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Rectory Junction & Colwick East timeline


DavidBird
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I spotted on "a certain well-known internet auction site" an auction for a diagram, and selection of lever plates, from Rectory Junction.  I was pipped at the post for getting it, but the seller very kindly took a set of clear photos for me before sending it off to the buyer.  I won't post photos here as I haven't (yet) got permission to do so.

It is dated March 1964 and also 1/11/71.  It shows clear signs of alteration, by painting out removed track and signals. The track layout matches well with the (low-res) diagram on the s-r-s.org website here https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/lner/E921.gif.

 

Question 1.  Am I correct in assuming the 1964 date corresponds with the opening of the triangle junction to Cotgrave Colliery, and the 1971 date with the closure and removal of Colwick yards and the main line to Gedling?

 

It is markedly different from the layout that lasted until closure, as shown by photos on flikr here

Question 2.  Again an assumption, did the change to the final form coincide with the removal of the east side of the traingle? 

 

Question 3 What date was this?

 

The final diagram does not show the avoiding lines, but my ebay (whoops I've said it!) diagram does.  It shows the northern end, but does not show any lever numbers for the points.

Question 4.  Was Colwick East still in use until whatever date in Q3? Does anybody know of a picture of the box diagram - assuming (again!) it was different from the pre-64 one here https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/lner/E920.gif

 

Question 5 When did Colwick East close?  Was the Colwick Estates Light Railway still in use until then, or did it continue after?  If it did, how was the junction with the main line controlled?

 

Many thanks in anticipation

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The best place I have found to get some of these answers are the Great Northern Railways Society's Journal - Great Northern News (https://www.gnrsociety.com/great-northern-news/). They did a series of articles in 2006 describing the run down and closure of Colwick yards from 1956 to the end.  If you can find them then you would need No 146, 147, 148, 150, 151 and one other! They describe the changing of the track layout (but no signal diagrams) as the yards slowly closed. I say there is one other as I am missing at least one which describes what happens in the 1970's - so I am not going to be able to answer all your questions.

 

But what I can answer:

 

1) The Cotgrave branch opened 25/1/1964 so that does nearly match the diagram you were looking at. Colwick yards closed April 1970 - I don't know what happened in  1971.

 

2/3) East Side of the triangle - are you asking about the East side of the Colwick triangle (which closed April 1970) or the east side of the Cotgrave triangle (closed May 1976). 

 

4) On the closure of the yards in 1970 the avoiding lines were disconnected from Colwick East and converted into sidings at that time.  I Could not find a picture of the Colwick East diagram but it had changed from the SRS diagram. In 1965 the Up avoiding line became the down and vice versa. The junction itself was re-done at this time to remove the diamond with the two avoiding line splitting just after the point onto the line to Grantham.


5) Colwick East closed June 72. The light railway was still in used - closed 1985. Don't know what controlled the junction - a Ground Frame I would guess.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Rob

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Junctions seem to have been named either after the location - eg Netherfield Junction, Sneinton Junction, or after where the branch leads to - eg Mansfield Junction.

 

So why is it called Rectory junction?  I can find no reference to a vicarage or rectory nearby by looking on old-maps.

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