1929 Minutes: Friday's Puzzle + clues.

[Jingling Geordie]

Part 1) In connection with the closing of which branch did the Finance Commitee minutes of the meeting held on the 9th of May 1929 propose that the LNER pay the LMS £5,000 as compenation for lost traffic.

Part 2) What is the current state of the lines elegant terminus? (As before I don't know the answer to part 2)

421

[Jingling Geordie]

This is a bit of a toughie so

The line was in LNER's Southern area.

The aristo who blocked the railway coming to his town which would have put it on the main line, once he realised that he'd made a collossal mistake, was instrumental in the building of the line concerned however it is noted in the minutes that he had raised no objection to the line's closure.

The town had two stations, one of which is still extant and operating.

421

[StevieG]

This is a bit of a toughie so

The line was in LNER's Southern area.

The aristo who blocked the railway coming to his town which would have put it on the main line, once he realised that he'd made a collossal mistake, was instrumental in the building of the line concerned however it is noted in the minutes that he had raised no objection to the line's closure.

The town had two stations, one of which is still extant and operating.

421

Part 1) - In that case, it's beginning to sound like Stamford (East) ?
Part 2) - Sorry, can't offer any report on current situation.

[Jingling Geordie]

Spot on Stevie G. There are two refs to the Stamford-Wansford line. The first was when the proposal was made. They estimjated that the cost of closure would be c£2.8k but the LNER would save c£2.5 pa.

The 2nd mentioned that though the Duke had made no complaint regarding the closure nor had he required any compensation, the LMS had complained stating that they would lose £25 worth of traffic revenue a year. The LNER offered £5k as a lump sum and the LMS had accepted this offer.In the 4th year of closure the LNER would finally start saving money.

At no time was the matter of the passengers or the freight customers ever raised.

So well done Steve, but can anyone tell us about Stamford East Stations current status?

421

[52D]

Does that station have a transport book business running from it.

[StevieG]

Does that station have a transport book business running from it.

Robert Humm's will be found in the "Station House" of the still-operational ex-MR Stamford station [at one time "Stamford Town"; possibly changed as a result of nationalisation, to differentiate it from the 'East' terminus, to which the branch from Essendine (now there's a one-time notable double-junction station location now all but undetectable) on the GN Main line, was still then open].
I believe, a few years ago, the redundant MR signal box structure was moved from a couple of hundred yards away by the up goods sidings, to a new location just off, or just on, the west end of the station's Up (eastbound) platform.

[52D]

Oh bugger i thought i had won some house points

[Jingling Geordie]

Found this on Wikipedia

Closure
The Wansford service never regained the traffic lost during the general strike, and closed to passengers in 1929. Ordnance Survey maps of 1946 show the line as in situ, but disused, from Stamford to half a mile north of Wansford Road station.[6] The Essendine service survived until 1959, but East station closed to passengers two years earlier in 1957 when services were diverted to the Midland station.

East station continued in use for a few years as a goods station, and Priory Siding survived into the 1970s although truncated to the Blackstone's works.

A final thought in 1929 the LMS was the worlds largest joint stock company yet it could still worry about £25 a year!

421

[StevieG]

Oh bugger i thought i had won some house points

Oh dear. Can you keep them if I say - '...I think. Of course, I MIGHT be wrong....' ?