BR in the 1980s London St Pancras Station in November 1986
14,653
Published 2023-02-16
Upon a day visit to the capital I dropped in to some of the terminal stations. This clip is of London St Pancras Station
The main type of traction seen on this day was of course the HST domineering the London to Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield services. The empty stock was still using class 45 locomotives, (to me the main attraction) and still some mainline services too. EMU class 317 were used on the more local suburban route out of St Pancras to Luton, Bedford, where at the time was as far as the overhead wiring went.
This video is of many that will be posted "Uncut" and raw footage from my old archive as to speed up the upload times, cutting out all the fancy editing and chopping of material which can be very time consuming. Hopefully the longer pauses will not upset the viewing pleasure (if any)! Seriously there is so much to upload it could take years so by doing without the descriptions and post processes it could be a lot quicker. Please comment on the feature/features and I really do hope to arouse those old memories, good or bad, but mainly good I trust.
All Comments (21)
-
Personally I love these unedited videos. There's lots of detail that would otherwise be missed - it's like I'm actually there!
-
Peaks at St.Pancras were the absolute pinnacle of the day at that time for me spotting around London until i started on the depots! Cheers for uploading these splendid memories.
-
Can't remember a better three minutes on a YT video than listening to that Peak ticking over, waiting time.
-
11:40 Lights his cigarette and off we go - a man of his time, driving a classic loco! π
-
Great footage. I forgot how rundown St Pancras was at the time!!
-
On the rebuild issue, I think it's a great. I read somewhere they repainted the old shed in it's original colours? The only sad thing is it coincided with the loss loco haulage, parcels trains and associated shunting, and the new version took away the capacity to reinstate those. Still, it's far better than losing St.Pancras (and Marylebone) altogether which due to Thatcher and 'accountant mentality' could have happened.
-
What adds to this amazing video is the colours of the sky adding my to the atmosphere. I loved riding the Peaks when they were diagrammed to haul the Trans-Pennines services.
-
excellent footage! interesting (for me anyway) to see the blue grey 317s on the line before the 319s arrived.
-
Good days, very interesting. Thanks for posting.
-
St Pancras must surely get the people's vote for the grandest station in London. I loved the unrebuilt station with its Class 45s. During their last evening runs, in 1988, I and a group of lads, used to travel out of St Pancras every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights for months bashing (Monday and Friday only had one diagram). If two 'required' Peaks were working, you caught the first one to Wellingborough and the second one to Kettering. Then made your way back home, which for me, was across London. If only one was working, you turned back at Wellingborough. In the 1980s, St Pancras had a leaky roof, and her red bricks often could be seen with water damage. It is a shame, when they rebuilt the station they bolted on those ugly turds, rather than extend the magnificent roof. The Victorians cared not about cost, but modern accountants do. But at least, this station, once ear-marked for closure, found a new lease of life with Eurostar, Kent High Speed, Thameslink, and Midland Mainline. So future generations can marvel at it.
-
Compare these scenes with the same location today. Gas holders are now flats, trains go to Belgium/France, and yet the wires don't go much further than Bedford even today! Progress everywhere except on the Midland mainline! Loved the videos. Excellent camera work!
-
Love the peaks big locomotives
-
Brilliant, loved the Peaks . ππ
-
The home of the peaks π
-
The driver of 45133 seems to be having a somewhat heated exchange with another member of staff at 8:50, eventually slamming the cab door with a seemingly bad-tempered flourish. Love to know what all that was about. I'm sure he got over it very quickly and calmed down to give his passengers the smooth ride they expected! However it does serve as a reminder that the inner workings of the railway are largely open to public view and scrutiny (unlike water companies or the BBC!)
-
Great old footage of the video
-
You people take the mick out of train spotters, as for me who works at the beautiful st pancras will never say such a thing, look at this video from then to videos now. Very interesting and thanks.
-
I'm trying to catch up on the last 3 videos to much to choose from of classic traction,especially St Pancras..
-
I noticed the first HST arrival was the "wrong way round" -any reason why? Give me a 45 any day, better than a 46 or a 47 [used to make me feel seasick!]
-
Crikey the HID wasn't messing about on that Peaky Blinder coming in light (hah) engine.
