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Train Commuter - Memory Lane
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Hillman


Posts: 32
Joined: Jun 2012
Post: #1
25-12-2015 10:41 PM

Looking through old photos (as you do), I found this one of Honor Oak Park Station I took in August 1970. The view is towards Forest Hill.

In some ways very different and at the same time familiar.



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oryx


Posts: 205
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #2
26-12-2015 12:08 AM

What a great photo. So we lost a decent shelter on the southbound platform but gained the lifts (and the Overground of course!).

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rbmartin


Posts: 1,074
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #3
27-12-2015 05:10 PM

Unbelievable how we lost those wonderful facilities on the platforms.

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Hillman


Posts: 32
Joined: Jun 2012
Post: #4
27-12-2015 06:00 PM

'...those wonderful facilities on the platforms.'

That reminds me: I recall one occasion in a winter in the late 1950s or very early 1960s on the down platform that the station staff were stoking the coal fire in the Waiting Room.

I don't think you'll ever see that again !

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Antelope


Posts: 4
Joined: Oct 2008
Post: #5
27-12-2015 06:41 PM

Yes, great photo. This building must have been demolished sometime between August 1970 and early 1973, as it was in 1973 that I became a ticket clerk at the station - and I'm sure it wasn't there then.

Does anyone remember the old ticket office? It was located inside the current entrance hall, roughly where the automatic ticket barriers are now. People used to buy tickets from windows on either side (east and west) of it. It would be great to see a photo of that (if one exists).

There used to be an old unused room where the current ticket office is, and today's coffee shop is where the ticket collectors used to have their room (for keeping warm, drinking coffee, etc and playing darts). And... a bloke used to sell newspapers from a small booth just at the front of the entrance hall.

Lastly, does anyone remember the old ticket clerk called Bill? He had a wooden leg and had been at the station for decades.

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lacb


Posts: 627
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #6
03-01-2016 08:01 PM

Love the photo! That looks like an old Southern style sign for waiting room and lo, canopy and is that another waiting room on the down platform?

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Anotherjohn


Posts: 376
Joined: May 2005
Post: #7
03-01-2016 08:19 PM

And does anyone remember the pedestrian subway outside the station?

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shzl400


Posts: 729
Joined: Oct 2007
Post: #8
03-01-2016 10:31 PM

Yes, definitely remember the subway - and the fact that even after they covered over, the lights were left on and could be seen glowing up through the grilles in the pavement!

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Nick M


Posts: 35
Joined: Sep 2012
Post: #9
04-01-2016 05:55 PM

Due to my vintage, I remember when there was only the one carriageway over the railway line! I recall the other concrete carriageway being built probably in late 60s/early 70s .. and the graffitti that seemed to be there for years as you came out of the station which said "Free Robert Relf" .. I have a picture somewhere of the road with only one carriageway, i will dig it out ...

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Anotherjohn


Posts: 376
Joined: May 2005
Post: #10
04-01-2016 09:50 PM

I remember that narrow 2-way traffic 'chicane' now. Wasn't there only a pavement on the downhill side and the cars used to virtually brush the metalwork on the other side? I think I can recall that there were quite a few prangs right outside the station doors. I'd love to see that photo.

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Sealink


Posts: 5
Joined: Sep 2015
Post: #11
04-01-2016 10:24 PM

What a fantastic find!

I found this which was more recent, and with arguably a better clock than we have on the platform now!

https://b.geolocation.ws/v/W/File%3AHono....jpg/-/en#

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oryx


Posts: 205
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #12
05-01-2016 12:31 AM

Thanks for another pic Sealink.

Looks from that website it was taken in 1992. There are a few more pics of HOP station if you scroll down.

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Medley


Posts: 87
Joined: Nov 2011
Post: #13
05-01-2016 11:22 AM

What great photos.

Very sad at how much we've lost since that 1970 photo, albeit the service is so, so much better!

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Hillman


Posts: 32
Joined: Jun 2012
Post: #14
05-01-2016 07:30 PM

These photos from Steve Grindlay's flickr site show the station bridge as it was.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegrind...8035428279

It certainly was a narrow bridge.

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Anotherjohn


Posts: 376
Joined: May 2005
Post: #15
05-01-2016 08:54 PM

Thanks for the photos.

Those were the days!

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bkkmei


Posts: 19
Joined: Oct 2012
Post: #16
05-01-2016 09:05 PM

Thanks for the link to Steve Grindlay's albums. The photos are fascinating there. Especially the ones of London Road with many shops boarded up (dated 2003?). Hard to believe it's the same street.

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Poppet2


Posts: 59
Joined: Oct 2013
Post: #17
13-01-2016 10:48 PM

I did a paper-round from the station newspaper kiosk in the 70s.
I remember the chunky old telephone kiosk with A & B coin boxes where as school kids we used to listen to 'dial a disc'.
Does anyone remember the names of the ticket collectors we used to have?
Also, is there anyone who remembers the middle platform at Forest Hill station?

This post was last modified: 13-01-2016 10:56 PM by Poppet2.

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Hillman


Posts: 32
Joined: Jun 2012
Post: #18
14-01-2016 06:49 PM

I certainly do remember the middle platfrom at Forest Hill and remember when the 'fast to Forest Hill' trains from London Bridge stopped there.

Here's a true story: In about 1978 after an after work pub visit in central London I rushed to London Bridge station and found that the last train had just gone. It must have been close to midnight. A passing train driver heard me moan, asked me where I was going and said I'll get you to Forest Hill, just get in the cab of that diesel loco over there. It was a diesel locomotive with no train - just the loco. He walked over to a phone on the platform, had a chat with someone and then climbed up into the cab next to me. He explained that his original routing was going to take him through Forest Hill but only on the middle platform and that he'd called the signal box to route him via the regular side platform. We then trundled off down south with no stops until Forest Hill where he dropped me off. Of course the ticket office was shut and the station locked up so I had to climb over the wall and walk up home.

Can you imagine anything like that happenning in 'elf & safety' Britain now ?

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Poppet2


Posts: 59
Joined: Oct 2013
Post: #19
14-01-2016 07:30 PM

What an incredible story. Ohmy
I know there used to be fast trains from London Bridge, but I was unfamiliar with the middle platform.
Can you remember when that middle platform was demolished because it couldn't have been when they built the new station as that was around the mid seventies?

This post was last modified: 14-01-2016 07:30 PM by Poppet2.

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Londondrz


Posts: 1,538
Joined: Apr 2006
Post: #20
14-01-2016 10:16 PM

The fast trains to LB from FH and FH to LB only stopped a few years ago.

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