Historic Photo Quiz

Can you identify a station from just a paving slab? Sadly, some people can
Mitchell&BrownLook
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Historic Photo Quiz

Post by Mitchell&BrownLook »

Hello everybody, it's been a hell of a long time since I've posted here, but I'm still keeping up with what you're all doing!

For those of you who don't know, I now curate the JR James Town Planning Archive - a selection of nearly 4,000 images that belonged to one of Britain's foremost Town Planners in the 1960s and 1970s. We recently launched the collection online however whilst cataloguing the collection this summer a lot of the images were very poorly labelled or not labelled at all, and thus we had to put in a lot of research for where they are. We were unable to identify one such image, of a railway station in the 1960s, and left it as 'unknown' so that people may identify it. We've had a suggestion from a member of the public that it's an Underground station. I had assumed it was National Rail, but on further inspection the stock appears correct to be a sub-surface tube train and, although very grainy, there does appear to be a roundel on the platform.

My best guess is that it's High Street Kensington, but I'm very uncertain if this is correct so would like your comments - the image is here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrjamesarc ... 490062915/

While I'm making a post, I should say that you're more than welcome to look through the rest of the Archive which can be found here. Nearly every British town and city is represented, and most images are taken in the 1960s and 1970s, so there's something for everyone.
http://www.flickr.com/people/jrjamesarchive/

Philip
Last edited by Mitchell&BrownLook on 07 Nov 2013, 16:05, edited 1 time in total.
kateyay
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by kateyay »

Ooh, what a good puzzle!

There is a roundel on the platform, and this looks like a C or A Stock in the picture... so I would agree it is an Underground station too.

As to its location, a prelimimary mooch around Google Street View shows a lot of smaller, lower-level buildlings around HSK station, all much older than the 60s tower blocks in this picture - so I am not convinced this is where this location is. Will have another look later on, though...
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jamesthegill
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by jamesthegill »

Looking at the wall on the other side of the platforms, I would have thought that this is on the southern/western part of the Circle line. Notting Hill Gate has a few 60s style tower block developments around it, but the platforms have roofs...

(Also, many thanks for the full link in the original post - kept me occupied this lunchtime!)
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greatkingrat
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by greatkingrat »

Looks like a station with more than 2 platform, but not sure what though.
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tubeguru
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by tubeguru »

Mitchell&BrownLook wrote:For those of you who don't know, I know curate the JR James Town Planning Archive
I'd be willing to bet that none of us knew that.
One thing only do I know, and that is that I know nothing - Socrates.

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Mitchell&BrownLook
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by Mitchell&BrownLook »

Thanks to everybody for your interest thus far.
tubeguru wrote:
Mitchell&BrownLook wrote:For those of you who don't know, I know curate the JR James Town Planning Archive
I'd be willing to bet that none of us knew that.
Those of you who still have me on Facebook/Twitter might have noticed me warbling on about it, that's all Neil! :lol:
jamesthegill wrote: (Also, many thanks for the full link in the original post - kept me occupied this lunchtime!)
Glad you enjoyed it James. Although cataloguing and archiving all the images was rather a lengthy and, at times, monotonous task - the comments we've had back from people both inside and outside the Town Planning community since launching the collection last week have been quite fantastic. Pleased to know you enjoyed looking through the images too!
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RobbieM
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by RobbieM »

I think it's an old subsurface train taking a holiday somewhere - I can't find anywhere that matches it. However, I guess a number of the buildings in the picture are no longer around, and I can't find any Google/Bing imagery from the 1960s, no matter how hard I've tried... :)
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RobbieM
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by RobbieM »

I'm going to throw out a wild guess here. It may be wrong, but often you have to explore several wrong avenues to find the right answer.

I'm going to hypothesise that we're south of Moorgate station looking north. The tower on the near right of the photo could be St Alphage House (still standing) or one of its twins, and the Barbican complex is under construction in the distance.

Although the Met/Circle is under the Barbican complex now, I understand that in the time the photo was taken, much of it was open to the sky. This could just be what we're looking at. I don't know, but it could be!

Have a look at this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/8694277.stm . This is a view looking east at the Barbican complex being constructed. You can see St Alphage House on the right, and if you look on the left, you can see a white building that looks like the one in the centre of our photo.

So, is it or isn't it? You decide!
Last edited by RobbieM on 07 Nov 2013, 21:05, edited 1 time in total.
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RobbieM
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by RobbieM »

I've just spent ten minutes investigating my above guess a little closer, and:
  • BINGO!
Check out http://goo.gl/maps/YdEi0 . The streetview car is at the junction of the two roads at the bottom of the picture.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D Pleased to be of assistance! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
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tractakid
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by tractakid »

Good job Mr M. My first thought was Barbican/Farringdon, so I wasn't a million miles away!
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Iain
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by Iain »

Great spot!

One slight question mark though - unless they've closed the near track or moved the road back, the building that's now at the curve in the road seems rather narrow
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RobbieM
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by RobbieM »

Looking at it from this angle: http://goo.gl/maps/T0lBm , you can see that it is rather narrow. There appears to be a footpath going up and over, onto the roof of the station (which is now covered).

Looking at the original photo, we're not actually looking at a platform, we're looking at the whole train on a track. (The platform is the other side - one of the old terminus platforms, I guess). Possible that they moved the track, but I think it's probably just about a wide enough gap to fit the wall in!
Last edited by RobbieM on 13 Nov 2013, 20:09, edited 1 time in total.
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RobbieM
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by RobbieM »

RobbieM wrote:... often you have to explore several wrong avenues to find the right answer.
This was certainly the case here. We like to put 2 and 2 together to make 4. In this case, I listed 2 and 2, but it turned out to be 1 and 3. It doesn't matter; the answer is still 4.

To unpack what I'm saying here ... :roll:

The building on the right isn't actually St Alphage House. But I had to search Google images to find a building that looked like the one in the photo, and St Alphage House popped up. Wiki indicated that there were several similar buildings in the area at one time, but St Alphage House is the only one still standing. That's what got me exploring this possibility further.

Knowing the Barbican was constructed around that time, I searched for a photo of its construction - and the BBC one came up. And spotting the white building was when I was able to link the two. However, in our original photo, the building being constructed in the distance isn't actually the Barbican - it's another one nearby! The Barbican is actually beyond the left of our original photo.

So as I say, it's often exploring wrong avenues that gets us to the right answer in the end. I'm just feeling a little philosophical at the moment!
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by Nigel »

I can confirm this, having worked near here for many years. The building in the foreground on the left used to be a post office/telephone exchange/ BT administrative offices. It's still shown in the Google street view, but was knocked down a few years ago.
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RobbieM
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Re: Historic Photo Quiz

Post by RobbieM »

Nigel wrote:The building in the foreground on the left used to be a post office/telephone exchange/ BT administrative offices. It's still shown in the Google street view, but was knocked down a few years ago.
I think it's amazing to look at the photo and realise that virtually everything in this area has changed in the last fifty years. When I first made the connection, it felt very 'spooky' comparing it with Street View, even before I knew the BT building had been demolished.
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