K Class at Hatfield

[2512silverfox]

She was also a New England loco up until 1937 when she went to Doncaster.

[giner]

Hello
This engine was one of the first batch of K-3's built at Darlington. It has the NER style cab windows, placed low on the cab sidesheets, and an LNER group standard tender with flared coping. The photo was taken after 1928, when the engine number was moved from the tender to the cab. It is also prior to May 1931, by which time the cab windows had been moved up to just under the roof, eliminating the upper horizontal grab rails. This information found in Yeadon's. Hope this helps
Forward!
John

Good info there, Gresleybear. Good work all around by the forum sleuths, too.

Anybody have any clue where this goods might have originated? The tender looks well coaled-up, so not too too far north maybe?

[2512silverfox]

New England? See above!

[giner]

See, even at this age, the fingers are sometimes quicker than the eye.

[Flamingo]

The picture also shows that no. 62 was one of the K3s fitted with an experimental prototype antenna for remote control purposes. They were mounted on the dome cover and had to be lowered by the crew when passing under overbridges or through tunnels. Fortunately there were no overhead live wires on the GN main line in those days. The expermient was not a success and the equipment was removed when the loco cabs were converted back to the Doncaster side window pattern.

[2512silverfox]

Come home photoshop - all is forgiven! You did mean 92?

[giner]

Silly me. And there was I thinking it was the antenna for the in-cab, 5000-watt, ten speaker, surround sound system. The crewman looks like he's stoned out on Rudy Vallee, doesn't he?

[Flamingo]

Come home photoshop - all is forgiven! You did mean 92?

Yes, sorry, 92 it should have been.

[manna]

G'day Gents

To help with a few other little bits that came up earlier, here's another view of Sheriffs granary, the edge of the signal post and a shot of a/the GN petrol railcar, I know they were introduced in 1904, how long did they last?

manna

[Mickey]

I think that i read months ago that those petrol driven rail cars that worked the Hatfield-Welwyn-Hertford branch that were introduced in 1904/5 lasted until either the beginning of or the end of the WW1?. I believe that the Hatfield-Welwyn-Hertford branch was a very early candidate for closure of it's passenger services due to road transport competition, the Hatfield to Hertford main road virtually follows the route of the railway for most of it's length especially the length from Cole Green to Hertford.

[StevieG]

...And that's the equivalent earlier version of up yard exit signal I mentioned earlier, then with the multiple arms (6).

Note the string of wires roughly horizontal across the upper part of the photo; - signal wires when the GN ran much of them overhead instead of along the ground, flanked top and bottom by tensioning wires to carry the vertical pulley sets that the signal wires ran over.

[2512silverfox]

The Petrol Railcar (later No 3) was built in 1904 and into service Jan 1905. It was not successful and was withdrawn late 1908. Most of its time was spent around Hatfield Hertford and Luton.

[Mickey]

An interesting sight when you think about it. A petrol driven rail car operated a service between 1905-1908 on the Hatfield-Hertford branch (the shape of things to come in the Edwardian era?). I presume that the rail car if going from HATFIELD to HERTFORD would depart from the up slow line platform at HATFIELD (amid steam and smoke from HATFIELD shed on the down side of the main line as well as other activities taking place around the station and yard with the occasional passing Ivatt Atlantic on an express?) and immediately be turned off the up slow line and onto the single line passing HATFIELD No2 s/box and heading towards the WELWYN direction facing on coming traffic that was coming along the up slow line that runs parallel all the way to beyond WELWYN. The petrol driven rail car would be 'trundling along' passing open farm land, under the 20th mile bridge and passing 20th MILE UP s/box before turning eastwards towards the HERTFORD direction again passing through open farm land for the most part of it's journey to HERTFORD.

[Mickey]

That rail car would make an interesting 'guage one' replica model.

[52D]

The railcar pic has come through to me today just before leaving my house for the AGM of the NER Petrol Autocar society hows that for coincidence.