The 'Kenny O' Postal

As a lad, living in Wimbledon, my meagre finances didn't stretch far so the service for postal workers between Clapham Junction and Kensington Olympia was a great opportunity to get behind steam at low cost. I stumbled over it by chance when I was passing through Clapham one day and saw the train heading off towards Kenny O. By asking around I gradually pieced together what was going on and that triggered a number of return trips with various locomotives over several years. This service was primarily for those Post Office staff who worked at the colossal Blythe House, which at the time served as the massive headquarters for the Post Office Savings Bank.

It wasn't clear to me at the time whether this service really was for the public - well not the reverse working, anyway - as it was always empty (apart from me) on the Kenny O - Clapham leg in the morning and the Clapham - Kenny O leg in the evening. I always used to get strange looks from the postal workers when they saw me already on the train when it arrived for them in the evening especially as I was clearly a bit young to be a worker!

There were two trains at each end of the day. Journey time - eight minutes. The morning train left Clapham at 0816, returning at 0832 from Kenny O. Just a six minute run around before setting off again at 0846 and returning at 0900. In the evening there was a 1650, returning at 1706 and the second train left at 1720, returning at 1736. Although there seemed to be pattern of operation, it did vary. Trains usually started out of Platform 1 and returned to Platform 17 for the second trip. At the time, (1965), the service was usually the Standard 3 tanks like 82018, 82023, 82026. Things moved on in 1966 to Standard 4s such as 80015, 80133 and 80154. Finally, in 1967 I picked an Ivatt Class 2 - 41319. However, the highlight for me, and what started it all, were the H Class tanks that worked the duty in 1962 - 31305, 31542.

This truly was one of London's hidden gems and a steam 'commuter' service that survived in the capital long after everything else had disappeared.

 

A later shot when Standard tanks were rostered. This comes courtesy of the SVS Nine Elms site that is full of Southern anecdotes from steam days most of which are from those who actually worked the trains.
https://svsfilm.com/nineelms/index.htm