An Unusual Collection

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Thanks for that, Ken.

Actually, north of Rickmansworth still remains quite rural, although many of the villages are now small towns. Certainly an interesting film, thouh.

Brian
 

Obblygobbly

Western Thunderer
Platform edges painted white? At least for the first few stations. Were those names on the footbridges temporary for the film, or a permanent feature?
 
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Oz7mm

Western Thunderer
Lovely stuff Ken. A pity that Rickmansworth doesn't feature.

The first train passing the other way is powered by one of the two shuttle cars with two gate stock cars as trailers. The shuttles were very similar to the subsequent T and MV stock. Interesting that all the trains are formed of only 3 coaches. Perhaps it was shot on a Sunday.

It was certainly rural quite close to London. My grandparents moved to Neasden in 1925 and there were still cows in the field behind their house.

I have never heard the LNWR Rickmansworth branch referred to as the Ebury line. You live and learn.

I'm looking forward to seeing a rash of Metropolitan Railway layouts in the future.

John
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I have never heard the LNWR Rickmansworth branch referred to as the Ebury line. You live and learn.

Likewise. It appears to have been named after Lord Ebury whose house was at Moor Park. The Ebury Way

Interesting film -
Noticed the watercress beds on the approach to Wendover
The (presumed) GC railmotor and Met Pullman car in the yard at Aylesbury.

What was noticeable was the absence of trees along parts of the lineside and the starkness of the chalk cuttings. A lot has grown up over the last century and railways had the same impact on the countryside then as new motorways do today.

Today the 'V' where the Chesham branch diverges is now an industrial estate and it's practically built up along the line between here and Amersham.
 

Engineer

Western Thunderer
Also worth noting that the section to Willesden Green has modernised signalling, implying that the film may date from 1911, [information sourced from the Jackson book on the Metropolitan and the District Dave web pages]. It's definitely before the building of the fast lines, opened in 1914.

In the middle parts of the film, the approach to Ruislip, a sequence starting from the Ickenham footpath crossing, and the approach to Uxbridge, are all included. Construction detail of the brick overbridges north of Rickmansworth is interesting, too. Agree it would be useful to see some of Rickmansworth and its detail - particularly the Up Home signal!

Station names on bridges and portals were probably canvas banners put up for the filming [source - debate on District Dave web pages].

Supporting post 444, the single motor coaches were created at a very important phase in the development of the railway, the same time as the Metropolitan were creating the 1910 batch of 'Main Line Stock' [colloquial name Dreadnought]. The motor coaches subtly mimiced the body features, the good looks and particularly the comfort of that family of vehicles. I know they make great models. As this film shows the single motors were useful spares and plentiful cushy seats for forming trains on the main routes as well as running singly, on Harrow to Uxbridge, Addison Road, Rickmansworth - Watford and Wembley Park - Stanmore services during their lives. Not 100% clear but it looks like 1905 Third and First Driving Trailer following the 1910 Motor Coach.

The film shows us a variety of Saloon Stock, and by this time probably gate ends had been reconstructed to sliding handworked doors. This enabled a reduction in traincrew and my grandfather, originally a Conductor, had to change jobs as a result and eventually became a Shunter at Aldgate. Earlier in the film, at Baker Street, the three-car train looks like 1905 build First Driving Trailer, 1904 Third Trailer, and 1905 Third Motor Car closest to the camera. The Third trailer here has the same body form as the vehicle in the LT Museum.
 
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Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
the single motor coaches were created at a very important phase in the development of the railway, the same time as the Metropolitan were creating the 1910 batch of 'Main Line Stock' [colloquial name Dreadnought]. The motor coaches subtly mimiced the body features, the good looks and particularly the comfort of that family of vehicles. I know they make great models.

A 7mm kit for the single motor coaches is produced by Ken's Profiles.

I've seen references to these operating in the last years of the Stanmore branch coupled to a saloon driving trailer before the Bakerloo takeover. Would you happen to know the type of Met driving trailer used?
 
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Engineer

Western Thunderer
In response to posts 448 and 447:

Agree on the 7mm kit, and sounds as if its design activities were a replica of the real build activities going in during 1910. I'm well aware of the kit and have seen it at close quarters, excellent work all round. One day I'd like to assemble one for myself, but work and life are as much as I can handle at the moment, plus bits of spare time to research the Metropolitan. Even though it's a relatively small railway, there are more than enough unanswered questions or misconceptions to be resolved. Attached picture isn't 7mm but illustrates the character of the vehicles.
DSCN6952r.jpg
On Stanmore activities, I don't have evidence or explicit references to give a clear answer. I've seen only two images of single vehicles, alone, on the branch and these were in the latter years after LT took over and before the Bakerloo extended. I've only seen Met Working Timetables in the early days of the Stanmore service, when there were two N Stock trains on a shuttle among the through trains to town of various sorts. There's always plenty of scope for stock substitutions in practice.

I'll inch towards a general answer that's likely but not guaranteed. The two single motors had different traction equipments, one BWE, one BTH. So, the two couldn't multiple together and each would need to mate with a compatible Driving Trailer, with the right control connections [for the train wires] and with appropriate master controller connections. The other factor for the consist is that the Single Motors were composites and, unless there was a special reason, the Driving Trailer should be a Third. In the Metropolitan's world, most Driving Trailers were First, but there were a few re-classified as Thirds during their lives. I infer that these cars had a suitable mix of control connections and master controller. My tentative conclusion is that the Single Motors tended to work with Third DT cars of the 1905-7 build series.

It's not Stanmore but there are a few mentions of the use of Driving Trailers with a Single Motor Coach on the Watford - Rickmansworth shuttle from 1925 to 1933 but I've not seen any working timetable clues across this period that show specifically the additional vehicle usage. There is a tiny photograph hint in an image that must be familiar to some [LT Museum collection ref: 1998/58139]:

https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/photographs/item/1998-58139?&apiurl=aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkubHRtdXNldW0uY28udWsvcGhvdG9ncmFwaHM/c2hvcnQ9MSZza2lwPTAmbGltaXQ9NDgmcT12ZXJuZXk=&searchpage=Y29sbGVjdGlvbnMvY29sbGVjdGlvbnMtb25saW5lL3Bob3RvZ3JhcGhzL3BhZ2UvMT8mcT12ZXJuZXk=

Behind the loco [excellent view of its end and side detail - easy to get caught out with variations between locos in these areas], there is a Saloon Stock vehicle, a Third. The tiny portion of roof and body side visible is consistent with a 1905-7 build trailer , which could be part of a shuttle train, or a two-car stand-in. So the few jigsaw pieces can be made to fit the general conclusion. Ken will usually have found a few clues, of course.
 
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farnetti

Western Thunderer
I'm glad that this has provoked so much interest. I grew up in Ruislip Manor when there was a coal office at the end of a siding that ran back from Ruislip, (a mineral wagon or two clanking away at the behest of a Pannier). The Metropolitan carriage stock was pre A class, red with flared lower side edges and oval drivers windows. I have memories of waving at drivers on the footbridge between Ruislip Manor and Eastcote late 50s. I don't remember Piccadilly Line trains though, perhaps Standard or 1938 stock?

In 1968 I went to college and had to get the District line to Ealing Common, which I think was Q stock with clerestory roofs (and very spacious).

Ken
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Thank you for this information. I had suspected it may have been a 3rd driving trailer and as you say a 2 car train since the Rickmansworth bay was not long enough to accommodate 3 cars.

The LT Museum photo is definitely Rickmansworth and it also happens to be the Bo-Bo I'm modelling albeit in LT livery.
 

Engineer

Western Thunderer
Recollections spot-on. I've always lived close by and I too remember Ruislip yard, the main sidings, coal offices and wood/earth buffers about where the current Ruislip Manor council car park [Pembroke Gardens] reaches. That car park is built over the extended sidings that came virtually up to the advert hoardings facing Victoria Road. I'm sure OS maps and aerial pictures will confirm. I can remember mineral wagons in the sidings but wasn't around to see the loco movements, but have seen the picture evidence including diesels and BR Standard 2-6-0 locos.

Agree, I recall riding the line on Standard and 1938 Stock before the 1959 Stock appeared, and on the Metropolitan services I remember P Stock and F Stock distinctly as well as a couple of glimpses of T Stock.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I'm glad that this has provoked so much interest.

We had lived in Aylesbury during the 70's and it was while living there my dad found out his aunt was living locally. It was her husband who had worked on the Met (and LT) at Baker St - hence my interest. We also happened to live on route 301 and recently read this route had the first allocation of RTs (Tring and Hemel garages). They plied the route for 30+ years until replaced by Leyland Nationals.

The Metropolitan carriage stock was pre A class, red with flared lower side edges and oval drivers windows.

The flared sided stock would have been P stock and the oval driver windows would have been F stock.
 

Engineer

Western Thunderer
Post 450: now had time to revisit the aerial photographs of Ruislip and Ruislip Manor. Really useful views, the long yard for the former is very clear, with the London end buffer and small office alongside and beyond, the extended sidings. The collection of wagons deserves a bit of scrutiny. At the Ruislip Manor end, it's the old station and the small booking office to the north of the line and east side of Victoria Road, and ramps up to the platforms. Much has changed since but the platform shelters are in the same place, albeit modern replacements that are more open than ever. Photographs seem to be May 1934 - nice unrelated coincidence that my father was rostered in the booking office there at that date.
Links:

https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW044193
https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW044194
https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW044518
https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW044504
 
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