Photo Silvertown

Neil

Western Thunderer
Yesterday evening before heading off to play trains with my mates I spent a happy half hour googling the Silvertown tramway as when the garage is eventually refitted (next year) I intend to build something scruffy and urban set in the capital. I found a couple of very characterful images which I thought well worth sharing, the first being this view of Silvertown station in 1971. I'm struck by how interesting the ends of the platforms are and what a lost opportunity most models represent when they follow the accepted notion of what these areas should look like. I'm certain that time spent making details like this from scratch creates more of a sense of realism than the more showy stuff, stock included. The second image is of the tramway itself and again exhibits the fascination that the mundane can have. I love the second set of rails left in the crossing though the line has been singled, the misty skyline and nature having a fair stab at reclaiming the footpath.

Both images are from Tom Burnham's flickr site. I've taken a look at some of the other albums and they're well worth exploring too.
 

Peter Insole

Western Thunderer
Ah, this was one of my favourite lines back in the early sixties. It was a regular Saturday afternoon jaunt, taking the train from Stratford Low Level to North Woolwich, and then over the river and back on the old paddle steamer ferry. Return to Stratford was perfectly timed for tea! My only regret is that I had not nagged my Grandparents enough to take me while the line was still steam operated, and before the trolleybuses were withdrawn. Having said that, the replacement DMU's provided a fabulous view of the surroundings. I particularly enjoyed the tunnel under the KGV Dock. It was great fun sitting in the train while running right alongside brand, swanky new Routemasters on the final leg at Silvertown.

As a bit of an off-topic aside, those buses, that ironically we now regard as icons, were a bit of a nightmare: On one occasion someone thought it might be a treat to have a ride on one of them instead of the train. It was a horrible journey. They were terribly noisy by comparison with the regular RT motorbus, but worst of all, their automatic gearboxes had a dreadful, nausea inducing tendency to surge at every change! I think it took LT quite a time to correct the problem? I was told that there were an awful lot of green tinted Conductors in the days following their introduction!

My tummy was none too happy with that trip as well - I was relieved to finally step aboard the wallowing boat!

Much later, I spent many happy hours exploring the decaying remains of the line, and the old PLA railways and docks in the early seventies.

All just fading memories now.

Pete.
 

Oz7mm

Western Thunderer
For a moment I thought this was about the Silverton Tramway in Australia, a railway which starts at the wonderfully named Sulphide Street station.

John
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Neil - thanks for renewing my interest in Thos Ward's Silverton yard. I'd found some of these images a couple of years back but thought nothing about how it might be connected to the outside world - i.e. the Silvertown branch.

Here is a taster of the colour of this old building:

0-4-0 industrial shunter.

Tony
 

Wagonman

Western Thunderer
I remember photographing one of the Fowler shunters at Silvertown, probably in the '70s. Where did I put those negs?
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
That's brilliant; I've always had a soft front for facades which have outlasted the rest of the building but this has rails across a road and a scrapyard too, just what I was looking for. Thank you.

Here's a small section of a map showing how the line into Thos Ward's scrapyard curves out of the exchange sidings, crosses Thames Road, rounds the end of the building before branching out into the scrapyard .

thames road.jpg

Though many of the plans hosted on the Old Maps website are less useful than they used to be as only one 'zoom' is allowed unless one has a subscription, the 1:1,250 series give good level of detail. The small excerpt here is taken from that series with the gratis one 'zoom' applied. The older maps tend to be at less useful scales for the modeller, but the coverage for London (possibly elsewhere) for the fifties and sixties seems to be pretty good.
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
An area that's very close to me and my heart!

Have you seen this video?


JB.

Great footage!
Strangely, I can't see a link on your post - it was only when replying that your quoted post showed the link which I copied and pasted into YT. That's happened to me before on WT.
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
Thank you, yes I have but I find it a bit confusing and clunky to search compared to Old Maps.
 

Scale7JB

Western Thunderer
Thanks Adrian, should have been a bit clearer with my post though.. Would be interesting to see photos of what was there..

JB.
 
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