Uxbridge Vine Street Station Gallery 4:
July 1962 - Last Day

Two vehicles were at the platform at Vine Street in this July 1962 view, a Pressed Steel Co. single-unit diesel railcar and a moped. Quite why the latter was present is hard to imagine but one would assume it belonged to a member of staff. Two mail bags lay on the platform, presumably having been unloaded from the railcar and awaiting collection by the Royal Mail who, at the time, were a division of the GPO (General Post Office) which was responsible for mail, Post Offices, the majority of the country's telephone network, telegrams and a number of other services. Mail would be delivered several times per day, consequently mail bags were a common sight conveyed by passenger trains at most times of the day. It was an entirely different world to the privatised and thus profit orientated postal service of today. The railcar driver is seated in his cab, busy with pen and paper. Perhaps he was making an entry onto the railcar's defect card. As can be seen, the brake end of these railcars was somewhat untidy with exposed exhaust stacks passing over the lining and so-called 'speed whiskers'. Overhead warning flashes were by then a common sight but BR saw fit to fix them over the lining and 'speed whiskers' whereas a single plate mounted centrally below the centre windscreen would have been neater. However, the reason for there being two flashes and placed where they were was to concur with points where staff may need to climb onto the front of the unit for, say, cleaning the windscreens - note the grab rail beneath each outer windscreen. At the bottom left corner the railcar's data panel can be seen. These gave details of vehicle dimensions and weight while the bold 'MBS' signified Motor Brake Second. The full designation was Driving Motor Brake Second but the 'D' was rarely, if ever, applied and the three-letter code was the norm. The two painted squares beneath the marker lights were light blue and were the multiple unit coupling code. There were several different coupling codes of various shapes and colours but Blue Square was by far the most common. The destination blind correctly displays West Drayton & Yiewsley, the '& Yiewsley' part being dropped from the station name in 1974 thus reverting to the original name, simply 'West Drayton'. Until 1965 what until then had been a Urban District of Middlesex was named in reverse format, ie Yiewsley and West Drayton. From April 1965 this and other Districts, including Uxbridge, were amalgamated to form the London Borough of Hillingdon so had the Vine Street branch survived a little longer it would have been located wholly within a
single London Borough
Photo by Chris Totty

Uxbridge Vine Street signal box seen from Whitehall Road in July 1962, two months before the passenger service was withdrawn. The box was situated on the Down side of the line 2 miles 21 chains from West Drayton, it dated from 1920 and was to a GWR design common across that company's system. It replaced an earlier smaller box on the up side that was probably opened in 1881.
Photo by Chris Totty

Looking due east across part of Vine Street goods yard in July 1962. Visible are a BR MK1 BG (Brake Gangwayed) and two BR road vehicles. The lorry cannot be identified but the other vehicle is a semi-trailer with, apparently, a semi-van body. Trailers such as this were once a familiar sight with, for example, Scammell Scarab (Mechanical Horse, Scarab and Townsman) and Karrier Bantam tractor units. The van body seen here bore a poster promoting Southend-on-Sea and probably special excursion fares to there. Southend was and still is a popular seaside destination for Londoners and particularly those from the East End.
Photo by Chris Totty

In July 1962 an unidentified Pressed Steel Co. single-unit railcar departs Uxbridge Vine Street on the short journey to West Drayton. The lack of a visible exhaust suggests the driver was carrying out a gear change, during which throttling back was required. In contrast a very visible exhaust emits from the goods yard on the right where an ex-GWR Prairie tank was busying itself shunting. The rear destination blind seen here still shows 'Uxbridge', it being hardly necessary to change it for this short run to West Drayton. The headcode, 2A81, is however the correct one for the Vine Street branch. That for the Staines West branch, which for a short distance shared its route with the Vine Street branch, was 2A82. As evidenced here, Vine Street still saw plenty of goods traffic in 1962 and in the distance a rake of coal wagons stand in the coal sidings. Also visible in the distance is the seldom-photographed Vine Street signal box. Click here for a more detailed caption.

Photo by John Cosford from his Flickr photostream

This view is of course not Uxbridge Vine Street but West Drayton, the junction station for the Uxbridge and Staines West branches. The locomotive is 'Iver', an ex-GWR 6100 Class Large Prairie 2-6-2T and a brief explanation of 'Prairie' can be found in another caption. The true identity of the locomotive, ie its number, went unrecorded as did the origin and point of the unofficial name. Spelling is that of the village of Iver, the next station down the line. Iver is running light engine on the Up Slow line but in the Down direction, as indicated by the tail lamp and the signal with a holed arm. These signals were known as Backing signals and in effect were a type of Shunt signal giving permission to run 'wrong line' where this might be necessary. In this case Iver is running light to Uxbridge Vine Street and will shortly branch off to the right, passing the south side of West Drayton West signal box which is visible in the right background, and take the branch to Uxbridge which parts company with that to Staines a little further on. Passenger trains for Staines and Uxbridge used the platform on the right.
Photo by John Cosford from his Flickr photostream

Following on from the photograph taken at West Drayton, Iver had arrived at Uxbridge Vine Street and has been busy shunting a train of vans for a Class 3 working back along the branch. Despite the deceptive appearance created by the fence, there is still a track serving the Down side of the island platform. Passenger services would be withdrawn a few weeks after this photograph was taken, with goods lingering on until 24 February 1964 along with the Uxbridge High Street branch which finally closed on the same day.
Photo by John Cosford from his Flickr photostream

An optomistic passenger is waiting for the next train at Uxbridge Vine Street in August 1962. The perishables van seen on the right arrived with the first train each morning and remained at the platform all day, returing to Paddington with one of the last through trains.
Photo from John Mann collection

Tuesday 21 August 1962 presented an apparently busy scene at Uxbridge Vine Street but the lack of human activity is noticeable. The passenger service would be withdrawn the following month but on this occasion a Pressed Steel Co. single-unit railcar, later to become Class 121, is operating the branch shuttle. By this time the station was showing clear signs of dilapidation and even the gas lamp, left, is missing its globe and also, apparently, its mantle. Gas mantles, following initial firing, are extremely fragile and without protection from the globe a spell of rough, windy weather would be enough to destroy them. Either side of the station the walls which once supported the trainshed roof which by this date had been removed for almost forty years can be seen. On the right stands a Gloucester RC&W Motor Parcels Van (MPV), the type late becoming Class 128. These useful vehicles were each powered by two 230hp Leyland Albion RE901 engines to enable them to tow a trailing load of up to 64 tons, which would equate roughly to two bogie vans or full brakes plus a four-wheeled van. The class comprised ten vehicles of two types; six for the Western Region with gangways and split headcode boxes, as seen here, and four for the London Midland Region with no gangway, three windscreens and a central headcode box. The MPV's were used when traffic was too heavy in volume for the brake compartment of a passenger train or when delays to passenger trains due to loading and unloading were undesirable. MPV's also often ran attached to passenger DMUs, usually to avoid a separate path, and in addition it was not unknown for them to deputise for an unavailable power car of a passenger DMU although of course the MPVs contained no passenger accommodation. The vehicle seen here at Vine Street, sitting upon somewhat rusty rails, has another vehicle attached. Judging from the shadow length it is either another MPV or a bogie van. At the far end of the platform a not inconsiderable stack of cases can be seen which are either awaiting loading or have just been unloaded. The Class 121 railcars were destined to become the final type of 'First Generation' DMU in passenger service on the National Network, the final pair bowing out in 2017 although it should be added that neither had been in continuous main line passenger use, having spent time either as departmental or preserved vehicles. Of the Class 128 MPV's, these underwent modifications down the years including engine replacement, changes of livery, removal of gangways and/or headcode boxes. The final survivors finished up allocated to Cambridge where they lasted until 1991 (some sources state November 1990) and unlike Classes 121/2
none have survived.

Photo by Bernie Holland

On 5 September 1962 we see ex-GWR Prairie Tank No.6125 waiting with a parcels train as a crew member poses proudly alongside. No.6125 was at this time shedded at Old Oak Common, having moved there from far away Neyland in April 1962. She would be withdrawn in January 1965, by which time she was allocated to Southall. She did not escape the scrapman, being cut up at Swindon three months later.
Photo by John M Cramp from 30937 Transport Photograph Database

Uxbridge Vine Street station forecourt c1962 shortly before the station closed to passenger traffic. Two coal merchants' office flank the station entrance with a ladies hairdresser at the far end. The building under construction on the left woukd be dermolished 30 years later.
Photo from John Mann collection

A Pressed Steel 3-car DMU is seen at Vine Street station on 7 September 1962; the day before the last passenger train. The destination reads Paddington.
Photo by David Pearson

On Saturday 8 September 1962 the final timetabled passenger train on the Vine Street branch prepares to rasp out of the station on its seven minute journey to West Drayton, where it would arrive at Platform 5. The Western Region did not switch to the 24hr clock in its timetables until 15 June 1964, being the first BR Region to do so, but for the purposes of this caption the use of the 24hr clock is perhaps less confusing. The final train departed Vine Street at 22:52 and this had been the result of a timetable adjustment (ie a service cut), the 22:52 previously being followed by departures at 23:30 and 00:10. The latter was part of a Saturday late turn although technically it was a Sunday train. Details of the stock which worked the last train are elusive and photographs are of little help, understandably, due to it running during the hours of darkness. With the exception of what became Class 116, BR's suburban DMUs looked at first glance to be identical but this was not the case as there were, especially in the early years, a number of subtle differences. It is not obvious from this view, but is from another surviving photograph of the train after it had arrived at West Drayton, that the train comprised a 3-car DMU of the type used on Paddington suburban services and which went on to become Class 117. What remained unknown at the time of writing is whether the 3-car unit ran on its own or was strengthened by the addition of a single-unit railcar. Following withdrawal of the regular passenger service, at least one railtour traversed the branch. This was the Great Western Preservation Society 'The Thames-Side Rail Tour' of 21 April 1963. Unfortunately photographs of this train at either Cowley or Vine Street have proved elusive. The Great Western Preservation Society is today better known as the somewhat less amateur-sounding Great Western Society, with its superb 'living museum' at Didcot.
Photo by Chris Totty

Click here for Uxbridge Vine Street Station Gallery 5:
Last Day - April 1965