Jump to content
RMweb
 

Grantham - the Streamliner years


LNER4479

Recommended Posts

Yes indeed John.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_7577.JPG

This is the bridge concerned. Not easy to tell from this viewpoint but it does indeed fold up for the winter (in electric days they had to dismantle all the overhead each winter as well!). The deck consists of three sections, the central piece being hinged out from one side to connect with the other. There'll be somewhere on the web that shows it, no doubt...

 

Apparently, this came about after the railway suffered a disastrous avalanche only a year after it had been open, sweeping away the newly constructed bridge at this spot. The foldaway bridge was the answer. The preservationists also suffered at the hands of a similar avalanche during the early days of rebuilding (1987 I think) which burst open one of the short tunnels; also, we were told that our locomotive (F.04) was knocked over by an avalanche in 1965, killing the crew. Clearly, not a railway for the feint-hearted!

 

 

I recognised that bridge from my father's copy of "The Worlds Railways and How They Work"... that I used to pour over 40 years ago (and that book was probably 30 years old then)!  I suspect some of the photos from that website have been cribbed from it, as they seem very similar - plus it included a Richard Scarry type drawing, showing how it folds down for winter...

Edited by jukebox
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Anybody picking up the August Modeller might ... ahem ... recognise aspects of the article from P.699 onwards. Two more to follow.

Can I have your autograph please? Love the pic of the ECML; such a tidy track section. 

Toddeler for loan (unless G gets a commission from extra sales that is).

Philth 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Been away - stand by for some travelogue pictures...

 

 

 

attachicon.gifIMG_7212rm1.jpg

The incredible series of switchback curves and tunnels eventually brings us to Alp Grum where we achieved an ambition through the simple act of breaking our journey for chips n beer at the restaurant looking across to a glacier. Table with a view or what?

 

attachicon.gifIMG_7228rm.jpg

And this is the famous view (well, it's in all the brochures!) of a train clambering up the final curve to the station. Note the Bernina Express observation coaches in the formation.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_7246rm.jpg

Finally (for tonight), a view showing the Bernina lake, the summit of the line. No rack sections on any of the Rhaetian railway - all adhesion worked with gradients as steep as 1 in 14. The summit at Bernina is at 2,253 m (7,392 ft) above sea level, making this the highest railway line in the Alps, operating as a public railway with year round traffic (excluding mountain side railways)

 

Next time - we encounter the rack railways!

 

Salutary to see how that glacier at Alpgrum has retreated since I took some pics of it in 2003.

Edited by The Stationmaster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Dear Red Leader,

 

Please can I borrow one of the track weathering pics for my web site???It can go with the ones from Herculaneum  Dock...

 

Baz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agreed that the Rustons yard we were modelling is now lost in the wilderness - part of it has a Dunelm Mill outlet built on it. The main 'saw tooth' factory building appears to survive (not evident in the streetview pic).

 

It's not all bad news, though. The line to the bottom right survives as the Up relief (just as in the 1930's). I've actually been along this with Tornado. We had a water stop in the remaining sidings alongside the station then weaved our way across both ECML tracks to get to the Up relief - Stevie Hanczar (on the handle) didn't half 'go for it' once we were under the bridge! Magic stuff.

 

The siding leading back from there (the one that wiggles about a bit in the weeds) is occasionally used by tampers and other strange yellow machines. 'Twas also the line used to position 4468 and co for the 2013 exhibition.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...