Books on Metropolitan Railway Freight?

[Maybach]

I hadn't realised that there was quite so much goods traffic on the Metropolitan Railway (coal to the power station and gas works; milk from Aylesbury etc.) and wondered whether there were any books on the subject? There's plenty of general works on the Met but I can't see anything specifically about freight. I assume that most, if not all, of those books would be quite passenger orientated.

 

[Gloster]

I have looked through half-a-dozen books, but most have (at best) only fleeting references to goods traffic. Casserley’s The Later Years of Metropolitan Steam (Bradford Barton, no date) does at least contain a few photos, but not much information can be gleaned from the captions.

My understanding is that in the outer parts of the system, which effectively means beyond Finchley Road, the Metropolitan goods workings functioned in very much the same way as other railways. I think there was a small marshalling yard at Neasden, but how much of this was Metropolitan and how much Great Central I know not. The main difference would have been the lack of through workings: I presume that incoming traffic was taken over as normal, but almost all would be for locations on the Metropolitan.

 

[Maybach]

Thanks for looking!

 

[Gloster]

Thanks for looking!

There is an article in two parts in Backtrack, probably in the August and September 2001 issues. I should have these, but they are in the garage and I haven’t sorted them since my move: as I had to look one out over the weekend I know they are not even in a single pile.

Look here again Monday for an opinion on how good they are or let me know any specific information you need.

I could add that the main traffic appears to have been coal to their power station at Neasden. This seems either to have been brought the whole way by the Great Central or handed over from the LNWR to the Metropolitan at Verney Junction.

 

[Maybach]

I've had a quick look on ebay and you're definitely right about September 2001. Not so sure about August (going by the cover, that is). I'll wait for your opinion on how good they are! Thanks.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Alan A Jackson's - "The Metropolitan Railway" has a good few references to Met freight traffic.

The building of Metroland caused considerable quantities of inwards building materials - timber , cement , bricks and so on - along with later quantities of domestic coal for house boilers and grates. Gas coal for Rayners Lane gasworks etc.

 

[John Webb]

There were exchange sidings between the Midland Railway and the Met near the former Finchley Road station at the west end of the MR's Belsize tunnels. This connection between the two lines was brought into use in 1880 and closed in 1948.

 

[Gloster]

I've had a quick look on ebay and you're definitely right about September 2001. Not so sure about August (going by the cover, that is). I'll wait for your opinion on how good they are! Thanks.

I counted wrong: it is September and October 2001 (Volume 15, 9 and 10). Two parts each of five pages with ten b/w photos in the first and eight in the second: many appear to be Casserley’s and appear in the book mentioned above. No tables or diagrams, although there are a few statistics in the text. It looks like a brief but fairly wide-ranging general history. As said, let me know if there is anything you particularly want to know: having dug it out, I will read it myself.

 

[Gloster]

I have also found an article on the Internet ‘ Freight on the Underground by Eric Stuart ‘. It covers the whole system, but the Metropolitan gets about half.