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Today it's just a vast building site. Soon a new station for the Euro trains will be build here and around it – if Mayor Ken and the governments plans are successful – an Olympic Village will arise along with a major home, leisure and office complex. But once this site was that of the legendary Stratford Loco shed's, Built by the old Great Eastern Railway company to build and maintain their locomotive fleet, a task that involved employing hundreds of East London and Essex men, many of who had made their homes in Brentwood and lived in railway built cottages near the station. The reason for this large population of railway workers was to a large extent historic. For Brentwood in the early years of the railway was the lines terminus until the company could afford to raise the money necessary for the massive construction work to engineer great push though the barrier of the Brentwood bank to Shenfield and East Anglia beyond. Once – just for the hell of it – they decided to see how fast they could build a steam locomotive from scratch. It took them just a weekend, a record that still stands. As for the loco it saw long service around the region. Such was the pride of Stratford men they could be downright bolshie. Take the time their Eastern region lords and masters laid down that no longer were their fleet of diesels to have names. Just a small number on their flanks was the order of the day. This was just a red rag to a bull, and within weeks a freshly painted Class 47 drew into Liverpool Street proudly baring the name – City of London. Management it seems was not impressed. Memos came from on high to Stratford. "Get rid of it," they ordered. Needless to say the memos got lost. Then in a crafty move designed to legitimise their heinous crime, they invited the then Mayor of London to officially name the locomotive. Realising that City pride was now at stake, to the delight of the Stratford men, they capitulated and with bad grace allowed other locomotives to be named. Their next brush with dreaded authority came during Her Majesties jubilee year, when to show their loyalty a another class 47 appeared in Liverpool street with a giant union jack resplendent on its flanks and sporting a silver roof. Far from being removed at the end of the jubilee year the loco and its union jack remained a regular sight through Essex for a number of years. Flushed with this success thier loco naming policy became the norm with almost every loco in their control ending up with a name. And continuing the tradition when the Liverpool street station pilot engine - used to drag coaching stock back to the yards - used to be painted in the previous coporate colour. They decided that so should a blue painted Class 47 be outshoped in the Old brunswick two tone green colour scheem. Now we have no need we are told for a Stratford loco shed, fast EMU and DUM units have taken the place of locomotives. But what about those crafty craftsmens train naming policy. Has that died. Not a bit of it. The tradition continues. Just have a look at the next smart electric train to slide into your platform... for there is a fair chance that somewhere on its flanks with be a name plate. The ghosts of those Stanford engineers must be raising their beer mugs in pleasure in thier ghostly canteen that that sight, To be continued at a latter date. still under research
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