Railways at Crewe in the '50s

When I was young, Crewe was the Mecca for railway enthusiasts. My own interest was in signalling and general railway operation, so I spent some time trying to compile my own track and signalling diagrams of the area. The immediate station area was one thing, but the extensive yards were very difficult to survey and my own sketches remained incomplete. However, I learnt a lot during the attempt!

The original line South to Birmingham was, of course, extended to London and the Trent Valley line gave a more direct route from Stafford to Rugby. The original line north to Earlestown (on the L&MR) extended through to Carlisle and Scotland, with a major branch to Liverpool. In addition, four other lines diverged at Crewe:

- The line to Chester, North Wales and Holyhead headed North West.
- The line to Stockport and Manchester headed North East.
- The line to Shrewbury, Hereford and South Wales headed South West
- The line to Kidsgrove and Stoke-on-Trent headed South East.

The sketch above is one of the many rough diagrams I did at the time and shows the area immediately south of the station in simplified form (Crewe South M.P.D. is barely represented at all). The four-track main line from Stafford appears on the lower left edge (top to bottom: Down Slow, Up Slow, Down Fast, Up Fast). The diagram commences near the small signal box called Basford Wood. In the middle at the bottom is the double track line diverging to Stoke. In the middle at the top of the diagram is the double track line to Shrewsbury, in the vicinity of Gresty Lane No. 1 box. Towards the bottom right of the diagram, the Stoke, Stafford and Shrewsbury Lines converge at Crewe South Junction and then fan out into the various lines passing through the station, shown lower right edge (principal roads, top to bottom: No. 1 Down Through, No. 1 Platform, Bays 1 & 2 usually used by Shrewsbury line trains, No. 2 Platform, No. 2 Down Through, Platform 3 (reversible), Bays 3 & 4, No. 4 Up Platform, Up Through, No. 5 Up Platform, Bays 5 & 6, No. 6 Up Platform).

Because Crewe was a major freight interchange point, it was well-served by 'Independent' goods lines. The four tracks appearing on the middle left edge are the Goods Independent Lines (top to bottom: Down Fast Independent, Down Slow Independent, Up Slow Goods, Up Fast Independent). These diverged from the main line further South at Basford Hall Junction, diverged to embrace the massive fan of sidings past Sorting Sidings South box and Sorting Sidings Middle box and re-combined as four roads paired by direction adjacent to Sortings Sidings North Box, which also controlled the junctions allowing freight trains access to and from the Shrewsbury line at Gresty Lane No. 1 box. Near the middle right edge of the diagram is Salop Goods Junction. Here the four Independent Lines paired by direction from Sorting Sidings North are transposed to paired by use (top to bottom: Down Liverpool Independent, Up Liverpool Independent, Down Manchester Independent, Up Manchester Independent). A branching pair of lines formed the Chester Independents. Salop Goods Junction box also controlled connections allowing freight trains access to and from the Shrewsbury line at Gresty Lane No. 1 box.

When I started visiting Crewe, the junctions of the Stoke, Stafford and Shrewsbury lines were controlled by the 'Air Raid Precautions' style power box at Crewe South Junction and colour light signals. I would have loved to have seen the earlier Webb box with the 'Crewe' All-electric system miniature lever frame and electrically-operated semaphore signals. A few of these early frames were still in use. When invited into Gresty Lane No. 1 by a kindly railwayman, I was amazed to find, instead of the 'Webb' mechanical frame I had expected, a two-tier 'Crewe' All-electric system miniature lever frame. There were three Station Boxes which I think also had the Webb miniature lever frame. Crewe Station 'A' box controlled the crossovers in the middle of the old platform 1, Crewe Station 'B' box controlled the crossovers in the middle of the old platform 2 and Crewe No. 3 (a bridge structure, astride the Up Through) controlled the crossovers between the Up Through and the old platforms 4 and 5. Crewe Station 'A' Box has been rebuilt in Crewe Heritage Centre, complete with its frame. Pictures of Crewe Station 'A' Box.

The footbridge at the North End of the platforms provided a safe walking route for enginemen between different platforms and between platforms and the legendary Crewe North Shed. This bridge was usually thronged with 'spotters' who would periodically be shooed away by staff, only to return later. The number of movements can be judged from the following snippets:-

10.53 a.m.: 'Black 5' 45042 passes on the Up Liverpool Independent with a 17-wagon freight.
10.54 a.m.: 'Jubilee' 45587 'Baroda' leaves Platform 1 with ten bogies for the Manchester Line.
10.56 a.m.: 'Scot' 46101 'Royal Scots Grey' leaves Platform 2 with 7 bogies for the Down Fast.
11.00 a.m.: 'Black 5' 44711 shunts light engine.
11.00 a.m.: 'Black 5' 44941 leaves via No. 2 Down Through Road with 5 bogies for the Manchester line.
11.02 a.m.: 'Jubilee' 45633 'Aden' arrives Platform 2 with the 6.40 to Barrow and Workington.

Although I didn't realise at the time, those passenger departures at 10.56 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. look very much like a single arrival from Euston which had split in Platform 2.

Things are no more sedate later on when I noted:-

1.30 p.m.: '8F' 48550 from Up Chester to the Up Chester Independent with a freight.
1.32 p.m.: 2-6-4T with 2 bogies from Bay 8 to the Down Chester (calling-on signal).
1.34 p.m.: 'Black 5' 44679 light engine from Up Chester to Bay 10.
1.34 p.m.: 2-6-4T 42575 light engine from Up to Bay 8.
1.35 p.m.: 'Austerity' 2-8-0 90342 passes on the Up Liverpool Independent with an empty wagon train and is detained at Salop Goods Junction.

Whilst the trackwork through the station has now been almost totally remodelled, much of the massive network of overall roofing and platform canopies I remember from the '50s survives. See Crewe Station.

References:
For more detailed layouts of Crewe in the 1950s, refer to the series of publications from the Signalling Record Society 'British Railways Layout Plans of the 1950's'.
Crewe (Main Lines) are in 'Volume 1: ex-LNWR main line, Euston to Crewe' (ISBN: 1 873228 00 7).
Crewe (Goods Lines & Loco Sheds) are in 'Volume 11: LNWR Lines in the West Midlands' (ISBN: 1 873228 13 9).

For details of the remodelled layout of Crewe in 2005, refer to 'Railway Track Diagrams Book 4: Midlands & North West', Second Edition, published by Trackmaps (ISBN: 0-9549866-0-1). The First Edition of this book was published by Quail in 1988.

Crewe Station

Introduction

As I commented in another post, Crewe was the Mecca for railway enthusiasts when I was young and I made a number of visits. Writing about an excursion to Blackpool ('Halfex to Blackpool') triggered a flood of memories of Crewe as I remember it in steam days. I started to wonder just how much of the station I knew still survives and decided to make a visit to take some pictures, through the eyes of someone who remembers it from (gulp!) half a century ago. The result is the collection Crewe Station Buildings. Of course, whilst in Crewe, I had to visit Crewe Heritage Centre, so that provided material for more posts, as time permits.

The railways were already Nationalised when I first visited Crewe, but the legacy of the London & North Western Railway was still omnipresent and the 'Nor-Wessie', as some railwaymen called it, became my favourite railway. See also the 'Wikipedia' entry for Crewe.

Brief History

The Grand Junction railway (opened 1837) linked the Liverpool & Manchester Railway (opened 1830) and the London & Birmingham Railway (opened 1838). The Grand Junction line passed through a country area around what is now Crewe, where land was cheap, so the railway determined to site their new locomotive works here. By 1846, the Grand Junction Railway had merged with the Liverpool & Manchester Railway and the London & Birmingham Railway to form the London & North Western Railway, which enjoyed the soubriquet 'The Premier Line' (Wikipedia on L&NWR). Much of the development at Crewe, railway, works and town, was carried out by the L&NWR. In 1861 the station was rebuilt. In addition to becoming an important interchange for passengers, large flows of goods and mineral traffic developed and substantial marshalling yards were required. Two major Running Sheds (motive power depots) supported the operation - Crewe North (for passenger locomotives) and Crewe South (for freight). In addition, the Great Western had a small sub-shed at Gresty Lane. By the 1890s, in addition to about 500 passenger trains a day, Crewe was handling a similar number of freight trains. This justified the construction of an elaborate network of 'Independent' lines, to keep most of the freight traffic away from the station. Further expansion to handle passenger and parcels traffic was carried out on the west side of the station around 1900.

In 1923, the 'Grouping' of railways merged the L&NWR into the London Midland & Scottish Railway (Wikipedia on LM&SR). In 1948, the post-war nationalisation of railways placed the LM&SR in Government ownership. British Railways eventually became British Rail (when the railways lost their way). The disastrous attempt to 'privatise' the railways placed the infrastructure under the control of the abysmal Railtrack to be succeeded by the astonishingly even more abysmal Network Rail.

Suggested architectural development

When the station was rebuilt in 1861, it's believed the four through tracks flanked by the present platforms 5 and 6 (platforms 5 and 4 before the 1985 remodelling) were provided with the buildings which survive today. The frontages of the station buildings on the present platforms 5 and 6 (5 and 4 before 1985) are probably the grandest on the station with elegant windows (including some large bay windows) and carved stonework. Despite the various commercially-inspired ravages apparent in my photographs, I think these buildings still posess appeal.

I suspect that these two platforms became islands at a somewhat later date: platforms 1 and 5 (5 and 6 before 1985) form one island whilst 5 and 11 (5 and 3 before 1985) form the second. Each island was provided with an elaborate overall roof over the middle portion of the platforms where a series of roof trusses were carried over the adjacent platform tracks, supported on brick walls on the 'outside' of the station.

Where the two islands platforms faced one another, a series of cast columns supported the roof trusses. The roof trusses at Crewe were not very high above the platforms, so there was insufficient headroom under the overall roof for the passenger footbridge. The photograph shows how, in the vicinity of the footbridge, the roof is carried at a higher level, as a sort of 'clearstory', to provide sufficient space. Although the roof trusses appear original, the glazing has been altered. The glass, which was in fairly poor condition when I first went to Crewe, has been replaced by plastic roof cladding, but I'm not sure that the translucent area is as large as it was originally. During electrification, the cast columns supporting the roof were externally clad for strength and some of the columns were given a second role as anchor points for the Overhead Line Equipment.

Only the middle portion of the platforms was covered by the main overall roofing, so a variety of additional roofing styles provided protection for the platform extremities. The photograph shows another style of roofing (in this case for the old platform 5 and 6 and the Stoke Bays) using straight, cross-braced roof trusses. This style of truss was used by the L&NWR at a number of locations.

In 1902, a new island platform with substantial railway offices was built. This provided two platform lines and two Through lines on the West of the station to handle Down trains, together with North and South bays. The new facilities were provided with an elaborate overall roof over the middle portion of the platforms where a series of roof trusses were carried over the adjacent platform tracks. On the East side, the roof trusses were supported on the existing brick wall. On the West side, columns supported the roof trusses and the spaces between the columns were filled by glazed screens. These screens could be found at other locations on the L&NWR - one which springs to mind is Colwyn Bay on the North Wales coast.

Crewe Station survived in this form until the 1985 rebuilding when the 1902 additions were abandoned, apart from the office block and the old platform 2, which, renumbered as 12, sees occasional use. The overall roof over this section of the station was removed, and modern canopies provided over the new platform 12. The photograph shows the office block, exposed to view now the overall roof has gone. More pictures.