Pilgrim in France

Having emailed KR Models asking for a progress report I have received 3 emails within a space of 2 minutes to say my order has now been processed, which I hope means it is on its way.

Still waiting. Should we have an email to say it is about to be delivered?

A good excuse to buy another 2 car set!

It would be 2x2cars

I am certain I have seen it somewhere as it resulted in me buying a Standard 5 to use on my layout which was based on Boston. I will delve into the archives to see if I still have it but that is easier said than done.

I believe the Standard Class 5s were tried on the Grimsby/Cleethorpes to London expresses

Were the long stops for the Cleethorpes expresses because the platforms were too short to take the whole train in one go? I am sure I remember that happening and passengers at the rear told not to try and get out as the train would soon move forward to allow them to demount

Lincolnshire

Mayflower gets my vote

Spotters turfed off Grantham station? It must have been about 1960. A friend and I bought a day return ticket from Boston to Grantham to do some trainspotting,. Around 3.30 an engine with a single luggage van turned up, at which point station staff approached all the trainspotters and asked to see a valid ticket. Apart from us, none of them had one, so they were herded into the luggage van and the train went off. About 40 minutes later some of them reappeared to collect their bikes on which they had come to the station. One of the lads told us they had been taken about a mile down the line and then unloaded at the trackside! I don't know if this was a regular occurence but I can't see it happening today, thank goodness

Any feedback on the sound?

Skegness for me, as it was the railway that made it a seaside resort

I believe a Standard class 5 was trialled on the Grimsby/Cleethorpes to Kings Cross express. Certainly I must have had evidence of this as it enabled me to justify buying one for the layout I had based on Boston.

I think the answer as to why the train ran with four vehicles to Spalding and left two there lies in what happened to the two vehicles left at Spalding? i suggest it may be to do with the bulb traffic originating in Spalding. My father was Head Postmaster there and I know that Spring/early Summer was always far busier than Christmas because of the number of bulb catalogues that went out and the subsequent orders. This was one of the reasons why the DMUs often had a van attached - otherwise there just wasn't enough room. If the vehicles were left at Spalding they could be filled and collected later.

I believe Silver Fox make the 114. Have been tempted to have one but with Hornby bringing out so many steam engines that are appropriate for my layout, for the time being I am having to make do with the MTK kit I built more years ago than I care to remember.

No 1 gets my vote, but would feel very happy to have taken any of them

Have seen a photograph of a J15 at Skegness, but it was 1947, also a BR one at Spalding, but no date, so they were known to travel

If you are still looking for a photograph of the "Blue Spot" fish train there is one on page 525 of the November 1958 Meccano Magazine, in a very interesting article "Scottish Freight Flyers"

As regards dmus with vans,my father worked for the Post Office at Spalding, and around Easter time the bulb companies there used to post out their catalogues - in fact there was more post going out then than at Christmas. The DMUs did not have the capacity to take all the post down to Peterborough so a van was often attached to the DMU.

Brits (39,40 and 41) first appeared on the Cleethorpes express right at the end of 1960, with Rudyard Kipling not until the Autumn of 1961

Checking back, the Birds Eye containers were certainly on the Grimsby fish train before September 1962 as that was when we moved. There were usually 2 fish trains in the early evening, and the "Blue Spots" had become quite usual. By then they were almost always pulled by a 9F and seemed to travel faster than the Grimsby - Kings Cross express. Once they had gone through we knew it was time to go home!

Certainly remember seeing Birds Eye containers in the Grimsby - London fish trains in the late 50s

Unusual? Well the Midland used to send Black 5s and more rarely Crabs, but how about Jubilee 45635 on a special from Bury in July 63? I know that Jubilees had set off from the East Midlands previously but not sure if they were changed en-route.

If you are looking to justify a "Brit" then 70005 went through to Skegness on 18/1/62. However the ban on V2s on the East Lincs line had long since been re-introduced so I am fairly certain that you could not justify one of them - other than the fact that it is your layout and you can do what you like!

Great photos as ever - it just gets better and better. One small point; it is highly unlikely that a Cravens DMU would work the Cleethorpes. I lived by the line south of Boston at this time and the only DMUs I saw on this service were the Derby Heavyweights (later classed as the 114s)