A fantastic and slightly damp evening rush hour period spent at Potters Bar station on the East Coast Mainline where we see countless services from London Northeastern Railway, Great Northern, Thameslink, Grand Central and Hull Trains.

Potters Bar was one the original stations opened on the East Coast Mainline by the Great Northern Railway in 1850, 2 years after the line was officially opened.

In 1923 the station was renamed Potters Bar and South Mimms due to the close proximity of the two towns. Now they are all but joined together with the A1 acting as a split between the two. The station was later renamed to Potters Bar in 1971.

The current station was built in 1955 which was the third variation of the station. The previous two were simply unsuitable for the growing network and the lengths of the trains stopping there.

Sadly this stations main claim to fame happened as a result of a terrible accident that took place in 2002 when a West Anglia Great Northern service came charging up the line from London Kings Cross bound for Kings Lynn entered the station area at 12:55 at a speed of around 95mph, as it passed over a set of points they suddenly changed due to the force of the train thundering over them, this then caused the rear bogie of the third carriage to derail along with the entire fourth carriage which then subsequently sent the train hurtling into the air and proceeded to mount the platform and slide along it's length before finally coming to a rest at a 45 degree angle.

Unfortunately seven people were killed on that day. Six were onboard the train and the seventh was a result of being struck from debris coming off the bridge and onto the main road below.

The following investigation found that the cause of the crash was due to poor maintenance of the points, the bolts which hold the stretcher bars in place had become lose and as a result of this it was only a matter of time before a derailment was going to happen. The force of the train passing over the points at that speed was enough was dislodge the points and cause them to fail which then sent the train into the platforms. Fortunately as a result of this immediate works were taking place all over the country and a massive change to the health and safety scheme saw that all track work was done to the very best standards at the time. Less than a year later it was decided that Network Rail would take on all track work as having private firms doing this was evidently the wrong way to do things.

A memorial garden has been created at the front of the station to remember those that passed away. There is also a plaque on the ramp at Platform 3/4.

My next rush hour film will be from Milton Keynes on the West Coast Mainline.

You can now find me on facebook through the group Tornado922, there you will regular updates, videos and photos from all of my goings on throughout 2019.

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