Metropolitan H

Very nice, but isn't that a N5 - not a N2 - acting as south end pilot? Sorry to nit-pick. Regards Chris H

Some of the photos lower down the second link suggest that the watercranes "Grew" at a later date - by the addition of an extra "S" piece - perhaps with the introduction of the Pacifics and high sided tenders. So I wouldn't worry about them any more - beyond trying to straighten the flexible hoses (?). The hoses are b***dy heavy in reality and hang straight. Regards Chris H

Apologies chaps, I should have read on before trying to answer the question - b****r. Looks a lot like North Norfolk to me? - Its the orange pantiles what do it. If not Norfolk it is somewhere further north on the East Coast, perhaps Holderness? Regards Chris H

Following the interest in the first excerpt from my father's writings regarding my grandfather "Arthur Alexander Holmes" and the references to SPADs etc., I have decided to add a couple of further excerpts - although they are slightly off-topic as they mainly concern goings on around "Westwood Box" by New England. Directly following the piece regarding the "Queen of Scots" is the following: "Another driver, the famous Sparshatt coming out of New England loco., did not even look to see if he had a clear signal to proceed to Peterborough station. The result was a derailment at catch points and a great deal of unpleasantness. No doubt the station pilot enjoyed the trip to Kings Cross in Sparshatt’s place". An interesting snippet regarding the working of M&GN trains during World War II: "Arthur was throughout his life a very mild character who rarely wished to go against the rules, but he did take a clear decision to do so during the war. This arose because Westwood Junction controlled the traffic off the M. & G.N. line from Norfolk where a number of large airfields were constructed during the war. Hordes of RAF men and women used the M. & G.N. line for their weekend leaves. The official instructions were that the M. & G.N. passenger trains should always give way to traffic on the main L.N.E.R. line; if these instructions had been carried out the air force people would have had a very frustrating time. So Arthur ignored the instructions and made sure the M. & G.N. trains got into Peterborough North to make connections with the main line trains which at the time were infrequent, long (and so slow) and very crowded " Then a few asides which give a bit more of the flavour of the post-war times: "Once the war was over railwaymen joined in the “better world”, which followed. The lot of railway signalmen improved considerably with much better pay and marked reductions in hours of work. The benefits for Arthur were more money to spend, longer holidays, days off during the week, and an assistant in the signal box. Using a wartime expression, the days off were known as “spiv days”. So Arthur’s last few years at work were very pleasant for him and he was able to attend race meetings, cricket matches and football matches on a scale he would never have imagined before 1939. Both his grandchildren were born before he retired and he was very thrilled one day when he was able to organise a footplate trip for two year old Christopher on the Flying Scotsman itself. (That engine was built just about the time Arthur moved to Peterborough 30 years before)". [I was that boy and I have a suspicion that the event coloured the rest of my life so far! - The trip was from under the "Coal Hopper" at New England Loco and round the Triangle to turn the loco. - Metropolitan H] Finally there are a couple more references to significant accidents: "During the 50 years service on the railway Arthur was never involved in an accident, in which he was very lucky. There was for instance a fantastic pile up one night in Peterborough North station when a driver from Immingham who did not know the line took a train to Peterborough when the town was shrouded in thick fog. He passed signals at danger at Westwood, Spital and North Box with all the signalmen waving red lamps and putting detonators on the line. The remarkable thing was that nobody was hurt. Not long after Arthur retired there was an accident at Westwood which concerned the rebuilt “Hush-Hush” locomotive which failed to find favour with Gresley and was rebuilt in the style of an A4 on its original chassis with four trailing wheels instead of the normal two – arranged as 4-6-2-2. This engine with an experimental high pressure boiler was built in 1930 and numbered 10000. When the accident happened the engine was numbered 60700 and classified W1. It seems that something strange happened, possibly as a result of the unusual trailing wheel arrangement just as the train was going North under Westwood bridge; the engine was derailed and appeared to throw itself at the signal box coming to a stop at the bottom of the steps. (The reason was actually a fatigue crack failure of the leading bogie frame. The similar leading bogie frames on the A4s were then checked and found to have similar cracks, which were repaired before there were any more incidents). A passerby told Arthur about this soon after it happened while he was working in his back garden. He cycled off to have a look and found the signalman on duty suffering from shock, so took charge of the box operating the clear lines until the next signalman came on duty. The railway authorities sent him a pleasant letter of thanks and a cheque for the appropriate amount of pay for the time he was at the box". Hope these were of interest.I think that is probably enough for now, but if others are really interested I can make the piece more generally available - but be warned it is not all railway focussed. Regards Chris H.

I've only recently found this "P'boro North" topic - being a relatively new user of RMweb - but I'm very impressed, particularly as I remember the station in the 1950s from visiting my grandparents who lived in the old GNR barracks at 680 Lincoln Road. My grandfather - Arthur Alexander Holmes - was born in Crown Street in 1889 and joined the GNR signal school in 1907. After working in Yorkshire he and family returned to P'Boro in 1923. He then worked various of the P'boro boxes until he retired in 1954. In the 1980s my father decided to write up a bit of the family history for my children. The following is a short extract regarding my grandfather's working life in the boxes around P'boro North Station - not 1958, but I hope it is of interest. "Around 1930, Arthur gained promotion to main line work, starting at North Box at Peterborough North Station. This was a key point in working one of England’s most awkward railway layouts and Arthur’s move there was at the time when the L.N.E.R. was attempting to speed up its main passenger services. North Box was one of those that had relatively few levers which were intensively used. Movements were common then which later fell into disuse – changing engines on down (north bound from London) expresses, splitting of some down trains and making up of up trains, including the attachment of Buffet cars. Except for one small snag, which occasionally led to unpleasantness – reporting on drivers exceeding the 20 m.p.h. speed limit through the station - Arthur was happy at North Box. It was easy to work physically, all the points being close to the box, and being at the end of the platform was a resort for railwaymen who wanted a cup of tea and a chat. .............................. By 1933 Alec was working in London and visiting his family on Sunday excursions. When his father was working he could spend time in the signal box waiting for the train. There were three signal boxes at Peterborough classed in the highest grade – Crescent Junction – south of the station, Spital Junction – north of the station, Westwood Junction – beyond Spital with junctions to the L.M.S. (Midland – to Stamford and beyond) and M. & G.N., and connections to the coal yards and locomotive depot. Arthur’s chance to work at one of these boxes came with a vacancy at Crescent, the hardest to work physically and complicated as to layout. The point motors and electric signals introduced to lighten the job at Crescent were not introduced until Arthur had retired. At Crescent, Arthur became associated with Fred Hawkins who worked one of the other shifts. Fred was a remarkable character, strong as an ox, intelligent and extraordinarily independent of mind. Three of his sons went to university a most unusual thing in those days and one at least obtained a good mathematics degree at Cambridge. The most famous story about Fred (whether true or not) told how he refused to work the box whilst the stationmaster was giving him instructions on how to do it; the whole East Coast main line between Kings Cross and Doncaster came to a stand-still until the station inspector persuaded the station master to leave Fred in peace. The outcome – Fred stayed at Crescent until he retired; the station master was later promoted to Kings Cross. Arthur found Crescent a great trial – he was not as strong as Fred, and came to hate the 2 mile cycle ride to and from work – it seemed to rain too often. Salvation came in the late 30’s with a transfer to Westwood Junction where he worked until he retired. The movements at Westwood were at least as many as at Crescent, but there were no particularly heavy levers. Arthur found it a congenial workplace and it was much nearer home. His stories about Westwood mainly featured his brushes with the top link drivers. These men expected all signals to be off for them, especially when driving the crack trains. On one occasion Arthur could not pull of the up distant for the Queen of Scots (the Kings Cross – Edinburgh all Pullman service) because of some difficulty in the station. The driver expected that the home signal would be cleared by the time he got to it so did not slacken speed. In the result the driver had to brake very hard, and overran the signal. This was a serious misdemeanour, but Arthur decided to overlook it. Sad to relate a number of people on the train complained of pots and cups of hot tea being thrown onto their laps. So the driver and Arthur were both reprimanded, Arthur because he failed to use the lever provided to put detonators on the track in such a situation. During the period up to the war, signalmen in such boxes as Westwood still worked a 7 day week with one week’s annual leave and one weekend off in three. " Hope that is of interest. The North Box model is rather marvellous. Regards Chris H

While the RHDR locos are basically 1/3rd scale models of Gresley pacifics - with extra long tenders and more man-sized fittings and working parts - there is at least one true scale 15" gauge model of a Gresley A3 working in the British Isles and the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway is home to a scale model of a Robinson LNER (exGCR) 2-8-0 - along with lots of other fascinating bits. The recommendation to look up Colin Peake's "Shifting Sands" layout is definitely good, but also look for the 7mmNGA's "Going Minimum Gauge" publication and anything by Owen Ryder. 15" gauge / Miniature railways can provide a very rich seam of modelling inspiration. Regards Chris H

I can also confirm that one unit ran on a tour that took it through Virginia Water station - in the Blue / Grey years - turning left for Chertsey etc.. I can't remember the date, but Brother went to watch it go through and took a photograph. Regards Chris H

Very good to see the current rail going in, but regarding the heights above running rail top it should be: - Positive (Outside) rail 3 inch above. - Negative (Centre) rail 1.5 inch above. There are tolerances of course, but the nominal heights are as given for all LU lines, except the Central Line from White City to/from Liverpool Street where the Positive (Outside) rail is set 4.5 inch (and the rest) above running rail top. Sorry to be a pedant, but intended as constructive. I look forward to more pictures soon. Regards Chris H

Try - http://www.langleymodels.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_O_Scale_Ready_Made_and_Painted__4.html- It isn't cheap and shipping might be a problem, but they are available. Regards Chris H