Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Alexandra Park and racehorses via Wood Green station
I'm looking into how racehorses used to be conveyed by rail to the racecourse.
On an aerial photo from 1938 (if you register you can enlarge it and see wonderful detail):
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw056645
- there appears to be a long, pale coloured loading bay to the immediate SW of Wood Green station. Can anybody help and say if this is what it actually was, and was it used to bring racehorses to the course? Any other related stuff would also be good to hear about: a bigger subject, this, than first meets the eye!
Best wishes,
Steve
Tags for Forum Posts: alexandra park, horse, race course, race horse, racecourse, railway station, wood green
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by doug on
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Hi, I'm no expert on this, but around the time you are talking about, Ally Pally had its own station within its grounds. The old station building is still there and used as some type of community centre. It's behind the palace - walk past the skateboard park, past the play area through the gate, turn left and you'll see the building.
Maybe horses were brought in here?? Not sure when the station closed, pretty sure before the racetrack closed, but would guess the horses then came in motorised vehicles.
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Thanks, doug. A more complex subject, this, than it may first seem. The original Alexandra Palace station was, as you say, right by the Palace on top of the hill, but its route was off the beaten track. It closed in 1954. The course, in 1970.
Use of motor horse boxes began around 1930, initially over short distances: the railway still dominated for long hauls. The rail traffic survived until around 1970 when British Railways formally abandoned it.
Railway company records show that horses for Alexandra Park Races were delivered to Wood Green station, and a colleague has referred to maps from c1895 which clearly show a loading platform just SW of Wood Green station. The racecourse was very close by, but such a platform would have been used for events of all kinds in the park, like fairs, and there was extensive sidings capacity next to it.
I originally sought confirmation of whether there was a loading platform for Alexandra Palace by Wood Green station and if it was used for racehorses? This seems now to have been resolved, but if anybody has any family records or anecdotes around these happenings, I would still be pleased to hear!
Steve
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Ah, some ambiguity in the last sentence by yours truly, my apologies: there was a loading platform that was used by racehorses to and from the racecourse, and part of it lingers just south of the passenger station, now called Alexandra Palace, of course.
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