Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Harringay West Station 1955

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Comment by Alan Blunden on January 31, 2025 at 11:07: In 1946, playing on the embankment north of the footbridge with a group of children from the Vale, two boys slipped away from the group and began placing objects on the line.

These boys were spotted by the railway police and returned to the main group, where they were asked to point out the oldest boy.(Me) Their treachery resulted in my appearing at juvenile court in Finchley and having my pocket money stopped for eight weeks.Hopefully, this incident has now been expunged from the record :))

Comment by Hugh on January 31, 2025 at 13:58: Hi, Alan. For those without the benefit of your memory of Harringay's very own 'grassy slope' or of my collection of images, below are two photos showing what it looked like. (Click each image to enlarge).

The second image is very precisely dateable to 2 July 1955.The other is I suspect from a similar date.

Comment by S Williams on January 31, 2025 at 20:14: Great finds Hugh. Thank you.

Comment by Alan Blunden on February 1, 2025 at 16:41: Hello, Hugh, Thanks for the photos of 'the crime scene'. The incident took place in the forties, just after the end of the war. I don't remember the retaining wall at the foot of the embankment. Other than that, it looks the same. The fence at the top of the picture marks the boundary between the footpath and the grassy slope. The path ran from the top of Uplands Road to the wooden footbridge that brought you out opposite The Railway pub. I used the footbridge when I went to see an aunt who rented a room in Burgoyne Road.

Comment by Hugh on February 1, 2025 at 17:23: There's a bit more about that footpath here, Alan.

Comment by Glenn Wallis on February 1, 2025 at 22:05: Hugh, The second vehicle in the 4-6-0 hauled train in the upper photo caught my eye. I am pretty sure it is the1897 built Great Northern Railway directors' saloon No.706, which by the 1950s was the Eastern Region General Manager's saloon. It is still possible to take afternoon tea in this vehicle as it makes occasional runs on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. I attach a link to the vehicle's web pages on the Bulebell's website https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/706mike_esau.html

Children were still playing on the railway during the time I was at South Tottenham box (1991-2009), the Harringay Park Junction signalman was always phoning to ask for up trains to cautioned for kids on the line. After privatisation, Harringay Park box was only open in the mornings and the kids got more adventurous and after school would walk down the line to Harringay Green Lanes station, which was then unstaffed, and have a chat with me on the signal post telephone on the end of the down platform!

Comment by Richard Woods on Friday: You were on what me and my pals in the 50s called the Hogs Back and from whence we bent many a penny under the wheels of the 4.10 Scotsman from Kings Cross!

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