Pinza-C55

It used to be my home area and I've built some of it in the Trainz 2019 rail simulator. I can post pix on Flickr if you want. The line closed as a through route between Ford Works (the signalbox controlling the sidings to the quarry and mill) and Penshaw in 1967. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1971 and subsequently the line was reduced to a single track from Ford Works to to Hendon Junction at Sunderland South Dock and all signalling was removed. Rail traffic from the quarry ceased in 1976 and the line was cut back to Pallion station. Edit* here's a V2 passing Ford Works with a diverted ECML train while a Clayton shunts in the background. The mill is "Work In Progress" V2 at Ford Works 22.4.24 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr

I'd like HS1, HS2 and all forthcoming HSesses to be scrapped as I think they are a flagrant waste of taxpayers money. I'd like that money to be spent on reopening lines which should never have closed.

I visited Wylam box in 1978 and had a chat with the bobby. He told me he was approached by a railwayana collector who asked if he could buy the bell which hung outside the box , presumably to warn passengers of an approaching train. The bobby sold him it then various other pieces of hardware like the NER cast iron fire fender !

Big 4 wagon labels were used well after 1948. I remember walking around the windowless booking office in derelict St Johns Chapel (NER) station in about 1974 and it was strewn with unused LNER wagon labels although the station finally closed to goods in 1968.

You can see an 08 shunting hopper wagons in the background at 1,11

I don't know whether it was authorised but being as I worked at Kings Cross at the time I find it hard to see how it could have been given that they were in an operational railway area without hi vis jackets. The rules were sometimes ignored by railway staff but these people were not railway staff and had no rational reason to be there. I can judge yesterday by yesterdays rules because I was there and I know what I am talking about. I've a feeling this argument is going to drag on forever.

I made no reference to the 1950s or 60s. In the 80s when this clip was filmed , personal stupidity was still the norm - like a band singing in an operational goods yard with moving trains near them. I'm not trying to convince you of anything.

What an extraordinary comment. I worked at Kings Cross at the time and although we supposed to wear hi vis vests we didn't always do so. There were a number of fatalities and injuries in the 6 years I was there and I have had one train fatality 19 years ago which I will never forget. Health & Safety is sometimes intrusive but it sometimes saves people from the consequences of their own stupidity.

Although the track they are on has been disconnected , it boggles the mind that they were allowed to be on an operational railway site with moving trains.

I once got (I was a KX Guard) a "Please explain" why I had not checked tickets on a main line HST on a particular day. I asked the manager Harry Wort if he would accept my excuse that not only had I not worked that train but in addition it had been my Rest Day that day.

Apparently it was laid wholly or partly with second hand GCR track so it would be interesting to know if it has GCR chairs under there. Another from Flickr

The Spurn Point Military Railway ran from Kilnsea to the Spurn Point lighthouse in East Yorkshire from 1915 to 1951. It used a ramshackle assortment of rolling stock including a petrol railcar (partly seen here) and a trolley with a sail mounted on it ! Weighing a parcel at Spurn Head Railway by moving.images2, on Flickr Some tracks are still intact where the line crossed roads.

The north end of Durham station in 1964. A big signalbox, lattice post gantries and you can have steam locos and green diesels so there's something for everyone. Sadly the site of the former engine shed seems to have been cleared.

There used to be an old brakevan parked in the engineers siding at Tollerton just north of York. I think it was one of those GWR style ones with the full length roof (a Toad ?). The full itinerary for the Furness railtour is on SixbellsJunction https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/670902ml.html

An unusual pair of trains at Barrow.

Hi Mike , this is or rather was an actual railway and I have copies of the signalling diagrams for the whole line, The only piece of artistic license I have is used is that I have shown the signalling as it was in the lines heyday. In addition I have used the OS 25" to the mile maps from the National Library of Scotland website to ensure that every signal is positioned exactly where it was. Whenever I find a previously unseen photo I check it carefully for more detail The line was arranged more like a Light Railway and besides the signalling being minimal the level crossing gates were not interlocked with the signals and mostly opened away from the line. There were no proper passing loops either.

Here is what I have done so far. When it comes to the signalling I have used a bit of artistic licence as some of the signals were removed in 1937. All the distant signals are "fixed".

Thanks Mike. I'd guessed it might have been 10MPH so that confirms that. I get your point on the whistle boards but at one of the crossings, Gartonslack, a train crashed into a wagon carrying Italian POWs during WW2 and killed 7 of them and it was decided that a whistle board was needed. The signalling arrangements on the line were very crude and in many cases the gates were not interlocked with the few signals there were and the gates themselves opened away from the railway.

I'm fine tuning my simulation of the Malton & Driffield Railway in the Trainz 2019 Rail Simulator and I need some info to make it more accurate. Since it was a bucolic branch line I have set the line speed at 30MPH. The line had several level crossings and 6 single line tablet exchange points but no proper passing loops. So, first question is "assuming a relatively level line and good sighting of the crossings, what would be the distance from the whistle board to the crossing based on the maximum 30MPH speed ?" Secondly "What would be a typical speed for tablet exchange to be carried out assuming this was done on the platform and using a Tyers type tablet pouch ?". If there were company differences, the M&DR was operated by the NER/LNER/BR(NE). Thanks in advance !

Here's Sledmere & Fimber station as seen by me in February 1978. The large grain warehouse at the station was refurbished by BR a year or two before total closure of the line in 1958. The lease to the tenants expired in 1960 and they offered to buy the warehouse but were told BR would only sell it with the gatehouse and station building plus all the land. Thus , they moved out and the warehouse became a ruin, and it and the station were demolished in 1978. Sledmere & Fimber {4} 25,2.78 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr Sledmere Grain Warehouse (3) 20.5.1978 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr

I hope this isn't off topic but I have been continuing my work on my simulation of the Malton & Driffield Railway and in this video we take a passenger train from Driffield to Burdale then join a chalk train from the quarry to Malton. It's still Work In Progress and the passenger loco and stock is the best I could find at the time !

Bridlington station 1978 by me. Bridlington {1} 17.12.78 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr Bridlington {4} 17.12.78 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr

Glorious countryside though ?

I finally got a look at the photo and my only theory was that it was associated with track circuits. I know that the NER were early users of track circuits and that their signals had a "track circuit diamond" that looked different to the BR standard ones. However the theory here is more plausible. As to "why not simply use the signal as a marker ?" maybe this was for the benefit of staff crossing the line ? It is very similar to the LNER Pilmoor - Knaresborough signals I mentioned earlier, so I think it would be of LNER vintage, though the lamp is the NER pattern commonly known to collectors as a "bomb" because of its huge weight.

I will check out that magazine in WH Smiths tomorrow if they are open but it sounds a bit like the LNER simplified board signalling scheme on the Pilmoor - Boroughbridge - Knaresborough line in the 1930s ?