GCLE - Marylebone Outer Suburban
Introduction
This is a complicated story for there was no suburban traffic when the GCLE opened because the Metropolitan wouldn't allow it. It started six years later when the GW&GC Joint line was built and the Metropolitan allowed the GCR to serve its line which became part of the Met&GC Joint Railway. Services along both routes were served out of Marylebone using GCR locos and carriages. I have described use of the early stock under these sections:
GCR carriages - London Suburban GCR carriages - matchboard non-gangwayed
and this is a chronological compilation of the train services only, plus modernisation in LNER and BR days by Gresley and Thompson designs, then BR Mk.1, and finally, ex-LMS types, so it's quite a saga and should be seen as an overview. I am penning further accounts for later.
Having confused early 4-4-2T designations (sorry!), here is a picture of the first class to be used, GCR 9K (LNER C13) No 47 at South Harrow, probably 1906, with an early Outer Suburban 3-set off the GW&GCJ line. The inner suburban service (title not actually used) over the eight miles between South Harrow and Marylebone at this time was made up with either one or two carriages and lesser locos. Photo: author's collection.
Click on the image for an enlargement
A relatively early view c1910 near Denham on the GW&GCJ behind 9L (LNER C14) No 1124 when the original 3-sets of 50' London Suburbans were still in use but the two-tone scheme had been replaced by a varnished livery:
BT |
3rd Brake |
F |
1st |
BT |
3rd Brake |
A simple formation with a dedicated 1st in the middle for well-heeled London commuters. With two milk vans on the rear. Photo: Author's collection.
Click on the image for an enlargement
Around the same time, also on the GW&GCJ with 9L No 1121 in charge and the 3-set extended to a 4-set by addition of a 3rd. Photo: Author's collection.
BT |
3rd Brake |
50' London Suburban |
F |
1st |
" |
BT |
3rd Brake |
" |
T |
3rd |
50' clerestory |
Note how the extra carriage was placed outside the 3-set, a practice that held for some time. Many sets were to be extended further, especially for rush hour and the 4-4-2Ts were about to be replaced by Class 9N (LNER A5) 4-6-2Ts. It's interesting to muse that exactly half of these trains ran bunker first, which was almost never photographed!
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A fine view of a recently built Class 9N (LNER A5) in charge of an early evening rush hour Outer Suburban train as it passes the Metropolitan's station of Neasden & Kingsbury (it became plain "Neasden" later) with admirers looking on. No 165 is hauling what became a standard 5-set (BT,F,F,T,BT) with a 6th carriage added behind the loco. Photo: Author's collection.
T |
3rd |
50' London Suburban |
BT |
3rd Brake |
" |
F |
1st |
" |
F |
1st |
" |
T |
3rd |
" |
BT |
3rd Brake |
" |
It was a period of multiple transitions and this picture was probably taken in 1911 when the loco was built and matchboard stock was about to be introduced. I've seen it suggested that this kind of train was "typical before WWI" but it was actually quite brief: the matchboard stock was introduced into the extant London Suburban sets as it arrived and there's a picture lower down with the same formation with a 60' matchboard replacement as the gradual process of modernisation of the sets began.
Click on the image for an enlargement
When the 9N (LNER A5) locos were introduced at Marylebone photographers rushed to capture them and the service of the time was immortalised in many b&w images and colour postcards based on them. Indeed, this one was published by LPC repeatedley. And very little showing how the service was modernised in these years with Robinson's matchboard carriages. Small wonder that it's led to misinterpretation of how enormously the service changed before the Great War. To be honest, it's not the only example of railway misperception through biased railway photography and inattention to what was actually happening, but there we go...
I've included it for other good reasons. To begin with, it shows a Marylebone Outer Suburban train still based on London Suburban carriages and the same 6-set as in the b&w pictures (T, BT, F, F, T, BT) and in glorious colour. It's well known that Robinson adopted varnished teak for panelled carriages just before he introduced his matchboard style, and that previous stock which had been painted was stripped and varnished. You can see in b&w photos where old and new designs were paired how the older stuff was darker, because it had been panelled with mahogany because, unlike teak, it's not oily and takes paint well. That's why these carriages have such a different hue compared with varnished teak. I remember being told by an observer that this difference was still plain to see a great many years later. The same would also have been true pre-matchboard gangwayed carriages. Postcard: Author's collection.
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A view credited to "May 1913" and a train "for the GW&GCJ line" - but was probably 1911 and the train the 3.20pm to Aylesbury - shows GCR 9N (LNER A5) No 450 between Preston Road and Harrow-on-the-Hill with a down Outer Suburban train. The basis of the formation is a 50' London Suburban 5-set which has been strengthened to a 6-set and modernisation has begun with matchboard stock:
T |
50' London Suburban |
BT |
" |
F |
" |
F |
" |
T |
60' matchboard |
BT |
50' London Suburban |
Note the two Firsts, a common arrangement for the Marylebone service. The matchboard carriage was 60' 3rd with 10 compartments and built between 1911-13. This was significantly longer than used for suburban traffic at King's Cross and Liverpool Street, the only comparison being with Gresley 58'1 1/2" carriages that ran to Cambridge (and had lavatories). Photo: author's collection.
Click on the image for an enlargement
A5 No 5158 (NEA) leaves Marylebone station c1933. Based on the sun angle the time is c6pm and the best fit with the 1935 CWB is with the 6pm (SO) Outer Suburban to Amersham, when it was rostered for a 4-set with an extra 3rd. The whole train cannot alas be seen but there is an extra 3rd behind the loco and possibly another one behind it. All the London Suburban carriages have been modernised and the train contains matchboards built 1911-19 and a GCR/LNER hybrid of 1923-24:
T |
3rd |
56' |
GCR/LNER hybrid |
- |
T |
3rd |
60' |
GCR matchboard |
3B5 |
BT |
3rd brake |
56' |
GCR matchboard |
- |
F |
1st |
56' |
GCR matchboard |
- |
Rem not visible... |
||||
The formation it is tricky to identify. A standard 4-set would have contained (BT,F,T,BT) and this could have been made up to a 5-set with the strengthener behind the loco.
Note in the background in front of the Rossmore Rd dairy the D.120-clone 4w passenger brake van built for the GC Section, and the 6w milk tank wagon which would have come off the LMS. A parcels/brake van was rostered for the Bletchley-Aylesbury-Marylebone leg and this could have been it.
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A5 No. 69828 passes Dean Wood on the approach to Seer Green in the 1950s with a Down Outer Suburban train for Princes Risborough or High Wycombe. Little of the train can be seen except the head where there is a late 1930s BT(6) to D.246. They were built to run with the Gresley twins at Marylebone and replace matchboard brake-ends.
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Circa 1958 and Thompson L1 No 67743 is near Beaconsfield with a recently modernised 6-set. A Gresley twin from c1930 leads the way, followed by Thompson carriages built in the 1940s and '50s:
BT-T |
3rd brake-3rd |
51'1 1/2" twin |
Gresley |
T |
3rd |
52'4"' |
Thompson |
T |
3rd |
52'4"' |
Thompson |
T |
3rd |
52'4"' |
Thompson |
BT |
3rd brake |
52'4"' |
Thompson |
Photo: Brian Leslie.
Click on the image for an enlargement
A scene from LMR days in 1960 near Sudbury Hill Tunnel with ex-LMS 2-6-4T No 42092 in charge of a 6-set in which ex-LNER stock has been replaced by older ex-LMS designs:
BS |
2nd brake |
57' |
BR Mk.1 |
S |
2nd |
57' |
ex-LMS |
S |
2nd |
57' |
ex-LMS |
S |
2nd |
57' |
BR Mk.1 |
S |
2nd |
57' |
ex-LMS |
BS |
2nd brake |
57' |
ex-LMS |
The ex-LMS stock is a mixture of P.I designs from the 1920s and slightly later P.III and they make up two-thirds of the coaches. The LMR period is well known for introduction of ex-LMS locos often regarded as not in good condition but this aspect is rarely recognised - replacement of relatively modern Thompson stock (built by BR in the late 1940s and 1950s) with significantly older Stanier carriages on poorer-riding bogies. Carriages for the Marylebone Outer Suburban service had always been modernised regularly and the LMR did the opposite. Photo: JD Edwards courtesy G.W.Trust.
Click on the image for an enlargement
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