Chris Turnbull

This evening, I thought we might travel through Bury St Edmunds from east to west. Taken from Hollow Road bridge to the east of Bury St Edmunds looking west on 24th September 1970, here we see the rail connection to the sugar beet factory. At one time this handled vast quantities of freight, not just sugar beet in mineral wagons but lime in covered vans as well. Although the sugar beet factory has vastly expanded all the freight now goes by road and the rail connection is no more. This is Brush type 2 D5528 at the Down platform headed east towards Ipswich on 23rd April 1968. Bury St Edmunds is well-known for its towers which underwent restoration a few years ago by Network Rail. At the other end of the station on the same day BR shunter D2009 is pottering about in the yard. Note the co-acting Up starter. Brush type 2 D5679 departs westwards in the evening sunshine on 28th May 1968. There was a goods train that ran daily from Bury yard leaving just after 6.00 p.m. and I believe that this was that train. The photograph is taken from what us trainspotters called "The Chalks" which was a chalk bank that gave a good vantage point over the yard and in earlier times of the locomotive shed (31E). The only disadvantage was that it faced south which could give a problem with the sun. On the same day another Brush type 2 D5638 leaves the station headed for either Cambridge or Ely. This shot is taken from what was then called Beetons footpath which used to be an unmetalled track that crossed the railway by a wooden crossing with wicket gates each side. It is now a main artery called "Beetons Way" and through the field to the left runs the A14 dual carriageway. Yet another Brush type 2 D5661 (well they were very common) emerging from underneath what was then the A45 west of Bury St Edmunds on 28th May 1968. The bridge is still there but the field behind the locomotive now carries the A14. Thanks to Jonny777 as usual. Chris Turnbull

Sometime in the latter half of the ‘60s I thought it might be an idea to see if I could acquire some plans of local stations. I wrote to the Divisional Civil Engineer at Norwich who informed me that they would cost 7/6d each. This isn’t much today, just 37½p, but back then it was a fortune. At least it was to a schoolboy who had to rely on subsistence pocket money and the occasional holiday job. I decided I could afford three so I ordered Bury St Edmunds, Thurston and Haughley Junction. Thinking that Thurston might make a good subject for a model, on 24th September 1970 I took the opportunity of a spell of good weather to cycle to Thurston and take as many photographs as I could and this is a selection: Taken from the Up platform looking towards Bury St Edmunds Looking in the opposite direction towards Elmswell. There was once a station building on the Up platform that matched that on the Down but it had been demolished in the early '60s to be replaced by a hideous but cheap bus shelter. There also used to be a goods shed just behind the hut on the Down side but this, too, had gone by 1970. Standing more or less on the site of the goods shed looking towards Elmswell Harold Clarke & Co. Corn and Agricultural Merchants establishment at Thurston. The then owner, Roy Clarke, was a great railway modeller whose layout I once had the privilege of visiting. He was of the pre-war generation who had to make everything oneself, including motors, and to a young lad it was awe-inspiring. The road underbridge on the Bury side of the station with the Fox and Hounds behind. A view of the Up platform from road level. The foundations of the erstwhile Up platform building can be seen in the trees to the right. Note how the platform is built on a framing formed by lengths of rail. At the Elmswell end of the goods yard looking back towards the station. This is the road bridge at the Elmswell end. Note the Great Eastern rail-built buffer stop this side and the concrete buffer stop the other. This is the view from that bridge looking towards the station and Bury St Edmunds And finally this is the view from that bridge looking towards Elmswell Some years later in the early ‘90s, the Ely MRC was casting around for ideas for a new layout. I presented the club with a copy of the track plan and gave a slide show which persuaded the others that Thurston was the way to go. Since then Thurston has won many awards and been featured in the model press quite extensively. Full details may be found by following these links:- http://www.elymrc.org.uk/thurston.html http://www.elymrc.org.uk/history%20of%20thurston.html Check out the links to YouTube on the first link above, unmissable! Thanks to Jonny777 again. Chris Turnbull

"Shadow" has very kindly put together a GIF file of the Flying Scotsman at Bury St Edmunds photographs. I think it's great and I hope you do as well. Well done Shadow Chris Turnbull

The afternoon's drawing on now and we are at the last two stations, Euston and St Pancras This is English Electric type 1 D8014 on what I guess are station pilot duties, although I stand to be corrected. Here's AL5 E3061 awaiting departure at a very narrow platform... ... and here's a couple of AL6s E3165 and E3173. This shows the harsh functional architecture that was and still is Euston station, very similar to Manchester Piccadilly, that epitomised the "brave new world" of the 1960s. What will future generations think of today's architecture? Here we see BR type 2 D5224 leaving St Pancras. This now lies under the new extension to the trainshed and I suppose that if I were to stand in the same spot today I would be run over by a Eurostar. Lastly this is BR type 4 "Peak" D19 passing St Pancras signalbox, all now gone but, I have to say, replaced with something far better and of which I feel we can be proud. Thanks to Jonny777 as usual. Chris Turnbull

On to Waterloo, a station that offered better vantage points than Paddington and one at which I always enjoyed trainspotting. Here's Birmingham R.C. & W. Co. type 3 D6538 entering Waerloo. I'll bet that LNERGE doesn't have that shunting signal! And here's the same train running into the platform. I remember being taken up the Shell Tower in the background by my parents when it was first built to the public viewing platform at the top. The lifts were high-speed and left your stomach behind. My parents didn't like them, I thought they were great! If it was a sunny day this spot always got the sun by the early afternoon. My notes say this was the parcels bay but whether that was correct I don't know. I'm sure someone will, though. And just to show how things had changed in two years, here's Standard class 5 73065 passing the same signal on 30th May 1967. This was the last main-line London terminus to be dieselised (just after this photograph was taken I think) and for that reason was a station I always had a soft spot for. In the "parcels bay" on the same day, this is Standard class 4 tank 80085 in the sorry state in which steam locomotives were kept in in their final days. Thanks to Jonny777 again. Chris Turnbull

Next stop on our trainspotting trip was Paddington which, if I recall correctly, I found a very difficult station to photograph from. There didn't seem to be any good vantage points like their were elsewhere. Anyway, here's a selection. North British type 4 "Warship" D843 "Sharpshooter" BR type 4 "Western" D1020 "Western Hero" North British type 2 D6328 and finally, Beyer Peacock (Hymek) D7066. I'm not sure what the underground train is but I'm sure someone will tell us. Thanks to Jonny777 again. Chris Turnbull

Its 7th September 1968 and a friend and I decided that we would have a trainspotting trip to London. Here we are on the "Parliamentary" from Bury St Edmunds to Liverpool Street via Cambridge rounding the sharp curve at Coldhams Common, Cambridge. The line from Bury originally entered Cambridge station in the middle of Platform 4 more or less in line with the end of the canopy in the second photograph of the 2012 set above and curved away across all the running lines and sidings. Known as the "Newmarket Curve" this alignment gave rise to many operating conflicts especially as traffic grew such that the line was re-aligned across Coldhams Common in 1896 where it still runs today albeit single track. English Electric type 3 D6742 provides haulage power around this check-railed curve. Although the "Parly" continued to Liverpool Street we must have changed at Cambridge for a Kings Cross train as I was able to snap another EE type 3, D6962, entering Cambridge with a Down freight. It is passing the ex-GE goods shed and the ex- GN locomotive shed can be seen behind (see post #21 for details) We've arrived at Kings Cross to find Brush type 2 D5607 and "Deltic" D9001 "St Paddy" in the loco yard. Next stop Finsbury Park depot; how to get there? Consulting our trusty bible, Ian Allan's BR Shed Directory, we find the following:- Travel by a Cockfosters-bound Piccadilly Line train or Eastern Region local service from Kings Cross to Finsbury Park. Turn right outside the station and almost immediately right again into Seven Sisters Road, passing under the railway bridge. Turn left into Isledon Road and left into Tollington Road. The shed entrance is on the left-hand side. No cinder path for Finsbury Park you'll note! Just inside the entrance is BR shunter D3312. Its probably in very dirty green livery but to me its looks a dingy black - well I did tell you I am colour blind! Inside the shed is English Electric type 2 D5907, known to us trainspotters as "Baby Deltics". I suppose we'd better find the foreman's office and ask if we can have a look round. "No" was the answer so we make our way out taking a different route to the way in. This is the fueling depot with a couple of Brush type 2s and a BR shunter in attendance. And just to prove I was there here I am in front of a Brush type 4, a spotty, stroppy 16 year-old youth. "When I was sixteen my parents didn't know anything. When I reached twenty-one I was amazed how much they'd learnt in the previous five years." Winston Churchill That was certainly true! Thanks to Jonny777 as usual. Chris Turnbull

I just knew you'd have something! Chris Turnbull

I am a great lover of "Britain's Railways from the Air" type books and whilst I do not have an aeroplane or helicopter I do like to get as high as possible for my photographs. I am always trying to seek out new vantage points and new locations, to boldly go where no railway photographer has gone be-. Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Anyway, these were taken from the roof of the Westfield shopping centre looking down on Stratford station on 7th May 2009. Looking towards Liverpool Street Looking north towards Norwich An unidentified Class 90 glides through with a freight That's all for the time being of the current stuff. Its into the Tardis and back to the '60s now. Chris Turnbull

Some of you are obviously familiar with Cambridge but for those that aren't I thought a few shots of how it is today (actually 7th April 2012) might be in order This is taken from the footbridge that links the new island platform that can be seen on the right with the original. The train to the left is the Norwich service awaiting departure from Platform 5. This is also taken from the footbridge looking south with the new island platform - Platforms 7 and 8 - to the left. Cambridge South signalbox would have been in the distance in line with the end of the original platform. A shot from Platform 8 looking towards the site of the erstwhile GE goods shed. This is a shot that it has not been possible to take until now (at least, not without trespassing on the railway); the original station building. For those suffering 1960s withdrawal symptoms I apologise. We will be back listening to Radios Caroline, London, 390 (for classical fans) and so on before too long. Chris Turnbull

I wondered if anyone following this thread might have also been on that visit. I can't remember the details but it would have made sense to split the group up. Chris Turnbull

What, you mean like this? Shenfield 11th August 2007 Chris Turnbull

On Saturday 6th June 1981 the Cambridge Railway Circle organised a visit to the Cambridge signalboxes before they were demolished following commissioning of the new Cambridge power 'box. This is Platform 3 as seen from the 'box with 37041 waiting to depart At this time electrification had only got as far as Royston and a DMU connecting service was provided between Cambridge and Royston; this is a connecting DMU entering Cambridge. Note the new power box behind. This is the interior of the 'box with members of the CRC absorbing the atmosphere and generally getting in the way. There was no traditional lever frame in the South 'box, it had an electro-mechanical signalling mechanism Cambridge station looking north from the south 'box. Note the track remodelling which was to be remodelled again some 30 years later when the long-overdue island platform was built. Cambridge North signalbox now and the view looking south with the loco yard to the right. Somewhere down there is the yellow miniature semaphore shunting signal that I mentioned in an earlier post. Coldhams Lane signalbox looking north And finally, Coldhams Lane lever frame. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that someone now has this lever frame in their garage! Thanks once again to Jonny777 Chris Turnbull

Following the elimination of steam traction on BR in August 1968 a ban was imposed on the running of preserved steam locomotives on the network as they did not fit in with the impression that the BRB wanted to create of a modern, up-to-date railway. The only locomotive that was exempt was “Flying Scotsman” due to BR’s contractual obligations with Alan Pegler. Just over a year after she appeared at Cambridge she passed through Bury St Edmunds, Saturday 17th May 1969 to be precise, with the return leg of a trip from Kings Cross to Bressingham organised by Alan Bloom. That afternoon the clouds began to gather such that shortly before she was due to arrive there was a tremendous thunderstorm. Fortunately the rain eased just in time. This is her on the return leg coming through Bury St Edmunds under stormy skies from Stowmarket en route to Kings Cross. These are but a selection of the 28 shots I took of her as she passed through. Even in the rain people had made an effort to see her. My thanks to Jonny777 once again. Chris Turnbull

“Flying Scotsman” paid at least two visits to East Anglia that I am aware of and drew crowds wherever she went. This is one of them, the "Norfolk Enterprise" railtour at Cambridge on 12th May 1968. Here she is coming under Hills Road bridge on the outward leg bound for Norwich. Note the GE signals that appeared in an earlier post albeit in the background. Passing Cambridge South signalbox of which more anon Ready to depart; crowds of onlookers on this glorious Sunday morning Next time, 4472 at Bury St Edmunds. My thanks to Jonny777 as usual Chris Turnbull

Here we are at Manchester Victoria on 17th April 1968 where we have swapped the austere functional architecture of Piccadilly for the dilapidated, ramshackle and dingy appearance of Victoria. Brush type 4s D1741 and D1856 pass through on the Down Main. We are stood on the famous Down Through Platform – No. 11 – which connected Victoria and Exchange stations and which at 2,238 feet was the second-longest in the world in its day. Manchester Victoria West Junction signalbox can be seen in the background. Black 5 44949 drifts through on the Up Main with a class H freight. Note that the upper lamp bracket has been lowered from the top of the smokebox door to halfway up as a safety precaution when working under the wires. One minute you would have a steamer, the next a diesel such was the variety around then. Here's English Electric type 4 D312 again on the Up Main carrying a class A headcode - express passenger or newspaper train. Its certainly not a snow plough going to clear the line! British Railways type 2 D5155 passes in front of Manchester Victoria East Junction signalbox. This monstrosity was built in 1962 and is typical of the architecture of the Modernisation Plan era. There is an excellent article here which is well worth a read:- http://www.signalbox.org/branches/bw/manvic.htm Class 8F 48380 is brought to a stand on the Down Main with a heavy Class H freight. Whether this is due to traffic regulation or to allow the crew to have a blow-up before tackling Miles Platting bank is unclear but lack of steam doesn’t seem to be a problem. As can be seen I wasn’t the only photographer capturing the scene that day. Where are they now? 48380 now has a good head of steam and is given the “right away”. Whether the crew are “effing and blinding” at the delay we shall never know; they wouldn’t have been heard above the din especially as the locomotive passed under the road bridge. This is a sight you just don't see these days with preserved steam. 48380 has passed under the road bridge and sets off up Miles Platting bank followed, much to the surprise of your intrepid photographer and which rather caught me on the hop, by... ... Standard Class 5 73069 banking, surely one of the last, if not the last, example of steam banking in the UK. Perhaps this was why the train was brought to a halt at the signals, to allow the banker to come up to the rear? Its time to go back to East Anglia now. The return working of the boat train has long since departed so its back to Piccadilly, up to Euston and across on the underground to Liverpool Street hopefully in time to catch the mail train on which there was limited passenger accommodation, not forgetting to sit in the Peterborough portion and not the Norwich portion after it divided at Ipswich. Thanks to Jonny777 once again Chris Turnbull

Thank you all for your kind comments. They are much appreciated. I have tried to be selective in my choice of material for the sake of variety and, in some cases, to tell a story. Consequently I am only posting about 50 per cent of my collection at this time. I do have quite a lot of 3/4 views which might be somewhat boring if I just posted them one after the other but I will use them if a future topic demands it. In my defence I would point out that I was 16 in 1968 and still at school. My photographic skills were undeveloped and, of course, this was long before the age of the digital camera. You had to compose a shot but you didn't know if you had been successful until the film returned. Trying to compose a shot of a moving train wasn't easy! Chris Turnbull

I think a trainspotting trip to Manchester is called for today. In April 1968 there was only a few months left before steam was due to end on BR so the choice was obvious – a day trip to Manchester on the Harwich boat train via the GN & GE Joint and Woodhead Tunnel. And here is the Harwich to Manchester boat train nearing Bury St Edmunds behind the usual English Electric type 3 from where it is due to depart at 8.48 a.m. I checked out the same view today on Google Earth and, much to my surprise, it hasn't changed a great deal. The only major change that I could see was that the embankment that carried the line to Long Melford and which you can just see climbing up to meet the main line at Bury St Edmunds Junction has gone. Woodhead Tunnel seemed to go on forever and our coach had a flat on one wheel which thump, thump, thumped all the way but we have eventually arrived at Manchester Piccadilly where we can marvel at the modern functionalist architecture that epitomised the “brave new world” of the 1960s. Somewhat dwarfed by the architecture is Class EM1 E26050 "Stentor". It occurs to me that the designer of Coldhams Lane diesel depot (see earlier post) could well have drawn inspiration from Manchester Piccadilly. On the other side of the station are Class AL6 E3104 and E3127 And here's another Class EM1, this time E26054 "Pluto". Now we'll head across Manchester on the... ...no.19 bus to Victoria to see what there is there. My thanks to Jonny777 again for his help Chris Turnbull

Moving on from Bury St Edmunds we resume our journey to Ipswich which we see on a very wet 22nd April 1968. This is a view of the southern end of the station with Brush type 4 D1778 just poking its nose out of Ipswich Tunnel on a Norwich service. Ipswich Station signalbox is to the right with a splendid array of semaphore signals controlled by the signalbox right in front of the camera. For those interested in such things (which includes me) the signalling diagram may be found here: http://www.lymmobservatory.net/railways/sbdiagrams/ipswich_station.jpg Here we have D1527 ready to depart in the very attractive two-tone green livery, far nicer I think that the all-over blue which they were in the process of receiving. Here we see a London-bound service in platform 2 with D1528 at the head. If I knew anything about coaches I'd tell you all about them but I don't so I won't. However, I'll bet someone does and will. Brush type 2 D5545 receives the right of way southwards Meanwhile sister locomotive D5580 lurks in the yard. BTH type 1 D8223 keeps her company. EE type 3 D6713 enters from the north. Note the array of semaphores behind the locomotive while the Down Main is signalled by colour lights Occupying the centre road with, presumably, empty stock (?) is D6962. And just to show how things have changed I offer this:- On 3rd September 2005 "one" liveried 170202 waits to depart with one of the short-lived Peterborough to Liverpool Street trains via Ely and Ipswich. I occasionally used these from Ely just for the ride as, being a through train, it offered a third route from Ely to London. For railway aficionados such as myself it was great but I couldn't see Joe Public finding it very useful. Some guards found it hard to believe that I wasn't a nutter. Once again, my thanks to Jonny777 Chris Turnbull

I surveyed and photographed D8233 in detail about 20 years ago when it was at Mangapps Farm for a 7mm model that I made. They are colour photographs rather than colour slides but that doesn't matter. This is but one of about a dozen ideas I have for future subjects. Thurston is another with a link to YouTube and the Ely MRC, I thought. All I need is time and work does get in the way! Regards Chris Turnbull

Do you know, I've always wondered why it started from Colchester but I never thought of that reason. You could have provided the answer. Chris Turnbull

Yes, you are quite right. Memo to self: engage brain before posting! Looking in my Ian Allan 1967 Combined Volume the second set would be Met-Camms. The Motor Brake Seconds were numbered in the range E79047 to E79075 and the Driving Trailer Seconds were E79263 to E79291. Regards Chris Turnbull

Here we are at Bury St Edmunds in 1968: On a snowy January 13th 1968 an unidentified pair of DMUs (Derby Lightweight and Met-Camm) enter Bury St Edmunds with an Ipswich to Cambridge service. At one time Bury St Edmunds was a three-way junction and the junction signalbox can be seen in the background. The line to Thetford diverged to the left and that to Long Melford was to the right beyond the bridge. Both had closed by the time this picture was taken with the semaphore arms on the three-doll bracket signal that controlled the junction removed. The doll for the Long Melford line arm can just be seen to the right of the Starter. The track had also been rationalised, the two centre roads through the station being removed in 1965 with corresponding removal of the arm from the doll of the Home signal behind the DMU. This was a goods arm as the Up centre road was not signalled for passenger traffic. There was also a "calling-on" arm below the Home signal which had also gone by this time. Brush Type 2 D5699 passes Bury St Edmunds Yard signalbox on 13th May 1968 on what is probably a Peterborough service. Note the preponderance of 16 ton mineral wagons in the yard in various shades of rust and the gasholder. A working gasholder would be a good subject for a model; has anyone made one? St Johns church is in the background. English Electric Type 3 D6723 enters Bury St Edmunds from the west on the same day as D5699 above. This will be either the return leg of the Harwich boat train or the Newcastle to Colchester train. Note the raft of Insulfish vans in the foreground. A good exercise in weathering I think! Finally D5699 again on 19th October 1968. Only one car in view! Thanks to Jonny777 again. Chris Turnbull

Please rest assured that I do not intend to stop, at least not yet. I will have to slow down, however, as I'm back at work tomorrow (ho-hum). The "U" probably means Up Main, i.e. to London, but I''m not sure about the "W". Either Whitlingham Junction, Wensum Junction or Wymondham I would suggest. Chris Turnbull

Chesterton Junction I can do plus loads more East Anglian green era stuff so don't worry. Remind me again in a few months time if I have forgotten! Like you, my school's sports field was adjacent to a railway line, in my case the Bury St Edmunds - Sudbury line. The passenger service had ceased the previous year by the time I got there but there was still a daily freight to Lavenham which was BTH Type 1 (class 15) hauled. This was one of the few remaining duties for which they were designed (see earlier post) which itself ceased in 1965. I was never any good at cricket to the eternal disappointment of my father (who was wicket keeper for Suffolk in his younger days) so I was always one of the last in bat. This meant that if I was lucky I would hear a rumble in the cutting near where I and my colleagues would be sitting upon which signal we would rush to see what locomotive was on the train that day. This was just to the south of the erstwhile Bury St Edmunds Eastgate station and is now part of the A14 by-pass. If you look to the west as you travel down that part of the road the western side of the railway cutting can still be seen. Chris Turnbull