Saturday 26th Sept 2009
London's Lost Railways.
Don Kennedy led another fascinating Lost Railways of London guided
walk for Central London branch on 26/9 on the theme of Sport and Entertainment.
The group met at the present day Wembley Stadium station (once known
as Wembley Hill) and then proceeded along South Way to where a tell
tale rise in the road plus bridge parapets and remains of a cutting
showed where the road went over the loop line that actually served
a station within the 1920s exhibition grounds.
A gap between two industrial buildings led to a viewpoint overlooking
the site known as Exhibition Station (Wembley) and it finally closed
in September 1969. The site is currently occupied by a recycling centre.
At Fifth Way an end on view of the station site was obtainable, recognisable
from a picture of an LCGB railtour there! The group then traced the
alignment of the loop line back to the main line nearer Neasden.
Picture shows the alignment of the Wembley Stadium loop line looking
towards the junction with the former GC now Chiltern line to High
Wycombe
From the relatively new and appropriately named Great Central Way
the site of the junction was noted prior to lunch at Tesco Brent Park.
There are three pictures of Metropolitan railway views from the LT
collection opposite the checkouts; one was incorrectly captioned!
Afterwards the group went to the site of the Royal Agricultural Society
of England’s 1903 to 1905 showground station in Abbey Road,
not far from the present Stonebridge Park station.
The site was served by a branch indicated by the site of current semi-derelict
sidings that leave the down Brent dive-under line used by the current
East Croydon/Clapham to Watford/Milton Keynes service., are the remains
of the branch that served the show ground. Of the showground itself
there is no trace as the land was sold to form what is now part of
the Park Royal industrial estate.
The group then went by bus and one stop on the Central Line to East
Acton. to observe the former GWR trackbed adjacent to the current
and very busy Central Line. Opposite the Hammersmith Hospital is a
footbridge over the Central line where the normal left hand running
is resumed via a flyover. Unfortunately no views are obtainable from
this point as the bridge has been caged in completely!
On Pioneer Way some flats have been built on the former GW trackbed,
which ran from North Acton to the West London line at the former Viaduct
Junction.
The intrepid bunch of metropolitan explorers emerged on to Wood Lane
almost underneath the Westway A40 flyover to where the modern BBC
radio studios have been built on the site of the 1908 White City Stadium,
which closed in 1985. A map of 1908 shows a railway with sidings serving
the White City development from the North Acton-Viaduct junction line
but it was most likely used for transporting of materials rather than
for carrying passengers.
Here we encountered the classic dilemma of tracing the Lost Railways
of London- the sites of the sidings could be located only using the
map!
Picture shows the site of the station itself.
A short walk further found the group at the actual finishing line
of the stadium’s running circuit, where the group photograph
was duly taken. This was the intended finish of the walk but almost
everyone continued with the optional add-on.
At Shepherds Bush they boarded the Southern 16.53 to Milton Keynes
which en route to Harrow and Wealdstone passed the junction for the
RASoE showground line.
The Branch extends sincere and grateful thanks to Don for planning
and preparing yet another excellent, healthy and educational walk
to explore The Lost Railways of London.
The last Saturday of September has, mainly for convenience, now settled
in as the day for the now annual CLB LRoL guided walk and 2010 will
be no exception. More details will be available in due course.
For further information on Don’s walks please contact him directly
on donkennedy@f2s.com or at 63 Disraeli Road, Ealing, London W5 5HS
enclosing an SAE and mentioning LCGB Central London branch.
Don's walks are planned with meticulous attention to detail and are
not only a healthy but simply the best way of exploring London's Lost
Railways. For further information on Don's other guided walks please
contact him directly at donkennedy@fs2.com
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