02 ISSUE TWO | OCT/NOV 2015 | £8 ANGELS AND ERRORS How the Harrow & Wealdstone disaster shaped modern Britain LONDON RECONNECTIONS | MAGAZINE IN THIS ISSUE IN THIS ISSUE THE DNA OF A LONDON ANGELS UNDERGROUND AND STATION ERRORS In November Transport for London will unveil its On a foggy October morning in 1952 new design bible, the ‘Design Idiom’. We talk to some London would become the site of the worst of its creators about their quest to change the way peacetime rail disaster in British history. It London Underground thinks about station design. would change lives and Britain as we know it. FROM PAGE 66 FROM PAGE 6 A WORD FROM THE EDITOR | 05 ANGELS AND ERRORS | 06 THE FORGOTTEN FREIGHT | 24 DREAMS OF ALFRED GATTIE THE WAREHOUSE | 40 THE FORGOTTEN BIKE TO THE FUTURE: | 50 FREIGHT DREAMS OF Government, Gilligan & Royal Guards THE DNA OF A LONDON | 66 ALFRED GATTIE UNDERGROUND STATION IT’S ARSENAL AROUND HERE | 72 In 1910 a visionary engineer announced plans HITHER GREEN | 82 to solve Britain’s freight problems through a vast network of automated warehouses. The first of these was to be built in the heart of London. FROM PAGE 24 3 EA441_EA_AM_Book Advert London Reconnections light colourway.pdf 1 05/08/2015 12:19 The latest chapter in London’s underground The biggest European history civil engineering project of its time. ‘It is impossible to overstate the scale of this engineering challenge’ Simon Wright OBE, Crossrail Programme Director C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Available from The London Transport Museum or Amazon www.crossrail.co.ukwww.crossrail.co.uk EA441_EA_AM_Book Advert London Reconnections light colourway.pdf 1 05/08/2015 12:19 The latest chapter in London’s underground A WORD FROM The biggest European THE EDITOR history civil engineering project of its time. ‘It is impossible to overstate the scale The daughter of time of this engineering challenge’ Themes were something we never really thought about when we first Simon Wright OBE, Crossrail Programme Director decided to produce these print issues. Yet as we worked to put this one together it soon became clear that there was a theme running through it - how easily things are forgotten. The Harrow & Wealdstone disaster and its aftermath show how tragedy and chance can trigger ripples which change both lives and the world. C Yet today it is largely forgotten, except by the few remaining survivors and their families. The incredible personal account of the Hither Green M rail crash that can be found at the end of this issue also highlights how Y easy the human impact of such events can be forgotten. We will be All advertising, sales, press and business CM looking at Hither Green and its legacy in more detail on the website communication by post should be address to: MY later this month. London Reconnections 3 Broomfield CY Meanwhile Anthony Badsey-Ellis’ excellent article about Alfred Gattie London E17 8DZ CMY shows how quickly visionaries can vanish from history when their [email protected] K visions don’t come to pass. Even when they do – as was the case with Herbert Chapman’s dreams of renaming Gillespie Road to ‘Arsenal’ – [email protected] [email protected] it is all too easy to slip into received wisdom and forget the ‘how’ and ‘why’. Pulling together the story behind that particular piece of Tube The team at LR Towers history proved a surprisingly difficult task, and we are indebted to both John Bull | Editor Alan Hannaford | “Pedantic of Purley” of the historians mentioned in the piece for their help. Mike Olivier | “Long Branch Mike” Nicole Badstuber Finally, all three of our forward-looking articles – on cycling, warehousing Jonathan Roberts | “JRC” and TfL’s Design Idiom – are, in their own way, about ensuring that Liam Egerton | “Lemmo” people in the future remember and benefit from things happening now. Bob Robinson | “Mwmbwls” Neville King Indeed for the Design idiom being remembered is an explicit goal. The Advertising Manager | 07817 012 751 stations of Holden, Green and Heaps endure in cultural memory in a Jason Maskell way that few modern ones do, and London Underground have realised Ad Sales | 07467 255 002 that they need to build on that legacy, not rest on it. Georgia Morgan | Designer David G | Proofreader Sir Francis Bacon once wrote that “truth is the daughter of time”. By Our eternal thanks to… this he meant that it is all too easy for myth to triumph over history Ben Myring, Tony Badsey-Ellis, all of our when we don’t record the past and build for the future. As the articles Grahams and the wonderful cast of thousands who comment, correct and join us for drinks in this issue show, on this he is correct. every month (details on the website). Copyright All content is Copyright London Reconnections and may not be reproduced without explicit consent. Available from The London Transport Museum or Amazon | 2015 www.crossrail.co.ukwww.crossrail.co.uk 5 ANGELS AND ERRORS ISSUE TWO 6 LONDON RECONNECTIONS By John Bull ANGELS AND ERRORS On a foggy October morning in 1952 London would become the site of the worst peacetime rail disaster in British history. Its tragic aftermath would change the railways, the way we think about race and lead to the creation of a new medical role that would go on to save millions of lives worldwide – the paramedic. LONDON RECONNECTIONS 7 ANGELS AND ERRORS ISSUE TWO THE NIGHT TRAIN SOUTH When the Perth to Euston Express Despite being only 23, Fireman pulled into Crewe on the morning of Turnock was equally experienced. He 8th October 1952 it was already 13 had joined the railways as a Bar Boy minutes late, largely thanks to heavy in 1943 and become a Cleaner the fog on the journey south. Taking over following year. He’d been a Fireman the train at Crewe were Driver R.S since 1945 (appointed at the humble Jones and Fireman C. Turnock, relief age of 16) and was regarded by most drivers attached to the Crewe North of his seniors as a man well on the shed. Experienced men both, they likely way to being a Driver himself. Like realised that the rest of the journey Jones, he was generally regarded as a would probably be no easier. conscientious railwayman who took his job seriously, and had fired London Indeed by the time they’d managed expresses more than 30 times before. to attach City of Glasgow, the LMS Coronation Class 4-6-2 tender engine So as the Perth to Euston express pulled which would take them south, they had out of Crewe and headed out into the already lost another 16 minutes, and pre-dawn light, there was no indication watched enviously as the non-stopping that these two men were about to play Glasgow to Euston Express flashed past a major role in the worst peacetime on the platform opposite. railway disaster the UK has ever seen. Neither Jones nor Turnock were particularly fazed by the weather WHEN THE PERTH TO EUSTON though, their train’s Guard would later report. At 43, Jones was regarded by his EXPRESS PULLED INTO CREWE ON colleagues as a careful and conscientious driver. A man who spent most of his THE MORNING OF 8TH OCTOBER time focused on either the job or his family, he had been in service on the 1952 IT WAS ALREADY 13 MINUTES railways in some form or other since 1927 when he’d started as a Cleaner. LATE, LARGELY THANKS TO HEAVY He’d spent time as a Fireman before passing out as a Driver in 1948 (with FOG ON THE JOURNEY SOUTH high marks) and knew most of the routes out of Crewe like the back of his hand. This included the fast run down to Euston, which he’d carried out almost 30 times before without incident. 8 LONDON RECONNECTIONS THE DAILY GRIND Meanwhile down south, Signalman By dawn, however, the fog had begun Armitage was just coming on shift to clear and only a few drifting wisps at Harrow No. 1 signal box, just to remained. Overall it looked set to be a the north of Harrow & Wealdstone bright and sunny day. By 08.10 he could station. Armitage had started out see well beyond the marker-points the as a Signalman with the London, signallers used to determine whether Midland & Scottish before his career fog-working was required or not, and had been interrupted by the War. He’d so he informed the relevant parties that volunteered for the army upon the Harrow No. 1 would be switching back outbreak of hostilities and seen service to normal working. in Military Transportation both at home and abroad. He returned to civilian life Slightly before this, at 07.31, the Tring with a great deal of experience, and to Euston local passenger service had been serving as a District Signal pulled out of Tring station and began Reliefman for the Watford Area ever its journey into town. It was always a since. By all accounts another competent popular service due to its timing, but and able figure, Armitage had the it had been even busier than usual in morning shift that day at Harrow No. 1. recent weeks as an earlier service had From here he would be responsible for been cancelled due to signalling works. all the lines in and around the station, of As a result, it wasn’t long before the which there were three pairs – slow, fast Tring train was running slightly late due and electric.