IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Ridge Road, LONDON, N8 9NU

Looking west down Roseberry Gardens, across Green Lanes and up Duckett Road (which crosses over the New River) the eye first meets the block of flats, "Milverton", on Wightman Road. Looming above that is Chettle Court, a large 1960's Council housing development that stands on the edge of a deep cutting in which runs the Kings Cross to Edinburgh main railway line. Within the space of half a mile that's two roads, one man made river and a railway all heading north- south through Haringey.

Leaving Ferme Park Up Yard, probably for New Cross Gate (SR) via Blackfriars Bridge and London Bridge (see single lamp in the centre of the buffer-beam), the train is headed by one of the ex-WD 0-6-0ST acquired by the LNER (see Image]), No. 68077 was built in 1/47 as WD No. 71466 and withdrawn in 12/62 but was preserved and acquired by the heritage Spa Valley Railway.

The footbridge that gave access to Harringay (West) station continued west and north to a vista above the great Ferme Park Yards towards Hornsey. Here we have a view NE, with one ex-GN J52 0-6-0ST on a train coming over the flyover from the Down Yard and probably assisted in the rear, while another J52 waits with a train from the Up Yard. The main lines are partly visible bottom left. [Apologies for the quality, but I caught the atmosphere].

A Great Northern class 387 multiple unit crossing the main lines north of Harringay station on the flyover.

Express train hurrying towards London.

This is a typical pre-Nationalisation sight on the ex-GN ECML, especially in the London area where multitudes of these little engines were at work shunting the yards and working trips to other yards including across London to/from the SR. There hardly seems to be room for two men on the footplate of this one shunting Ferme Park Up Yard: ex-GN Stirling/Ivatt J52 No. 8774 (built 8/1894 as No. 972, became LNER No. 3972, then 8774 in 1946, withdrawn 7/53).

View eastward at the south end of Ferme Park Up Yard, with the flyover behind. There were about 65 of these Stirling/Ivatt J52 saddle-tanks working from Hornsey and King's Cross Depots in the 1940's, substituted by Gresley J50's from about 1950 and then in part by Diesel shunters. The antiquated J52's must still have been popular with railwaymen, but they made such a noise constantly struggling on their own on the Ferme Park flyover that after the War local residents insisted on transfer freights over the flyover having an engine at each end, also whistling was forbidden at night. There was indeed constant activity day and night in these Marshalling Yards and added to the noise was the dirt that settled on everything, especially washing on clothes-lines.

Eight months later, a scene almost identical with Image, but this time with one of the 377 0-6-0ST built by Government order from January 1943 for military (including overseas) and industrial use, until 1962. Of these, 75 were purchased by the LNER in January 1946 and classified J94. Here No. 68073 is helping out Hornsey Shed's J50s and J52s: it was built 10/45 as WD 75134, lasting on BR until 8/61.