Disused Stations: Stanmore Village Station

Stanmore Village Station Gallery 2: 1920s - 1950s

Ex-LNWR Webb 0-6-2T No.7700 waits with its no-doubt-adequate single carriage at Stanmore sometime in early LMS days. The locomotive was of the class better known as 'Coal Tanks'. She had been LNWR No.161. Of the originally 300 strong class, those which survived to receive BR numbers were lumped together into the 58880 - 58937 series. Of those one, BR No.58926, originally LNWR No.1054 and then LMS No.7799, has survived into preservation. The carriage is an ex-LNWR 7-compartment brake and appears to be an all-third but has otherwise proved difficult to identify. Perhaps an LNWR expert can throw some light onto it. Typical of the period, a number of advertisements can be seen of which many names are still familiar today. Sometimes advertisements can help to date a photograph and the London Coliseum's showing of The Chinese Puzzle might have been one such but no record can be found of it. On the matter of puzzles, another concerns the name on the platform seat (partly obscured by the locomotive smokebox). It is unreadable but it does not appear to announce Stanmore, this being long before the station became Stanmore Village.
Photo from John Mann collection

Stanmore station on an unknown date, except that the poster board at far right is headed 'LMS' so we know that it is after 1923. The locomotive is an ex-LNWR Webb 2-4-2 Radial Tank. It has lost its LNWR numberplate but has yet to receive LMS embellishments so we can assume that the photograph was taken during early LMS days. It will, however, be carrying an LMS number but its apparently filthy condition makes seeing it impossible. As usual, a number of advertisements can be seen and some were also present in the photograph showing LMS No.7700 taken around the same time. One advertisement worth noting is that for Bovril sandwiches. Among the platform furniture is what appears to be a chocolate-dispensing machine together with a newspaper rack and some scales.
Photo from John Mann collection

The covered concourse at the north end of Stanmore station in September 1949 is seen three years before closure. All of the enamel advertising signs seen in earlier photos have been gone, We now see poster boards with largely railway-related advertisements and timetables.
Photo by Dewi Williams from Dewi's Trains, Trams & Trolleys web site

Another view of the concourse in September 1949. Note the Tube map, which appears to be on a board headed 'London Transport' and, if so, the second poster may have been a bus, tram and trolleybus route map. Tube maps were and still are common at national network stations in south-east England and sometimes at major stations elsewhere so this one at Stanmore is no surprise. Passengers from Stanmore and Belmont could change onto the Bakerloo Line at Harrow & Wealdstone and through tickets would have been available but in reality, and given that passenger traffic at Stanmore was always light, most people likely used Stanmore LT station, which was Metropolitan until 1939 when it became a branch of the Bakerloo Line allowing passengers to travel directly to Central London and onwards to Elephant & Castle. The remainder of the advertisements seen here are all posters as opposed to enamelled metal.

Photo by Dewi Williams from Dewi's Trains, Trams & Trolleys web site

A tiny garden opposite the Stanmore Village platform in 1948. For years, the stones picked out 'LMS', for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway. In 1948, that was changed to 'LMR', for the London Midland Region of British Railways.
Photo by Dewi Williams from Dewi's Trains, Trams & Trolleys web site

Sometime in 1952, shortly before closure that year to passengers, Fowler 2-6-2T No.40043 trundles away with the push-and-pull train to Harrow & Wealdstone. The branch was worked from Watford shed where No.40043 was resident at this time. She was to end her days at Willesden shed in 1959. Note the BR totem and, right, the goods shed. Only one Stanmore Village totem has ever been sold in an auction. Goods traffic was to keep the section beyond Belmont open for a further twelve years.
Copyright photo by HC Casserley

Stanmore Village station building seen from Station Road c1952. Nothing has changed since the early twentieth century photographs apart from the station name. The station was renamed Stanmore Village on 25 September 1950 to avoid confusion with the Bakerloo Line (London Transport) station of the same name. Within two years of changing the name the station closed. This is the first time a nameboard was mounted on the building.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection

A scene from ‘The Gold Express’, one of a few films with scenes shot at Stanmore Village station. The filming took place during 1954 and was released in the UK in August 1955. Production was by GB Instructional Films (Gaumont-British Instructional Films - GBIF) and was a trifle unusual for this company in that it deviated from their main business of instructional and educational films. At the time of ‘The Gold Express’ the film industry, at least in Britain, was suffering from a slump and GBIF had been taken over by Arthur Rank, hence the Rank logo at bottom right. ‘The Gold Express’ was the penultimate film produced by GBIF, the final film being ‘The Mysterious Poacher’ and also released in 1955. ‘The Gold Express’ was a crime film, of the type sometimes loosely described as an 'Orient Express-type film', and centred around a consignment of gold, supposedly from the Spanish Armada, being snooped by a newly-wed reporter couple Bob and Mary Wright, played by Vernon Gray and Ann Walford with co-star Ivy St. Helier as Emma Merton. The publicity artwork for the film depicted what looked like a BR Britannia Pacific locomotive with a rake of 'blood-and-custard' coaches. At the time of filming, Stanmore Village station had been closed to passengers for two years so the apparent good condition of the Scotland poster in the background suggests that it had been placed there especially for the film. The poster is genuine. It was published in 1952 and the wording stated ‘Scotland For Your Holidays’. At the very bottom was stated, in small print, 'Services and fares from [British Railways’ logo] stations, offices and agencies'. Artwork was by Terence Cuneo and depicted A4 class locomotive No.60031 ‘Golden Plover’ crossing the Forth Bridge. Not a great deal of information is available about ‘The Gold Express’ but cast and other basic information can be found at, for example, IMDb

Stanmore Village station looking north towards the buffers sometime in the 1950s. The station closed in 1952 but apart from the removal of signs little changed until the station was largely demolished in 1970. The canopy is seen here in its shortened form. Its length was reduced by 40ft by British Railways. The cabmen's shelter seen in the 1900 picture at the end of the platform has gone. It was dismantled and re-erected close to the entrance to the goods yard for use as an office for Franklins coal merchant.
Photo from John Mann collection

Stanmore Village station looking towards the buffers sometime in the 1950s. The platform is seen here in its shortened form having been reduced to 220ft in length by British Railways.
Photo from John Mann collection

Click here for Stanmore Village Station Gallery 3: 1957 - December 1967

[Source: Nick Catford]

Station Name: STANMORE VILLAGE