PinzaC55

In a slightly bizarre twist regarding my mention of Gristhorpe station and it's garish colour scheme, it appears that it has been stripped back to bare brick some years ago and now looks much more acceptable. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1423616

I just noticed this old Hull - Bridlington season ticket on Ebay. Nothing outstanding except that it was issued to the well known railway author CT Goode ! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RAILWAY-TICKET-BTC-1962-MONTHLY-SEASON-HULL-PARAGON-BRIDLINGTON-/181909000229?hash=item2a5a9f1025:g:VBEAAOSwHnFV3B-m

I paid 2 visits to Cayton and on the second one in 1978 I was invited into the box where the bobby poured out his troubles "British Rail (he said) ordered several thousand tons of ballast for this line but it was sent straight to the ECML. So costs are loaded onto us falsely" Cayton signalbox in August 1977. There must have been more idyllic places in the North East but not many. Cayton Signalbox 12.8.77 par PinzaC55, on ipernity looking south with the Down platform edge removed for whatever reason. Cayton Station Gen View 12.8.77 par PinzaC55, on ipernity The old wooden waiting room waiting for the ghostly passengers. Cayton Station Waiting Room 12.8.77 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Just before I took this photo I obtained a beautiful pre grouping shot of the station from the NRM and decided to try again with my new Practika LTL-3. The station was absolutely perfect and looked like a stately home but since then the box has disappeared and the main building has undergone a tacky modernisation which has ruined it. Cayton Station 1.4.1978 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

19 years after its 1959 closure Gristhorpe station was essentially intact except for lamps, nameboards and seats. I'd have loved to get a look inside the station building ! Gristhorpe Station 1.4.78 par PinzaC55, on ipernity The stationmaster's house in a somewhat garish colour scheme and complete with an LNER cast iron seatback sign on the seat. Gristhorpe SMs House 1.4.78 par PinzaC55, on ipernity The lovely old signalbox which seems a little over sized for the station. I think it still exists ? Gristhorpe Signalbox 1.4.1978 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

The two bracket signals in that photo are at Peak Rail now.

On my visit to Speeton in April 1978 the station was looking a tad neglected but otherwise good with old clock still on the wall. Speeton Station {1} 1.4.78 par PinzaC55, on ipernity I have looked on Google Earth and 37 years later it looks as though the station has fared pretty well although painted in an awful shade of salmon paint. Speeton Station {2} 1.4.78 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Speeton signalbox was a neat looking building from around the early 1900s. Like most of them it has long since gone. Speeton Signalbox 1.4.78 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

I don't whether I have already posted this but it is taken from a contemporary BR NE staff magazine and shows a DMU at Bridlington in 1957. Would have been fantastic to have a run up the Malton & Driffield Railway ! Driver to the Guard at Driffield "Ayup lad , I've got t't board for Malton !" DMU at Bridlington 1957 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

In August 1977 I got a bus to near Lowthorpe village and walked to the station in sizzling heat. I well remember that one of the cottages had a platform oil lamp from the station hanging outside. Closed for 7 years it was about as charming a rural station as you could hope to find. Lowthorpe Station (1) 12.8.77 par PinzaC55, on ipernity On this day the Zenith-E was working well. The main building, with wooden extensions pulled down. Lowthorpe Station (2) 12.8.77 par PinzaC55, on ipernity A 6 car Met Camm DMU hurtles south, full of returning holidaymakers. There were few things more impressive than a long DMU with all the exhausts going. Lowthorpe Station (3) 12.8.77 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

In June 1979 I visited Bempton station. I have a feeling I visited it on an earlier occasion but seem to have no photos ! I remember on this occasion I went to Sunderland and asked for a return to Bempton whereupon the booking clerk, thinking I meant Benton on the North Tyne loop, said "It's closed" and I replied "No it isn't !" and showed her it on the BR map on the wall. So with some muttering I got an NCR ticket to Bempton. This photo is pretty poor but hey ho. Bempton Station (2) 9.6.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity The building had been somewhat spoiled by being rendered but still had nice proportions. Note the Humber Rail poster referred to earlier. Bempton Station (3) 9.6.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Looking towards Scarborough with the LNER concrete plant pots prominent. Bempton Station (1) 9.6.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Hull DMU leaving Bempton Station (5) 9.6.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Derelict weighbridge in the former goods yard. Bempton Station (4) 9.6.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

At this vast distance in time all I can remember is that it was a rather attractive lady gatekeeper who chatted with me for a while. I think she did live in the cottage and you will notice that there is no bicycle there which is another good clue.

Great photo - that's one thing I never did enough, take photos from trains. Was the box there in 1987 I could have sworn most of them closed in 1984 or thereabouts.

Flamborough station in 1977 just 7 years after closure, a poor photo taken on my dad's Zenith-E camera which was prone to jamming when I reached remote locations like Enthorpe ! Flamborough Station 1977 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Unlike Bempton and Arram the signalbox here survived until the mass closure programme of the 1980s. I worked at Kings Cross at the time and every week the signalling alteration notices would tell of the extinction of another box. Flamborough Signalbox 1977 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

How strange that the nameboard says "SELBY WEST" when there are no other Selby boxes ? Here's my 1979 shot of the box with the "WEST" lettering removed. Selby West Signalbox 13.9.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity PS note the NER "ZERO" post on the right of the box. It would presumably once have had Branch ID plates for the Canal Curve and the Cawood, Wistow & Selby ?

Buckton Lane crossing was near Bempton and in June 1979 I made the effort to walk there. It was all pure NER with an NER brass plated oil container on the right for the signal lamps and an NER enamel plate above the door, painted over black and white. I asked BR if I could buy the nameplate but was told it was "reserved", but many years later it turned up in the Malton railwayana auction (still painted) ; I bought it and stripped it to it's shiny NER enamel. Also note the two tops from level crossing gate posts used as seats ! Buckon Lane (1) 9.6.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Buckton Lane (2) 9.6.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

Sands Lane gatebox just north of Hunmanby in June 1979, complete with it's lever frame. Sands Lane Gatebox (Hunmanby) 9.6.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

In August 1979 I snapped this disused weighbridge at Driffield complete with a couple of lovely BR(NE) orange enamel signs. At the time I used to sometimes ask BR in York if I could buy items like this. If they agreed I would pay them by cheque and present my chit to the nearest BR staff then remove them in a bin liner ! Driffield Goods Office 23.8.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

Thanks for the comments guys! I looked up Middleton On The Wolds on Disused Stations and I was mildly surprised to see them say "this was by far the busiest station on the line with 87469 tickets issued" - that would in fact make it 2.5 times busier than Market Weighton ! I checked in Ken Hoole's book "Railway Stations North East England" and the same figure is there. I think we can safely say it is a mistake and the platforms at MOTW weren't actually full and standing ?

Although I saw some well preserved stations , Middleton On The Wolds had last seen a train pass through 12 years before my 1977 photo yet all that remained was the platforms and a few LNER concrete lamp posts which would never see lamps again. Middleton-On-The-Wolds Station 1977 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

Hey 60091 those are GREAT shots ! I love the one with the Deltic approaching the bridge from the north - I always used to hang out of the window there.... "Wistful".

In January 1979 I picked my way through the back streets of Hull to see if there was anything left of Cannon Street station. A large (office) building remained with the entrance gates still intact. Hull Cannon St Roadside 27.1.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Incredibly the gates still had roundels with the H&BRy logo in the centre. Many years later these gates turned up in a railwayana auction. You'd have thought the NRM would have got them ? Hull Cannon St Gates 27.1.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity The site had been cleared , seen here looking north with a chimney of what I think was a former power station ? Hull Cannon Street Station 27.1.79 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

Nafferton station on the same day as Hutton Cranswick. Nafferton Station (1) 17.12.78 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Nafferton Station (2) 17.12.78 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Nafferton Signalbox (3) 17.12.1978 par PinzaC55, on ipernity http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Humberail-1981-New-Holland-To-Cleethorpes-Leaflet-/251975592024

Humberail was a branding exercise applied to lines around Hull. In the days when we used to have those little fold out pocket timetable the Humberail ones were very light blue, Tyne Valley ones were green and Tyne Loop ones were yellow.

Hutton Cranswick station in December 1978 Hutton Cranswick Station 17.12.1978 par PinzaC55, on ipernity Hutton Cranswick Signalbox 17.12.1978 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

The "engine" at Hutton Cranswick looks to me like it is made out of junction boxes for lineside cess drainage pipes.

I always wondered when I saw those extremely wide platforms on H&BR stations whether they had in mind possible widening to 4 tracks ? I guess the 2 track bridge rules that out.