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| Liverpool Street 1977 07/11/2012 at 13:31 #37323 | |
moonraker
370 posts |
Yes that's as I remember it too Clive. I always caught the Chingford train from a low numbered platform and I believe the "Jazz" services used the left hand side because the lines through Bethnal Green towards Hackney Downs diverge and rise slightly from that side. I think that's still the case today
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| Liverpool Street 1977 08/11/2012 at 10:07 #37326 | |
kbarber
1743 posts |
" said:Yes that's as I remember it too Clive. I always caught the Chingford train from a low numbered platform and I believe the "Jazz" services used the left hand side because the lines through Bethnal Green towards Hackney Downs diverge and rise slightly from that side. I think that's still the case today Yes indeed. In fact, since the 1949 remodelling it's been possible to work LV almost as if it were two separate stations (OK there's an overlapping bit in the middle), with the North East London (as we used to call it) using the low numbered platforms (which used to be known as the West Side - is it still, does anyone know?) and the suburban & main lines and the Southend/Colchester line services using the high-numbers (the East Side, logically enough) and the electric & main lines. In case of engineering closing parts of the station, the crossovers at BG allow everything to use either side but it's simply impracticable to do much of that in the peak. Before 1949 the layout was as per the signalling diagram on Clive's website (with two big mechanical boxes). The Main lines were what's now the Electric lines (on the right as you looked from the stops) but were used by the Colchester/Southend line expresses from the middle platforms. The Colchester line suburban services used the Local lines (the middle pair) and had to cross everything to & from the Mains to get to the East Side. The North East Londons were rather better ordered: the expresses (using the middle platforms and the higher numbers on the West Side) ran to & from the Locals, then the Fast lines northward from BG, while the suburban services (the famous "Jazz"  used platforms 1 - 4 on the West Side and the suburban lines, with a train every 2.5 minutes in the peak. That's 24 trains an hour (better than some Underground lines!) with steam traction, mecahnical signalling and Sykes Lock & Block! Imagine trying to work that little lot.
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