Northants & Beds early 70s photos...

[Paulb1973]

Images 20 & 21 are interesting showing the former Blisworth Station, or does in still exist in those pictures (?). There appears to be a wider section of electrified sidings in image 20 (the pic of the northbound WCML electric heading towards the camera). Presumably its just the 2-track up & down line in existance today?

[LNERGE]

A quick look at Google Earth reveals a trailing crossover and a siding on the down.

[RANGERS]

Rangers,

 

I stand corrected, 20's must have been rarer that I recall as a pre 15 year old spotter at Wigston! Info from Drivers is always great. I must have copped most of mine at work north of Leicester and remeber them because they were an exception rather than a rule -the train I DO remember was a mid afternnon block train of fitted 16T opens (possibly sand but definately not coal) racing down the MML every day and rostered for a pair of 20s about 3pm around 1976. It must have come off at Wellingborough (or poss taken the Market Harborough to Northampton line which may have been still open)

 

Cheers Tony

 

20s were fairly common on turns to Northampton, the 'Harborough line didn't close until 1981, and from memory most of the freight heading that way was coal. I'll ask the question, but I presume most of the traffic over the line worked to Willesden via Northampton for crew/ loco changes. Leicester crews working as far south as Northampton or perhaps Northampton/ Rugby crews going as far north as Leicester.

 

On the Western at Northampton, they were something of a holy grail among spotters in the area, not unknown but never particularly common, I attempted to cop one half a dozen times on this working in the summer of '75 or 76 and came up with a 47 every time. I seem to remember it was booked to arrive around 11am but was usually later. A more reliable one was the stone working to the terminal at Luton (adjacent to the coal concentration depot at Leagrave I think it was) which regularly produced a Western, running via Bletchley, Bedford St Johns and running round in the old Bedford Midland station. That was another one I never managed to catch either!

[Rugd1022]

Yes Rangers, 20s were common on the Harborough line and were much appreciated by us locals when they did show up! Dropping down the bank from Rugby on an AM10 / 310 it would be 'eyes left' to see if anything was coming or going round the curve past Kingsthorpe. As for crew changes at Northampton on the Willesden jobs I'd agree, but as the 1970s went by fewer and fewer Rugby men would have still signed 20s. It's possible some of the Northampton men signed them though as they were more likely to be on those particular jobs, either going forward to Willesden or taking the empties down the branch to Harborough. I know someone who will know for sure one way or the other, I'll ask him next time I pop round. I can rememebr seeing a pair of 20s still in tatty green with full yellow ends and Tops numbers heading south at Kingsthorpe in 1977, and the last loco I ever saw coming off the branch was 45 070 on a rake of Mermaids in January '81.

 

Regarding the Westbury-Luton stone workings... I've seen photos of these trains in Limbury Road Yard (the sidings just south of Leagrave you mention) and down at Crescent Yard in Luton itself. D1022 and D1067 were regulars on these jobs during 1975-76. It's a pity we can't identify the Western at Northampton but as it's an early 70s shot it could well be one of the last remaining vacuum braked only locos from the D1017-20 batch. Although WR Control and Laira tried to keep them 'local' down in the West, they did escape up country to Westbury sometimes and it would have been easy to mark them up on the out and back Luton / Northampton jobs at the time.

 

Nidge

[Rugd1022]

Just noticed this.... is it me, or does photo number 13 in Roade Cutting look like an N Gauge layout with no catenary wires showing...? The cutting sides look like died teddy bear fur too...

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/craigwdonald/NorthamptonBritishRailPhotos#5360242473717420690

 

!!!

 

Nidge

[15B]

Wow - these are fascinating!

 

Photos of diesels on the Northanpton - Peterboro line seem very rare, and until recently I just assumed my dad's assertion that "diesel's never ran on that route" was true, (he is a dyed-in-the-wool steam-head, and is still in denial about them!)

 

I grew up in Stanwick, and despite being taken down to the line in the final few years as a toddler, I just cannot remember any of it, and it's only ever been a place to walk along, post track removal.

 

So for me to imagine any traffic on the line, let alone diesel-hauled, is hard.

 

I wonder if anyone ever took any of the last of the Irthlingborough iron ore trains which I'm told were either 9f or Peak hauled?

 

I enclose a couple of non copyright poor b+w photos of a class 25 shunting coal/iron ore wagons at Rushden that came up on Ebay a few years ago, and kick myself I didn't bid on them.

[46444]

Evening 15B,

 

I really like the views of the Class 25 at Rushden Station. I've never seen pictures of diesels on the Higham Ferrers Branch before. The photos I have are of Standard 2MT's (78xxx's/84xxx's), Stanier 2-6-4's 4F's and 8F's on push-pull's or freight/parcels. The line especially Higham Ferrer's looks like it would make a good layout.

 

As for the Northampton to Peterborough line I have seen a very poor picture of a green Class 31 at Irthlingborough Station. Other that that it was usually Black 5's or B1's. As far as I'm aware Wellingborough 9F's used to run down tender first to the Ebbw Vale iron ore mine in Irthlingborough to take the train on to South Wales. This must have been quite a site.

 

The line between Irthingborough Station to Thrapston is now a cycle way but there are tell tale signs of it's former glory. Infact back at the old Ebbw Vale sidings a signal post still exists hidden in the under growth.

 

My personal interest is the Kettering-Cambridge line. Eventually, I will get around to recreating something based around Raunds/Kimbolton. Of course 46444 was a 15B engine!!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[Pennine MC]

As for the Northampton to Peterborough line I have seen a very poor picture of a green Class 31 at Irthlingborough Station.

 

Pretty sure there's a 31 on a short passenger train in 'East Midlands Branch Line Album', and also possibly in one of J S Gilks' Silver Link series 'Dawn of the Diesels'

 

I've never seen pictures of diesels on the Higham Ferrers Branch before. .. The line especially Higham Ferrer's looks like it would make a good layout.

 

I'm fairly sure it was Higham Ferrers that was featured in an article in the Railway Mag c1968. Apparently a new source of iron bearing gravel had been found in the locality and was being sent to NE steelworks, from a loading dock built over the old cattle dock (which *would* make an unusual feature). Anyhoo, to the point, the article had at least one pic of a 27 on ore tipplers

[46444]

Not sure about Higham Ferrers, but Irthlinborough Station had a loading dock built for loading iron ore which is about the only thing that still exists of the station site.

[15B]

Here's the Railway mag shot of a 27 on an ore gravel service on the Higham branch heading towards Wellingboro...

[46444]

I never realised Class 27's made it to Higham Ferrers. It's an interesting shot-trying to work out where it as taken. Could be in the vicnity of Ditchford Lane heading towards the mainline?

 

Also, the signal in the background drops down like a GWR signal. Would this have been an old MR signal?

 

Mark

[15B]

Hello mod2,

 

Any chance of reinstating the photo; I contacted Railway magazine over a year ago re. reproducing this and other photos on this subject in a non-commercial context, and they had no objection.

 

I know the score on coyright; I've had my own images stolen and used - some are still out there...

[Mod2]

15B, please read your messages. You now have two.

 

Thanks.

[Andy Y]

15B; I have also removed the uploaded images copied from ebay. Any copyright would lie with the photographer.owner of the negatives which may not necessarily be the owner of the prints and it certainly isn't within ebay's remit to dictate reproduction usage. If you'd provided a link to the ebay sale instead showing the images that would then remove my reproduction responsibilities.

 

Re: Railway Magazine image - just drop me a note with a copy of the consent for reproduction in the public domain and then they can be used.

[RANGERS]

I never realised Class 27's made it to Higham Ferrers. It's an interesting shot-trying to work out where it as taken. Could be in the vicnity of Ditchford Lane heading towards the mainline?

 

Also, the signal in the background drops down like a GWR signal. Would this have been an old MR signal?

 

Mark

 

Didn't see the pics but sounds like a Midland lower quadrant. 'Not sure how many survive in use on the network but the Ketton down outer distant (Eastbound) still survives I believe. It was certainly there about five years ago.

[RANGERS]

Didn't see the pics but sounds like a Midland lower quadrant. 'Not sure how many survive in use on the network but the Ketton down outer distant (Eastbound) still survives I believe. It was certainly there about five years ago.

 

Just checked my book on the line (for sale if anyone's interested!) and 27s look to have been common. There's three pictures of them including one on a passenger, a special to Yarmouth in August 1964. The last train on the line was an iron sand train from Higham in 1969, after closure the loading was transferred to Twywell on th Kettering Cambridge line.

[46444]

The last train on the line was an iron sand train from Higham in 1969, after closure the loading was transferred to Twywell on th Kettering Cambridge line.

 

Thanks for that Rangers.

 

I've never seen pictures of diesels on the Kettering-Cambridge line either. Are you aware of diesel workings in the late 50's/60's before the line closed as a through line? Obviously, the Ivatt 2MT's where the mainstay of the line in later years on passenger/freight workings and I've also read that a DMU was trialled on the line.

 

In later years I've seen pictures of Black 5's and 8F's at Cranford on ore trains and the remarkable Jubilee working to Twywell.

 

One picture I've seen that does always puzzle me is of an 8F heading towards Kettering over the Thrapston viaduct. I know large engines where not permitted over the wooden viaducts at St.Ives so unless this was a freight from Thrapston, Raunds or Kimbolton I'm not sure.

 

After steam finished what locos would have been seen at Twywell/Cranford. I'm guessing Class 25's?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[geoff]

Mark, here are some photos taken at Twywell towards the end of the line's life. They were all taken on Thursday 9th October 1975 starting at 16:30.

The line is now mostly buried under the A14 but Twywell station remains a private dwelling, as it was at the time the photos were taken.

I remember the wagons being skidded along and the brake van being gravity shunted to get it in position for the return journey.

 

Geoff

 

 

Thanks for that Rangers.

 

I've never seen pictures of diesels on the Kettering-Cambridge line either. Are you aware of diesel workings in the late 50's/60's before the line closed as a through line? Obviously, the Ivatt 2MT's where the mainstay of the line in later years on passenger/freight workings and I've also read that a DMU was trialled on the line.

 

In later years I've seen pictures of Black 5's and 8F's at Cranford on ore trains and the remarkable Jubilee working to Twywell.

 

One picture I've seen that does always puzzle me is of an 8F heading towards Kettering over the Thrapston viaduct. I know large engines where not permitted over the wooden viaducts at St.Ives so unless this was a freight from Thrapston, Raunds or Kimbolton I'm not sure.

 

After steam finished what locos would have been seen at Twywell/Cranford. I'm guessing Class 25's?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[46444]

Hi Geoff,

 

Thanks for posting these excellent images.

 

Very good quality too!!. If the driver/shunter wasn't in the photos it would be hard to guess how old they are other than the 31 and wagons. Where would this train have run to? Would it be back to Wellingborough?

 

I'd have been 7 at the time these were taken. It's really nice to see Twywell in colour. The station building has been modified now I believe. I keep meaning to take some photos of Twywell and Cranford Station. Have you got anymore?

 

Really appreciated,

 

Mark

[Pennine MC]

Thanks from me also Geoff, photos of ironstone workings that late aren't common (I assume it is ore, not some other mineral)?

[geoff]

Thank you both for your kind words. The photos are scanned in from 35mm slides taken with a Pentax Spotmatic 2. I don't have any more, save some of the bridge carrying Polwell Lane, Barton Seagrave over the line at the time it was being demolished to make way for the construction of the A14, which I haven't scanned yet.

The mineral was ironstone sand or shale I believe, but I stand to be corrected on that. It certainly wasn't 'ore' in the accepted sense.

I do have some more pictures taken on the Midland Main Line in the same period but I need to scan them in. So much to do and so little time. Here are a few taken at the site of the former Finedon Station. Both the signal box and the station building have gone now, along with the access to the old station which afforded the excellent position to take the pictures.The photos of the PW work were taken on Sunday 23 January 1977 and the remainder on Tuesday 22 June 1976. Also, the slow line is single now, reinstated in the last couple of years between Kettering Junction and Harrowden Junction, about 4 miles, at a cost said to be in excess of £10 million!

 

Geoff

 

 

Thanks from me also Geoff, photos of ironstone workings that late aren't common (I assume it is ore, not some other mineral)?

[geoff]

I forgot to add in my previous reply that I don't know where the sand or shale was sent to.

 

Geoff

 

Hi Geoff,

 

Thanks for posting these excellent images.

 

Very good quality too!!. If the driver/shunter wasn't in the photos it would be hard to guess how old they are other than the 31 and wagons. Where would this train have run to? Would it be back to Wellingborough?

 

I'd have been 7 at the time these were taken. It's really nice to see Twywell in colour. The station building has been modified now I believe. I keep meaning to take some photos of Twywell and Cranford Station. Have you got anymore?

 

Really appreciated,

 

Mark

[46444]

Hi Geoff,

 

Once again excellent images, and kind of reminds me of my teenage years watching the Class 45's at Wellingborough. I'm still amazed at the quality of the photos. That Pentax must have been a good camera in it's day.

 

If only standing at Harrowden Lane these days produced these trains.

 

Keep them coming if you can.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[Fat Controller]

The material in the photos, evident in the spillage around the tracks, would seem to be iron-sand - there were some deposits known as the Irthlingborough Ironsands, ISTR from A-level Geography or Geology. They were presumably the result of the erosion of the Jurassic iron-stone deposits further north. At least some had been worked for the Ebbw Vale Steel Company at some point, but by the time these photos were taken, Ebbw Vale had long since gone over to richer imported ores. I would suggest either Corby or Stanton and Staveley as possible destinations. I did try Googling for some more detailed information- this threw up some 'Google-book' on the iron workings of the area which locked everything up.

The former workings at Twywell are apparently now a SSSI, managed by English Nature.

[RANGERS]

Some fascinating stuff here, brings back many memories of the MML around Kettering in my schooldays.

 

The iron sand was originally destined for Irlam and Shotton works and came from the same workings that were fed by the Higham branch. When Higham closed, the sand tippers diverted to the Twywell tipping dock. Ferrersand were the owners and subsequently the Twywell workings were leased to BSC I believe. The 31 is displaying the correct 9T26 headcode for the Wellingborough/ Kettering/ Corby trip, which included the Twywell and Loddington (Cohens yard) branch working as required. 31s were curiously common on this trip, normally the preserve of 25s, they seemed to turn up fairly frequently in the late 70s. As the nearest allocation would have been March, I can only assume there was a working into Wellingborough which left one idle there on an early turn (must check where the 31 in the pic was allocated in 1975)

 

On the subject of diesels on the Kettering Cambridge line, I've scoured the books and can only find two referencec, but two very interesting ones. A Cravens set was used for crew training in 1961 prior to them being introduced on the Nottingham - Melton - Kettering services but the most interesting was the presence of a full Blue Pullman set which reached at least as far as Kimbolton in April 1960 on a run for crew training and photographic purposes. The set apparently spent some time at Kimbolton for pictires before working back to Kettering with several stops on the way.

 

This was a big surprise although it was fairly common knowledge that they used the Nottingham - Melton - Kettering - Wellingborough line for crew training and there is at least one picture of a set passing Lloyds sidings.

 

On the question of 8Fs on the line, they worked regularly to Thrapston on Ironstone traffic and would have been common on traffic top Islip Furnaces.

 

The Oakwood book also makes mention of the Ryal train visiting the line where it was stabled at Butlins Sidings for two nights in the care of a pair of steam locos but doesn't mention which.