White City Training Centre

Tried the LT Museum photos? Just a thought.

A few months ago I was sent a fantastic picture of the front of the school taken in the mid eighties on a sunny morning, and for the love of me I can't find it. It's exactly what you are looking for. I've just sent an E Mail to my colleague who sent it to me and asked him to resend it. If he does I'll post it up for you - Through the front door, toilets to the left, canteen that doubled up as a cinema straight ahead, mind your head on the staircase. The whole lot painted in a ghastly pink with the leaf clogged fish pond in the middle. The whole lot now flattened by a fast food burger bar and two escalators. I remember it well................

Admin Comment: The image is slightly over our file size limit, and quite a bit over our width limit, but I think we can allow it to slide on this occasion given the nature of the image.......Colin.

Here we are, if anyone wants them the gents is through the front door and on your left.

Again many thanks auxsetreq it brings back some strong memories for me as a JTRO (Junior Trainee Railway Operative) basically an Apprentice, we spent most of our time during our 2 years of learning the railway at the Training Centre, things like Motors, Guards & Supervisors courses were taken 2 or 3 times, then we had to attend at least once a week for English & Maths courses! it was a pain to get to from Elm Park everyday and if it were closer I would say that the way it was run was good and you defiantly learnt.

TMBA

I did a couple of jobs in the RTC in 1979 and 1980, extending the fire alarms in one of the rooms full of train parts and cab mockups as I recall and fitting a couple of phones. One of my colleagues got the job of updating the telephone equipment on the model railway after signals had resignalled it. My recollection is that it was treated exactly like the real thing not just for operation but also for upgrading. I also recall the simulator which I believe went to the Science Museum, my recollection of that is that it failed so often that eventually it couldn't be operated without an AET present to deal with any failures.

As for people disappearing after their references had been checked, that surely happened everywhere at the time as it was LT policy. I can recall new entrants at Whitechapel depot being called to the supervisors window after a week or so and told that they were sacked because their references didn't check out. They had to hand everything in that had been issued there and then and were escorted off the premises. I believe it was policy to go to their homes, with police if needs be, to recover anything that they did not have with them!

I heard a story (which dates back a long time) about someone going for a job with London Underground on the stations. The chaps training was terminated because he had a conviction for fare evasion - on the London Underground

If that was today, someone would claim the dipped 'O' was a branding decision! ;D

Even us engineers went for various courses there where some instructors seemed to be programmed to get us confused with their sometimes loose use of terminology.
Instructor: How much current is there in the positive rail?
Answer from bemused young engineer: Well it will depend on whether there is a train motoring and how much current it's drawing at the time.
Instructor: What's the matter with you lot, you're supposed to be the clever ones! The answer's obvious. How much current - 410 Volts.

Followed by more confused debate about the difference between volts and amps....
Best depot safety course I ever attended was there though. Happy days.

Sounds like a businessman ! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Many years ago, over 40 in fact I used to work for the GPO. Their training centre had just moved into a skyscraper in Bunhill Row in the city. IIRC they occupied the floors around the twentieth floor. On the Friday of the weeks training the instructor looked out of the window and decided that everybody could leave early as it was foggy. On reaching the ground it was found that it was clear, the 'fog' was only low cloud. ;D ;D

I know we're drifting a bit off-thread but, when I worked in New York City in 1983-4, a young lady of my acquaintance took me to dinner one evening in the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of the WTC building. It was a clear night, apart from broken cloud drifting by. We looked up to see clear skies and then looked down through the clouds to see the streets below. It was a beautiful evening. I was very sad to see their terrible destruction on 9/11.

In the RTC's last years, wasn't one of LBL's "low-cost" midi-bus operations (Centrewest?) based around the back or is my memory playing tricks? (Over to you, DStock7080.)

Can somebody enlighten me as to where this building was located.

Despite my half century on the planet, less than the last 10% of that period has been spent in the Underground. I now work from a location in the Wood Lane area, but I only know the are as it is now i.e. Westfield shopping centre open, the current White City Sidings, Wood Lane H&C current station open, bus garage substation etc in the old power house, etc.

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Nick

Following up I can see lots of changes from when I was based at Wood Lane in 1985/6. Looking at the map of the area it looks as though the H&C viaduct has moved closer to White City station than I recall, it hasn't but the supports have been replaced. I can't say I'm keen on the colour the bridge metalwork has been painted, it looks awful and perhaps adds to the illusion of relocation.
I note that access to the old generating station, Wood Lane substation and White City depot has moved from Wood Lane to around the corner off Ariel Way. Interesting to see the generating station and boiler house being refurbished with new roofs, these buildings were condemned long ago. When I began my LT career one of them was in use as a stores, of course 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' indoor scenes were filmed in the other which was also used by LFB to mock up and burn, in a controlled fire, a part replica of Oxford Circus station following the actual station fire to understand and report in detail upon the occurence.

Network House on the corner of Ariel way next to the viaduct was the building that the Central Line Project Team worked out of during the 1990 resignalling, I recall having a couple of meetings there when I was briefly seconded to CLPT for a particular project.

Taking the street view along Wood Lane I would hate to be one of the residents looking at that Westfield blott on the landscape, they might've thought 10A Wood Lane and the RTC and depot behind were an eyesore but they are far worse off now. I wouldn't be surprised if the property prices have tumbled on the change of diorama let alone the general property downturn.