Returning to Grantham

[rob237]

...we managed to sneak round the sheds without any trouble where I photographed this scruffy A4, can anyone identify it, 60025?

Condition and nameplate length rather suggests 60023 Golden Eagle...
Cheers
Robt P.

[StevieG]

It is indeed the operating equipment for the pneumatic points and it almost certainley York. Newcastle 512 points were on the goods lines at the west end of the station.

Thanks 52A. I ought to have mentioned that signalling diagrams would probably have identified the location, and poinpointed the precise spot.
I've a feeling that the 1930s signalling at Leeds City also used E-P points, but there are probably those who really know....

[stembok]

Photograph of A4 may have been earlier than 1964 as Grantham shed closed 8/9/63 and the 02s in the picture went at this time. .The A4 may be one of New England's. Most of them were very dirty in their last months .The last A4s left the ER either withdrawn or transferred to Scotland 10/63, with only 60001/2/20 left in England at 52A.
D9009 is on 1E29 the midday Hull-K/X - C13.30 from Doncaster - a regular running in and crew training turn for the class.

[61070]

Hello lincolnian – you have a much better memory than me. I have just realised that I previously posted this shot (of 60030) to accompany a photo of, possibly, the same man (certainly someone wearing beret and BR-issue safety goggles) climbing up into, or down from, A3 60044's cab, and you kindly commented on them (on 7th April 2009). It was at photos-of-footplatemen-at-grantham-1962 ... 259s0.html
However, because I am bumping up against the numerical limit for attachments I have to remove attachments from my older posts, so you won't find the 60030 or 60044 pictures there anymore.

Thanks for the new photos of Falcon, Firbeck. In the winter 1962-63 timetable 1G60 was The Sheffield Pullman working in the down direction. I have found the 'timetables' section of The Chronicles of Napier website to be very helpful with the identification of ECML passenger services from their 4-character headcodes, in this case: http://www.napier-chronicles.co.uk/wtt62-63.htm

Re. Flamingo's query I have two pictures of an occasion when D0260 Lion called at Grantham in October 1963, also on The Sheffield Pullman. I'll look them out sometime. Interesting comment too on who the chap in 60030's cab might be. Perhaps someone will recognise him.

I love the story of the home-built 'tranny' saving you from eviction. Like you I fully sympathise with the station management. They will have known that in 1898, at Wellingborough on the Midland Main Line, a very serious derailment, resulting in 7 fatalities, was caused by a platform trolley getting onto the line.
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/resu ... e=10446513
I expect that no Station Master was going to put up with that risk on his patch. In some of the photos you can see that unattended trolleys were usually secured to part of the station structure, chains being fixed to the awning support pillars for this purpose.
While confirming the date of the Wellingborough accident (which is etched into our family record because my grandfather and his brothers and sister were brought up in Wellingborough and they were taken to see the wreckage) I came across this 'LNER' example of heroism in a similar situation on the NBR at Polmont in 1911 http://www.scotcities.com/carnegie/hero.htm

Behind D248 in the picture is the section roof over the Nottingham bay which, I'm told, partially collapsed due to weight of snow during the winter of 1963-64. It was still there in October 1963 but was certainly gone by summer 1964.

Thanks, stembok, for the info on 60530's return to traffic, which appears to accord with the date I've attributed to these pictures.

Does anyone recall the mid-50's Grantham Station-Master, who was built like a double wardrobe... Gilbert? Seemed very strict with the urchins at his platform ends but who, on reflection, was quite tolerant - given what some of them got up to...

I think I can help here. Is this the man you mean, at the centre of the back row in the photograph below of staff taken on 15th August 1963? Seems to fit your description! If it is, it's Harold Scampion. He retired two months later, and The Grantham Journal must have sent a reporter down to the station to interview him:

Grantham stationmaster retired last night after 51 years railway service

This morning 65-years-old Mr. Harold Scampion, Grantham stationmaster since 1947, will wake up with time to read a book, with more time to spend with his wife and with no timetable – this is how he sees himself after retirement, at midnight last night, from the railway service after 51 years, 35 of them as a stationmaster.

Mr. and Mrs. Scampion are to move from "The Poplars," Station-road, Grantham, to make their home in a bungalow at Harlaxton.

A native of Doncaster, he left school there at 13.

His first job was as a junior clerk in a Doncaster solicitor's office for a few months. He left to become a learner clerk on the railway in 1912 at Conisborough, Yorkshire.

He transferred to the district superintendent's office at Doncaster in 1913 and in the First World War served first in the infantry and later as an accountant in the railway operations [sic.] division of the Royal Engineers in Italy.

After the war he returned to Doncaster. He was drafted to Marylebone, London, in 1922, and in the following year returned to Doncaster – back to the traffic superintendent's office.

In 1928 he moved to Honnington to become a stationmaster, and in 1931 he took over Caythorpe station as well. Then in 1934 he took over Barnby Dun station in Yorkshire. His next transfer was to New Southgate, London, in 1941, and two years later he became stationmaster at Welwyn Garden City.

On June 30th 1947, he became stationmaster at Grantham. During his time here he saw the passing of the steam era at his station, just a few weeks ago.

In 1959 he was appointed president of Grantham Rotary Club.

(from The Grantham Journal, Friday 25th October 1963, page 12)

[rob237]

I think I can help here. Is this this the man you mean...

Yes indeed, that's him...thanks for your research!
Now that I've seen it written, his name also rings true...
IIRC, his house on Station Road "went with the job", and was virtually opposite the Lincoln bay buffers.

Also recognise the small porter, extreme right top row.
Seem to remember, despite his size, that he could carry double the weight of any of his colleagues!

Cheers
Robt P.

[Flamingo]

Hello lincolnian – you have a much better memory than me. I have just realised that I previously posted this shot (of 60030) to accompany a photo of, possibly, the same man (certainly someone wearing beret and BR-issue safety goggles) climbing up into, or down from, A3 60044's cab, and you kindly commented on them (on 7th April 2009). It was at photos-of-footplatemen-at-grantham-1962 ... 259s0.html
However, because I am bumping up against the numerical limit for attachments I have to remove attachments from my older posts, so you won't find the 60030 or 60044 pictures there anymore.

Re. Flamingo's query I have two pictures of an occasion when D0260 Lion called at Grantham in October 1963, also on The Sheffield Pullman. I'll look them out sometime. Interesting comment too on who the chap in 60030's cab might be. Perhaps soemone will recognise him.

Yes I would like to see the pictures of Lion sometime. I missed that one altogether. GT3 was another experimental that I never saw, but I don't think it ever appeared on the ECML.

Re the beret & goggles man, I don't think he can be the driver in the picture of 60030. For one thing, he's not actually looking out from the driver's cabside window, it looks as if he's standing behind the driver's seat and looking out from the cab entrance. It seems a strange place for the driver whether the train was due to call at Grantham or not. He might be some kind of inspector of course monitoring the crew on that occasion for whatever reason.

As I said before I think I've seen him in a published photograph, but that would be very hard to track down. Another name that comes to mind as someone who wrote about footplate journeys was R. I. Nelson, whose name also crops up in a Nock book. One other but remote possibility is P Ransome-Wallis, but I met him once and I don't think it can be him.

[61070]

Yes indeed, that's him...thanks for your research!

Thanks Rob - I didn't actually need to do much because I already had the article on file, copied from the local paper which the local library has on microfilm. Fortunately Grantham was big enough to have its own weekly newspaper and, the railway having such a significant role in the town in those days, railway happenings get quite regular mentions. I said 'was' there, but the title's very much still going these days.

One story which I read in the paper from those days (reported on 6 July 1962), but regrettably I didn't copy, was when two quite young Nottingham lads (sorry, Firbeck and friends, but obviously not yourselves) were up before the magistrate at Grantham for throwing train light bulbs out of the windows of their coach as they travelled home. Unfortunately, for them, one of the bulbs fell close to a crossing keeper, and he phoned ahead to BTP with details of which carriage etc. to investigate. To the boys' surprise, I expect, The Law was waiting to interview them on arrival at Nottingham. I seem to remember that they got a serious talking to and a fine of a few pounds.

Going back to haulage of The Sheffield Pullman I have notes that indicate that we saw D6800 on this train a few times, but no photo apart from a receding shot in which the loco is indistinct. It seemed to be a service which was regularly used for the evaluation of motive power units, but was D6800 a prototype, or experimental in any way?

[stembok]

61070: I've never heard anything about D6800 being in any way experimental or special. The Sheffield Pullmans began life 1958 operated with the original 5 Hornsey EE4s and as these moved off the GN 1961 Brush Type2s took their place. There were also the various interludes over the years with the prototypes, 'Falcon' etc. By 1962 Sheffield Darnall (later Tinsley) would have been receiving an allocation of EE3s which they began to put to use on this service. D6800 was new to service 12/62.

[60129 GUY MANNERING]

Hello John,
we met when you were at Grantham Library and then again at Grantham Railway Society. As "Stembok" rightly say's the Darnall Type 3's were often used and I have a slide of D6744 on the "Pullman". I also have a picture of Brush Type 2 D5642 putting in an appearance on it earlier than 1962.
Regards.

[Firbeck]

One story which I read in the paper from those days (reported on 6 July 1962), but regrettably I didn't copy, was when two quite young Nottingham lads (sorry, Firbeck and friends, but obviously not yourselves) were up before the magistrate at Grantham for throwing train light bulbs out of the windows of their coach as they travelled home. Unfortunately, for them, one of the bulbs fell close to a crossing keeper, and he phoned ahead to BTP with details of which carriage etc. to investigate. To their surprise, I expect, The Law was waiting to interview them on arrival at Nottingham. I seem to remember that they got a serious talking to and a fine of a few pounds.

The only 'naughty' thing we ever did was on the last ever passenger train from Sheffield Vic to Nottingham Victoria, 3/9/66-4/9/66. Considering it was such a momentous occasion, we were rather surprised to find that the only people on the train consisted of my dad, me and a couple of mates and the guard, unbelievable!
We went up the train, pulled those brass plugs out of the toilet floors and dropped toilet rolls down them, tied to the basin taps. Any other bog rolls we found, we tied to the carriage door handles and let them flow in the slipstream, the guard thought it was hilarious.
So that was it, the last northern train into Nottingham Vic arrived flapping bog rolls all over the place, well, it looked impressive and made a point. I recall going out the station for the last time and the ticket collector was absolutely pissed, we wanted to keep our tickets, but he wasn't having any of it, my old man subtley threatened him with not properly fullfilling his duties, but there was gibberish talk about the police, it was late, we were tired and couldn't be bothered, so we left, a sad end to a great station.

[61070]

The previous group of pictures was taken on 24th May 1962 using my father's preferred black and white film Adox KB17, rated at ASA200. Four weeks or so later we were back, but this time with the new (introduced in 1961) Kodachrome II colour film in the camera. At ASA25 this was 3 stops slower than the KB17, although it was twice as fast as Kodachrome film available before 1961 had been. Kodachrome-X, ASA64, came out in 1962.

The date of these pictures is proposed as 21st June 1962 but, like the previous film, the evidence is circumstantial – see caption 2.

1. These two lads appear to have been on the station with us for most of the afternoon.

2. The 14:00 from King’s Cross to Edinburgh, The Heart of Midlothian, heads north past platform 3’s ornate gas lamps.

The locomotive is No.D9000 Royal Scots Grey, which received its name on Monday 18th June 1962 at a ceremony at Edinburgh Waverley prior to departure at 10:00 on the up Flying Scotsman service.
My date for this visit – 21st June 1962 – is based on (i) the fact that all our trips to Grantham took place on Thursday afternoons, and (ii) the observation that the locomotive's special finish for the naming ceremony is still very fresh. As before, evidence that confirms or disputes this date will be very welcome.

A gas lamp case (the glazed part at the top of the post) from Grantham, possibly one of those on the right, was sold for £600 at an auction of railway memorabilia in 2002 (ref. Sheffield Railwayana Auctions, May 12th 2002, lot 60).

3. V2 60950 gets a down fully fitted freight under way, passing the north end of the station.

4. An up train departs, hauled by 60029 Woodcock. One of our two friends is on the right.

5. This photograph was the last of the day, taken from a window of our Nottingham-bound train at platform 4 (now 3) almost certainly headed by an L1. Beyond Grantham North 'box the starting signal appears to be 'off' for our departure.

Travelling home by train was a special treat – first to Nottingham Victoria and then on the GC back to Leicester. This took much longer, and was more expensive, than the hourly Midland Red or Lincolnshire Road Car Co. bus that we caught on Harlaxton Road, less than five minutes' walk from Grantham station, and which stopped just across the road from our house. On arrival at Leicester Central by train we still had a mile or so to walk or bus home.

Soon after leaving Grantham we will pass the remains of the multi-chorded, but by then largely abandoned, ‘flyover’ junction at Bottesford with the GN and L&NW Joint line. Approaching Nottingham, Colwick shed might be glimpsed across acres of sidings. The cavernous Victoria station always impressed. Though dirty and run-down it still had an air of grandeur, and interest was heightened by the approach and departure through gloomy, smoke-laden tunnels. Rattling over the Midland station on, or rather through, that gigantic girder bridge was another experience to be savoured.

[Flamingo]

More great pictures 61070! They could make a fine album if collected together for publication, and you have the text and stories to go with them. Have you considered anything of that kind? If not I might be able to suggest a contact.

PS Woodcock's tender looks generously supplied with coal for a 105 mile run to London. And super-nostalgia: the lads on the barrow with the ex-Army haversacks - the must-have item for the serious enthusiast.

[2512silverfox]

The photo of 60950 has an interesting bit of an ex GC Barnum saloon behind the buffer beam.

[stembok]

61070: V2 60950 carrying a 34F Grantham shed plate. Transferred to Grantham from King's Cross from 17/6/62. Note 60029 listed as slide 10 ( D9000 down H.O.M, slide 3 C 15.45, if on time) possibly 29 on up Leeds or Doncaster by amount of coal on tender, eg 16.28 up semi-fast from Doncaster, a regular K/X Pacific turn at that time.

[61070]

Thanks for the haulage history, and the information about EE Type 3 operation, of The Sheffield Pullman stembok and 60129, and also for the date of transfer of 60950 to Grantham and the observations on the service possibly being hauled by 60029. Its recent move from 34A explains the clean condition of the V2 for a Grantham engine of that time, which is something I had wondered about. I've been told that because the shed was being run down (the closure, which took place in September 1963, was formally announced during 1962 though I don't know when) they were not taking on new staff, and the cleaners they still had were normally out on firing turns, rather than in the shed and available for cleaning duty. It was all a bit depressing for men with a fine tradition behind them.

I did some research a while ago on the Barnum that's visible in one or two of the pictures. It is the former E5666 which in the 1950s became DE320709, a mobile workshop based in the Peterborough area. Preserved as part of the NRM collection, it is currently on loan to the Great Central Railway Rolling Stock Trust and is kept at Ruddington (see http://www.gcr-rollingstocktrust.co.uk/ ... ce=sitemap).

Flamingo - thanks for your suggestion of an album. It would be good to put the pictures and the stories associated with them into a more permanent published format. In a sense I look upon putting them up on these pages, and giving the occasional show, as a form of publication, although obviously they are both very ephemeral. On the other hand the interaction, which one would not get with a printed album, is both extremely enjoyable and informative. I think I'm looking at this as a first stage, a prelude to moving on to something more lasting - an album and/or a website and/or a CD/DVD? It could be one or all of these I suppose. Dad's pictures encompass much more than railways, so ideally something that can grow and be linked together. I've recently been in touch briefly with a chap in Birmingham called Mark Norton who's inherited his own father's photographs, many of which are of railway subjects (though few relate to the LNER - Goole shed in 1950 comes to mind). Mark has a website http://www.photobydjnorton.com/index.html . Anyway, I'm rambling on here. As you can tell my thoughts are far from settled, and all suggestions and ideas are welcome.