Returning to Grantham

[adge]

....the GWR obviously didn't learn....there's a piece of vt in one of the GC Lines/Nottm Vic collections of a Hall/Castle slipping off the end of the turntable at the south end of Vic. IIRC after lifting the tender back on to the rails with a few planks of wood, they took it down to the North end where presumably the TT was slighter longer.

[deltic9013]

The only thing that worries me about GWR locomotives travelling from Nottingham to Grantham is I thought they had gauging problems when off their normal stamping ground-something to do with wide cylinders I think but I stand to be corrected!
Simon

[Solario]

(On a tangenital note, I am sure that I have read somewhere of a D49 turning up at Sheffield Victoria on a train from Hull, but I cant remember where I found that report).

Castles at Nottingham & Grantham would have been amazing but D49s at Sheffield would not have been uncommon. There were plenty of through trains from Hull to Sheffield and beyond (Manchester/Liverpool) and Botanic Gardens had D49s in plenty.

[strang steel]

The only thing that worries me about GWR locomotives travelling from Nottingham to Grantham is I thought they had gauging problems when off their normal stamping ground-something to do with wide cylinders I think but I stand to be corrected!
Simon

I read somewhere that the GNR built most of their lines to a slightly wider loading gauge than some other companies. This is why Pendennis Castle had no problems on the KX - Doncaster runs of the 1923 loco exchanges. Maybe the branch to Nottingham was similarly constructed?

[rob237]

I have a picture of Pendennis Castle passing Bingham (late 70's/early 80's) as she began her journey from Market Overton to Australia. IIRC, she joined the Grantham-Nottm line by the old mineral line, via Denton...

Cheers
Robt P.

[deltic9013]

Thanks Rob
I do know that GWR engines have struck platforms on certain lines but you are right. I remember seeing Pendenis Castle approaching Bingham just by chance as I was travelling up the A52 from Radcliffe heading towars Grantham. Thanks for jogging my memory!
Simon

[DaveF]

I have a picture of Pendennis Castle passing Bingham (late 70's/early 80's) as she began her journey from Market Overton to Australia. IIRC, she joined the Grantham-Nottm line by the old mineral line, via Denton...

Cheers
Robt P.

She left Market Overton in October 1974 and at first went to Carnforth.

As far as I know she travelled High Dyke through Grantham and then to Nottingham.

There are photos of her leaving High Dyke, taken by my late father, on my flickr sir site at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwf200 ... 420020389/

David

[workev]

Ok, another change of tact!

Where did 34F get its coal from? Did it come from local coalfields in Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire, or did it come from further afield. In addition, how often did coal get delivered (this may be one for ROY34F)?

Ian

[ROY@34F]

Ok, another change of tact!

Where did 34F get its coal from? Did it come from local coalfields in Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire, or did it come from further afield. In addition, how often did coal get delivered (this may be one for ROY34F)?

Ian

Yes,Ian.I think our coal came from one of the pits near Doncaster.The name eludes me at the moment.John(61070) may recall Ken Willets mentioning it in the afternoon,previous to John's evening slide show at Grantham museum.
Not sure how often we had coal delivered.I thought once a week,but may be wrong. 9.00 a.m. was the "coal shunt"job,but whether it was every day,i don't know.The shunter was Wally Simmons,and stores vans would be sorted as well as sludge carriers (from the water softener) .These were,incidently,taken to Ranskill,where the sludge was dumped.
The coal at Grantham was all top grade stuff from Doncaster.All the same stuff in both hoppers of the coaling plant,not as some depots apparently did:having 2 grades,1 for express work and 1 for goods work.This I was informed of by Ken at the above mentioned enjoyable afternoon.
Regards,Roy.

[61070]

Hello Roy and Ian - yes, Ken did tell us the name of the colliery near Doncaster but I can't remember its name at the moment either! I have Ken's address so maybe I'll drop him a line and ask.

[2512silverfox]

Pre WW2 and going back to GN days, a some of the southern area coal came from Gedling in Nottinghamshire. Evidence the number of PO Gedling wagons to be seen in old photos.

[workev]

I dont want to doubt Roy, but a weekly delivery of coal doesn't seem that much, given the number of locos at the depot and the use during a day. Does anybody know the number of locos serviced per day at Grantham?

Were any repairs made on shed at 34F? I assume that boilers were washed out, etc. but were any running repairs made, or were these done elsewhere?

Having read Peter Townend's 'Top Shed' again I wondered what happened at 34F given a large(ish) allocation of engines?

Sorry to ramble, but just trying to get a gist of things!

Oh, and has anybody ever come across details of the links or jobs from 34F in the late 50s/early 60s?

Ian

[strang steel]

I have been browsing around Flickr and came across these scans from spotting notes near Grantham (Hougham to be exact) in the summer of 1963.

It gives more flavour of the variety of locos to be seen in that year and also has the passing times for most trains.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/railwaydav ... 148268824/

[61070]

That's an interesting discovery. I wish my notes had half the information shown in these! A few pages later in the notebook there are records of time spent at Grantham station itself - pages 6-7 on 7/2/64 and page 8 on 31/3/64.

On workev's query about repairs, so far as I know Grantham was equipped to undertake the usual range of repairs carried out at a main running shed. Beside the new shed was an engine hoist for the removal of wheels. There was a machine shop, so that bearings could be overhauled and new bushes and pins for valve and brake gear etc. made and fitted. I expect that routine boilerwork, including tube and superheater element replacement, would regularly be carried out too. The developemnt of the facilities at the shed is described in Great Northern Railway Engine Sheds Vol. 1 (Southern Area), pages 93-101.

Two of the current monthlies have some late 1950s and 1960s Grantham interest. The front cover and pages 544-547 of BackTrack (Sept 2011) features some of Derek Penney's superb late '50s shots of A3s, both in action and on the shed. Steam World for September uses two evocative photos taken at the shed in February 1963 - on pages 8/9 (with gleaming new diesels) and 10 - to illustrate an article about shed life and work, though not at Grantham.

[strang steel]

What is interesting (to me) about page 7 is D6925 which appears to have passed north on an empty stock train.

Presumably Doncaster works had it on test for some reason, as it would be brand new in Feb 1964 and I think was already allocated to South Wales.