Wright writes.....

[Headstock]

What about the Retrogrades, the ooh missus that's a biggun grope, group. the Gary Glitters (oh yeah), the old gits, the Bachmann MK1 collectors club or the Super Secret Squirrels?

[sandra]

19 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Why not just the 'Retfordians'? 

 

Or, is that the term for a native, anyway? 

 

RetfordiEMs? Has a ring........................

Tony,

When I talked to Roy about the people who worked on the railway he always referred to The Retford Crew. Crew seems rather a modern word. Does anyone know if it would have been in use in 1957?
Sandra

[Barry Ten]

4 minutes ago, sandra said:

Tony,

When I talked to Roy about the people who worked on the railway he always referred to The Retford Crew. Crew seems rather a modern word. Does anyone know if it would have been in use in 1957?
Sandra

 

Don't know about 1957, but "The Wrecking Crew" date from the early 60s:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(music)

[gr.king]

Retford conspirators?

 

Use of older railway company terminology might suggest Retford servants.

[Bucoops]

The Popular Front of Retford?

 

What have the Retford Mob ever done for us?

 

Retford Junction Mob?

 

 

[NHY 581]

The Retford Ensemble. 

 

Rob. 

[Chuffer Davies]

The Retford Gang-ers ?

[CUTLER2579]

3 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

It was quite a surprise to find out that Ken (and you) knew Roy before I did and I met him around 42 years ago. I did see him behind Gainsborough Central at a show in Doncaster before that, probably around 1975/6 but we didn't know each other then.

Tony,

I have not made myself clear, I met Roy at a show many years (50) ago in Paddington at the hotel near the staion and after me voicing my opinion that an L1 was not likely to work a Grantham to Peterborough stopper, got told to go  away in two words made up from 7 letters as did Sir I understand !  This was with High Dyke. I did my apprenticeship with Ken and Roy's notoriety spread around the CEGB power stations so I heard stories about him when working at various power stations. Ken would often talk about Roy and when asked to do the control panels he asked Roy if I could be involved, hence I got to know Roy properly and became a friend. Ken lacked confidence for some reason and yet he was the finest Instrument Engineer I ever met and me helping him made me chuckle. I was not bad at my trade by any means,but not in the same league as Ken.There is no bias in the comments about my cousin, I speak as I find.

[Mick Bonwick]

1 hour ago, sandra said:

Tony,

When I talked to Roy about the people who worked on the railway he always referred to The Retford Crew. Crew seems rather a modern word. Does anyone know if it would have been in use in 1957?
Sandra

 

You could become the Retford Folk. A somewhat more refined mob.

[96701]

The Flat Crossers?

[Major Clanger]

9 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Andrew had started that.

 

I wonder if we could work on it in partnership in future. 

 

I've not long stopped twitching after making/installing 35' of point rodding on Little Bytham. What's that? Less than a tenth of what's needed on Retford?

 

This was the progress five years ago....................

 

 

 

 

Beautiful work here.

 

 

And it'll just go on and on..........................

 

Those houses in West Carr Road make a superb backdrop. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I started it, but it came to a halt because other things need to be done first. At Babworth, the gantry needs to go in (where the temporary 3-doll signal is in the last photo) as the legs are very close the the rodding runs, and will probably need to go over the signal baseplate(s) . At Retford North and South, the heavy work of putting in the platforms needs doing, to avoid damage to the delicate rodding, plus there are still a lot of signals to go in at that end (including about a dozen discs), and I was doing the rodding and signal wires at the same time. Once able to start again, I'd be glad of any help you can offer. I know where all the rods go for Babworth (there is a large sketch somewhere), but I hadn't started the planning for any of the other boxes.

[APOLLO]

Thrumpton Thumpers !!!!

 

After that I'd better post a couple of my photos. 3 Jan 1970. I missed the ECML steam by a few years, but even in 1970 there was lots to see.

 

 

 

 

 

Super power back down from Doncaster - Brush 4 & a Deltic !! (both working). Getting on a bit, time to head for Sheffield & one of the last trains over Woodhead home.

 

 

A freezing cold, snowy but brightly lit Penistone. 

 

 

Brit15

[Chamby]

 

I’d suggest some alliteration for the new Retford Mob/crew.  Retford rabble, reprobates, rebels, rioters, riff-raff...   Quite a few options.

 

Retford Crewe?  

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, MJI said:

 

 

Mainly curious, but thinking of visitors, or conversions using Lima bases

Good evening Martin,

 

Visitors are always invited to bring things along when they come to Little Bytham (when they did) and give them a run. I always find it very interesting; all kinds of unusual locos stock have appeared, as well as the more-typical. One HO 'Big Boy' proved to be a bit too big, threatening to demolish bridges and platform edges. 

 

It's understood that visiting stock must have reasonably 'scale' wheels. By that I mean not-to-deep flanges (Lima, Trix, Tri-ang, etc) and back-to-backs of 14.4mm. Anything British with tender drive is taboo as well. Most modern RTR fits the bill, though some can still be a bit tight on the b-t-bs.

 

Though my elder son did some conversions using Lima mechanisms, those which have the original Lima wheels don't run on LB (though some have been posed for photographic purposes) and any that do (though very rarely, because they were made for Stoke in diesel mode) have UltraScale replacement wheelsets.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[robertcwp]

34 minutes ago, Chamby said:

 

I’d suggest some alliteration for the new Retford Mob/crew.  Retford rabble, reprobates, rebels, rioters, riff-raff...   Quite a few options.

 

Retford Crewe?  

I'm warming to 'The Sandringhams' myself, having seen some of the other suggestions. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by robertcwp
Clarify a point.

[Headstock]

20 minutes ago, robertcwp said:

I'm warming to 'The Sandringhams' myself, having seen some of the other suggestions. 

 

It's going to be 'Glitter band' in my own personal headcanon.

[t-b-g]

1 hour ago, CUTLER2579 said:

Tony,

I have not made myself clear, I met Roy at a show many years (50) ago in Paddington at the hotel near the staion and after me voicing my opinion that an L1 was not likely to work a Grantham to Peterborough stopper, got told to go  away in two words made up from 7 letters as did Sir I understand !  This was with High Dyke. I did my apprenticeship with Ken and Roy's notoriety spread around the CEGB power stations so I heard stories about him when working at various power stations. Ken would often talk about Roy and when asked to do the control panels he asked Roy if I could be involved, hence I got to know Roy properly and became a friend. Ken lacked confidence for some reason and yet he was the finest Instrument Engineer I ever met and me helping him made me chuckle. I was not bad at my trade by any means,but not in the same league as Ken.There is no bias in the comments about my cousin, I speak as I find.

 

Ken hasn't changed. Still very clever and still lacking confidence in his ability!

 

I think you may be a bit out with your 50 years ago. Roy, Geoff and John built High Dyke in the late 1970s. I don't know how many times it appeared at EXPO EM at Paddington but certainly one time it was there, very much the star of the show, I was there with a layout, so it must have been the early 1980s.

 

I was looking up the dates and found this:

 

 https://auctions.goldingyoung.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/111/lot/80524

 

I hadn't been to London often and there were three layouts that all arrived at about the same time on the Friday evening by the hotel back door, with about ten or a dozen operators. A tiny lady of far eastern origin, about 4ft 6" tall, approached us and uttered the words "Right then gentleman, who is going first?". I had no idea what she was talking about but she was politely advised by others that we were too busy and she left. 

[Tony Wright]

43 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Thrumpton Thumpers !!!!

 

After that I'd better post a couple of my photos. 3 Jan 1970. I missed the ECML steam by a few years, but even in 1970 there was lots to see.

 

 

 

 

 

Super power back down from Doncaster - Brush 4 & a Deltic !! (both working). Getting on a bit, time to head for Sheffield & one of the last trains over Woodhead home.

 

 

A freezing cold, snowy but brightly lit Penistone. 

 

 

Brit15

Some great Retford shots there; many thanks. 

 

After the crossing was lifted in 1965, the Up starter bracket had one arm removed (there being then no connection to the Gainsborough line). There was no further use for South 'box after that as well. 

 

Originally the starter was a lattice bracket (as seen on the Retford model today)

 

 

 

It was like this until 1958, when a wagon derailed on a Down freight and demolished it!

 

A temporary single home signal was installed............

 

 

Until this plate and angle type was erected. It lasted until 1976 (with the middle arm removed).

 

 

It's hard to believe that an A4 in this condition had only three more months to live. No worksplate on the cabside, either.

 

 

It's not always noticed how low the Down fast platform was at Retford (exacerbated by the super-elevation). Small steps were provided for passengers getting on or getting off trains. 

 

 

 

 

Just as I remember Retford. Plenty of point rodding to do. 

 

You can just make out the tender of a B1 to the right. One was always parked as standby at the north end on a siding. 

 

 

I can still hear the flanges squealing coming in from Sheffield!

 

 

Light engine in reverse on the main line; pegged right through as well. 

 

 

Heading back to Thrumpton after a hard day's work. 

 

Last year I reviewed a book which had several pictures of Retford in it. In the captions, the author claimed there was a 10 mph restriction on the main line over the flat crossing. He should have noticed the arrow! 

 

 

Some neatly-tended flower beds to model.......................

 

Please (all) respect copyright restrictions on these prototype photographs. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

Good to know that this 'Castle', donated earlier this year, has arrived safely in the USA.

 

 

And £140.00 has been donated to CRUK.

 

Many thanks to Ron and Zach. 

 

 

[Northmoor]

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Just out of curiosity, why would I want to run Lima stuff? 

 

In case you wanted to drown out the real ones on the ECML?

[landscapes]

29 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Some great Retford shots there; many thanks. 

 

After the crossing was lifted in 1965, the Up starter bracket had one arm removed (there being then no connection to the Gainsborough line). There was no further use for South 'box after that as well. 

 

Originally the starter was a lattice bracket (as seen on the Retford model today)

 

 

 

It was like this until 1958, when a wagon derailed on a Down freight and demolished it!

 

A temporary single home signal was installed............

 

 

Until this plate and angle type was erected. It lasted until 1976 (with the middle arm removed).

 

 

It's hard to believe that an A4 in this condition had only three more months to live. No worksplate on the cabside, either.

 

 

It's not always noticed how low the Down fast platform was at Retford (exacerbated by the super-elevation). Small steps were provided for passengers getting on or getting off trains. 

 

 

 

 

Just as I remember Retford. Plenty of point rodding to do. 

 

You can just make out the tender of a B1 to the right. One was always parked as standby at the north end on a siding. 

 

 

I can still hear the flanges squealing coming in from Sheffield!

 

 

Light engine in reverse on the main line; pegged right through as well. 

 

 

Heading back to Thrumpton after a hard day's work. 

 

Last year I reviewed a book which had several pictures of Retford in it. In the captions, the author claimed there was a 10 mph restriction on the main line over the flat crossing. He should have noticed the arrow! 

 

 

Some neatly-tended flower beds to model.......................

 

Please (all) respect copyright restrictions on these prototype photographs. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

Hi Tony

 

some wonderful photos, buy your comments on 60028 that was about the one and only time I ever saw that A4 speeding north on an express through Finsbury Park Station in late September 1962.

 

If the locomotive in your photo is facing North, me not knowing Retford Station there’s the remotest chance it being the express I saw leaving London.

 

Thank you for posting them.

 

Regards

 

David

[APOLLO]

Some wonderful pictures above Tony. My pictures were my first visit to Retford, aged 18, over 50 years ago !!

 

We had no flat crossings on the WCML like Retford, Newark & Darlington (as far as I know), but had (still have) some interesting junctions. But it was the Deltics that lured us across the Pennines many years ago (and the last weekend of the Manchester - Sheffield electric passenger trains).

 

Brit15

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, landscapes said:

Hi Tony

 

some wonderful photos, buy your comments on 60028 that was about the one and only time I ever saw that A4 speeding north on an express through Finsbury Park Station in late September 1962.

 

If the locomotive in your photo is facing North, me not knowing Retford Station there’s the remotest chance it being the express I saw leaving London.

 

Thank you for posting them.

 

Regards

 

David

It's heading south, David.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[LNER4479]

Evening Tony et al.

 

You might remember this?

 

 

'Build a coach in a day' (Boxing Day). Well, it wasn't all done in a day ... but it is now finished:

 

 

Only another nine more to build!

[Headstock]

8 hours ago, bbishop said:

A few pages ago, I promised you some notes on the Southern Railway contribution to the Bournemouth - Newcastle service.  They were ordered in August 1928 to replace the LSWR stock and were amongst the first "high window" Maunsell stock.  I should really call them Lionel Lynes stock because all Maunsell did was to sign the order and later to christen them by planting his bum on a squab.

 

The order included both the Bournemouth - Newcastle/Bradford/Leeds and the Bournemouth - Birkenhead/Manchester stock, with Brake Compos provided for the Bradford, Leeds and Manchester portions.  To permit easy coupling to certain other railways' stock, the brake ends (both ends of Brake Compos) were fitted with British Standard gangways.  Also the Composites were to diagram 2303, externally the same as 2301 but with 3 first class and 4 third class compartments.  The full Thirds in this order were no different from other Thirds.  So by the early 1950s, set 459 comprised Brake Thirds 3666 & 3667 and Compo 5587.  The remaining stock was assembled from loose stock.  The restaurant pair would also be loose stock, indeed only the Bulleid 6-sets included dedicated catering stock.  Bill

 

Good evening bbishop,

 

Set 459 was reassembled as an eight set in 1939 consisting of 3666,1242, 5587, 5589, 5648,1816, 1818 and 3667. 1242 and 5648 were re allocated in 1949. The set worked cross country services to Birkenhead and York/Newcastle in the late forties early fifties being re allocated to Bristol services in 1953.  Set 880 replaced 459 on the Bournemouth York/ Newcastle workings, this was a MK1 four set, with two lose Bulleid thirds and two Maunsell rebuilt catering carriages.

 

Set 459 ran as six set on the York trains plus two catering carriages in the winter time table and was made up to ten carriages in the summer. Two additional loose carriages were part of the booked formation, marshalled outside of the brakes on Fridays and Saturdays. There could be more lose carriages added as required but only recorded in photographs. The same arrangement continued with set 880. Over the years, I have gathered many photographs of set 459 in action, two are shown below. The first of leading brake 3666 on the post war  Birkenhead service.

 

 

 

The second is the eight carriage formation at Rugby circa 1951.

 

 

 

I have modelled set 880. The Maunsell dining composite was yet to be completed when the photo was taken the leading Maunsell is a stand in, the set is now withdrawn.

 

Photo courtesy of Derek Shore, digi Sky photographed and comped by me.

 

 

The train was upgraded to set 459. This is the eight carriage formation, it is currently running with the two lose Friday extras.

 

Photo courtesy of Chris Nevard, digi Sky photographed and comped by me.

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Headstock
add credits.