Returning to Grantham

[Andy W]

In 1981 that wouldn't be a toffee apple (31/0) Micky, they had all gone by then. It would be one of the very early 31/1, which were built with headcode disks or 31101, which was converted from a 31/0.

The road mobile cranes in the other picture look to be standard goods yard road mobiles of the types that were used in the KX Division in the 1970s/early 1980s. From memory, St Neots was the last place to have them south of Peterborough. They were used in yards where heavy or more bulky loads had to be regularly dealt with.

[Mickey]

In 1981 that wouldn't be a toffee apple (31/0) Micky, they had all gone by then. It would be one of the very early 31/1, which were built with headcode disks or 31101, which was converted from a 31/0.

Yes you are correct Andy, i always have referred to those Brush type 2s without the more common 'headcode box' as 'Toffee Apples' wrongly, i think there was only about 20 of the first batch of Brush type 2s that were fitted with the brown toffee apple controller also without the headcode box as well which were all allocated to the G.E. section of the Eastern Region.

I did happen to ride on a 'Toffee apple' Brush type 2 once when i done a brief stint as a secondman at Stratford loco in 1979 and yes the driver's controller did look like a large brown toffee apple!!.

[Iron Duke]

Take a bite out of this

[Mickey]

Take a bite out of this

After 4 or 5 pints Iron Duke i'd probably have ago.

[61070]

I took this photo of the remains of the yard box on 18/11/1981. I had gone hoping to see it before demolition but was too late by about a week or so. I don't know the exact date of its demise but I think it was in place 4 weeks before. The water tower was taken from Queen Street on the same day. The station buildings are in the background.

Thanks for posting the three photos Barrowby. It's always sad to see a Victorian signal box reduced to a pile of firewood. In the photo of Gordon Highlander the bottom extreme left of the picture is where the wall of the Shunters' and Examiners' cabin used to stand, to the immediate left of the drain channel. The brick buildings on the up side have been cleaned of all the smuts left by those filthy steam locos! I like the goal painted on the water tower brickwork.

[D2100]

...It would be one of the very early 31/1, which were built with headcode disks or 31101, which was converted from a 31/0.

Yes you are correct Andy, i always have referred to those Brush type 2s without the more common 'headcode box' as 'Toffee Apples' wrongly, i think there was only about 20 of the first batch of Brush type 2s that were fitted with the brown toffee apple controller also without the headcode box as well which were all allocated to the G.E. section of the Eastern Region.

It was indeed the first 20 that were the 'Toffee Apples', the original Pilot Scheme batch. Other locos with discs were scattered randomly between D5520 and D5556. The loco in the pic wont be 31101 if it has discs - as rebuilt, it had the later cabs (which was probably why the control system became as per the later machines).

[Andy W]

Thanks for the correction on 31101 - senior moment, I'm afraid!

[clem]

Hi 61070,
In the last 74 pages I've been reading the posts and looking through these wonderful photos of Grantham. Being of a certain age from Nottingham, I have many happy memories of Saturdays spent taking the train to either Newark or Grantham on the ECML. The photos presented in these pages are particularly remarkable in their detail and the inclusion of the men and women who worked the railway as well as the locomotives.
I just wanted to express my thanks at their publication.

As an aside, there is a picture on page 49 (funnily enough not taken by your father but by a cleaner/fireman you met) of J6 64202. I know it's not the Model Railway section but I couldn't resist adding this recently built example....

Best Wishes Clem

[61070]

Hello Clem,

Thank you very much - that's appreciated. When I began I thought the photos would be much better 'out there' where people can enjoy them and they can stimulate discussion and interaction. I've learned a lot along the way.

Your 64202 is a very nice model. I'd be interested to know why you chose it - I think it was based at Colwick in the 1950s, so maybe it was a regular? Peter Wilkinson, who took the photo of 64202, doesn't have the Internet so I'll try to print a copy of the photo of the model to send to him. If you're interested you can read about Peter's time at Grantham here: http://returntograntham.wordpress.com/l ... wilkinson/ and see more of his photos here: http://returntograntham.wordpress.com/l ... otographs/ (scroll down to just over half-way).

[clem]

Hello Clem,

Thank you very much - that's appreciated. When I began I thought the photos would be much better 'out there' where people can enjoy them and they can stimulate discussion and interaction. I've learned a lot along the way.

Your 64202 is a very nice model. I'd be interested to know why you chose it - I think it was based at Colwick in the 1950s, so maybe it was a regular? Peter Wilkinson, who took the photo of 64202, doesn't have the Internet so I'll try to print a copy of the photo of the model to send to him. If you're interested you can read about Peter's time at Grantham here: http://returntograntham.wordpress.com/l ... wilkinson/ and see more of his photos here: http://returntograntham.wordpress.com/l ... otographs/ (scroll down to just over half-way).

Hi 61070,

Yes I think it is really brilliant the way people are sharing their pictures and experiences. As more people participate, we all benefit from a more complete picture of events of the time. AlsoI haveto say, my partner Chris also really loves your photos. She's always been interested in the human side of the railways and I have to say your pictures also have fascinated me from that point of view too. They have great atmosphere.

Being brought up on the Nottingham Victoria-Derby Friargate line the J6s were pretty well running the passenger services when I first really became aware of individual locos and there was a trio of Colwick J6s whose numbers were close to each other which seemed to be very common. They were 64199, 64200 and 64202. All three were withdrawn by mid 1958 and so had to be written in at the back of every new combined volume I bougth from then onwards. The J6s were lovely engines - they were very lively and had a turn of speed and the Colwick drivers used to accelerate away from stations with gusto, particularly at Basford North where they needed to get a run up the incline to Bagthorpe Junction. There were quite a few other J6s I remember but that trio always stuck in my mind. The A5s also helped out on the local passenger trains and I can remember Grantham's 69827. As a kid back then, I wasn't really aware that it was all about to change but fairly suddenly, there were no more J6s or A5s and there was a line condemned K2s on Colwick's scrapline. It was never quite the same after that. I would be interested to hear of Peter's reaction to the model of the J6 and also his opinion of the class. The J6s were reputed to have been loved by the Colwick enginemen and I wondered if the Grantham men felt the same. Grantham had a small number of J6s - 64178, 64237 are a couple I seem to remember.
Finally, on a personal note, why did you choose 61070 as your signature?

Best Wishes

Clem

[61070]

Perhaps some of the Grantham men who occasionally post here will have some to comments on how the J6s were regarded there. I'll ask Peter what he remembers.

Why did I choose 61070? When we lived in Leicester my Dad had a corner shop cycle business. Because of the shop - which we lived above - I was, for a time, almost unique among my friends in having a phone at home (the only other lad I can remember who had one had a father who was a police sergeant, and their phone was paid for by the police service). Back then phone numbers were short and usually easily remembered. Ours was 61070 (or 0LE3 61070 when STD first came in), and people often remarked on it being 'a B1 number'. So when I joined the forum I thought it would be an appropriate touch to revive that number. ...but I never 'copped' the B1!

[clem]

61070 was a New England engine and for the record, I did see it but I can't tell you where - probably Grantham or Newark.

I remember well travelling to Grantham usually behind an L1 by the time I was going regularly. They used to really get going after Bottesford and would often reach about 70mph just before Allington - no mean feat for engine with small wheels. The section of the line from Radcliffe-on-Trent to Saxondale was four tracks and the slow line worked a permissive block system which allowed freights and particularly iron ore mineral trains to queue up for access to Colwick yards. We often passed four or five on in that section, nose to tail, as we progressed in the opposite direction, on the way to Grantham. That all changed by the end of 1962 when Saxondale ceased to be a junction and two of the four tracks were lifted.
I was talking to my brother who is ten years older than me, and he remembers when he first took me to Grantham when I was 3 years old in the summer of 1954 although I must admit that I can't remember being on Grantham station that day - but I do have a memory travelling back that day in the carriage compartment.
Of Grantham itself, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I have many memories, and in particular, going through the footpath tunnel, through the gate on the left hand side at the end and up and furtively waiting for an opportunity to sneak round the shed. That, and standing at the South end of the station in a similar manner to those so evocatively captured in your photos.... Or standing at the North end watching the engine changes. I remember seeing a J69 (68626?) on shed as well the odd N2 (and there was always one on carriage shunting and station pilot duty), the usual O2s and B1s and of course the pacifics - usually A3s and the odd A2/3....
And then there was the scissors triangle - I saw it used many times but I have a vivid memory of an A4 (I think it was 60021 Wild Swan) go trundling off into the distance and eventually return facing the other way. - Great days!

Clem

[strang steel]

I just checked an old ABC, and I saw 61070 as well - but like Clem I can't tell you where. I suspect it may well have been at Boston if the B1 was on services to Grimsby. But it could have been on a Doncaster goods to/from Peterborough along te ECML.

I have no idea how frequent B1s were at Grantham. Of course there were lots passing beneath the main line at Barkston, but they would not visit Grantham on those holiday trains.

[60129 GUY MANNERING]

B1 61070 went to New England on the 4th May 1947 and stayed until 3rd January 1965when she was transferred to Colwick,but Nottingham's coal filled atmosphere could not have agreed with her and she befell her fate and was withdrawn on 22nd August of the same year. I saw her in 1959,but like others no record of where.
Regards.

[Donovan]

Hi folks,
May I introduce myself?I was born in 1945 and bought up initially in Inner Street, a 1/4 mile from Grantham Railway Station.My first school was Spitalgate Infants,even closer and I was an avid trainspotter from 1953 to 1961.
I am a civil engineer by profession,plan to 'slow down' in 2014 and am determined finally to find time to contribute to this amazing thread that I have read through twice since this time last Christmas and have thoroughly enjoyed.
Somewhere in the house I know that I have my last Combined Volume in pinky red with a 'semi' on the front cover and there just might be my old shedbook.Here's hoping!
What can I bring to the party?Well many hours spent on the station or the 'loco' or Springfield Road bridge or Barkston waiting for the trial engine for a start.Dim memories of unusual engines at Grantham itself including Brits,Sandies and even a Hunt.My family daytrips to Skeggy and Mablethorpe behind 35B's B12's.To answer an earlier query I know when you were likely to see a York B16?
I don't want to rely solely on memory so over this holiday I am determined to find my trainspotting books but while I am looking could somebody please answer a query?My major article on Grantham railways was always going to be called "I remember Grantham" a direct name crib of an article in my first orange covered Trains Illustrated.The original was "I remember Crieff"What date was this?

Richard C