Ghosts in the Machine.

[adb968008]

I was at Kings Cross coal yard yesterday (now an urban trendy shopping mall / bars etc).

 

However on the coal yard offices BR(E) enamel sign still hangs warning traffic to drive slowly…

 

I was surprised to to see this, last time I was here (c2000) the yard was derelict, and the good shed home to a dodgy Australian/Kiwi bar called “The Church” which only opened sunday 10am till early afternoon and was a realky rough/ready joint featuring a dentists chair for shocking unsuspecting antipodeans with shots…. And the sign was obviously hanging back then, and was surprised it had survived at that point.

Edited April 28 by adb968008

[big jim]

I’ve passed this hundreds of times but didn’t know it was there until today, attached to the signal box at Ty Croes is the old waiting room and booking office that I believe closed in the late 60s

 

Managed to get hold of the keys and went inside for a nose, lights still work which was a bonus and there are some modern bits and bobs lain around so it is still in use as a store room (kind of) I must add is nothing of worth in there for any wannabe treasure hunters! 

 

ticket window and desk

 

 

couple of old posters

 

Dated this one from 1968 thanks to the motor rail thread on here (pic posted there too)

 

 

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 12/04/2024 at 21:35, melmerby said:

Sadly not:

"Iron plate rails mounted on stone blocks ― the Derby Canal Railway."

 

I presume the flange is on the inside as it's less likely to go out of gauge by spreading whilst in use.

There are still quite a few blocks on the Peak Forest Tramway along with some old rails at Bugsworth Basin.

[Reorte]

2 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

There are still quite a few blocks on the Peak Forest Tramway along with some old rails at Bugsworth Basin.

The few rails in place were restored there, but I believe they're originals dug out of the undergrowth. Plenty of blocks of course, most obviously in the basin but also in some places further along the tramway (don't know about the non-publically-accessible parts but some of those are probably even more likely to be there, buried under what's grown over them over the years).

 

There's a rebuilt wagon sat in the basin, AFAIK it's using an original set of wheels but the rest's recreation.

 

Coming down the inclined parts apparently they were braked by someone perched on the front, throwing a chain in to the wheels. Now that's a job that sounds like it's constantly an inch from disaster.

[Reorte]

On the subject of Bugsworth basin there is a surviving wagon, in the NRM. I ended up having to ask the staff to find it, they seemed a bit surprised and weren't sure and had to look it up themselves. I can't imagine it's a common request! (I was interested because I live there - Buxworth, not the NRM!).

[Wickham Green too]

You'd have difficulty living in the NRM - most of it's closed !

[D6150]

One from me from Arbroath last week. I think the old crane is quite well known, and now looks to have been secured in it's own fenced compound. 

Over behind the crane (left hand side) there looks to have been some kind of loading dock, jutting out over the yard from the street above. Does anyone know what this could have been for? The first thing that came to mind was coal  but this would presumably have been offloaded from railway wagons here, not the other way around. 

 

Thanks 

 

Ken 

 

[keefer]

Years ago now but I remember seeing a loading gauge still mounted on the cutting wall at Arbroath - on the long siding just south of the station/overbridge on the Down side.

(Actually maybe the line shown in the pic above but way behind the camera)

[D6150]

16 minutes ago, keefer said:

Years ago now but I remember seeing a loading gauge still mounted on the cutting wall at Arbroath - on the long siding just south of the station/overbridge on the Down side.

(Actually maybe the line shown in the pic above but way behind the camera)

I think you could be right, there were more sidings behind me when I was taking the photo. Will have to have a better look around next time...

 

Thanks 

[Wickham Green too]

Hmmm .... things have changed a wee bit since 1987 ( 12th Sept ) : - 

 

[keefer]

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7205455

Just to the right of the lamp post, still there 2yrs ago although the platform line is very overgrown. 

 

This next view shows that the two lines on that side of the platform joined together into a headshunt for the yard: 

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arbroath_Station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2996955.jpg

 

IIRC it was also on this platform line that local trains arrived/departed - the headshunt allowing a loco to run-round.

[KeithMacdonald]

This was a big surprise today.

There we were, minding our own business, driving past a farmyard in Whittonditch, Wiltshire.

https://www.bing.com/maps/?cp=51.448833~-1.584968&lvl=15.6&style=s

 

The nearest railway station is Hungerford, about five miles away. But as my son & I drove part the farmyard, for a split-second, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a railway coach next to a barn! So I says to son, "I think I just saw a railway coach in that farmyard". He give me a look like "Dad's really loosing his marbles even faster than I thought".  But on the way back, we had time to stop and look properly.

 

Sure enough, from the road, through some trees, we could see this:

 

 

Zooming in:

 

 

Looks like it says "NORD" on the side. Not a UK coach?

 

[rodent279]

French, Chemin de Fer du Nord. Looks 1930's ish to me, but I'm no expert on French rolling stock.

[Northmoor]

7 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

This was a big surprise today.

There we were, minding our own business, driving past a farmyard in Whittonditch, Wiltshire.

https://www.bing.com/maps/?cp=51.448833~-1.584968&lvl=15.6&style=s

 

The nearest railway station is Hungerford, about five miles away. But as my son & I drove part the farmyard, for a split-second, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a railway coach next to a barn! So I says to son, "I think I just saw a railway coach in that farmyard". He give me a look like "Dad's really loosing his marbles even faster than I thought".  But on the way back, we had time to stop and look properly.

 

Sure enough, from the road, through some trees, we could see this:

 

 

Zooming in:

 

 

Looks like it says "NORD" on the side. Not a UK coach?

 

See: http://www.cs.rhrp.org.uk/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=2384.  Obviously a recent move.

Edited April 30 by Northmoor

[Wickham Green too]

Hmmm ...... another NRM cast-off ! ☹️

[Ben B]

10 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Hmmm ...... another NRM cast-off ! ☹️

 

Guessing it'll become a boutique camping coach. Nice example though, and at least it will survive.

 

There's quite a few bits in the NRM I fancy, reckon I could find room in the garden for the Port Carlisle coach, I need a new shed...

[Wickham Green too]

Still miffed that the NRM gazumped me for M27093M ......... then deacquisitioned it to Butterley fifteen years later. ☹️

 

Craven Arms : 19/12/79 

[Matt37268]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Still miffed that the NRM gazumped me for M27093M ......... then deacquisitioned it to Butterley fifteen years later. ☹️

 

Craven Arms : 19/12/79 

Was that part of one of the ‘control’ trains? 

[Wickham Green too]

4 hours ago, Matt37268 said:

Was that part of one of the ‘control’ trains? 

Not quite - it was selected for conversion but never modified for some reason ................. and for some other reason it was stabled with the WR Control Train until it was disposed of.