West Coast Main Line Trains at Harrow & Wealdstone on December 14th 2023

1st visit to Harrow & Wealdstone on the West Coast Main Line, Watford DC Lines as well as being the Northern Terminus of London Underground's Bakerloo Line
Featuring services from Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, London Overground, Southern and London Underground's Bakerloo Line plus a freighter and a first look of Avanti's West Coast Class 805 on a test run from Oxley Car M.D.
Harrow & Wealdstone was first opened in 1837 as Harrow by the former London & Birmingham Railway
In 1890 there was a branch line connection to Stanmore which use to depart on the site of the former Platform 7 which ended up closing in 1964 by Beeching
Bakerloo Line Trains to and from Elephant and Castle began running here in 1917 to Watford Junction via Watford High Street however was cut back to 4 peak hour services North of Queens Park in 1964 before being cut back in September 1982 to Stonebridge Park
Services were gradually reinstated to Harrow & Wealdstone which terminate via a reversing siding in June 1984 on Weekdays, Saturday services didn't run until 1989 and 7 day a week operations weren't added until 1990.
Today the Line Northwards on the Watford DC Lines are now provided by London Overground
Platforms 3 and 4 are for through services via the Fast lines whilst Platforms 5 and 6 are served by London Northwestern Railways services to Tring and Milton Keynes Central along with hourly Southern services to and from Watford Junction and Hemel Hempstead originating from East Croydon.
Sadly the stations legacy has been overshadowed by the awful rail disaster that took place here on the morning of October 8th 1952
A service from Tring to London in Heavy fog was rerouted into Platform 4 instead of Platform 6 to enable empty stock movements to pass through via the slow lines.
However a overnight sleeper service from Perth bound for London Euston ran through a red signal and ploughed into the back of the Stopper which the wreckage was strewn on the Up fast line. Moments later another fast service from London Euston bound for Liverpool and Manchester ploughed into the wreckage and derailed.
The crash was so violent that the footbridge span over the fast line platforms got taken out in the crash. A lot of the carriages at the time were wooden and were reduced to anything barely recognisable by the telescoping effect of the Perth to London Locomotive.
In the end 112 people died and 340 were injured which remains London's Worst rail accident and the 2nd deadliest in British Rail History behind Quentinshill disaster from May 1915.
The exact reason why the Driver of the Perth to London sleeper passed a yellow and 2 red signals was never determined however In the aftermath of the disaster it accelerated the introduction for the AWS Automatic Warning System to be installed which was carried out by British Railways as part of a 5 year plan at the time.
A memorial plague was unveiled in 2002 located on the wall of the station entrance near to Platform 6.
Although the station may have changed over the decades since that awful morning in 1952 however the scars and legacy of the tragedy haven't completely faded away.
Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS
Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
• JJD - Adventure | Glit...
Filmed on Thursday December 14th 2023 on iPhone 14 Pro and edited on iMovie
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