top of page

Lineside and Station Sequences
Part Twenty Nine

Potters Bar – 11 September 1961

As I posted before in My Story, they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and that was certainly true for the next few films I used. Up until now I’d mostly used Plus X (21 DIN) or FP3 (23 DIN) but I read in a magazine that if you used a slower film, exposed it as a faster film and increased development times you would get less grainy negatives. So I bought a batch of Adox KB17 (17 DIN, loaded some cassettes, and set about the experiment. I ended up with very thin negatives, which I could only really retrieve anything from once they had been scanned around fifty years later.

 

I was back at school, in my second year in the sixth form, before I went back to the lineside at Potters Bar, in September 1961. I clearly hadn’t learnt the lesson about my 1/300th second fastest shutter speed – it still wasn’t fast enough to stop the motion of the faster trains.

 

Over the three and a quarter hours by the lineside I had taken twenty four photographs of eleven classes, seven steam and four diesel. Of the steam locos, nine were LNER designed Pacifics, two A1s, three A3s and five A4s, and then there were one Britannia, three V2s, one WD 2-8-0 and three 9F 2-10-0s. The diesels were an English Electric Type 1, two Brush Type 2s, two Baby Deltics and two Deltics. I didn’t bother with the DMU stoppers, and I may have missed other trains, though I suspect not.

 

Few of these are good images, but they do record a busy main line in the period when steam was giving way to diesel. Giving way far faster than I understood at the time, in spite of all my reading of Trains Illustrated/Modern Railways.

All Photographs by Alan Lewis Chambers ©

13:25 WD 2-8-0 No 90055 heads a northbound freight on the slow line at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

13:25 WD 2-8-0 No 90055 heads a northbound freight on the slow line at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

13:29 LNER A3 4-6-2 No 60044 'Melton' with German smoke deflectors heads an up express north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

13:29 LNER A3 4-6-2 No 60044 'Melton' with German smoke deflectors heads an up express north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

13:35 Deltic No D9008, later named 'The Green Howards', heads the up Tees Tyne Pullman at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

13:35 Deltic No D9008, later named 'The Green Howards', heads the up Tees Tyne Pullman at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

13:37 LNER A1 4-6-2 No 60141 'Abbotsford' heads a down express through Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

13:37 LNER A1 4-6-2 No 60141 'Abbotsford' heads a down express through Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

13:48 Baby Deltic No D5904 heads away from Kings Cross at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

13:48 Baby Deltic No D5904 heads away from Kings Cross at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

14:10 Brush Type 2 No D5654 hurries south with an express north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

14:10 Brush Type 2 No D5654 hurries south with an express north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

14:20 Work stained BR 9F 2-10-0 No 92177 powers a train of cement wagons north through Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

14:20 Work stained BR 9F 2-10-0 No 92177 powers a train of cement wagons north through Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

14:25 BR built A1 4-6-2 No 60133 'Pommern' steams north through Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

14:25 BR built A1 4-6-2 No 60133 'Pommern' steams north through Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

14:40 LNER V2 2-6-2 No 60874 heads an up express towards Kings Cross at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

14:40 LNER V2 2-6-2 No 60874 heads an up express towards Kings Cross at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

14:43 LNER A3 4-6-2 No 60067 'Ladas' heads an up express towards Kings Cross at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

14:43 LNER A3 4-6-2 No 60067 'Ladas' heads an up express towards Kings Cross at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

14:50 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60032 'Gannet' heads an up express towards Kings Cross at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

14:50 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60032 'Gannet' heads an up express towards Kings Cross at Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

15:00 Baby Deltic No D5905 heads an up freight towards Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

15:00 Baby Deltic No D5905 heads an up freight towards Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

15:05 Deltic No D9010, later named 'The King's Own Scottish Borderer', speeds south with 'The Talisman' north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

15:05 Deltic No D9010, later named 'The King's Own Scottish Borderer', speeds south with 'The Talisman' north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

15:20 BR 9F 2-10-0 No 92142 heads an up freight towards Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

15:20 BR 9F 2-10-0 No 92142 heads an up freight towards Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

15:40 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60028 'Walter K Whigham' heads north through Potters Bar on an express from Kings Cross on 11 September 1961.

15:40 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60028 'Walter K Whigham' heads north through Potters Bar on an express from Kings Cross on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

15:50 English Electric Type 1 No D8045 heads a southbound passenger train towards Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

15:50 English Electric Type 1 No D8045 heads a southbound passenger train towards Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

16:00 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60022 'Mallard' heads an up express towards Kings Cross north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

16:00 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60022 'Mallard' heads an up express towards Kings Cross north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

16:05 BR 9F 2-10-0 No 92186 runs south towards Potters Bar on a class F freight on 11 September 1961.

16:05 BR 9F 2-10-0 No 92186 runs south towards Potters Bar on a class F freight on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

16:20 Brush Type 2 No D5671 heads an up express north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.

16:20 Brush Type 2 No D5671 heads an up express north of Potters Bar on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

16:25 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60030 'Golden Fleece' heads north through Potters Bar on an express from Kings Cross on 11 September 1961.

16:25 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60030 'Golden Fleece' heads north through Potters Bar on an express from Kings Cross on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

16:30 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60013 'Dominion of New Zealand' heads south through Potters Bar on an express to Kings Cross on 11 September 1961.

16:30 LNER A4 4-6-2 No 60013 'Dominion of New Zealand' heads south through Potters Bar on an express to Kings Cross on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

16:33 BR Britannia 4-6-2 No 70041 'Sir John Moore' heads north through Potters Bar on a Cleethorpes express on 11 September 1961.

16:33 BR Britannia 4-6-2 No 70041 'Sir John Moore' heads north through Potters Bar on a Cleethorpes express on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

16:35 LNER V2 2-6-2 No 60983 heads north through Potters Bar on an express freight on 11 September 1961.

16:35 LNER V2 2-6-2 No 60983 heads north through Potters Bar on an express freight on 11 September 1961.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers

16:50 LNER V2 2-6-2 No 60829 hauls a Class F freight slowly south towards Potters Bar on the up fast line.

16:50 LNER V2 2-6-2 No 60829 hauls a Class F freight slowly south towards Potters Bar on the up fast line.
© Copyright Alan Lewis Chambers
Comments on This Page

Share Your ThoughtsBe the first to write a comment.
bottom of page