Lincoln's Boat Train

[68501]

Hi Lincolnonian and Pyewipe. I moved to Lincoln in 1957 and the B17's were definitely on the boat train then. I believe it was sometime in early 1958 that I turned up at Central station one morning to find that the B17's had been superceeded by Britannia's, including 70000 Britannia itself on some occasions. I know that the locoshed book shows them as being at Stratford but I well remember them being on the boat train. I moved out of Lincoln to Willingham-by-Stow late 1958 and they were still around then.

I have been looking on the internet for the last train to Retford from Lincoln which I think ran on 2nd November 1959. A school trip was organised by my form teacher, George Hinchcliffe and if memory still serves me it was hauled by J11 64315. I think the only reason that I remember the loco was a photo taken by the local paper of which our copy has disappeared. I would be interested to know whether I have the date right as Google has let me down a bit there...

68501 (Lincoln Central station pilot)

[Pyewipe Junction]

Hello there: yes, the date is right, but,according to 'Great Central East of Sheffield Vol 1' by Geoffrey Hurst, the J11 was 64318 (40A). The train was organised by the Gainsborough Model Railway Society and had six coaches.

I remember being behind 64318 sometime in 1960 or 1961 on the 9 am to Doncaster for a day's 'spotting. It went like the powers of p*ss!

However, again according to Hurst, the very last train to use the direct Leverton line was a return excursion from Manchester to Boston, hauled by 61248 Geoffrey Gibbs (40A).

[40A]

Hello from yet another Old Lincolnian, and a subject very dear to my heart, as the B17's are ( or sadly were) my all time favourite class of locomotive. The boat train had a lot to do with that. I started spotting about 1956, when for most of the time Lincoln Central was not the most exciting of places, and I still remember that after what seemed like several hours of grimy Wd's and O4's the High Street gates swung open to reveal 61641 Gayton Hall in her usual immaculate condition. I was completely hooked straight away, and joined the crowd who jumped on the school bus straight after school every day to view the boat train and the Newcastle- Colchester, even though we lived uphill and no more than half a mile from school.

Gayton Hall I remember as being the most popular choice of loco, right up to the B17's last fling in the summer of '58, but 61619/20/26/27/43 and 57 also appeared a lot. We couldn't understand for some time why Doncaster Rovers was the only "Footballer" that appeared, until we cottoned on that it was the only one at March at the time. We also couldn't work out why the boat trian, which in our eyes was a very prestigious train had a B17 while the Newcastle- Colchester had a V2, which we knew to be more powerful and a main line class of loco. Grateful thanks to Torksey viaduct for keeping the train a B17 duty for so long. The V2 incidentally I remember as being almost always 60803, and the photos I've seen bear that out.

The first regular Britannia duty was in 1958, but on the Newcastle, not the boat train. March acquired 70035 Rudyard Kipling for about 9 months, and it monopolised the working during that time. I also remember being very puzzled that I could never find the nameplate on 68599 which was always station pilot at the time, and which was referred to by all and sundry as "Skylark". Well, I was only 11 years old! What happy days.

Gilbert.

[AndyRush]

Gilbert

It is interesting to know what 70035 did whilst it was at March from July 58 to January 59. Presumably the duties must have been shuffled about whilst it was there. The longstanding March V2 quintet were all there during that period and although a couple of March B17's bit the dust in March and May, there were no further withdrawals until 61619 and 61633 went in September. Perhaps the displaced V2 was redeployed onto freight work.

Andy

[60129 GUY MANNERING]

I take it that you made a typographical error on the first page "Pyewipe Junction" ?

Quote:- My 1959 Summer ER timetable shows the northbound Boat Train leaving Lincoln Central at 1146 and the southbound at 1646. I started 'spotting in 1958 and, although I haven't kept my records, I can recall the locos used were: B17s up to 1958, V2s and B1s up to late 1960, 'Brits' up to late 1961 and EE Class 37s from late 1961 onwards. I think Brush Class 33s also made appearances from time to time. All locos were from March.

Kind Regards.

[robertcwp]

I wrote some notes on the carriage workings for this train a few months ago, which I posted to my coaching stock group. They may also be of interest here. See link below (best to right click and do Save Target As).

Comments, corrections and additional information welcome.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32711444/Articl ... 0-4-11.pdf

[Q4b4462]

I have been looking on the internet for the last train to Retford from Lincoln which I think ran on 2nd November 1959. A school trip was organised by my form teacher, George Hinchcliffe and if memory still serves me it was hauled by J11 64315. I think the only reason that I remember the loco was a photo taken by the local paper of which our copy has disappeared. I would be interested to know whether I have the date right as Google has let me down a bit there...

' Not the same topic exactly but in June 2011 'Forward' from the GCRS (P6-7) is a brief piece on the last run by J11 64354. This was on Sat 13th October 1962, arranged by Gainsborough MRS and badged as the GMRS J11 Farewell Special. It ran from Lincoln to Gainsborough and Retford.

Dave

[Trevtherev]

Hi there,

One of my big adventures as a child in the fifties and sixties was catching the Liverpool to Harwich Boat Train via Lincoln.

My Dad was from Liverpool and my Mum was from Ipswich. In the school summer, we boarded at Liverpool Central to see our Suffolk relatives!

http://www.trainmadgrandad.uk/boattrain.htm