IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Yeats Close, LONDON, NW10 0BN

In the late 1950s BR Standard 2-6-4Ts took over from ex-LNER locomotives on the suburban services from Marylebone. Resting at Neasden is No. 80137 (built 5/56, withdrawn 10/65 - a short life, typical of the last years of BR steam).

Neasden Depot served the passenger and freight traffic of the London end of the ex-Great Central main line into London Marylebone, also the freight traffic on the ex-Metropolitan lines. In 1947 it had a complement of 86 locomotives:- 5 4-6-0, 5 4-4-0, 3 0-6-0, 30 4-6-2T, 3 4-4-2T, 18 2-6-4T, 20 0-6-2T, 2 0-4-0T. In 1947 the 2-6-4T were all ex-Metropolitan and this Thompson L1 (No. 67717), depicted here in 1948, was almost brand-new; it was one of the earlier series fitted with Westinghouse brake equipment and with generator for the electric lights attached to the stub of the rear bogie axle on the left side.

The Grand Union Canal between Brentford and Uxbridge was completed in 1794, and as traffic grew, there was an increasing demand for water to replenish it as locks were emptied. To solve the problem this feeder channel was built around 1811 from the River Brent, near where the Brent Reservoir is now, to the main canal in Park Royal at Waxlow Road. The feeder was gravity fed and for the most part followed the natural contours. The Brent Reservoir was subsequently built in 1835 and the feeder was then supplied through a tunnel in the dam. So this feature predates all the roads, railways and buildings that we are familiar with today, and a look at the Ordnance Survey map of 1873 shows it flowing in open fields with the River Brent to the west and the separate villages of Neasden and Willesden to the east. The Feeder is no longer the major source of water for the canal, that role being fulfilled by the River Colne and Fray's River. This view was taken from a footbridge over the North Circular Road looking along the back of the houses in Woodheyes Road.

Running from Brent Reservoir (Welsh Harp). It is not navigable. Here it runs through allotments, but it was there first!

Looking across Gibbons Recreation Ground at the main and older block.

Not the best view, with all the branches in the way, but quite impossible except at this time of year.

By the path out to Bridge Road.

The footbridge running to a deck by the feeder appears to be for educational purposes - a path from it runs across the recreation ground to the local primary school.

This starts at the Welsh Harp reservoir and joins the Grand Union Canal further south.