The LNER Encyclopedia

I wonder if anyone can answer a trivial question that has become an obsession with me? I've tried other groups but no-one has a clue,

Now I know that in 1947 the body was laid to rest but certainly at least in East Anglia its soul goes marching on. So can anybody tell me why in the Map issued in this month's Railway Magazine which shows BR in 1948 and in the map issued in 1950 by BR's Eastern Region's Estate Surveyors (50.LPY.II) is the name "Southwold" shown. Every place name on the latter map relates to a location that the Surveyors had a responsibility for.

So what was at Southwold. The narrow guage railway to Halesworth might have come into the LNER's possession at grouping but by 1948 it was long closed. Even if the name was left on by mistake why was it ever there?

Was there a responsibility for the Pier, a lorry served freight yard, or even a bus depot?


Jingling Geordie

I don't know the answer to your question but it's good to see another of those great NBR Scott class names among our ranks.

I thought exactly the same when i saw his post this morning. I cant help either even though i had a quick shufti round Southwold whilst working down there last year.

Checking the system map in Part 1 of the RCTS Green I noticed that Seahouses was another place marked but with no rail connection. Didn't it also once have a line?

Flamingo you need to go here http://www.lner.info/co/NSR/index.shtml

G'Day Gents
I'm not sure, but it could be, that when the LNER closed the railway to passengers, it provided a bus service in it's stead, and when BR took over they kept the bus service going, Southwold was served by BR, hence it was marked on the map of the day.
manna

Watto all.

I'm used to web-sites where you are notified if a posting you're involved with has had had a reply. So I was quite surprised to find your responses.

Now regarding Seahouses I believe it was on the North Sunderland Railway and perhaps was it's terminus. I think the line was a failry straight spur from the main line?

The Scotts had some wonderful names but Jingling Geordie stuck for the falling amusing reason.

Me and and Richard Haddingham used to bunk into Stratford shed by walking off the low level platform and following the "right" track. My memory maybe faulty but there were scrapping lines on which there were a few wheeled coupling rod and body-less chassis. Each had its number chalked on it.

At the time of "copping" we merely wrote the number down. It was only when we got home and looked it up that we'd found it was apparently "Jingling Geordie*. Imagine our delight when we thought we'd found a "Scott"! I doubt whether we wondered whether of not the chassis had been a 4-4-0. Nor why it had wandered so far from Dunfermline.

62430

but 421 to me mates.

Stratford was not an easy shed to get into for unofficial visits. I never tried it the way you described from the LL platforms but I did once succeed from the other end, by access via Temple Mills yard. The engine I wanted to see was an ex-works 51F Standard 2-6-0 and luckily it was standing in the shed yard at that end of the main shed building. Having copped it I didn't try my luck any farther on that occasion. However I did once get into Stratford Old Works unofficially, the place nearest the station not the one within the running shed area.

I remember seeing withdrawn engines in the location you mentioned but they were always D16s or other ex-GER types. The chances of finding a Scott there were zilch to the nth degree. On Hornsey Bridge we sometimes used to check peoples notebooks and ABCs for evidence of cop-fudging, such as the numerous instances where Scottish area N2s had been claimed by lads who had never been north of the Border but had just written the numbers down carelessly.

Watto Flamingo,
It wasn't Jingling Geordie, some wag had chalked the number on for a laugh. I found Stratford a doddle and was never thrown out unlike Kings Cross where we were once chased by dogs!!! I never managed to get into Camden without tagging onto a "Permit" group.

421

Yes, I agree about the difficulty of Top Shed 34A. On the other hand I never had a problem at Camden, not that I did it all that often. Copped a Clan there once, by the time I saw it I think they'd given up trying to keep people out that day.

My biggest failure was one October Sunday afternoon in 1956 at March 31B. We did the first part OK and were on the way to the larger of the two shed buildings, taking cover behind a row of coal trucks to screen our route and so avoid being thrown out. Somehow, to this day I don't known how, we were seen and confronted by the shedmaster and escorted off the premises. Later on back at Peterborough waiting for our return train to KX we met someone else who had successfully completed an unofficial visit to the whole of March depot. Imagine my reaction on learning that both the B17s I still needed to complete the class (61626 and 61641) were in the main shed that we didn't get round! I never did see those two. That was a great shame as I had seen all the rest including the ones withdrawn in the early 1950s.

Meanwhil back at Southwold, I was flicking through some LNER minutes for 1929 and came across two entries for Southwold.

The first informed the board that the Southwold Railway was unable to pay a dividend on its stock. The second a few months later told the LNER that the Southwold Railway had ceased operating and that as a major stock holder the LNER would have an interest in the Company's Liquidation.

One of the many parties I've contacted was the Southwold Railway Trust. But they didn't have the faintest idea what BR's interest might have been. I've also contacted the GER Society and the NRM.

Thanks for your time,

421