IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Churchill Place, HARROW, HA1 1XZ

These heavy electric trains, which were in use at this time on the services from Watford Junction to Euston and Broad Street, and also from Broad Street to Richmond, had electrical equipment by the Swiss firm of Oerlikon. They were both reliable and fast, but they caused considerable wear to the tracks, which were shared with London Transport's 'Bakerloo' tube trains. The Oerlikon trains were replaced during 1957-58 with more modern (but much less interesting) stock. These services still continue, nowadays using Class 313 trains.

This range dates from 1875. It is grade II listed along with much of the rest of the station, which is later.

Opened in 1837 by the London & Birmingham Railway, although the Harrow entrance on the left (not visible) dates from 1875 and the Wealdstone entrance on the right with the clock tower dates from 1912. View north west towards Headstone Lane and Watford Junction. Until 1964 this was the junction for the short Stanmore Village branch - the bay platform was to the right.

Harrow & Wealdstone station was the scene of a major railway disaster on 8th October 1952 in which 112 people died. Two expresses and a local train were involved on the fast lines which are located just beyond the white railings. This was and remains the worst English rail disaster. In this photograph a northbound freight train heads through the station.

The far end of the station was the scene of the worst peacetime railway crash in Great Britain, on 8 October 1952, when a London-bound sleeper train from Scotland ran into the back of a stationary local train waiting at a platform, and seconds later when an express train from London to Liverpool, running in the opposite direction, ran into the resulting wreckage. There were 112 fatalities.

The branch line from Harrow had originally extended to Stanmore Village station, but by the time the above photograph was taken in 1956 it had been cut back to Belmont. The service was usually worked by a push-pull fitted Fowler 2-6-2 tank engine and two bogie coaches, as seen here, although an early diesel train was also given trials here at about this time. The service was a casualty of the Beeching cuts and the last train ran in October 1964.