Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Harringay West Station 1955

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Comment by Alan Blunden on Friday: 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 Friday: 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 Alan Blunden on Saturday: 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 Saturday: There's a bit more about that footpath here, Alan.

Comment by Glenn Wallis on Saturday: 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!

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