Ashburton Grove

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

Is that a former bogie sulphate wagon behind the two Paxmans?

[Mickey]

.

[macduff]

The Pullman passing Ayot, not sure what year.

[strang steel]

How was the rubbish loaded into these wagons? Did the dustcarts (as they were termed in those days) just reverse up a ramp and tip the waste out, or was there a more complex method involved.

[R. pike]

This link shows the wagons being unloaded..

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/wh ... ndex.shtml

[Bryan]

By the early 70s, Ashburton Grove used to receive wagons of 'Expanded Metal'. Not exactly sure what that was but can vividly remember the scrap merchants of the mid 70s, everything from liferafts ex Vanguard airliners to stillages of girlie mags for pulping.

Expanded metal was a bit like thick wire mesh but with a diamond pattern. The diamonds being about an inch long.
Still in production and changed a lot.

[brsince78]

This link shows the wagons being unloaded..

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/wh ... ndex.shtml

Further perusal of this fascinating website led me to turn up the following two links that may be of interest to the Forum:-

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/k/ki ... ndex.shtml
http://www.roscalen.com/signals/London/KXFP.htm

Apologies if this takes this thread a little off topic

[thesignalman]

another with a 9F in charge,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31514768@N05/3514435020/

. . . which claims to be "near Wood Green" but is actually at New Southgate. Nice picture.

From the signalling record society website,

http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/lner/E3.gif

Fame at last! I drew that for the SRS 22 years ago!

John

[StevieG]

" ....

From the signalling record society website,

http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/lner/E3.gif

Fame at last! I drew that for the SRS 22 years ago! "

John

I liked the description of the spring trap point between No.10 points and the main sidings, which was on the GNR 'Dutton & Co.' diagram in the box -
- "Self-acting safety switch".

[daniel87]

There used to be a couple of photos of a pair of D8200s working a freight train on the ECML at the old Fotopic site, but since that vanished it is not so easy to find photographs.

A search for Ashburton Grove these days predictably brings up a million photos of the Emirates.

However, I did find this one

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31514768@N05/3509522409/

with a Baby Deltic, (not quite the service you were discussing I suspect) and another with a 9F in charge,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31514768@N05/3514435020/

Edited to say that I have found one of the ones I mentioned above

http://www.railwayherald.co.uk/imaging. ... age=129910

Thanks for sharing these great pictures.

[Hatfield Shed]

... What do I see (and smell) in the Luton platform but a train of rubbish outward bound for Blackbridge Sdgs, having been hauled from Ashburton Grove by a pair of Paxmans? Most of the wagons were unfitted Gresley 50 ton sulphate wagons...

Known to some in WGC as 'The Stink Train'. The working along the Luton branch to the pits was not easy. There's a gradient against and relatively small radius curves in Sherrardspark Woods for the first mile after diverging from the main line. In the autumn with leaf fall the train could and did stall in this section where residents gardens ran up to the branchline boundary. I remember one such event while in the garden of a house on Brockswood Lane, one of the Paxmans making lots of smoke, the train not making progress despite lots of noise, and rats jumping or falling off the wagons. Letters to the papers doubtless ensued...

[hq1hitchin]

The working along the Luton branch to the pits was not easy. There's a gradient against and relatively small radius curves in Sherrardspark Woods for the first mile after diverging from the main line. In the autumn with leaf fall the train could and did stall in this section where residents gardens ran up to the branchline boundary.

Not sure if I've posted this before, Hatfield Shed, but I can remember Jim Fairweather (?) who was latterly Stn Supervisor at Hatfield, telling me that the first THREE trains of coal for Luton every morning were banked as far as Ayot? A busy branch in those far off times

[Mickey]

.

[Hatfield Shed]

... A busy branch in those far off times

Although I should prefer it to still be working, it is at least still a well used footpath and cycleway from WGC to Wheathampstead, and I walk on part of it at least a couple of times a week, since the route runs only five minutes from home. The section running past Lord Ferrari-Chopper's mortgaged estate is particularly attractive. West of Wheathampstead the Lea Valley trail picks up the trackbed, and another very attractive section ensues alongside the grounds of Luton Hoo.

LNER connection redoubled at Luton Hoo: sometime owner Sir Julius Wehrner raced the very successful 'Brown Jack', rightly celebrated as the 'staying horse' superior to all others in the long distance races, one of the most appropriate names for a Doncaster pacific. Although not strictly LNER, he also owned the filly 'Meld'.

[strang steel]

Here is another photo that I found while browsing,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/auchlander ... hotostream