Station Name: ANGEL ROAD

[Source: Nick Catford]


In January 1962, Class J15 0-6-0 No.65476 stands on the track between Angel Road's goods shed and the station's Down platform. The train is most likely from (the wagon appears to be empty) the gasworks to the south of the station, which was served via a number of connections from the track seen here. Shunting within the gasworks was performed by the internal locomotive fleet of what by this time was the Eastern Gas Board. The track between goods shed and station was in effect a lengthy loop, connecting at its north end to the Lower Edmonton branch which was still open for goods traffic at the time of the photograph. Following closure of the branch in 1964, a short section was retained as far as Montagu Road as a headshunt for the goods yard which continued to be accessible from the track seen here and via Angel Road Junction. The rather rusty and battered open wagon is 16 ton mineral wagon to an LNER design. The letters 'CO' are assumed to mean 'Coal Only', suggesting gasworks traffic, but it must be stressed this assumption remained unconfirmed at the time of writing. The LNER/BR Class J15 began life in 1883 as GER Class Y14 to a design by T. W. Worsdell. The class expanded over the years to 289 examples, being perpetuated by successive GER locomotive engineers. BR No.65476 was new ex-works during James Holden's tenure in August 1913 as GER No.551 and entered service the following month. When new she would have had a stovepipe chimney and a lower cab roof; the latter was originally of wood, covered with canvas and lead paint. She is here seen paired with a tender-cab to facilitate tender-first running; others were given side-window cabs for use on the Brightlingsea branch and Colne Valley line. A hint of modernity has been added in the form of an overhead warning flash, although the practicality of placing it on the sandbox is open to question. No doubt other flashes were fixed to the tender, where they would have been more relevant. The purpose of the flashes was to warn firemen, who had to climb on top of the tender as part of their duties, of the presence of overhead catenary on some parts of the system. The history of what became the J15 class is too complex to give in this caption but a few are worth a mention. Some served abroad during WW1, one was sold into industrial use in 1938, two ended up on on the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire under army auspices having previously been sold to a film production company at Denham and two more were sent for a brief period in the 1950s to work on the ex-Great Western Watlington branch. Withdrawal of these useful and surprisingly capable locomotives from main line service was a long-drawn-out affair. At the formation of the LNER in 1923, 272 were still in service of which 126 went on to serve British Railways. No.65476 was destined to become one of the final four in service, all being withdrawn on 16 September 1962. Among these was No.65462 which went on to be preserved and is thus the sole survivor. The example sold into industry, LNER No.7690, was scrapped in 1960. Following the end of steam on BR Eastern Region, and to an extent previously, the type of work upon which No.65476 is seen became mostly the preserve of the NBL and BTH Type 1 diesels but their rein was to prove short, ending in 1968 and 1971 respectively. Tottenham gasworks was to cease operation in 1972 and within a further decade or so local goods traffic in this part of London and elsewhere was to cease entirely.
Photo by Bob Todd

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