UK Content - What do we need Part 2

[Mick_Berg]

I posted this elsewhere but I had the distinct feeling it would go unnoticed.

Anyway, here's another selfish request from me, a LU Battery Loco. Maybe, like the "Sarah Siddons", a lot of people would also like to have this, but hadn't really thought about it.

There was a nice one made for MSTS, but there isn't one for Trainz, except my own which is dreadful and will never see the light of day. There are lots of nice ventilation grilles on this loco to practice your bump mapping skills...............

The one in the picture is in yellow, but actually for me it would need to be red, circa 1965. I used to see these occasionally transferring 1938 LU Tube stock from Wellington Carriage Depot in Highgate to Drayton Park near Finsbury Park, over the otherwise disused (and non-electrified) Finsbury Park to Highgate line. This was stopped in 1968 when the road bridge over the line at Crouch End Hill was deemed to be unsafe. And of course they were often seen pulling maintenance trains on the regular underground, usually late at night.

And, by the way, can anyone identify the enormous coach it is pulling?

Thanks,
Mick Berg.

 

[ray_whiley]

Mick, I'm no expert on LT stock but this photo looks to me like a conversion of a passenger car rather than a Sarah Siddons-type - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/steveworley/3546538868/

But having said that, I would certainly support your desire for a model of one of these for Trainz and like you I wish my skills were adequate to the task! If I remember correctly, there were good drawings of SS in Railway Modeller some years ago which could provide a good basis for a model - can't remember which issue, though, and I don't feel like searching through 50 or so times 12 to find it at the moment!

Ray

These may also be of interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_battery-electric_locomotives#Conversions
http://www.squarewheels.org.uk/rly/stock/otherStock/
http://www.londonrailways.net/trains.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/3459801761/in/photostream/

As your photo is of a conversion, perhaps the coach is not as huge as first appears? Might it perhaps be an ex-LNER coach similar to a USA prototype which I remember once seeing a photo and drawings of (also in RM)?

 

[stovepipe]

It's a British Railways MK2b or Mk2c coach, not normally used on LT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Railways_Mark_2

The battery electric locos also used the widened lines up to 1975. I have a photo in a magazine of a pair hauling tube trains accross the throat at Kings Cross..

 

[teddytoot]

A lot of the battery tube locos (at least the earlier ones) were made by chopping two old motor cars in half and joining the two driver ends together.
As regards the photo, remember the deep level London tube trains have a much smaller loading gauge thean the, already restricted, British loading gauge, hence the disparity between the loco and the standard coach.

 

[meyshollop]

Sorry if this is a silly post.. but im confused, is this a seperate post about that one thing we 'need' or is this a continuation of the other thread

Excuse my confusion

Meyshollop

 

[Mick_Berg]

Mick, I'm no expert on LT stock but this photo looks to me like a conversion of a passenger car rather than a Sarah Siddons-type - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/steveworley/3546538868/

Ray, sorry for my unclear post. (getting to be a regular feature...) I'm not suggesting any connection between the Metrovics and the battery locos- I was just saying that when I suggested the Metrovic as a new project, I never expected that so many people would also be interested, and maybe a lot of people would also like the battery loco. I also never expected that Andi Smith would immediately produce such a spectacular model!

Mick.

 

[Mick_Berg]

Sorry if this is a silly post.. but im confused, is this a seperate post about that one thing we 'need' or is this a continuation of the other thread

Excuse my confusion

Meyshollop

Yes, I made a separate thread about this one item, because I thought that the other thread was getting bogged down in irrelevant discussion, and no-one would see my post..........

My apologies if I have created a confusing situation, which I'm now beginning to think I may have.....

Let's keep this thread limited to the battery loco and go back to the original thread for new suggestions.
Sorry about that!
Mick Berg.

 

[Mick_Berg]

It's a British Railways MK2b or Mk2c coach, not normally used on LT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Railways_Mark_2

The battery electric locos also used the widened lines up to 1975. I have a photo in a magazine of a pair hauling tube trains accross the throat at Kings Cross..

Yes, I read that the trains had to take a very convoluted route after the bridge was declared unsafe. Stovepipe, I would love to see that photo if there is any way to do that!!
Mick Berg.

 

[ray_whiley]

Ray, sorry for my unclear post. (getting to be a regular feature...) I'm not suggesting any connection between the Metrovics and the battery locos- I was just saying that when I suggested the Metrovic as a new project, I never expected that so many people would also be interested, and maybe a lot of people would also like the battery loco. I also never expected that Andi Smith would immediately produce such a spectacular model!

Mick, not unclear, it's just that the subject interests me, like the Paris Metro where similar cut-and-join conversions were made. A final (?) note from me - Sarah and the others in the class were, I'm sure, made for the Metropolitan Railway which used mainline-size rolling stock, and they hauled conventional carriages. My Rolling Stock Recognition London Transport seems to have gone walkabout - this so often happens with books/magazines when I want to check something!)

Ray

 

[stovepipe]

Yes, I read that the trains had to take a very convoluted route after the bridge was declared unsafe. Stovepipe, I would love to see that photo if there is any way to do that!!
Mick Berg.

Well here you go Mick, I think you will like these!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/803/ltbatteryelectriclocokx.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19/ltbatteryelectriclocokx.jpg/

The purpose of the move was to change stock off the isolated Northern City Line (from the depot at Drayton Park) to Neasden. From what I can tell, the move was current between October 1970 and October 1976. Before that the move was northwards to Finsbury Park and Highgate depot, through tunnels later re-used by the Victoria Line, and then onto the Northern Heights line to Highgate.

Anyone got a time machine?

 

[Mick_Berg]

Well here you go Mick, I think you will like these!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/803/ltbatteryelectriclocokx.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19/ltbatteryelectriclocokx.jpg/

The purpose of the move was to change stock off the isolated Northern City Line (from the depot at Drayton Park) to Neasden. From what I can tell, the move was current between October 1970 and October 1976. Before that the move was northwards to Finsbury Park and Highgate depot, through tunnels later re-used by the Victoria Line, and then onto the Northern Heights line to Highgate.

Anyone got a time machine?

Great stuff! many thanks Stovepipe.

So, what were the the routes? Pre 1970, Highgate to Finsbury Park, then to Drayton Park. Post 1970, Neasden to Widened Lines to Moorgate, Northern City line to Drayton Park? How do you get from the Widened Lines at Moorgate to the Northern City? And it seems crazy that you couldn't get from Drayton Park to Finsbury Park, although I believe that was the case.

Well I think I'll cheat a little, and combine the two routes, and go Highgate, Finsbury Park, Widened Lines, Moorgate. So now a decent battery loco is an essential. In the meantime I'll use my own very inferior model. Maybe I'll try to make a better one in Blender, but I'm no Andi06. Any idea where I might get drawings?

I lived literally yards away from the Northern Heights line at Highgate, from 1960 to 1967. One day I saw the LU stock moving over the line, didn't notice the battery locos, and thought I was dreaming!

Well this partially answers my question, but it is discussing movement of battery locos, not LU stock. From a LU fansite:

"Pre-1976 when the GN&C was (an isolated) part of LU the route back to home territory was from Drayton Park transfer sidings, down to KX, through the York Road Curve, Widened Lines to Farringdon and then use the crossover from the west end of the Up WL platform to the Inner Rail Circle/Met and on to Neasden.

I'm struggling to think of a quick route now - both the York Road and Hotel Curves are gone, as well as the link between the Widened Lines and LU at Farringdon. I guess the quickest route would be via the NLL from KX Freight and Willesden to the Bakerloo - and from there to one of the depots that looks after battery locos."

Thanks,
Mick.

 

[stovepipe]

Well I've been puzzling about the route too - but I think your edit explains it. The key being the Drayton Park transfer siding.

Here's a picture of the last tube stock movement at Holloway ECML, on 4 October 1975 (not 1976). The rest of the set are worth looking at too.
http://www.trainweb.org/districtdave/html/great_northern___city_line_9.html


These days of course the GN & C is part of the Network Rail system.