Peterborough North

[great northern]

Following the 9F came an M&GN local from Wisbech.

After which, at the same platform, something exciting occurred.

 

[davidw]

How many 9fs do you operate on PN?

[great northern]

9 hours ago, davidw said:

How many 9fs do you operate on PN?

There are five.

[great northern]

The 4.05 KX-Leeds/Bradford/York arrives, the regular duty of 60700.

 

[60027Merlin]

13 hours ago, great northern said:

Following the 9F came an M&GN local from Wisbech.

After which, at the same platform, something exciting occurred.

 

 

 

Gilbert,

 

A rare bird for the local train spotters.

 

It is familiar!

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

[great northern]

37 minutes ago, 60027Merlin said:

 

 

Gilbert,

 

A rare bird for the local train spotters.

 

It is familiar!

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

Thank you Eric, I wondered when someone would notice that. It is indeed a further addition to the PN fleet, but not a sign of returning locoholism. When the sad news that Haymarket was being sold broke, I felt that I would like to have a loco to commemorate it, and had a look through my books, which confirmed my memory that October 1958 Railway Observer had an entry saying that 60031 was on the 5.25pm Peterborough -KX  on 13th August 1958. It was an Elizabethan engine that year, and I assume that it must have been failed at KX on that duty, repaired, and given a trip to PN and back before being entrusted to the Elizabethan again. So I could justify it, and have the added bonus that I have an alternative engine to 60012 for the Lizzy too. But I genuinely would not have looked for one had not David made his announcement.

[landscapes]

4 hours ago, great northern said:

Thank you Eric, I wondered when someone would notice that. It is indeed a further addition to the PN fleet, but not a sign of returning locoholism. When the sad news that Haymarket was being sold broke, I felt that I would like to have a loco to commemorate it, and had a look through my books, which confirmed my memory that October 1958 Railway Observer had an entry saying that 60031 was on the 5.25pm Peterborough -KX  on 13th August 1958. It was an Elizabethan engine that year, and I assume that it must have been failed at KX on that duty, repaired, and given a trip to PN and back before being entrusted to the Elizabethan again. So I could justify it, and have the added bonus that I have an alternative engine to 60012 for the Lizzy too. But I genuinely would not have looked for one had not David made his announcement.

Hi Gilbert

 

Golden Plover looks well at home on Peterborough North.

 

Its very satisfying form my point of view to know it will continue to run on your wonderful layout.

 

Thank you for purchasing it from me.

 

It’s a shame you already had 60012 as I still have that A4?and 60009 still for sale.

 

Regards

 

David

 

 

 

[60027Merlin]

Gilbert,

 

I checked up the 1958 records and found that Golden Plover was on the Non-Stop on the 11th. August for the Up train and returned on the Down train on the 14th. August.

 

Rather than returning to London on the 11th. as normal, it appears that Haymarket must have found something wrong with Golden Fleece which worked the Down on the 10th. August as it did not work back on the Up until the 13th. August. This meant that two Haymarket locos worked both ways on the 11th. August, Commonwealth of Australia as booked on the Down and Golden Plover filling in for the Kings Cross loco on the Up. This of course meant unbalanced working with Golden Plover ending up at the wrong Shed! This working was a bonus for it as noted below!

 

After reading this, my mind drifted to the late Harry Knox who knew Haymarket inside out and I recalled his story of the Golden Plover incident in 1958 as Haymarket had prepared it for working the Non-Stop that year. 

 

As a matter of interest Golden Plover worked the Non-Stop from the 9th. June until the 20th.June.

 

The reason that it did not work on the Non-Stop after that is recounted by Harry in one of his Haymarket books.  - - When one of Haymarket’s J36s, 65235 Gough, was on “Disposal” meaning moving the engines from the ash pits after cleaning of the ashpans, smokeboxes etc. and filling up the tender then move the engine up to the head shunt at the top of the west end of the Shed.  Unfortunately, as Harry recalled,” the young Fireman was a Cleaner of no great experience” and on this occasion a few corners “had been cut” regarding the manning of working procedures. Whilst carrying out what he thought was all the procedures he forgot to close the Regulator and thinking that all was in order he jumped off the loco to walk down to the points to set the correct Shed road. After setting the road he turned to head back to the engine and found that it was already on its way passing him by heading for the Shed. Apparently all he could do was watch it fly past gathering speed. As luck would have it the engine ran through one of the Shed roads which was unoccupied but outside in the east end standing all sparkling clean in Non –Stop condition was Golden Plover. The J36 crashed into the A4’s front end causing a fair bit of damage to the streamlined casing, main frames buckled etc. whilst the J36 only suffered a fractured buffer casing! Golden Plover was then Doncaster bound for repair hence why it was not in the Non-Stop as planned.

 

Merlin took over on the 21st. June until the 30th. July then it was Commonwealth of Australia.

 

Hopefully this makes sense!

 

Eric

 

[great northern]

And off goes Golden Plover, back to London, and official records would suggest that it will be seen down south only once more this summer. They aren't always right though, are they?

Then there is this. It was taken several days ago, and at first I couldn't remember why there was no train in sight. Then I remembered that I decided to illustrate how the platform signal helped drivers going north if thr road was clear.

But of course on a photo taken under the roof, there is little to be seen up there save for glare. Crews obviously didn't have that problem.

[great northern]

Four minute stop over, the W1 is on its way again.

There is a gap of nearly three quarters of an hour between expresses on the Up,  so not only locals but also more coal can be fitted in. Here's the next 9F, whick looked better in black and white.

[great northern]

Back under the roof now, to spy a small silhouette in the distance.

but it soon got closer.

 

 

[Mallard60022]

54 minutes ago, great northern said:

Back under the roof now, to spy a small silhouette in the distance.

but it soon got closer.

 

 

For a moment there I thought I see a little silhouetto of a man,

Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me
(Galileo) Galileo, (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro, magnifico..

But no, it were a Spaceship.

Yo

Phil

[great northern]

Another Class C to Niddrie. This one started from Clarence Yard, and has a very shabby local V2, rather than a well kept A4.

 

 

[great northern]

Oh look, a working DMU. It has come all the way from Skegness.

and on the Down slow is a WD with a pick up goods from KX goods, which has taken a very long time to cover 76 miles- just about twelve hours actually.

 

[great northern]

Another East to Leicester stopper arrives. It will depart at 5.40pm, so people finishing work at 5.30 in the city centre will have to get a move on to catch it.

 

and off it goes, probably leaving some panting people on the platform.

 

[great northern]

The return working for a Colwick B1 which went south this morning would surely be this Class D from Welwyn Garden City to its home.

 

[great northern]

Now that very short late afternoon Grantham local comes into view.

 

The other day, while looking for something else, I found a Keith Pirt photo of coaches for a Peterborough local being brought out of the carriage sidings at Grantham. The formation was BSK CK, with a BG tacked on the rear, and the loco was an A3.

 

In the bay a Kings Lynn local waits, this being the only M&GN service to PN each day which had LMS stock.

 

[Clive Mortimore]

Cor blimey Gilbert, a DMU and a proper Derby loco in recent post. 🤸‍♀️

[great northern]

38 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Cor blimey Gilbert, a DMU and a proper Derby loco in recent post. 🤸‍♀️

I can only apologise for this aberration.😇 I will try to make sure it doesn't happen again.😈

[LNER4479]

I was only half celebrating ...

[great northern]

A5 at rest. Below is the 4.15 KX-Cleethorpes, but I wasn't allowed to type down there.

Edited July 3, 2023 by great northern
image problems

[great northern]

A5 and B1 again this morning.

and another angle.

LNER 4479 aka Red Leader here again today, one or two little adjustments to be done, and then a look at the next signalling project.

 

[great northern]

Lovely day with Graham, two signals slightly adjusted, and he has sussed out the servos for the Platform 6 signal. I found the signal box plans from the very early days of the thread, and we eventually worked out that the two distants are fixed, so only two need to work. Graham also worked out the instructions for the accessory decoder, despite some dodgy German to English translations, and so the signal has departed with him for further attention.

 

This evening's photos first feature that Ivatt again. But then something more glamorous, Doncaster's A1 King's Courier with the Up White Rose.

 

[great northern]

More of the White Rose this morning.

 

At least the loco is sharp.

 

[great northern]

One more look at the White Rose.

Zoom worked again.

 

Then I thought you might like to see the three coaches behind the Ivatt.

I bought this very nice porthole brake from TMS models well over twenty years ago. I don't know who built it, but whoever it was did a very good job.

 

The next two were built for me by Larry Goddard from his own kits eleven or twelve years ago. They are Midland Railway rather than LMS, but I can't remember the diagrams. Very nice indeed, anyway.