Returning to Grantham

[silverfox]

Manna wrote on p6 of this thread. ( how am i going to explain to SWMBO that i am 'just' finishing the page)about Wood Green Station.
Spent many happy hours there 58-63 when at school there.Could make it from school to the station in 5mins and IIRC the lunch break was 12.20-13.40 so got a fair few expresses. There was a porter there we called 'Thunderguts', as his admonishing bellows could carry across all the platforms if we we 'not behaving'
Great days and lots of memeories not applicable to this thread. Might just put a a new one for us southern enders!
Ron

Only another 52 pages to go

[strang steel]

But there already are couple about Kings Cross and environs, plus this one for out to Wood Green:-

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6929

[ROY@34F]

That's a strange one John,but I think your assumption must be the answer;working a train from Highdyke.As Derek says,very unlikely to be going up the branch,and certainly not tender first,having turned at Grantham on it's way to Highdyke,and why not detach the engine in Grantham yard,if they needed to turn it.I was a fireman at Grantham at that time,as you may recall,and I thought we at Grantham worked ALL the trains from Highdyke;don't recall ever seeing Colwick men there,or even Grantham men doing a turn like that. Very odd!
Roy.

[strang steel]

Thanks Roy.

I wonder if it might have been a Grantham turn, as it could just be the return working of an earlier one to Colwick in the morning.

[ROY@34F]

John, I can't recall a turn at Grantham like that,but I'll bear it in mind if I see any old mates I run into occasionally. It seems a very odd one to me .and why would it call at the old warfe yard,coming from Colwick. Was it a daily diagram do you know ?
We used to have a job in the "old man's"link to go and shunt the "old yard" or "the warfe"which is where your info eludes to,I presume. We would take a few wagons,do a bit of shunting around, and bring other wagons back, and assume that's how traffic there was dealt with there .I did'nt think any goods trains called there, but could be wrong of course.
Roy.

[strang steel]

It is listed as SX in the WTT so ran Mon-Fri and is a class H service.

The note in the column says "Barrowby Rd arr 1.30pm dep 2.5pm. Engine to run to Grantham to turn".

The time for the train passing Grantham is 2.9pm.

[61070]

Does anyone know anything about the 1230 class H goods from Colwick to Highdyke?

There is a note in the 1961 WTT which says the train stops at Barrowby Wharf for 30 minutes and the loco proceeds to Grantham shed to turn.

But why would it need to turn if the train was continuing to Highdyke?

The only reason that I can think of is that it runs tender first to Highdyke and is then booked for another service which doesn't stop at Grantham.

I dont know if anyone has any recollections of this train.

Sorry to join the discussion so late. I think the issue's already been settled (i.e. the loco left the train to turn at Grantham MPD because it was a suitable opportunity to do so prior to a long-distance return working chimney first ex- High Dyke) but may I request clarification on one point please?

The above post uses the term, quoted from the WTT, 'Barrowby Wharf'. I haven't come across that term exactly, and I would be interested to know whether it's an accurate transcription from the WTT because that would add a new location to the 'Grantham railway atlas', at least so far as I know.

There's Barrowby Road (signal box / junction) where the Nottingham line joins the ECML line alignment - though without a connection with the ECML, at least by 1961. Barrowby Road was (is?) the point at which a goods loop from Gonerby joined the up line from Nottingham, and also where a short branch to Ambergate Yard left the Nottingham line on the down side. The branch pre-dated the main line, Ambergate Yard being, originally, a passenger terminus in the vicinity of the old wharf of the Grantham Canal. Ambergate Yard was therefore sometimes referred to as 'the old yard' or 'the wharf' as Roy says. As I say, I've not come across 'Barrowby Wharf'; somewhere I have a diagram for Barrowby Road box so I'll check this tomorrow.

The aforementioned goods loop might be where the train from Colwick would be left while the loco left to turn, but maybe it was taken down the branch to Ambergate Yard? This, however, would require, once the loco returned, the train to be drawn out of Ambergate Yard back to Barrowby Road and there run round (not sure if the layout there allowed this?), or else propelled from the yard to the main line at Barrowby Road.

Hope this helps.

[strang steel]

No, sorry John, Barrowby Wharf was a complete invention of my own because I was typing my missive without access to any references whatsoever, and couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the sidings. I chose a name which I thought would convey where I was referring to, without thinking of the confusion it may cause (although the southern end of the sidings are marked on maps as "The Wharf").

I apologise for introducing a red herring into proceedings, but I still dont see why the light engine to Grantham could not have taken the train with it and stabled it there while it turned.

[61070]

No problem. A reason for the long trip to and from the shed eludes me too. Maybe the goods loops at Grantham could be well occupied around that time of day and the compiler of the WTT had this bright idea? The guard would have time for a nice quiet smoke!

[strang steel]

I presume that must be the answer. When I first read the WTT entry I wrongly assumed that arriving at Barrowby Road meant in order to shunt the Ambergate Yard. It didn't occur to me that the train might just be left in the loop.

Looking more carefully at the appropriate pages, there is one service that mentions Ambergate Yard specifically and that is the 1035pm from Grantham which spends from 1041 to 1130pm at the Yard before proceeding to Colwick where arrival is at a quarter past midnight.

That is the only mention that I can find of Ambergate, there seems to be nothing in the opposite direction.

[ianwales]

Hi all

Another Ian with a Grantham query, I was looking through my copy of The ECML vol 2 which has several Grantham photos in it when I was intrigued by one of the captions, (I haven't got the book to hand so I can't quote a page number) it mentions the sidings on the downside behind North Box and says that there were always "SHELL" tanks stabled there, was there some sort of oil unloading point or distrubution depot at the station? If you have a copy of BRILL Jan 2012 to hand one of these tanks can be seen in the top photo P168. if you walked through the subway and turned left towards the shed the sidings in question would have been behind you.

Ian

[ROY@34F]

Ian, the sidings you refer to were used for the permanent way gang in steam days,but on the arrival of DMUs there was some servicing done on them by the loco fitters.weather the tankers you refer to was diesel fuel,I'm not sure,I'm sure someone with better knowledge than I will very soon enlighten us
Roy..

[52D]

The name Barrowby Wharf may not refer to Canals or Waterways, i have found the term wharf used in the North Midlands for what we in the North East would call staiths most notably on the Ashover Light Railway.

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

In North Wales, slate was also transhipped from narrow to standard gauge on a wharf as well. "Wharf" may simply refer to a loading bank or similar.

[52D]

Ay up!

In North Wales, slate was also transhipped from narrow to standard gauge on a wharf as well. "Wharf" may simply refer to a loading bank or similar.

I agree with your comments BB