only one in London that didn't reopen once more after the turn of the century.

[@johnstilljohn3181]

@@OneKnifeYeHand I guess it depends on which publication is better researched...

[@timsully8958]

So not only is there a bonus episode, there is an extra bonus episode too! 😎 Marvellous! The gift that keeps on giving! 😜 Always sad to see North Woolwich in that state as I used it fairly regularly to get across the water via the ferry to go to watch Charlton in the 90s, mainly because virtually no one else did! 😁 I think I last used it in about 2005 not long before it closed. Obviously there is now the DLR to Woolwich Arsenal, but it just isn’t the same 🙄 Shame that the project to use it as a heritage centre never happened but then Crossrail was always going to be the priority in any scenario 🤷🏻‍♂️ Missed opportunity though as that building was wonderful and I enjoyed visiting the wee museum they had. And I seem to recall there was a miniature railway club there too 😎 Cheers Geoff, have a great weekend mate 👍🍀🍻

[@davidrauger]

There was a lovely a Museum at North Woolwich. Small but informative with some nice exhibits - including rolling stock. Very interesting line, with its deviation from its original route through a tunnel under the docks. It's nice that the building is still standing.

[@davidboyce8683]

What a patriot you are Geoff , keeping history alive ..bless you .

[@Sim0nTrains]

Just smiled when Allotments showed up in the video! lol But loved the Bonus Episode of London Lost Railways, North Woolwich Station is on my list of places to visit so hopefully when I get down to London I might visit North Woolwich Station.

[@Bungle2010]

Should have gone there years ago when it was a museum.

[@SusanBBentley]

Thank u so much for featuring the old Newbury Park line! My old stomping ground! I believe it served the old Plessey factory during ww1

[@johnjokela7513]

Thank you for these videos. It was a nice surprise you ended up at Edmonton Green where I stayed when I visited London and I walked through the Shopping Center in the video. I love London and England and can't wait to come back again for a visit. I do remember seeing some run down looking grassy embankments across the street from the shopping center area, and now know what that was.

[@RichardWells1]

Phew! Fast moving, or what! Unrivalled research and filming, as usual. Thanks @Geoff Marshall

[@nigelturner2356]

My Grandparents were from Plumstead and so I have many happy memories of both Woolwich Arsenal and North Woolwich, Victoria Gardens and the old pub opposite North Woolwich Station and then again as the museum with my friends. So sad to think most are now gone or derelict. Thanks Geoff for bringing back those memories.

[@grahambridge7642]

You missed bits of the Bricklayers Arms Branch. There's the steps up to the old North Kent West signals signal box, the old walls that run the length of Willow Walk and Rolls Road, I think the stables at the junction of Catlin Street and St James's Road might still be there (They were two years ago) plus the buildings you showed in Page's walk also includes the railwayman's cottages and the buildings spill around the corner into Willow Walk.

[@transitcaptain]

Clever idea Geoff, KEEP THEM COMING! I love your content.

[@amethyst7084]

I've driven through Wards Road and Benton Road a number of times over the years, andcalways wondered why there was a bridge there. Never knew about the abandoned railway 🛤 there. Great info Geoff. 👍🏾

[@paulyh4531]

Very good series Geoff , not commented for ages , keep up the good work. 👍

[@geofftech2]

Thanks 👍

[@muxradow]

A great episode, as usual ! ¶ Special _thanks_ for the map inserts : As a New Yorker, with just a tourist's collection of old Beck maps, a few London Transport pubs, & an assortment of TfL issues, _YOUR_ selective maps & graphics _are_ extremely helpful! Attempting to fathom a historical context _without_ these map annotations is all but not possible! ,¶ Yes, I know that adding even a few graphics & maps _is_ a large addition to your production efforts. However, it greatly adds to the historical context of your video & will make it a _forever_ useful resource for city planners, urban historians, ecologists, & mere foreign amateurs (like me). Thanks, again, for the cartographic eye candy : Greatly Appreciated ! / Mike - eot-

[@geofftech2]

Mike, you're extremely kind - thanks. they do indeed take a whole to draw and put together so it's nice to know they're appreciated. a lovely comment, thanks again.

[@-.sparrow.-]

I love how he records so much his videos are AWESOMES Love your vids Geoff!!

[@andrewholloway231]

A Brilliant Bonus Episode, thank you Geoff.

[@jharris-pdxrides]

I grew up in Newbury Park! In California though. It's near by Moorpark, California if you can believe it (closer than than the Underground stations are to each other).

[@markhempleman9217]

Great to see Lower Edmonton mentiond Geoff. Bonus fact, when I was quite young I fell off the platform there and broke a tooth. Mum not impressed.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Another great video....i noticed my comments on another of your vids had been removed, i wondered if you were going to make a vid about them (New Pk & Brentford)....you have and are! I found the Brentford line to be a quite fascinating line to travel along, at the start is the link into the old AEC works still there, right next to the yard we used as an electrification depot when Acton crews were working the wiring trains for the Heathrow Express service. The branch was worked then on the Ticket & Staff system of control, i believe it still is, the last such use of it on the main line railways!

[@randomtrainfan6501]

This train is the gardener's service to geoff Marshall's bingo session. calling at: a field, tiny allotment, old bridge, slightly larger allotment, old station building, medium allotment, a few more old bridges and finally Geoffs bingo session. This train is formed of a lot of coaches.

[@vicsams4431]

Great video, Geoff. This is one of your best ! Silvertown - the old Silvertown Tunnel used to leak, and was fitted with a Flood Warning Indicator. In later years, it was operated as a single line from Custom House to North Woolwich on One Train Working Without Train Staff. I once asked if I could walk through the disused former Up Line (Westbound) single bore tunnel. My host said 'No'. "I only tried it once. You wade up to your shoulders in raw sewage, with rats swimming and biting your ears." As he was taller than me, I decided he was wise. When riding in the cab, there was an optical illusion caused by the light, that made you think you were heading straight for a wall. Some drivers did not like doing the tunnel because if the third rail unit failed, you had to evacuate through the front cab door, and it was a brave soul that put his ladder down into the water, not knowing whether it had reached the 750V conductor rail ! North Woolwich - I know the driver that drove LNER A3 4472 "Flying Scotsman" steam loco here. Even I did not know it had a turntable. Newbury Park - you missed a bit ! The two north facing curves that formed a triangular junction between Ilford and Seven Kings, is now the site of Ilford Car Sheds EMU Depot. I can remember the level crossing, and level crossing gates, between Angel Road and (Lower) Edmonton Green.

[@pappakilo3965]

Thanks for laying a ghost of mine to rest. I travelled to North Woolwich station in the mid-1990s while on a fact finding journey and I was aware the DLR had taken over the NLL around there but didn't know the detail. I'd meant to Google it but you've saved me a lot of bother.

[@SaturnCanuck]

Thanks Geoff. My Dad grew up near Angel and it was great to see its history.

[@timtownsend1171]

I've really enjoyed these videos. The old Staines West one reminded me of when I worked in that area back in the 1990s when the station still had tracks, platforms and remains of awnings still in-place. Very overgrown, mind, but worth a visit. Keep up the great work!

[@petermc7098]

Hello There, thank you for sharing your perspective and this was a really interesting journey. Kind regards Peter :)

[@brianjrichman]

Ah yes. Newbury Park. I used to use it (and Barkingside and Gants Hill too) as commuter stations on the tube. It is interesting to think that a century ago the train line was the Liverpool Street to Southend line with the run up northwards through there.

[@guillaumemaurice3503]

Thank you for the video Geoff that was very interesting. I live in Hertfordshire but, I am very near Edmonton.

[@scarlettmissredblack1381]

Thankyou, Geoff. This series has been excellent. 😁❤️

[@railmaster18]

Very cool! It was interesting to see similar naming of railway infrastructure in Edmonton (London) and Edmonton, Canada! Thanks for the great videos, Geoff!

[@ronmorgan4611]

The North Woolwich Station's turntable is, in fact, called a sector plate. It didn't turn 360 degrees, Its purpose was to switch the locomotive from one track to another, saving space. Sorry to be pedantic, love the videos and hope to see many more.

[@Danburybeeches]

Some great insights there Geoff, and good to know there's another other/bonus video! The trail never stops!

[@MrDavil43]

Years ago I often travelled from Enfield to Stamford Hill on the "Jazz" trains to Liverpool Street. I was fascinated by the level crossing on the Angel Road line just below Edmonton Station and one day I saw a green diesel loco (D82xx?) with what I now realise was a track lifting train actually on the crossing with workmen fussing around it. This might have been 1964-ish This was the start of my feeling very sad at seeing railways being dismantled, a feeling that has only increased with age!

[@srfurley]

Newbury Park Bus station building won a design award at the Festival of Britain. It still carries a ceramic plaque on the left side of the arch showing the festival logo.

[@danrkelly]

Huge thank for your efforts on this series Geoff, fascinating.

[@prof.heinous191]

North Woolwich Station - handsome building!

[@Alistair14]

Yet another fantastic video - for which many thanks. Quick query (with apology probably). At the risk of outraging many, I am not a football fan, however I have interest in Wembley. Nigel Welbourn, in his excellent 'Lost Lines - London' discusses and illustrate the station built for the Empire Exhibition in 1924/5. Uninspiringly eclipit (sp. ? - a good scots word meaning named) 'Wembley Exhibition' for the duration, it was renamed 'Wembley Stadium' in 1948 - eventually. Now gone, of course, does this modest loop qualify as a Lost Railway? Apologies if I have missed /failed to find a video already in your magnificent repertoire. Tangentially, at the time of the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938, the LMS constructed a temporary halt called 'Bellahouston Park' - the site of the exhibition, to supplement its permanent - but now closed - Ibrox Station. Weirdly, about half a mile from the temporary Bellahouston Park station on the Paisley Canal line , whose existence has been chequered. A new station, called Drumbreck has been opened. Work that one out! Please keep up the great work. PS Living in Troon we are graced by James Miller's mock Tudor station. However, a favourite drive is north up the coast road to enjoy the magnificence of his terminus at Wemyss Bay!

[@kinosilenzio]

I always wondered why there was no Croydon Central - fascinating to know, thanks!

[@brian9731]

I have a customer that I visit in Bermondsey on that industrial estate. I hate going there because it's completely off my usual beaten track. Now I want to have a reason to go back there to check out the bits of rail history you showed us for myself.

[@TheNapalmFTW]

Really loving this series. And I've only ever been to London twice in my entire life

[@vincentcalvelli6452]

Thank you Geoff for producing this brilliant seris.

[@neilbain8736]

I love these videos. They're just the right length. If I ever get to London, I'll have lots of fun exploring. I'll hazard that by the laws of averages alone, Geof must have bumped into certain other bloggers making these, and perhaps this one while on the Silvertown line.

[@einarjohansen8252]

I just love these videos. Strange to see lines and stations almost completely gone even if it’s not that many years ago they closed down.

[@londoncabby]

Great video! How about in Dagenham, along Valance Ave, there used to be a railway that helped build the massive Becontree Estate. Long wide grass patch in the middle of the road. Dunno if you would class that as a disused railway? Great video Geoff as always. 👏🏼👏🏼

[@Eurobazz]

Michael Portillo covered it a couple of weeks ago.

[@arthurreeder8451]

Have you looked at some bits of link lines that were not built? If you travel the Piccadilly to South Harrow just before you reach Roxeth Park, you pass over the Marylebone line to Northolt Park. It comes via a tunnel from Sudbury Hill Station, but the actual infrastructure there seems incredibly wide? The reason being that a 2 track formation was allowed for from the then District Line, but never built. The abandoned road bridge over the track at the top of Russell Road also shows additional width for this and where they would have joined, became a coal yard. Some housing infill has gone on, but you can see where original thinking was....and perhaps should have been?

[@haroldellis9721]

In my family, Friday night leftovers is often the most favorite meal, as one can get a bit of this and that. This video is a lot like that.

[@paulinehedges5088]

Good to know there is still one more bonus episode!

[@SK_3PT1]

6:21 and we thought we would never see a shopping trolley again

[@Eddyspeeder]

New series - ALL LONDON'S ALLOTMENTS - coming soon to Geoff's channel! Looking forward to it A LOT!

[@mistie710]

Following that, London's lost shopping trolleys.

[@machman1701]

I love all the railway walks you do. I do my own as well. I did the Brentford docks to the heritage line there on my abandoned railway walks. Where Are The Tracks? Keep up the good work

[@pip-will-tell-nothing9247]

Can’t wait for the episode about Brentford ....been there many times still a lot of infrastructure there.. as always great video Geoff

[@Eurobazz]

Great video Geoff. The two stations on the Edmonton section were Lower Edmonton (Upper Level), which is now Edmonton Green and Lower Edmonton (Lower Level) which no longer exists. It should be noted that the lower level station was the primary station on the Enfield Town to Bishopsgate route before the Liverpool Street line via Seven Sisters was completed. The success of the Liverpool Street line meant that the upper level station was more important and the lower level station and the line to Angel Road became disused.

[@alastairwheeler1241]

Tips for Brentford - Can you find a way onto the embankment running north from old arches on the A315? - Old walls within Brentford Dock estate - south of the car park - Also visit the old warehouse canopy on the path alongside the Brent just north of the lock (part of the capital ring) - Also visit Ferry Lane for some old rails in a quayside that were probably for a crane

[@geofftech2]

ah, alastair i've already filmed it! then read this. you'll have to wait and see what i managed to do!!

[@ts051076]

Great series of videos Geoff. Look forward to your next one

[@KatharineA0203]

Nice of to see my home town -Croydon 😄

[@tblakers372]

At this point, Geoff 100% needs his own allotment

[@Lingwaixiaowai]

Great to hear you liked the Brentford recommendation. Look out for Barlow rail in Dock Road...

[@stephensaines7100]

So here I was, having a delicious meal of railway smorgasbord, tasty morsels of Marshall arts, tickling my early childhood Londoner...and an earlier request of mine for the Brentford Three Bridges Line to this string is answered: Brentford Docks, next stop! Memories of my Southall childhood will finally reach the end of the Brentford line, albeit I don't think passenger service went any farther south than Brentford town, which is as far as we ventured as kids down the line from Southall. I had scoured Google maps and satellite view, and could only see probable alignments, nothing discrete, so for Geoff to announce he'd found 'evidence on the ground' and will be presenting it is incredible news. I emigrated to Canada back in the late Fifties, albeit my family returned to the UK some forty years back. But not London, to Somerset and Devon. Being the brash North American of the offspring, I stayed in Canada, but I have worked sojourns back in London since, and have walked about Southall fitting memories to what's still extant. This is really special, Geoff. Many thanks in advance.

[@nigelclark1823]

Enjoyed the series, keep them coming.

[@luxford60]

One bit of disused railway that could have featured is the Beckton branch of the Great Eastern Railway. This was mostly a freight line to serve Beckton Gas Works which diverted shorty after Custom house and went through the old Beckton Station to the gas works. There's nothing much to see, but the route of the railway is a broad straight footpath, except near the Custom House end (close to Prince Regent DLR) when it becomes a narrow footpath alongside some allotments.. The current Beckton DLR Station is further East than the original station, but that stretch of DLR is on the alignment of the bit of railway hat went to the Gas Works.

[@cazzioc]

So excited there was an allotment!! 😂

[@rubberduck3y6]

Love bonus Geoff and bonus lost railways!

[@ericlackford6718]

Any trace left of the Surrey Iron railway, or the Crystal Palace vacuum railway? ( Really enjoyed the CP high level, thanks)

[@peterrussell830]

Great historical videos Geoff, keep them going !

[@Mortimer50145]

Ah, I wasn't sure whether the Brentford branch qualified as a lost railway or whether it was still occasionally used. I suppose the last section from the A4 to Brentford Dock is definitely disused. Goody - we'll no doubt see Brunel's road-over-canal-over-railway bridge, even if it's over the part that still has track.

[@Eurobazz]

An interesting new topic Geoff would be London's re-opened lines. An example would be the Southbury Loop (see Wikipedia) most of which is in the LB of Enfield and one station in Herts. It re-opened as an electrified line linking the Enfield Town line with the Lea Valley line. Two stations (both in the LB of E) changed names from Churchbury to Southbury and from Forty Hill to Turkey Street. The one Herts. station, Theobalds Grove, remained with the same name. I'm sure there are other examples of re-opened lines within the 32 boroughs and City of London.

[@MrDavil43]

Thanks for reminding me about the Churchbury Loop. It triggered a memory of my train-obsessed childhood of when I went with my mum to visit a friend of hers in Chatsworth Drive near Bush Hill Park (where we lived). While mum and Marion were chatting I heard a loud hissing and ventured out into the garden that backed onto the Loop which then hadn't been re-opened. I gazed through the fence and saw an immaculate Ivatt 2-6-0 light engine which was waiting for a signal to access the nearby junction to head south. It was the first one I'd seen and I was excited for days afterwards!

[@HouseflyUK]

Looking forward to the Brentford Dock one - I used to live in Brentford!

[@WCML730]

Nice, your videos are amazing

[@tBsTwister]

So sad to see North Woolwich in its current state. I had the privilege many years ago to paint the inside of it and the canopy work outside when I worked for London Borough of Newham, it was a lovely little local railway museum, i just wish mobile phones had been a thing back then, i could have had some lovely photos of the inside. We had our mess room in one of the old carriages along the platform. As a train fanatic i can say it was the best job i ever got to work on. I spent most of my lunch breaks looking at the exhibits and stuff they never had on display.

[@tardismole]

Juicy video. I've been doing a lot of perusing old maps on the Silvertown section. I almost sent an email to ask you what that great big "circle thing" was. A turntable was not even my list of possibilities. Oops. Then I lost myself in the old shunting engines they had in the docks and didn't come up for air for three days.

[@dodgydruid]

This ticks all my boxes, Croydon born, Millwall supporting best start for a fine south London lad :) In the eighties despite the track and stuff in terrible repair and missing in one section where someone literally filched two rails and the sleepers for whatever dark purpose, Bricklayer's Arms was still on the signalling system at London Bridge. Of course the branch exit signal blazed red for countless years but further down where the line branched was another signal which the S&T maintained despite the track next it having gone for a Burton years before. Kids thought it the gift from heaven as did railway collectors where the whole signal was nicked once and off the S&T went in typical BR jobsworthery and repaired or replaced it because the law said if it was listed as an active or non clipped and padlocked line signal... it had to be maintained :P The signalmen at London Bridge I believe had a lottery to get the Arms branch identifier as it was an iconic bit of railway history, sadly my father didn't win... My late father started his signalling career at North Kent Jnc's box as a box boy and he used to love watching the SR steam engines whizzing down to Bricklayer's Arms for a coal and water, quick oil up and a spin on the turntable to whizz back up and head off to Cannon St or Charing Cross reversing all the way. Although little remains of the Bricklayer's Arms loco works it was absolutely huge and very industrious with the Royal Mail facility beyond it and a goods yard for picking up of stuff as it acted as a goods station too with some seriously complicated movements to get freight trains say up to Willesden.

[@geofftech2]

Great memories. Lovely comment! 👍

[@jyoules9833]

Geoff, great series! A line I don't think you mentioned was the one between Norwood Junction and Birkbeck. I recall seeing a steam-hauled train of wagons and vans coming from Norwood Junction (late 1950s?). The line is shown in the Ian Allan BR Pre-grouping Atlas but oddly not in Jowett's.

[@geofftech2]

woah, hang on wait! was there a curve of track between Birkbeck and Norwood Jcn ?! i'm looking on Google Maps now and it suggests that that might have been the case !?! ... checked on Railmaponline - there was! i had never seen that curve before, nice one! one of the roads there is called 'Bradshaws Close' which is excellent, ha!

[@yatil]

This series will never end! (Good!)

[@StephenBedser]

Just took a look at north woolwich station on apple maps, their 3D map is in much greater detail. Worth a look

[@srfurley]

The railway used to run a ferry from North Woolwich; I think it was put out of business by the free ferry nearby and closed over a century ago, but the burned out remains of the pier which it served were still there a few years ago, and may well still exist. I haven’t been there for a few years to see.

[@TheTransportHub17]

Another great video Geoff and nice to see you covered Edmonton not too far from me.

[@DoktorJest]

Hope you enjoyed your walk through N9

[@22pcirish]

At the Edmonton end, if travelling toward London, there is a footbridge that spans the existing line and the old branch to angel road dipping away to the left. There is a small bridge where the line went over a little river still very obvious.