Grantham - the Streamliner years

[LNER4479]

My Dad once got very excited about a beautiful clear day he'd experienced on the west coast of Scotland. Trying to describe it to me (over the phone), he came out with the following: '... in fact, it was SO clear that, if the earth was flat, you could have seen all the way to America!'

 

[Jesse Sim]

Damn, should have left earlier for my trip, good luck for the show all! 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Jesse Sim said:

Damn, should have left earlier for my trip, good luck for the show all! 

Yes, you should have left before that football session.

[Jesse Sim]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Yes, you should have left before that football session.

I totally agree! 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

12 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

My Dad once got very excited about a beautiful clear day he'd experienced on the west coast of Scotland. Trying to describe it to me (over the phone), he came out with the following: '... in fact, it was SO clear that, if the earth was flat, you could have seen all the way to America!'

 

I grew up on the top of the Cotswolds scarp.  On a clear day I could see the cooling towers at Didcot 22 and 3/4 miles away.  On every other day the wind blew straight in from Siberia.

[TheQ]

13 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

My Dad once got very excited about a beautiful clear day he'd experienced on the west coast of Scotland. Trying to describe it to me (over the phone), he came out with the following: '... in fact, it was SO clear that, if the earth was flat, you could have seen all the way to America!'

 

I think they call that the Hebridies, where from the top Of Bhein Mhor on South Uist, you can see about 60 miles in any direction tot he horizon.

[St Enodoc]

8 minutes ago, TheQ said:

I think they call that the Hebridies, where from the top Of Bhein Mhor on South Uist, you can see about 60 miles in any direction tot he horizon.

Isn't there a saying about the number of kingdoms that can be seen from the top of Snaefell in the Isle of Man?

[Clive Mortimore]

Well today in Lincolnshire the weather is so grotty I cannot see the bottom of our land let alone Grantham.

 

 

 

 

Where I live I cannot see Grantham cos the Wolds is in the way. Hopefully over the weekend I will see Grantham in Spalding.

[drmditch]

Re: Grantham

Hope the Spalding Show goes well.

I haven't seen Grantham for so long I'm getting withdrawal symptoms, and I need to admire the signalling.

 

Re: Fog

Really nasty in Shildon (Locomotion) this afternoon. When I got home I needed to look up NER policy on 'sighting objects'.

 

[JCL]

It seems to be over here too. My dog ventured out into the fog and I didn't see him again until I banged his food bowl.

[Barry O]

13 hours ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

 

I grew up on the top of the Cotswolds scarp.  On a clear day I could see the cooling towers at Didcot 22 and 3/4 miles away.  On every other day the wind blew straight in from Siberia.

We live about 5 minutes from Leeds Bradford Airport. If you take off vrom leedsand turn towards Holland and never increase your altitude you will run into the Ural mountains eventually.  Which is why we can get very cold wind running through Leeds.

 

Baz

[2750Papyrus]

14 hours ago, drmditch said:

Re: Grantham

Hope the Spalding Show goes well.

I haven't seen Grantham for so long I'm getting withdrawal symptoms, and I need to admire the signalling.

 

Re: Fog

Really nasty in Shildon (Locomotion) this afternoon. When I got home I needed to look up NER policy on 'sighting objects'.

 

 

To paraphrase Churchill, who is Sighting and why does he object?

[thegreenhowards]

23 hours ago, TheQ said:

I think they call that the Hebridies, where from the top Of Bhein Mhor on South Uist, you can see about 60 miles in any direction tot he horizon.

When I climbed it we had a crystal clear view of St Kilda which is some 40 miles further out into the Atlantic. A fantastic hill.

[TheQ]

Saw you all At Spalding,  nice to see Grantham in real life,  I like the layout. 

 

 

[drmditch]

8 hours ago, 2750Papyrus said:

 

To paraphrase Churchill, who is Sighting and why does he object?

Not sure I understand your question.

'Sighting Objects' were those items which if, in fog or falling snow, a signalman could not see clearly he should call out the 'fogmen'.

The NER  gradually installed special lamp-lit markers to serve this function.

 

Since you have taken upon yourself the name and a number of a Southern Area locomotive, you will, presumably, not be worried about running through a signal or two.

(Re; Driver Sparshatt at Northallerton)

Never-the-less it does not remove the responsibility from the Signalmen to ensure that proper attention was called to signals.

[paul-dereham]

45 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Saw you all At Spalding,  nice to see Grantham in real life,  I like the layout. 

 

 

 

Me too. A great layout. Whole exhibition was good too.

 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

nice to see Grantham in real life

 

The layout is fabulous.  Seeing Grantham in real life, not so much.

[JamieR4489]

Thanks for letting me have another play on Grantham today. I hope the DCC sound layouts don't drive you all mad- they were certainly getting on my nerves by the end of the day!

Thanks for giving my J6 a spin too, even if it didn't make it up the gradient in the fiddle yard.

 

Jamie

Edited November 2, 2019 by JamieR4489

[gr.king]

Interestingly Jamie, after I added one of my K2s to assist your J6 on the next circuit and they both "stopped dead" at the foot of the bank, the finger of suspicion was pointed at the locos, yet as soon as I got home I tested the K2 and it runs perfectly normally. I wouldn't be surprised if you find your J6 running perfectly normally at home too, as I suspect yet another electrical supply fault  on the layout or a or an "end of long day" operating error.....

Edited November 2, 2019 by gr.king
typographical error correction

[JamieR4489]

My J6 was running normally on Tony's test track. Once your K2 had been taken off the J6 still didn't move, even before I coupled it up so I agree that it wasn't a loco fault.

[Clive Mortimore]

It was very nice to see Grantham again today and have a chat with some the crew at the end of the day.

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Hope to see 500 pictures of Grantham..............please.

 

manna

[LNER4479]

Grantham back home safely, after an overnight stay at Super Barry-O's.

 

Good to see so many folks at the show; seemed to be a good overall turnout. Apologies for anyone who's viewing enjoyment was spoilt by the spasmodic electrical gremlins that befell the fiddle yard. At least back stage you can 'hand ball' the trains out to the wings ready to 'enter stage right' so hopefully the running on the public side still looked OK. Still no nearer finding out the root cause of the fault(s); suspect that several different factors were at work. I also suspect that, having been dismantled for transportation, when reassembled again at Southampton they will behave impeccably. Damn electrons; give me rods and cranks any day of the week!

 

You made a starring appearance, Manna, looking beautiful in pristine apple green as No.2596. Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to wield my camera at any point over the weekend; however, I know that at least Jonathan did so here's hoping...

[jwealleans]

I'm afraid 2596 didn't stray into my viewfinder.  Maybe next time if she's selected for Southampton.

 

I had time for some photography on Sunday morning; the Official Photographer's visit didn't materialise as it happened.  There's something of a North Eastern bias to these, quite coincidentally.

 

 First some overall views.  The building we were in at Spalding is a tin shed with lining to give it a marquee feel.  It gets very hot and the lighting at the back of the layout was terrible.

 

 

For you fans of the TV show, Graham (maroon top), Tom (2 tone grey jumper) and Paul (blue fleece) from Team Grantham can be seen.  Also visible, other members of the 'A' Team, Barry (blue/white stripes), Adam (yellow top), Craig (blue sleeveless top).

 

 

 

The principal item I wanted to photograph was the Jidenco LWB fish van which i finished especially for the show.  2372 on its habitual working.

 

 

 

We happened to have stopped on Saturday evening at move 12 (third time round) which involves the 13:10 KX - Newcastle/Leeds and had on this occasion been given to 706 to work.   I've just repaired 706 and there are loads of pictures of GN Atlantics on the layout, so I make no apologies for a few of one of Vincent Raven's finest heading home.

 

 

 

Crossing Springfield Road bridge (was it Springfield Road in 1938?)

 

 

Passing 4475 Flying Fox also awaiting the journey home.

 

 

On shed, a returning loco which I've acquired from Tom Foster, 4466 Herring Gull.  This ran on the layout at early shows but hasn't been seen for a couple of years at least.   The beautiful weathering is unmistakably Tom's work.  Locomotion 3251 adjacent.

 

[Jon4470]

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to Spalding this weekend. I would have liked to have seen the layout again.

To console myself though, I did spend a good few hours re-reading this thread from the beginning! (So I was there in spirit at least)

 

Jon