Beatty

Thanks for this one - fascinating. It is from the period when the line was being lifted with daily pway trains coming out from Northampton and working down the ever shortening branch - it was only there as far as the WCML at Roade anyway as the bridge had gone in 1960, although it was still being referred to as the 'Ravenstone Wood branch' I remember standing on the bridge at Blisworth that the Cl27s were photographed from one evening during the summer of 1964, waiting for a hoped-for Duchess 4--6-2 on the up Lakes Express when a 8F came tender first down the SMJ line with a train of old sleepers etc - this would be one of those shown in the register. A month or two afterwards I went over to Towcester to find the signalbox in the middle of demolition - one guy with a sledgehammer!

Ah - yes, I missed the '64' in the caption - agree that it sounds about right in terms of the state of the electrification work on the WCML. 27s of course - I remember when they started to appear around Northampton off the Midland lines via Wellingborough and Mkt Harborough - we had the 25s at Northampton. Steam would still have been quite plentiful at Northampton then, which perhaps suggests that the working was indeed handled by Wellingborough (not Rugby as I stated) rather than Northampton. I wonder what the route was after Northampton - probably Wellingborough at this time as it was still open, but later on it must have been Mkt H. Will have a look through my WTTs............. I must have walked over that road bridge a hundred times in the 1950s but always went a few yards further on to the field next to the main line - never bothered with what chuffed up and down the SMJ!

Thanks everyone - these are certainly the ones! First time that I've seen such a photo - and I've been collecting SMJ images for nigh on 40 years. There are a few shots around of the full wagons in the exchange sidings awaiting a locomotive to take away, and just one I think of a 350hp diesel shunter that appears to be shunting, but might just have been up to the quarries. Interesting to speculate whether the double heading was very common? I've seen one other pic of a single Cl26 between Blisworth and Northampton on the LNW branch, and assumed that that was the usual consist, but it will no doubt have depended on how many wagons there were for disposal. One of my contacts who was a signalbox lad at Blisworth in the early sixties says that the regular train was 8E55 Blisworth-Frodingham at 12.45 in his day - obviously the two 26s would have had to run round/reverse to get away towards Northampton - and presumably they had worked in with empties earlier. The other pic between Blisworth and Northampton suggests that it might have been a Northampton job rather than Rugby, but I don't know the full state of play back then. Incidentally - is there a precise date for these shots - the quarries closed in 1967. Are there any more interesting SMJ shots out there like this....keep 'em coming please! Thanks again folks

As a newcomer still trying to work out how the RMweb site works - can anyone help me in the short term to find the two pics of Cl26/27 diesels on an SMJ iron ire working at Blisworth - these were featured in the post by Rugd1022 on 24th June 2019 as img0962 and 0963. I can locate the post but the images will not open. Would very much like to see them as I am very interested in the SMJ as a whole and particularly workings that late in the day, which must have been just before the Gayton quarry closed down. I've only seen one other of this working which was pictured between Blisworth and Northampton - again just before that route closed too. Presumably we are looking at the Frodingham train? Thanks for any assistance