LNERGE Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 My trip home is about 20 yards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted November 15, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 15, 2014 (edited) It's ok for some... I think it would be the best part of 2 hours for me.... Needless to say, I doubt I would be allowed out to play by the domestic authority anyway ;-{ Andy g Edited November 15, 2014 by uax6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Turnbull Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Whitemoor Prison? Whitemoor Prison bisects the solum of the GN & GE Joint and is off to the left in the first photo. Photo 2 is looking towards the town of March. Chris Turnbull Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chris Turnbull Posted November 16, 2014 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 16, 2014 (edited) Thirteen years after the last set of photographs were taken the GN & GE Joint was closed between March and Spalding. On the final day of operation, 27th November 1982, the Fakenham & Dereham Railway Society organised a GN & GE Joint Farewell tour from Cambridge to Skegness via March and Spalding, the train spending over two hours at Skegness to allow it to follow the last service train from Sleaford to March. This is the itinerary, typewritten in that pre-digital age. No Microsoft Word and emails! Here's our train, Class 105/2 / 141 Cravens units E50379 and E56433, entering Platform 1 at Ely on a foggy November morning. My 1979 Combined Volume shows these two units as different classes and I don't have 1982 edition so I guess that at some time they were reconfigured. Here we are in Platform 5 at March... ...with the "right away" to Spalding. Having a good nose around Spalding (not that there was a great deal to see) And this is looking north from the footbridge. Having avoided Sleaford we have arrived at Lincoln. It was on this trip that I made the acquaintance of my MP, Clement Freud. He worked hard for his constituency and, living at Mepal, was often to be seen out and about in the area. If you had a problem he held a regular Parliamentary Surgery in Ely, not that I went but it was nice to know he was accessible. The fact that he was on this train demonstrated his commitment, I felt. Tour concludes tomorrow, same forum, same thread. Chris Turnbull Edited May 22, 2022 by Chris Turnbull 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 My track record for going out to see last trains was wrecked on 02/01/82. Lack of a suitable plan to get me there, and more importantly back again, resulted in the parents saying no.. Ho hum. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Having a good nose around Spalding (not that there was a great deal to see) 821127 Spalding.jpg And this is looking north from the footbridge. Chris Turnbull There's even less at Spalding now. Since the re-signalling was commissioned from there to Werrington Junction it's effectively a single platform station, northbound services crossing over to use platform 1 so allowing the removal of the barrow crossing and also the necessity of providing a lift to the footbridge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 That dmu is a hybrid. The trailer car is from one of the original Cambridge (?) or at least Anglian sets. The power car is one of those drafted in s/h around 1965, when a lot of dmus were cascaded. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
62613 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Whitemoor Prison? Sorry, I meant the third post; County Hall; he was the Chief Heating Engineer for the Isle of Ely County Council, May 1962 - about the end of 1965, when IECC was subsumed into Cambridgeshire Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Turnbull Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 (edited) We left the GN & GE Farewell tour at Lincoln so we'll start part two from there. Lincoln station looking north from where we return southwards towards Sleaford. And here's two shots of Sleaford station Skegness, where our two-car DMU is dwarfed by the size of the station facilities. Skegness signalbox. Note the fine bracket signal with stays both sides. I wasn't the only one taking photographs; perhaps you're reading this? It's now about 4.00 p.m. and the sun is setting over Skegness. In an hour's time we shall depart, follow the last service train and be the last passenger train to use the GN & GE Joint between Spalding and March. As we entered March there must have been at least a dozen detonators fixed to the track. It was a fitting if somewhat poignant finale to a trip that we shall never be able to take again. Chris Turnbull Edited May 22, 2022 by Chris Turnbull 18 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 I only did the Spalding - March on one occasion. A returning Merrymaker with 55021 in the very early hours. Another reason i wasn't allowed out that day. I'd convinced the parents to let me go to Blackpool by myself as a 13 or 14 year old. I didn't let on that it left Blackpool at 01:05 until the day before i went... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chris Turnbull Posted November 18, 2014 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2014 (edited) This evening we travel back to 8th April 1969 to visit Sandy on the ECML where the LNWR line from Oxford to Cambridge crossed the GN main line. An unidentified Class 47 tears through with a Down express on the ECML. The LNWR line used Platforms 3 and 4 to the far left but the line had closed the previous year. By this time tracklifting was underway. Class 47 D1574 heads in the Up direction with another passenger train. Sandy was a two-track bottleneck in an otherwise four-track section. The slow lines resume on the far side of the road bridge. Class 40 D253 heads north with a class C freight. The sidings to the left of the train were transfer sidings between the LNWR and GN. To the north of the road bridge we see Class 47 1775 (no "D" prefix) with its lovely two-tone green livery displayed to advantage in the evening sunlight. The LNWR line can be seen behind on an incline, rising up to pass over the ECML about half a mile further on to the north (left). Our day wouldn't be complete without at least one "Deltic". This is D9000 "Royal Scots Grey". Finally we see Class 08 D3688 on tracklifting duties whose driver is probably having a chat with the signalman. In happier times this was a popular station for trainspotters who were always made welcome but were banished to Platform 4 behind the 08, well away from the main line and the faster trains. Chris Turnbull Edited May 22, 2022 by Chris Turnbull 32 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Ah super my LNER double stack disc! It always fascinated me as a kid.. https://www.flickr.com/photos/32297024@N08/sets/72157645132659727/ I remember seeing the track disappear from under the A1 and i'm led to believe this was 1969. I remember the track buckle too. That happened in August. We turned up and there was still dust in the air. I saw it happen from the A1! Not bad for a three year old! 30 years later i lifted the last bit of the route in Cambridge. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 31A Posted November 18, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 18, 2014 Thanks for these Chris! I grew up near Sandy (Gamlingay to be precise), and was involved with a group who tried to preserve a small part of the LNW line. The last loco I saw passing through Potton was an 08 like the one in your last picture; quite possibly the same one. Although by then no longer a through route to Cambridge (having been lifted from the middle outwards), I remember the equivalent demolition trains at the eastern end arriving in Cambridge past my school playing fields and recall they sometimes also used a short LNE brake van, which were getting pretty rare even then. With hindsight, I don't know how a preserved railway would have fared, as I'm sure the plans to rebuild Sandy station into its present format and eliminate the bottleneck must have been in the process of being formulated at the time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Well Chris you have just trumped David Ford's photo on his thread; and turned my speculative guess as to the last EE Type 4 to retain a nose ladder into an embarrassing underestimate (see the class 40 photo thread). Not only are photos of ladders on locos with small yellow panels very rare, I cannot remember ever seeing on on a full yellow end, but here is D253 in April 1969. Priceless. I must have a lie down, to rest my brain. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Turnbull Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 Well Chris you have just trumped David Ford's photo on his thread; and turned my speculative guess as to the last EE Type 4 to retain a nose ladder into an embarrassing underestimate (see the class 40 photo thread). Not only are photos of ladders on locos with small yellow panels very rare, I cannot remember ever seeing on on a full yellow end, but here is D253 in April 1969. Priceless. I must have a lie down, to rest my brain. Goodness, I had no idea that Class 40s were so complicated. You do live and learn, especially on RMWeb! Chris Turnbull Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chris Turnbull Posted November 19, 2014 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 19, 2014 (edited) We've been to Wales and spent a lot of time in England so I thought that it's only fair that we should now visit Scotland. This is Edinburgh Waverley on 26th August 1969 Here's Class 17 D8607 either running into or out of Waverley, I'm not sure which. Class 08 D3877 basks in the sunshine in between duties. Class 40 D358 awaits departure to the north (?). No ladder on this one! To the backdrop of Arthur's Seat Class 47 D1760 enters Waverley from the south Chris Turnbull Edited May 23, 2022 by Chris Turnbull 23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Turnbull Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 (edited) And for a "Then and Now" comparison, here's Edinburgh Waverley on 19th May 2013 Chris Turnbull Edited May 23, 2022 by Chris Turnbull 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted November 19, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 19, 2014 Fantastic Chris! That's the thing with them there Claytons - you never could be quite sure.... Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 I suppose there is one thing you can congratulate the Clayton for - it is actually working. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted November 19, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 19, 2014 Including the corner of a 50 foot LMS BG in B/G, one of the less common liveries for these. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chris Turnbull Posted November 20, 2014 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 20, 2014 (edited) One line I had never travelled over but had always wanted to was the Settle and Carlisle but in February 2013 a visit of my wife and I to relatives near Skipton gave me the perfect opportunity - and I was given special dispensation for a trip on Saturday 23rd. Of course, being in the Pennines it was snowing but that was par for the course for us rough, tough southerners. This is 333012 at Skipton. Not only was it snowing but it was also foggy which rather spoilt the view. However, the train was surprisingly full which I found encouraging as did the fact that the driver went slowly over Ribblehead viaduct so we could all enjoy the view. Oh, and branded coffee cups and the like. Superb marketing I thought. Arriving in Carlisle there was yet more first-class marketing, not only for the Settle and Carlisle but also the Newcastle line. It wasn't long before I started to notice that I wasn't the only "gentleman of a certain age" on the platform. I soon found out why. Here's Class A4 60009 "Union Of South Africa" alongside a Pendolino; the old and the new you might say although having travelled from Euston to Glasgow (first class) only a short time previously I know what I would prefer whether or not it was steam hauled. Here she is again prior to disappearing off to be turned. An hour or so later she returned and coupled to the other end of the train ready to depart back over the Settle and Carlisle. I followed her down the S&C on the next service train which was formed by 158855 This wasn't the first visit of an A4 to Carlisle. Here's 60007 "Sir Nigel Gresley" masquerading as 4498 entering Carlisle from the south on 27th August 1967 Four months later on 28th December 1967 this is English Electric type 4 D235 "Apapa" entering Carlisle from the north. And finally here's the station pilot in August 1964, "Jinty" 47295 taken by a young 12 year-old in seventh heaven. Chris Turnbull Edited May 23, 2022 by Chris Turnbull 22 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Excellent nostalgia as always. I know what it is like to be a youngster in seventh heaven during August 1964, Chris. That same month I was enjoying the delights of Bournemouth Central while my mother mooched around the shops. Sadly, no camera for me in those days, but I could have sat for weeks at the far end of the very long down platform, watching the activity at the shed across the tracks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chris Turnbull Posted November 21, 2014 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 21, 2014 (edited) I thought we'd head for Teesside tonight. My paternal grandmother lived in Middlesbrough so this was where we spent every summer holiday in the 1950s. Consequently I hold fond memories of the area. This is a selection of photographs taken on 30th August 1969. Class 25 5163 passes Dock Hill signalbox against a typical Teesside skyline. Moving to Thornaby where I spent many happy hours on the platform savouring the delights of a succession of steam-hauled freights entering Teesside yard in the early '60s. Taken a few years later, this is Class 47 1579 and Class 37 6771 plus one of the ubiquitous brake tenders that abounded in that period. Here's Class 37 6826 with a train of mineral wagons. I hesitate to say that they are 16 ton versions but I think most of them are this time although I am sure that Clive will correct me if I am wrong! This is a Darlington bound train in Thornaby station, presumably the 11.40. Note the faded orange coloured "Gentlemen" sign, orange being the regional colour of the Northeast Region of BR. A couple of years previously, 29th August 1967 to be precise, we find Q6 63407 and WDs 90677 and 90254 on shed at West Hartlepool. Note the dilapidated state of the shed roof. Finally here's a close-up of the same trio Chris Turnbull Edited May 23, 2022 by Chris Turnbull 25 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold DaveF Posted November 21, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 21, 2014 I always wish I could have visited Thornaby station when it still had buildings not just a bus shelter. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Summer holidays in the 'Boro, eh, Chris? How the other half lived. I bet it took weeks to get the smell out of your clothes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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