Mystery photo of 60001

[BJamieson]

Taking the original caption at face value i.e. the location is between Newcastle and Edinburgh (in that direction), then we can say straight away it's not in Scotland, the ECML being exclusively semaphore signalled there in steam days (except in the environs of Waverley station). For reasons I've previously stated, and about which I'm now certain (having located my own photographs of the north end of the station in 1964/65), it's not Berwick. That being the case, it has to be concluded that the train is standing 'wrong line' at another station in Northumberland, of which the most likely candidates would be Morpeth and Alnmouth. 52D has already cast doubts on Alnmouth - and the lighting would be wrong anyway as the line runs SSE to NNW there - which leads me to believe it could be Morpeth. The line runs WSW to ENE through the station, so the lighting would be correct for mid morning, also I seem to remember there were a couple of tracks to the north of the down platform but otherwise I'm not that familiar with Morpeth station, so it's over to others to comment.
But why wrong line? - well, the ECML could have been blocked between Benton and Morpeth, necessitating a diversion via Backworth and Choppington, and the train has come off the branch into the up platform with the A4 now hooked on at the Edinburgh end to head north. I've experienced at least one diversion this way in more recent years, but using the north to east connection at Morpeth, which was only constructed after steam finished.
Finally, I feel there is too much foliage visible in the background for it to be taken in March.

Bill

[stembok]

Not sure whether this helps ,but many years ago Tommy Knox was kind enough to send me a printout of some observations of 60001. There is an entry for 1/8/64 - a Saturday - which reads, "Noted at Morpeth on Whitley Bay - Glasgow". Now this could merely mean having been seen passing Morpeth on a down train, with 60001 on the train from Newcastle .Or did some services -or perhaps a special - from Whitley Bay sometimes head directly for Morpeth bypassing Newcastle, which might have been handy on a busy summer Saturday at the 'Central'? By this time August ,1964, 60001's appearances seem to be fairly irregular, with many day's sightings simply being noted as "on Gateshead shed".
P.S, I do not have a 1964 timetable,but in the 1961 summer edition there is a S.O 09.55 Whitley Bay -Glasgow runs 8th July until 12th August. It calls at Bedlington at 10.19 to quote "pick up only for Scotland". So it does seem that there may indeed have been a Saturday direct service northbound missing Newcastle, which may possibly explain the presence of 60001 wrong line at Morpeth.

[61070]

Thanks again for all the discussion and suggestions. I think it's beginning to look as if northbound at Morpeth is a front runner. Could it be that 60001 has just been coupled on, the train having arrived from the Coast with another locomotive, and the man standing on the platform is a shunter? He's certainly standing right opposite the end of the tender, as if checking to ensure that all is OK with the connections before the train sets off.

[52A]

Yes I think I must agree with that point of view. The train engine from W Bay would be on the opposite end of the train coming via the Avenue branch and Bedlington and 60001 would have backed on from the north. I rather think that the gent in question would be Mr Smailes.

[BJamieson]

If 60001 had arrived light engine from Gateshead, driver Smailes would still have got his last run from Newcastle to Edinburgh with this loco, albeit without a train for the first 15 miles or so!
Bill

[third-rail]

If 60001 had arrived light engine from Gateshead, driver Smailes would still have got his last run from Newcastle to Edinburgh with this loco, albeit without a train for the first 15 miles or so!
Bill

these trains where run to co-incide with the glasgow annual holidays ,as whitley bay was one of there holiday spots,and on one occasion we went from south gosforth to helensburgh by this route returning two weeks later direct to newcastle and on the outward trip it rained cats and dogs and the only time i have seen an umberella used inside!!!!!!!. i think these trains where all regulation tickets.

[4498]

Dear All

Thank you so much for all of the information you provided for my mystery photo, my family were very interested in your comments.

I have always been interested in railways, my Dad was a guard at Newcastle Central Station for more than 30 years and our family travelled around a lot on the railway systems, he was a mine of information on all things railway and would have been interested in your comments about the mystery photo.

I chose my user name 4498 from a photo of the Sir Nigel Gresley steam train which was an unforgettable trip out for my brothers on 7th September 1975 to York with our Dad.

Thanks again for all your help and special thanks to 61070 for all of his help too.

Best regards
4498

[52D]

Welcome to the forum 4498 as you probably know by now we like our little detective stories on here. I hope you enjoy our discussion and debate.

52D

[52A]

Welcome to the forum 4498, do you have any more mysteries, we love trying to solve mysteries! I worked at the Central from 1980 until 1992 so I may have known your dad, the railway is a small world.

[Wansbeck]

I've come into this debate a bit late, I'm afraid, but my first reaction when I saw the photo was that it certainly could have been Morpeth as I remember it. Certainly the rural aspect that is visible beyond the locomotive would fit. I was away from there by the time this photo was taken but I do remember that there used to be a couple of trains from Glasgow to Whitley Bay (and return) in connection with the Glasgow Fair holiday so that would fit as well.
(Never quite worked out why the Glaswegians were so keen on Whitley Bay, but that's another story!)
If this came off the branch it would certainly have ended up on the up platform.

[stembok]

In these days of easily available air travel it is easy to forget that in the early 1960s the all in package holiday abroad was a new concept just really beginning to take off, the result of increasing affluence. In addition car ownership, though growing fast, was at a fraction of todays level and road travel could be slow and tedious as the motorway programme was just coming on stream. So, we had those hordes of - often uneconomic -Saturday relief trains for holiday makers, some to places which may seem a strange choice today, Whitley Bay, Saltburn Scarborough, Whitby in the north east. It may seem bizarrre to us to spend a week there, in the light of people's changed expectations since , but many people only got a week's holiday a year and a holiday away from home was still a novelty for many. Those were the days, Out of your boarding house by 10.00 come sunshine or rain and don't come back until tea time! Rainy days aimlessly wandering the amusement arcades or visiting the cinema in Scarbrough, wearing those cheap, shapeless plastic paka macs, an emergency buy in Woolworths for 1/-, tired ,damp, dispirited, praying for tea time to come. Oh joy!

[manna]

G'day Gents
I took my family to North Wales on our annual holidays, we stayed in Llandudno and went by car, on a very wet day, we had a drive to Bangor, where we found a very good bakery, a few minutes later we left the shop with some lovely cream buns, because of the rain we ran back to the car,when we got in the car we found to our dismay that the rain had soaked through the paper bag, and all we had was a hole?? all togeather now 'Did'n't we have a lovely day the day we went to Bangor'--------Not-
manna
PS we could just make out the station through the rain???

[giner]

In these days of easily available air travel it is easy to forget that in the early 1960s the all in package holiday abroad was a new concept just really beginning to take off, the result of increasing affluence. In addition car ownership, though growing fast, was at a fraction of todays level and road travel could be slow and tedious as the motorway programme was just coming on stream. So, we had those hordes of - often uneconomic -Saturday relief trains for holiday makers, some to places which may seem a strange choice today, Whitley Bay, Saltburn Scarborough, Whitby in the north east. It may seem bizarrre to us to spend a week there, in the light of people's changed expectations since , but many people only got a week's holiday a year and a holiday away from home was still a novelty for many. Those were the days, Out of your boarding house by 10.00 come sunshine or rain and don't come back until tea time! Rainy days aimlessly wandering the amusement arcades or visiting the cinema in Scarbrough, wearing those cheap, shapeless plastic paka macs, an emergency buy in Woolworths for 1/-, tired ,damp, dispirited, praying for tea time to come. Oh joy!

LOL! Those were the days, indeed! Kind of tempers one's fondness for things past. We'd never had it so good, remember?

We took our first continental holiday, to Italy, in 1967 for the princely sum of 23 pounds each all-inclusive. I don't know how British resorts fare these days, but I recently saw a TV documentary about the now-and-then scenario of Blackpool. It showed how that one-time mecca for holidaymakers had declined drastically. It showed Blackpool beach on a recent August long weekend, and it was almost deserted in comparison to what they called 'the wakes', a time when it seemd the entire industrial north closed down for a week, and Blackpool was a seething mass of people. How times change.

[61070]

I chose my user name 4498 from a photo of the Sir Nigel Gresley steam train which was an unforgettable trip out for my brothers on 7th September 1975 to York with our Dad.

Hello 4498,

Here you are at Grantham on 24th May 1962, in one of my Dad's pictures. Yes, it is you - they changed your number a couple of times as you grew older, then in early retirement you went back to the 4498 of your youth. I think you're 60007 again now (and painted a rather fetching blue!).

A nice way to celebrate my 100th post - with a photo of Sir Nigel's 100th pacific!

[manna]

G'Day Gents
Great pic of SNG,love the wonkey head lamp and the A4 painted on the bufferbeam,todays pic's are to perfect
manna