Peterborough North

[rowanj]

7 hours ago, great northern said:

More shots from a part of Spital Bridge we have not previously been able to access. Curlew is on the 1040 KX-Newcastle, and although these two are similar, the angle and crop is a bit different. I'll be interested to hear which you prefer.

 

Now to prepare myself for the arrival of the gang. They may be a bit bedraggled, I fear.

We would have been well chuffed to see Curlew at Newcastle, certainly before it went to Doncaster in 1959, Can I use this photo in my ABC?

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by rowanj

[great northern]

44 minutes ago, rowanj said:

We would have been well chuffed to see Curlew at Newcastle, certainly before it went to Doncaster in 1959, Can I use this photo in my ABC?

 

I suppose you could get a new ABC, and rule it down in that. Bear in mind though that you would then have huge gaps when it came to Tyneside and Scottish locos.

[rowanj]

1 hour ago, great northern said:

I suppose you could get a new ABC, and rule it down in that. Bear in mind though that you would then have huge gaps when it came to Tyneside and Scottish locos.

True, Gilbert, but just as, back in the day, I took real trips to the likes of York, Carlisle and Edinburgh, and spotted from trains to London and Manchester, I could now take virtual ones to the likes of P North, Little Bytham, and Longdrem, plus my own stuff at Little Benton. Just like the real thing....

[great northern]

From far flung corners of the land they came...  Oh all right then, York, Retford and deepest darkest Lincolnshire. All were a bit soggy on arrival, as it really has been a horrible day of cold and rain. Morning spent nattering, exchanging various things, and admiring Clive's latest patchworks, cut and shuts, I mean.

 

After lunch we ascended to the layout, so that the mighty combined intellect of the three could try to solve the riddle of the falling off Gresleys. I ran them, and fall off they did not. Ran them again and again, but they behaved perfectly. Just wait till tomorrow.

 

Anyway, it was the first time all four of us had been together for over eighteeen months, and we had a lovely day.

[great northern]

Curlew has finished work for the time being, and will be replaced by the filthy A2/1 in the bay.

While that is going on, Grantham's Victor Wild runs through with the Saltburn-KX.

 

 

[great northern]

Victor Wild again, with Curlew moving away to New England in the background.

A few minutes later, 60508 is on its way too.

[great northern]

Pullman time. Normally I wouldn't need to tell you which one, as the headboard would make it clear. However, the Queen of Scots board has gone walkabout, and is nowhere to be seen. First I tried to disguise that inconvenient fact.

but of course this gives the game away.

 

I shall look on the bright side. If there isn't one, it can't be lopsided.

[Mallard60022]

1 minute ago, great northern said:

Pullman time. Normally I wouldn't need to tell you which one, as the headboard would make it clear. However, the Queen of Scots board has gone walkabout, and is nowhere to be seen. First I tried to disguise that inconvenient fact.

but of course this gives the game away.

 

I shall look on the bright side. If there isn't one, it can't be lopsided.

Fell off, (after Pigeon Strike and becoming dislodged), due to insecure fitting at the X. Probably around Hadley Wood area, when passing another fast Up in one of the Tunnels; vacuum phenomena caused by air pressure. That's why you can't find it G.

P 

[great northern]

3 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

Fell off, (after Pigeon Strike and becoming dislodged), due to insecure fitting at the X. Probably around Hadley Wood area, when passing another fast Up in one of the Tunnels; vacuum phenomena caused by air pressure. That's why you can't find it G.

P 

Well, I'm not going all that way to look for it. Hope the pigeon is OK.

Edited November 18, 2022 by great northern
addition

[great northern]

Another of the many Up Leeds and Bradford expresses brings KX top performer Tracery.

 

I really like this view, but tend to ignore it because of the signal that won't seat properly. The good news though is that I'm told that will change in the early spring of next year.

[Clive Mortimore]

13 hours ago, great northern said:

Pullman time. Normally I wouldn't need to tell you which one, as the headboard would make it clear. However, the Queen of Scots board has gone walkabout, and is nowhere to be seen. First I tried to disguise that inconvenient fact.

I got on my hands and knees looking under the baseboards at the end where Gilbert has his box of headboards ......no sign of it. Spotted lots of other stuff Gilbert might have forgotten he had.

[great northern]

5 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I got on my hands and knees looking under the baseboards at the end where Gilbert has his box of headboards ......no sign of it. Spotted lots of other stuff Gilbert might have forgotten he had.

Didn't tell me though, did you? Any Pacifics?

[mullie]

Another Claud?

[great northern]

31 minutes ago, mullie said:

Another Claud?

I wish, but I don't have that kind of good fortune.

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, great northern said:

Didn't tell me though, did you? Any Pacifics?

Spotted some Gresley coach bogies to the left of the cabinet.

 

Anyhow you were too busy with Steve trying to derail your Hornby coaches that he has put new sides on. 🥴

[jazzer]

On 11/11/2022 at 11:23, great northern said:

I think it is probably best not to over generalise. The perception now is that they weren't cleaned, and personal recollection plus photographs tend to back that up. It may be that, like New England, local industry paid better, and they couldn't get the staff, or that those in charge took the view that mechanical efficiency should be prioritised over external looks. A combination of the two seems likely.

 

I have read that when 52A got more through workings to London in the late 50s, cleaning standards improved. Top Shed showed what could be done, of course, but that may have been because London got the first influx of foreign workers. Did the cleanliness of the KX engines engender more of a general spirit of pride among the workforce in general? It may have done. My experience is that when our golf course was in really good nick, the greens staff seemed happier too.

It’s always puzzled me that KX generally kept there locos in reasonable condition but Stratford 5 miles away they were usually in poor outside condition, although to be fair some the Britannias were working pretty intensive diagrams with 2. Round trips to Norwich per day and not much time for the cleaners to get to work in daylight.

There might be something in your point about pride in the job. It’s quite well known that the Enfield Town crews would frequently come in unpaid on Sunday mornings to clean their engines but their N7’s were double manned so they were effectively “personal “ engines.  On the other hand the Wood Street N7’s on virtually identical work Liv. St - Chingford rather than Liv.St- Enfield) were far less familiar with the cleaners rag.

[Mallard60022]

46 minutes ago, jazzer said:

It’s always puzzled me that KX generally kept there locos in reasonable condition but Stratford 5 miles away they were usually in poor outside condition, although to be fair some the Britannias were working pretty intensive diagrams with 2. Round trips to Norwich per day and not much time for the cleaners to get to work in daylight.

There might be something in your point about pride in the job. It’s quite well known that the Enfield Town crews would frequently come in unpaid on Sunday mornings to clean their engines but their N7’s were double manned so they were effectively “personal “ engines.  On the other hand the Wood Street N7’s on virtually identical work Liv. St - Chingford rather than Liv.St- Enfield) were far less familiar with the cleaners rag.

IIRC Top Shed had a 'specialist' team of Polish Cleaners especially employed by the Shed Foreman in the late 50s and early 60s.

They are the unsung heroes.

In mid 1960, although it was just one visit, I did not see a dirty Brit at Liverpool Street. Probably cleaned at their Shed at Norwich?

[great northern]

9 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Spotted some Gresley coach bogies to the left of the cabinet.

 

Anyhow you were too busy with Steve trying to derail your Hornby coaches that he has put new sides on. 🥴

Yes, we raided them on Tuesday, but I need more, and there are none to be had.

[great northern]

A3s again. A near side on view of Tracery.

 

and a head on view of Pretty Polly, coming into the excursion platform with the 1045 KX-Grantham stopper.

 

[davidw]

8 minutes ago, great northern said:

A3s again. A near side on view of Tracery.

 

and a head on view of Pretty Polly, coming into the excursion platform with the 1045 KX-Grantham stopper.

 

No wing deflectors. Was 58 too early?

[great northern]

6 minutes ago, davidw said:

No wing deflectors. Was 58 too early?

It was. 61 got a double chimney a while after, and some time after that they decided, for some strange reason, to fit those deflectors, which had been proven not to work before the war.

[great northern]

2 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

IIRC Top Shed had a 'specialist' team of Polish Cleaners especially employed by the Shed Foreman in the late 50s and early 60s.

They are the unsung heroes.

In mid 1960, although it was just one visit, I did not see a dirty Brit at Liverpool Street. Probably cleaned at their Shed at Norwich?

I haven't looked it up, but from memory Stratford had a lot more engines to look after than Top Shed. Just too many to deal with perhaps? I have read that the appearance of the Stratford Brits improved very rapidly after Bill Harvey got his hands on them at Norwich, and photos confirm that. Perhaps it really did depend on the attitude of the man in charge.

[davidw]

23 minutes ago, great northern said:

It was. 61 got a double chimney a while after, and some time after that they decided, for some strange reason, to fit those deflectors, which had been proven not to work before the war.

As late as 61 for a double chimney? I thought the last two so fitted were Fairway and Sandwich.I can't find info on the small A2/2 style deflectors.... I'm confused.

Edited November 19, 2022 by davidw

[Clive Mortimore]

Some snaps from the visit to Peterborough North the other day.

"Oh no its the Doncaster woman again" thinks our porter. "I say young man, despite telling me the train that had Doncaster on it was really going to Derby, I found you were the only helpful person on this station. While I have been waiting I have seen a train called mallard, one called sea gull and another called curlew. Well I am reporting this to the RSPB, you cannot have trains running around with trophies of what they have killed. Do you think the RSPB would be interested in the train that killed the flying scotsman, I don't think he is a bird".

 

Phil telling me I need to take two photos of this corner of the fiddle yard.

 

I think this is a strike day as not much is going on.

 

Steve and Gilbert working out how to derail the train but it defied them. 

 

 

 

[Clive Mortimore]

Gilbert has stated that he is changing from 4 ft cassettes to smaller 2 ft ones. 

Before

 

and after.