IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Draycott Avenue, HARROW, HA3 0BY

View eastwards, towards London on the ex-GC main line from Marylebone that paralleled the LPTB Metropolitan line before joining it at Harrow-on-the-Hill, being the Met&GC route out of London Marylebone to Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield etc. The 15.20 from Marylebone is due at Manchester London Road via Sheffield Victoria at 20.55. The locomotive is Thompson B1 4-6-0 No. E1298 - a temporary post-nationalisation identity soon changed to No. 61298: it was built 3/48 and withdrawn 6/62. Note that in daytime the locomotive is displaying white disks instead of the electric headlights used at night.

When Transport for London took over responsibility for a number of former British Rail routes and branded the services 'London Overground', the joke was that this bridge was the only place on the network where the Underground went over the Overground. Here it is actually happening with an Overground train from Euston to Watford diving under a Metropolitan Line train heading towards Baker Street. The other four lines on the lower level have overhead electrification and are part of the West Coast Main Line.

Winter afternoon sunlight catches the semi-detached houses on the north side of The Ridgeway.

View northward, towards Watford Junction and the North on the WCML, running under the LPTB (ex-Metropolitan & GC) line from Baker Street/Marylebone (to right) to Harrow-on-the Hill, Aylesbury and the North (to left). The main line here is six-track, with ex-LNW Slow lines on the far side while nearest are the electrified (fourth-rail) ex-LNW lines from Euston/Broad Street to Watford Junction, along which London Underground Bakerloo Line trains from Elephant & Castle, which joined at Queens Park but were cut back to Harrow & Wealdstone in 1982. The Met&GC line was also six-track, with the trains from Marylebone running on non-electrified pair of lines on the south/west side. The 08.20 Carlisle to Euston is headed by 'Duchess' (informal name for this Stanier 8P 4-6-2 class) No. 6240 'City of Coventry', which is still in LMS livery early in 1948: built in 4/40, it was withdrawn in 9/64. (This spot by the golf-course, between South Kenton and Kenton on the electric lines (in foreground) was one of my favourite spots for train-watching).