File:Hatch End Station (5340802152).jpg

When I lived in the area, Hatch End was one of the larger suburban stations on the London, Midland and Scottish line (LMS). Six tracks ran through the station and all were served by platforms. Four of the tracks carried main-line LMS trains – two passenger and two mainly goods. All, of course, were hauled by steam locomotives. The remaining two tracks were electrified and carried suburban trains both of the Bakerloo Line and of the Euston-to-Watford Line that was run by the LMS. When I was a student at Acton Technical College* I sometimes caught the steam train to Willesdon Junction and then an electric train of the North London Line to Acton Central Station.

Many years ago the main-line platforms were removed. Later still the Bakerloo line service to Watford Junction ceased and trains terminated two stops down the line at Harrow and Wealdstone Station (where there was a major train crash in 1952). It's possible that the leg of the Bakerloo Line to Watford Junction may be restored.

Hatch End, though not particularly more important than other stations on the line, was much more imposing than most – so much so that it has received plaudits from John Betjeman. I understand that the reason is that in the early days of the railway many of the railway managers lived in Hatch End. Hence special attention was paid to its appearance and its facilities. The architect Gerald Horsley was commissioned to design it.

I knew one of the railway managers who lived in Hatch End quite well. He was Jack Walter (1907-1989) and he was a senior engineer of the LMS and British Railways in the 1940s and 50s the railways were nationalised in January 1948). But Jack was much better known to me and countless others as the long-term GSM and SM of the 1st Hatch End Scout Group. For the benefit of scouts of a later generation, who have leaders rather than masters, a GSM was a group scoutmaster and an SM was a troop scoutmaster.

The photo was taken in August 2009.

• While I was at the college it was upgrade to become the Brunel College of Advanced Technology. Later still it moved to Uxbridge and became Brunel University.