Conversation Starter

[Malcolm]

Never seen a photo like this before.

Malcolm

[52A]

They seemed to be happy at their work in those days as well!

[52A]

Bet they weren't happy either.

[stembok]

52A: May? 1965. 4G98 to Newcastle New Bridge Street D352? ran through the down loop at Preston le Skerne some 8 miles north of Darlington and was struck by the Manchester - Newcastle 'papers' D350? I don't remember any reports of serious injuries - fortunately.The diesel was knocked on its side and recovery from the marshy Bradbury Carrs was quite a job. Local farmers used tractors and trailers to take the papers to the nearest road for onward transit to Newcastle. The diesel was monitored each day to see how much it had settled before recovery was attempted. Incidentally,at around this very same time a USAF Super Sabre jet fighter also crashed in this area, again fortunately, the pilot survived. One of the local farmers told a reporter that he was waiting in trepidation for the third event in the series! Things were soon moving again. Had it happened today the ECML would have been closed for a month!

[52A]

Yes spot on apart from the locos, it is D350 in the ditch. This area is Preston Carrs, very flat, marshy and prone to flooding. There were up and down loops controlled from Preston le Skerne box, long gone. Apparently the Driver nodded off so the loco thought it may as well have a lie down as well! The loco had to be separated from its bogies before lifting due to weight restrictions on the reach of the cranes. As you say the railway would have been closed for months under today’s regime, especially if those clowns from the transport police became involved, they would probably still have had people on bail!

[stembok]

As the winter of 1962-63 came to an end - one of the longest and worst of the century - there was of course meltwater and flooding all over. I remember being on 1A39 G'gow -K/x 9/3/63, A4 60032 and on the stretch of line in the photo there was a vast lake either side of the tracks. There was also a temporary 60 m.p.h limit at least on this stretch. Of course this whole area is part of a glacial outwash plain from an earlier ice age through the Ferryhill gap so it was living up to its past.
52A have you any idea why the area around Bradbury summit just to the north was known to enginemen as "linger and die" ?

[52A]

Yes it was always Linger and Die. I was told that it related to a colliery of that name but I can find no trace of it, nor can I find anything with that name on old OS maps. Perhaps it was a local nickname, the origin probably lost in the mists of time. Railway nicknames, another fascinating subject! Can anyone tell me why a Tweedmouth Driver was called Catwire!? Or a Blaydon Driver was called Metal Neck!? I know many others, some not suitable for publication!

[52A]

It would appear that Linger and Die was a nickname for Leasingthorne Colliery, which was a couple of miles to the west near Coundon.

[stembok]

Thanks 52A have wondered for years about that one. In your photo of the contretemp at Preston le Skerne I wonder whether they ever reinstated the down loop as Preston, Bradbury and Aycliffe signal boxes were closed at the end of that year (1965)with colour light signalling introduced. I remember one of the Bradbury signallers C1961 having very bad relations with one of the men in the next blockpost north at Ferryhill who would try to generally make life awkward for him. This led to steams of profanities over the phone which came drifting down on the summer breeze through the open windows of the box.

[52A]

I don't think was much damage to the loop but alas I cannot remember if they were used again. Signalmen could be a funny lot, I think after years of working alone they sometimes found it difficult to get along with each other. I found this in some of the larger boxes where there were several men on shift, Darlington seemed to suffer from this.

[Bryan]

[quote]52A have you any idea why the area around Bradbury summit just to the north was known to enginemen as "linger and die" ?quote]

A few years back during the panic rerailing after Hatfield, I was involved in the rerailing between Newton Aycliffe and Ferryhill and had to work throughout this stretch.
The name Linger and Die came up and the explanation I was given was
"If you hesitate crossing the track its too late." If you get the meaning. Apparently there is a high incident rate just here.

At the same time as the rerailing the flood water at the time was lapping the sleeper ends for about 3/4s of a mile through this stretch.

[52A]

http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/dre.n ... singthorne

Have a look at this link.

[52A]

52A have you any idea why the area around Bradbury summit just to the north was known to enginemen as "linger and die" ?quote]

A few years back during the panic rerailing after Hatfield, I was involved in the rerailing between Newton Aycliffe and Ferryhill and had to work throughout this stretch.
The name Linger and Die came up and the explanation I was given was
"If you hesitate crossing the track its too late." If you get the meaning. Apparently there is a high incident rate just here.

At the same time as the rerailing the flood water at the time was lapping the sleeper ends for about 3/4s of a mile through this stretch.

Surely it should be red zone prohibited then!

[Bryan]

Surely it should be red zone prohibited then!

Definately.
But the name came from pre Network, Railtrack and even BR.

[L&Y Man]

They seemed to be happy at their work in those days as well!

I was always given to understand that the long exposures required for photography in those days meant that the subject had to hold his pose for some time. This is why everyone seemed to have a dour expresion.

L&Y Man