DavidBird

A photo worthy of Treacy or Gifford...

Hey, you can see my house from here!

Thanks Dave, that is interesting. In this screenshot from old-maps.co.uk, of the OS 1:10560 (6" to a mile) of 1863, Rectory Junction is yet to be built (site is the red drop-pin), and Colwick Rectory is marked to the left of the "Colwick" village name on the left side of the screen. Ok, it's not a great distance away, but not obviously a near-by feature. It may be more likey that the land purchased for the expansion of the yards was glebe land belonging to Gedling Rectory, and the new junction named for that. Edit: Or maybe simply, as there were already Colwick West, Colwick North and Colwick East Junctions, somebody just looked at the map, found the name "Colwick", spotted the word "Rectory" next to it and used that...

I asked the same question here Nobody came up with an answer there either!

Apologies if I've missed this, but do we know what the DCC options are?

No, but I have done one by a cut-and-shut with a Lima Deltic and a "50". It's away in the loft, I'll try and dig it out. It was done a good few years ago now, before EWS started buying GMs and deciding that they were to be Class 66s...

This is how it looks on my PC screen... when I wrote it out it was even more aligned. I did consider editing it to make it even better, but now I can only save 4 lines of signature, rather than the 15 I was allowed at the time. Can I save this image as a signature? (edit: just checked, images only 200 x 100 pixels allowed, so the resolution would be too poor to read.) Sorry folks, we'll have to put up with the formatting all over the place

There seems to be a brake van on a rake of air-braked HAAs on the left edge of the picture. These continuously braked trains didn't normally need brake vans. Was this a train from Denby on the Little Eaton branch? Brake vans were added to MGR trains of HAAs on that route as there were train-crew-worked level crossings. Loco crew would open the gates, drive across and the guard (was it a guard or just a crossing-gate-closer trainman?) would close them behind the train, thus avoiding the delay of walking the whole length of the train back to the loco after every level crossing.

This photo has just popped up on FB Scottish Railways group... doesn't show much more, but does show the end of the building in question... https://scontent.flba1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/146376315_3777771468950433_7730312627294211562_o.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=2&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=KZKcAgjanP0AX-5kaC_&_nc_ht=scontent.flba1-1.fna&oh=b1827a0f3153ea560f3d41dfba6d9f95&oe=6041881C

No, not that one. Wish it was!

Just above the left-most oil tank... ;-) https://www.google.com/maps/@57.0053705,-5.830873,3a,75y,122.35h,87.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9C4kAiOQpHhL9-l2StsZzg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

You have a PM... Well, not quite, if you know where to look

No it won't. You'll miss my house out if you do that! Actually, that's ok as it wasn't built in 1983...

Sorry, duplicate post...

Junctions seem to have been named either after the location - eg Netherfield Junction, Sneinton Junction, or after where the branch leads to - eg Mansfield Junction. So why is it called Rectory junction? I can find no reference to a vicarage or rectory nearby by looking on old-maps.

Many thank Rob 30851, and also to Three Cocks Junction (yes, that is a username) by PM. With their help I now have my guesses confirmed as more or less correct! Many thanks gents.

I've still not located that photo I mentioned before. There is this one on display in the Mallaig Heritage Centre, which shows indistinctly the end of the building in question. It also shows a good view of the building at the Up end of the cattle dock.

I spotted on "a certain well-known internet auction site" an auction for a diagram, and selection of lever plates, from Rectory Junction. I was pipped at the post for getting it, but the seller very kindly took a set of clear photos for me before sending it off to the buyer. I won't post photos here as I haven't (yet) got permission to do so. It is dated March 1964 and also 1/11/71. It shows clear signs of alteration, by painting out removed track and signals. The track layout matches well with the (low-res) diagram on the s-r-s.org website here https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/lner/E921.gif. Question 1. Am I correct in assuming the 1964 date corresponds with the opening of the triangle junction to Cotgrave Colliery, and the 1971 date with the closure and removal of Colwick yards and the main line to Gedling? It is markedly different from the layout that lasted until closure, as shown by photos on flikr here Question 2. Again an assumption, did the change to the final form coincide with the removal of the east side of the traingle? Question 3 What date was this? The final diagram does not show the avoiding lines, but my ebay (whoops I've said it!) diagram does. It shows the northern end, but does not show any lever numbers for the points. Question 4. Was Colwick East still in use until whatever date in Q3? Does anybody know of a picture of the box diagram - assuming (again!) it was different from the pre-64 one here https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/lner/E920.gif Question 5 When did Colwick East close? Was the Colwick Estates Light Railway still in use until then, or did it continue after? If it did, how was the junction with the main line controlled? Many thanks in anticipation

Many apologies, I've been misreading your posts. I believe there was indeed a short platform at the far end of the loading dock siding, with a row of huts (small warehouses) where the approach to the Heritage Centre is now. There must be a reasonable photo out there somewhere, as it was gone way before my time, but I do remember seeing a photo of these huts. This photo shows the row of huts, but no sign of any platform, it would be behind the red Simpson's tanker. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5395139 And this one is just inconclusive. There is something between the yellow van and the brakevan, but it is indistict. https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=97407&search=Mallaig&category_id=64&page=1

Ok, here's a couple more photos of the cattle dock area. The 1st is a general view, whilst the 2nd is a close-up of the end, which shows the base of the loading gauge still in place.

Just to add to the discussion of a "selector". The use of a floating wheel attached either by a wire to, or directly on, the lower end of the signal box lever and two wires from the two signals around this wheel, means that when the lever is pulled, both signals are pulled. But because of the detector attached to the point blades, only one of the signals is free to move. So pulling both wires only actually clears one signal arm, which is automatically the arm appropriate to the route the points are set for. If you are able to make it to Scotland, this arrangement is easily visible at Aviemore, on the Strathspey Railway, where the new (installed 2019) AV5 signal controlling access to the Strathspey from NR has 2 arms, for the main platform road or the loop, but is operated from just one lever on the ground frame. As it's a GF, all the workings are visible, rather than hidden in the locking room under a signal box.

Most remiss of me, not taking my own advice and not keeping up with this thread. The end-dock is definitely still there, even with traces of the loading-gauge post. However there has been material of some sort filled in where the short length of track serving the dock was, and ash from the steam locos is still dumped there. It is certaintly not used for extra parking, well not for public use anyway, although it is used as storage for PW materials. Under where the large heap of ballast is, and the weeds, are the remains of the stanchions for the cattle pens.

What if Edward Watkins' great plan had come to fruition, with a combined GCR-Met-SER and an 1880s channel tunnel...

Bumping up this thread again, no apologies... Clearing out during lockdown, I came across these photos. I took them just as the demolition of the Trent viaduct had begun, must have been about 1983...

Rather than the Suburban Railway being upgraded, given the nature of the route and need for demolition , it's more likely that Mapperley Tunnel would be repaired and such trains routed round by the main line through Gedling and Colwick. Although with the time penalty on such route and the costs of repairing the tunnel, it may have proved worthwhile to just come in from Bagthorpe and reverse in Victoria. After all, in the real world, MML through trains were reversed in Nottingham Midland, instead of keeping the Melton route and running in from the east.