Returning to Grantham

[Andy W]

I am still taking in the amazing detail in these shots. In the one of No 29, looking past the loco to all those wagons, including some nice conflats. Take a look inside E34173 and see those passengers quietly reading away. Truly a window into a different age.

It is that detail in these shots that takes your breath away - the small things are what hit you, the water dripping gently from a pipe, the pattern of dirt around an object, even the intimate state of the PW around 60950.

I echo the sentiments about a book - these would make an incredible album but you would have to publish in large format to appreciate all the detail!

p.s. in the shot of 60530 in the previous batch, do I spy a D344 Thompson full brake on the left, complete with Flying/Junior Scotsman fairing at Solebar level?

[61070]

Here we are on Thursday, 16th August 1962, and the direction of the sun in the first few pictures of this film shows that we must have arrived during the morning.

1. I wonder what it has taken to persuade Mum (presumably, of at least one of the three boys, and wearing a rather inappropriately light-coloured coat) to take these lads to a railway station and sit for an hour or two on an old wooden platform trolley in the company of a couple of tail lamps. It reminds me of my earliest interest in railways, when my mother would sit on a bench beside the river, with her writing pad or her knitting, while we waited for trains to pass on the GC line at St Margaret's Pasture, Leicester.

We're on platform 3, near the south end of the main range of buildings. Looking at the viewpoint, and the not quite perfect framing, I suspect that the picture was taken with the camera aimed from the waist without using the viewfinder, so as not to alert the subjects.

2. Soon after we arrive 60022 draws into the station on a northbound train.

I don't think either of us had ever set eyes on this legendary locomotive before. Dad asks the driver if he can climb up and take a photograph in the cab. The driver agrees, but warns that when he's given the ‘right away’ signal he will set off immediately, so Dad will have to be sharp with his picture taking and get down. Just as the shutter clicks the guard’s whistle echoes up the platform, the locomotive’s whistle ‘pops’ and the regulator is cracked open. The train begins to move off and, for a second, I think Dad's off to York, Newcastle - or even Edinburgh, for all I know. Then, just before it's too late, he steps, smiling, onto the platform.

Whenever he showed this photograph at one of his slide shows Dad proudly boasted of his ‘footplate ride’ on the world-famous Mallard!

I understand, from information previously kindly supplied via this forum, that the train is likely to be the 08:10 from King's Cross to Doncaster. 60022 will return later in the day with the 16:28 from Doncaster to King's Cross (1B11).

3. A southbound Class 9 [formerly Class K] short-haul freight train is hauled by 61389 of Grantham mpd.

That's my head intruding at bottom left. I could have 'Photoshopped' it out, but it gives me the opportunity to comment that all the pictures are full frame scans, and the only digital processing I've done is the removal of scratches, spots and other blemishes, plus balancing of tone and colour. This is a particularly well-detailed portrait of a B1.

4. Earlier in this topic Firbeck posted photos taken on a day when he saw the two East Coast legends, 60022 and 60103, at Grantham. On this occasion the ECML puts on the same show for us, the difference being that here both locomotives are travelling northbound. Flying Scotsman has started to move off – shown by the blurring of the spokes of the driving wheel.

5. D9010 of Haymarket is later to be named The King's Own Scottish Borderer.

The boy with the duffel bag in picture 1 appears on the left. Mum, possibly, is still writing to relative or friend. "The boys are having a wonderful day, but hopefully we're going home for tea soon."

[manna]

G'Day Gents
More wonderful pictures, Mallards cab shot, what a work place, grimey, greasey nothing like you see it now at Shildon!! Love the B1, look at that pipe running along the boiler, thats got to be a Stones generator, and I would say that the Flying Scotsman, is having a bit of a slip
manna

[61070]

Continuing the series of pictures taken on Thursday 16th August 1962.

6. In mid-June D9009 Alycidon had been specially prepared at Finsbury Park TMD in connection with the launch of the 1962 summer timetable when, on Monday 18th June, Deltics were scheduled to take over the top expresses on the East Coast Main Line. This also marked the centenary of The Flying Scotsman train service. D9009 had been the standby locomotive for The Elizabethan and The Flying Scotsman services from King's Cross. The photograph was taken two months later, and the special finish remains evident.

Since it was withdrawn on 2nd January 1982 D9009 has been preserved by the Deltic Preservation Society, and is normally based at its Barrow Hill depot near Chesterfield. I believe it's going to the GCR this summer.

Our young friend in the hooded jacket appears on the left again.
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7. This family is waiting on platform 3, heading north on holiday. The poster advertises the delights of the Isle of Wight, with the offer to ‘Get There by British Railways’.

Probably also taken from the waist without looking through the viewfinder; unfortunately this picture suffers a little from 'camera shake'.
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8. This was taken at the north end of the down platform, where locomotive crews are waiting to take over northbound trains, or maybe to travel back to their home depot ‘on the cushions’ having finished their footplate turn at Grantham. I don't think they are Grantham men as they haven't been recognised by local retired footplatemen who have seen this picture.

The wooden hut beyond was a small shed where a stock of components, such as vacuum brake and steam heating connections, was kept by the Carriage & Wagon Examiners ready for use in case of a fault on a train. Behind it was a rack for the wooden screens that were used to close off the open end of the corridor gangway of a leading coach as protection against an overflowing tender when taking water at troughs.

If you have five minutes to spare at Grantham today you can take a lean on that LNER-branded metal fence – it's still there.
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9. A fast freight approaches Grantham from the south hauled by 92141 of New England.

Note the group of three PW men standing near the signal post, the nearest one wearing an oval ‘Look-Out’ armband. They are all looking at the crossing in front of them (which is part of a ladder crossing linking the up goods and down slow across the main lines), presumably checking for movement as the train passes over.
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10. A southbound Pullman train, probably The Sheffield Pullman, is calling at platform 2. Several Pullman stewards can be seen, and also one of the Station Inspectors in peaked hat with gold braid.

In the right background, not in uniform, is the imposing figure of Station Master Harold Scampion ('built like a double wardrobe', as rob237 aptly observed). Nearer to the camera is Station Inspector Joe Hardacre. Both of these long-serving railwaymen retired in 1963. On the left is Porter Denis Bainbridge.

Pullman Car Opal, on the left, is a First Class Parlour Car built in 1960. Today it's on the NYMR in regular service as part of its Pullman Diner Train – see http://www.nymr.co.uk/enthusiasts/rolling-stock/ .

[stembok]

61070: superb shot of the footplatemen, 'grease tops', blue overalls,over jackets and gas mask holder 'bait bags' . One cap badge -tangerine- to help in recognition so one at least is an NER man, Possibly, some are York, Leeds or Newcastle men waiting to relieve. The sponge cloths (sweat rags) numerous uses on hot and grimy steam engines. Also the white billy can for tea, often without milk, as it would go off in the heat . One has a flat 'snap tin' in his jacket pocket, another has his bicycle clips around his overall trousers, again useful for, a) their designed purpose, b) to stop coal dust entering c) to keep the trouser bottoms safely tucked in so as not to catch on anything. So much in one photograph.

[jwealleans]

What's the chap looking at the camera got under his arm, wrapped in that cloth? The only thing which came to mind was a last.

[Flamingo]

These great pictures are something to look forward to, so keep posting!
'Isle of Wight by British Railways' - yes, it was possible to get around the Island by train rather more in 1962 than is now possible. The line to Newport and Cowes was still open and Ventnor too could still be reached by rail from Ryde. My first visit was a Whitsun weekend stay in 1950 and it may be that our group arrived via the Bembridge branch, I can't be sure though. In 1952 travelling via Lymington-Yarmouth we used the passengers luggage in advance service, but still got there before it did because our cases went via the more direct Portsmouth route, so we had to go over to Ryde to collect them. On that holiday Dad came down a few days later and I can remember meeting him at Freshwater station off the train from Newport. Alas, another opportunity missed.

[61070]

Thanks for all the observations. I hadn't noticed the glimpse of a tangerine cap badge indicating NE Region affiliation.

I suggested several times to my parents that the Isle of Wight would be a very good place for a holiday while the 0-4-4Ts were still in operation, but we never got there - the only O2s I ever saw were 2-8-0s. Luggage in advance - we sent ours, and I think most years a claim went in on account of some kind of damage caused by rough handling.

[Bryan]

What's the chap looking at the camera got under his arm, wrapped in that cloth? The only thing which came to mind was a last.

Whatever it is. It is wrapped in sponge cloths.

[third-rail]

What's the chap looking at the camera got under his arm, wrapped in that cloth? The only thing which came to mind was a last.

Whatever it is. It is wrapped in sponge cloths.

looks like that part of a shovel where the shaft goes in

[52A]

Could be a hand brush, which was part of loco equipment. Some carried their own in case they got onto a loco without one.

[mr B]

No do'wt something hes nicked from work to take home to do a guv'y job with !!! Better than nicking coal !

Mr B

[PGBerrie]

I've spent the last two nights enjoying the show and commentary - your father certainly had an eye for the unusual railway photograph. Phantastic detail on the black and white photos!

I used to travel from Wakefield to London in my college days at the end of the sixties, so passed through Grantham quite a few times. The only time I every got off the train there was to go to Boston in 1986 - I thought that I would build a model of the station in Boston based on a track plan from the Railway Modeller - those wonderful overhead views. Of course when I got there, all the track had been ripped up and practically everything except the station building had gone. Still, the journey back via Lincoln and Doncaster made the trip worthwhile.

I suppose the Boston service was all diesel multiple in 1962. Looking forward to the next postings,

Peter

[61070]

Some interesting suggestions re the concealed object - I hadn't noticed that before jwealleans drew our attention to it. As the team captain on that show of fond memory, Call My Bluff, might have said, "I think I'll go for 52A's hand brush." We'll be waiting a long time, though, for that cloth to be unfolded, ever so tantalisingly slowly, to answer the question.

More on the way.

[61070]

I suppose the Boston service was all diesel multiple in 1962.

I don't remember seeing anything other than DMUs in platform 1. Thanks for your kind remarks.