Hermit 109 wrote:Re: condition of 60017 in August 1962, my very first main line firing trip was in summer of '62 on very same loco with top shed driver George Cook on the 16.21 "parly" K.X to Peterborough, returning with "39 stock" to K.X from Westwood Yard. The loco was in immaculate condition and I understood that particular duty was used as a "running in" turn. The following day I repeated the same duty this time with 60014 also in superb condition. I have no idea whether these two locos had been recently outshopped and can't remember exact date these trips took place except it was high summer '62.
Thanks Hermit 109 - I really enjoy stories of first main line trips like yours and ROY@34F's. Could you maybe let me know what "39 stock" means, please? Sorry to appear ignorant. Anyway, by happy coincidence we saw both 60017 and 60109 on 16th August 1962, so I hope you enjoy this picture of your namesake running into Grantham on that day.
ps sounds like I need to put a word in to the jolly white bearded man for the Britain's Railway Heritage video and the Keith Pirt book!
John,
I can thoroughly recommend the book it contains some of Keith's finest work. He was a lovely unassuming sort of man who I had the privelege of getting to know.On one occassion,a Thursday I was sitting in my car outside his Bungalow at Crowle waiting for him to keep our 10.30 appointment,I assumed he had popped to the local shop and taken his car to save time.After waiting patiently for about 10 minutes his next door neighbour came out to my car and said "excuse me but I have seen you here a few times before and I assume you are waiting for Keith." I said "yes" and she replied "well be prepared for a long wait he went off to Scotland with his caravan on Tuesday for a fortnight"
That was Keith a bit like an absent minded proffesor,but a lovely man all the same.He was full of apologies on his return.
At the 50 second mark on this clip, there is a shot of Grantham station where parts of the platform awnings have collapsed due to the weight of snow in 1947.
No view of St Wulfram's spire, so I'd suggest the A4 passing scene was filmed from the Lincoln bay buffers, looking south-west.
Some indication of the Nottingham bay across to the right...
Cheers
Robt P.
That's a clip I haven't seen before, so thanks for finding it. It's the canopy which once protected platform 1 (Lincoln bay) and much of the north end of platform 2 (up main line platform) beyond the station buildings. Looks like it's collapsed across the Lincoln bay and not the main lines. Several Grantham men have mentioned the collapse of part of the station canopy in one of the bad winters, but it's great now to have this film and dated evidence. It is indeed the canopy over the Nottingham bay in the right background. It was removed in 1963 or 64 having survived the 1962-63 winter as well, but perhaps the memory of what happened across the tracks 15 years earlier led to its removal afterwards, just in case...
The platform 1 and 2 north end canopy appears in situ in several pre-1947 photos that I'm aware of, but which I cannot post in case they are copyright. I may be able to give references to some more historic pictures later - our main pc died yesterday so I don't have easy access to my data (which, fortunately, is backed up on an external HDD), but I found this one - see Steam Days No. 211 (March 2007) on page 137 if you have it - a lovely photo from 1902.
When you think about it the collapse may explain why the gas lamps which stood on that stretch of platform until 1962 (one of which is in the two pictures of 60017) were different in style from most of those elsewhere on the station - they must have been replacements erected after the incident.
Last edited by 61070 on Sat Oct 23, 2010 6:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
In addition to the Grantham scenes on that video, is footage from Nottingham Victoria showing the procession of coal trains and the occasional interloper from the copper capped region.
There is a great photo in the November issue of Backtrack, taken across the tracks at the north end of Grantham and towards the Nottingham platform.
Leaving the sidings with ecs is 61625 Raby Castle, and behind at the Nottingham platform is 61553.
The photo is credited to the collection of the author of the accompanying article W.E.Helm.
Yes, video successfully bought and paid for, hopefully to arrive next week. Thankfully we still have a video player!
I've seen the photo of 61625 in the November Backtrack. It's a lovely shot and I'll get in touch with the author through the magazine's email address to ask if there are any more where it came from. There's also a picture of 60132 on page 687, and the caption suggests that it may be fresh from shopping at Doncaster. I happen to have a photo of its coupled wheel sets in the works, overhauled and ready for installation, on 17th Sept 1961, so I'm sure this is correct. No doubt its date to traffic appears in one of the detailed loco reference books, but unfortunately I don't have them.
Can't ever recall seeing, or hearing of, a B17 at Grantham - even from the days when March had a sizeable allocation.
Most surprising...
Cheers
Robt P.
61625 in that particular photo is sporting a Cambridge shed plate, so I am not sure what it is doing there.
Does anyone have a 1952 working timetable? It would be interesting to see if there were any cross country summer SO workings that it might have arrived on.
Certainly in the mid 50's there was a mid-afternoon 'Parly' type arrival from KX.
The Top Shed loco (Sir Ralph was a regular performer) backed the stock into the siding and then later worked home by taking over a main-line express, via an engine change - which could have been something of a problem for a B17!
Cheers
Robt P.
I have thrown financial caution to the wind and bought a copy of Xpress Publishing's "Xpress Loco Register" Vol3 ER, NER & SCR 1950-1960
It lists allocations for all of those regions locos between those years. It seems ideal for modelling purposes, although I have no idea if it is completely accurate.
