Lincoln (Durham Ox/Pelham Street) Junction/Crossing of Old

[R. pike]

Copy of K2 61770.jpg

Just found the attached among my collection, how or why I have it, I don't have a clue, but hopefully of interest. Mick.

Where's the lampman? He's about somewhere..

[lincsrob63]

I know there were two junctions, one known as Pelham Street Junction, and the other Durham Ox Junction, but as for the crossing itself....

The records of the House of Commons Parliamentary debate on the funding and approval of the construction of Pelham Bridge from 14 March 1955 is available on-line, in which Mr. de Freitas (MP for Lincoln at the time) on the one hand referred to the crossing as the 'Durham Ox Crossing', and Mr. Molson (the joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport) referred to it as 'Pelham Street Crossing'.

Thanks AndyRush for;

Durham Ox crossing in all the pre grouping records I have seen (including the GNR 1912 Appendix), Pelham Street crossing in the LNER 1947 Appendix. Any attempt to narrow down the renaming would be welcome!

Whilst I'd still like to discover the level crossing's official name, the impression I get is that with the crossing being called the 'Durham Ox Crossing' in GNR days, that name stuck with the people of Lincoln and subsequently it was always known by that name, even if LNER/BR later re-named it otherwise.

The era I'm looking to establish the name for is 1955, and as Mr. de Freitas MP is known to have referred to it as Durham Ox Crossing in March of that year, I think it's probably reasonable to assume it was still being referred to as such at that time, certainly by the people of Lincoln anyway.

Rob.

[Pyewipe Junction]

Hello Rob:
I would agree with you. When I used to catch the bus to go 'spotting on the Cowpaddle I used to get off at the last stop before St Mary's Street, cross the railway by Pelham Bridge, and then go down Great Northern Terrace. This stop was always known as the 'Durham Ox', even after the pub was demolished in late 1955 or early 1956. So it would be reasonable to assume the crossing was locally known as the 'Durham Ox Crossing' . I have no idea what the 'official' railway name was - but the railways were at times rather vague in naming their infrastructure in the Lincoln area. For example, the Sincil Bank signal box at the the fork of the Sleaford and Grantham lines was miles away from the actual Sincil Bank football ground and the Sincil Drain. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's 'Pelham Street'.

The signal box that controlled the railway crossing and junction across Pelham Street was Pelham Street Junction box, see here:

tiscali.co.uk/signalboxsite/PelhamStreetJunctionbox.html

so I think that puts the name of the junction beyond question.

[ExLindum]

Regarding whether it was called Durham Ox Junction or Pelham Street Junction, the Railway Clearing House 1908 Diagram of Lincoln calls it Durham Ox Junction, with no mention of Pelham Street. Interestingly, on the Ordnance Survey 1907 25":1 mile map, the text "Pelham Street Junction" is shown, but confusingly appears mid-way between the junction for the Loop Line/Sleaford Line and the junction for the Sleaford Line/Grantham Line. The text, and its location, are repeated on the OS 1956 1:10560 map. The link between the Barnetby line and the line into Lincoln Central is shown as single on the 1907 map, but not connected at its western end on the 1956 map. These OS maps are readily available on-line on the National Library of Scotland's website at maps.nls
Quail Maps does not name the present-day junction, but the adjacent signal box is shown as Pelham Street (PS).
Could I therefore suggest the following?
i) The junction was always known as Durham Ox Junction in GNR and LNER days, but at some time in the BR period became known as Pelham Street Junction.
ii) The level crossing was always known as Pelham Street Level Crossing.
iii) The junction of the Loop Line and Sleaford Line was the original Pelham Street Junction.
iv) The junction of the Sleaford Line was Sincil Junction.
Any comments or observations would be appreciated.

[Pyewipe Junction]

You may have a point here.

I wonder whether 'Durham Ox Junction' is where the ex-GC line curves away towards Market Rasen (and used to join the line from Lincoln St Mark's and 'Pelham Street Junction' was where the lines to Boston (decommissioned in 1962) and Sleaford/Grantham diverged.

No doubt some anorak will demand documentary proof. All I can say is the best of British...

[strang steel]

I have this signal diagram uploaded from the internet some years ago (apologies if I am contravening copyright).

[thesignalman]

There's another on my site here:
https://signalbox.org/~SBdiagram.php?id=%20412

John