LNER Lineside Mileage Signs

[R. pike]

A Concretophile?

Since acquiring an LNER Concrete Articles Catalogue some years ago i have started collecting the more portable items...

661/4/37 & 38 POST, SIGNAL WIRE PULLEY.. an easy one to find and very useful for supporting signal wires, if like me, you have a need to supprt signal wires .. Available in two sizes.

661/2/36 Gangers Post.. makes a nice garden embellishment..

661/4/1 Base, Colour Light Signal.. Only kidding, but i have made one that looks pretty close.

661/4/4 Base, U.Q. Disc Signal.. This one is still with us. You can see it supporting lineside phones and is available via Unipart Rail, one in use supporting a phone of all things.

661/7/43 ''Light'' Garden Edging.. Someone was having a laugh. You need a gorilla to lay it. I've just done my front garden with it. It weighs the same as a yard of bullhead rail.. 95lbs

661/7/44 Shallow Garden Edging.. More like it at a mere 30lbs a piece. I seem to have a pallet or two left over..

661/7/40 Corner Block.. 85lbs and great for trying to lay without your fingers underneath it.

I'm sure i have a few other bits but i can't remember them without going outside for a look..

[PinzaC55]

One of the LNER posts which always mystified me was the "Pitfall" post. I have an LNER plan for Millfield station C.1940 and one of these is marked though I don't know what it was for?

[R. pike]

Oh blow. You were supposed to tell me what it was for..

[jwealleans]

Not something to do with monitoring subsidence, is it?

[R. pike]

The trouble i see whit measuring subsidence is it is mounted in the earth. How would you know if the pitfall post had sunk compared to the track?

My guess it was a location where control could ask for measurements for depth of snow or water depending on the circumstances.

[jwealleans]

I'd assumed you took levels against the post and other fixed points - other posts? That way if the levels started to move you'd know there was subsidence. With those markings it can only be used for the depth of something and I speculated based on the 'pitfall' name.

I'll put a query on the LNER Yahoo group.

[R. pike]

It would be good to get to the 'bottom' of it.

[PinzaC55]

There were a few of these in the deep cutting at Claxheugh between Pallion and Hylton stations all, as far as I can remember, on the Down side i.e heading towards Sunderland. Since the cutting suffered from occasional rockfalls I assumed they were something to do with that or possibly to measure snow depth - in fact I think the latter is more likely, though it doesn't explain why they weren't called "Snowfall" posts?

[R. pike]

They seem to be for measuring something quite deep being able to take an extension piece. Can anyone turn up a photo of one? I've always expected to see one in a shot of Stainmore etc.

[PinzaC55]

I walked Stainmore in 1996 and offhand I can't remember any Pitfall posts but between Stainmore Summit and Bleath Gill there was this pair of "CATCH POINTS" signs. This particular example is shown in Ken Hoole's excellent book "Railway History In Pictures North East England" when it had a train buried in snow for TWO months before it could be rescued! It used to have a cube with a pyramid top on top of the tall post and a double sided wood catch points boad on the short post.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/3887704480/

Another one near the site of Spital box is or was complete.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/3 ... otostream/

It's really a pity there isn't a complete organised collection of these signs somewhere like Darlington North Road - it would make a fascinating exhibit.

[R. pike]

I agree. I'm doing my best to save a few bits. I wont be saving any fence posts but some of the items are works of art.

I came across one of these on my travels a while back in fantastic condition..

[Dave]

We had a nice LNER stile near our crossing at Copmanthorpe till recently then it disapeared. You used it to cross over a hedge/fence on the path to Bishopthorpe just after you had crossed the line. I always ment to measure and photograph it, never got round to it.

[Bryan]

I'd assumed you took levels against the post and other fixed points - other posts? That way if the levels started to move you'd know there was subsidence. With those markings it can only be used for the depth of something and I speculated based on the 'pitfall' name.

I'll put a query on the LNER Yahoo group.

When I was in the Renewals section at Leeds. Some of the relaying gangs had transferred from "Pitfall" gangs. As the name suggests it was to do with mining subsidence. The gangs concerned were mainly from the Wakefield area covering a lot of former collieries in West and South Yorks.
The individual posts would not actually indicate a problem unless severe but when sighted along they would show up any localised subsidence or movement without the need for taking levels.
Then the Supervisor or Trackchargeman would appear with the sighting boards and the lads would get the jacks and shovels out.

[Bryan]

These boundary signs appear in an Engineer's catalogue (see R Pike's post above) and the options in 1947 were:
L|Y, Y|L, Y|E, E|Y, LMSR|LNER, LNER|LMSR, GWR|LNER, LNER|GWR, LPTB|LNER and LNER|LPTB
where L = London, Y = York, E = Edinburgh,

Does this mean then that I did see E / Y near Carlisle then?
It was on the Newcastle line near London Rd Junction South side of the line.

[third-rail]

a few years ago there was a line side fire by the tyneside metro near the site of earsdon grange signal box nearby had been a set of catch points the sign had been discarded and had been totaly incinerated bar for the letters which where duly picked up and taken home .
but the letter A has got lost since ,does anybody have the dimentions of the said letter and a drawing of the board ,so i can make a replacement, the letters were cast iron or steel screwed to the board .thanks for any help