Returning to Grantham

[60156]

. The "aussie" is on a train of iron ore empties by the way , typically stopped on the up slow while crew relief arrives .

Regards,Roy.

Nice to hear somebody else call it an 'aussie' instead of dubdee

[clem]

The signal is built from kit stuff , with a lovely bouncing mechanism I copied from an article many years ago in the Model Railway Journal . Basically it's a horizontal pendulem which bounces on springy wire stops when tilted ; lovely mechanical stuff which my simple mind is easy with , rather than mysterious electronics and computer programming!
Regards,Roy.

Hi Roy,
I can't agree more. Here's a couple of pictures of a somersault signal I made some years ago out of an old Hornby Dublo post with the rest being scratch built. Seems we have been thinking along the same lines although, the bounce I achieved was by simply releasing the cotton pull wire fast under the baseboard and allowing the pendulum to swing. It worked very well, the bounce being of just about the correct magnitude. . I have a splitting distant junction somerault signal to build in the future - I think I'll look up the article in MRJ to check out out your method (which may very well give more consistent results) - You don't happen to remember which one by any chance?

Clem.

[notascoobie]

Hi,
There's a searchable MRJ index here:

http://www.modelrailwayjournal.com/

Regards,

Vernon

[ROY@34F]

Another lovely photo Roy, love the angle on that one. Any chance of a track plan?

Steady on Robert , I've only just managed to post photos !
I've no chance of making a track plan on here . Any way my track plan is not really correct for Grantham . You've mastered that far better .
Thanks for the kind comments.
Roy.

[ROY@34F]

Clem,
The signal bouncer I've made is described in MRJ No. 67 , christmas 1993 . There have been several ideas in MRJ and others over the years of course , but this article is called "the simplest signal bouncer" . It works very well for me , easily adjustable too . I made a little film of it working , but of course it's far too "big" to post .
Roy.

[clem]

Clem,
The signal bouncer I've made is described in MRJ No. 67 , christmas 1993 . There have been several ideas in MRJ and others over the years of course , but this article is called "the simplest signal bouncer" . It works very well for me , easily adjustable too . I made a little film of it working , but of course it's far too "big" to post .
Roy.

Many thanks, Roy for your time searching that out for me, I'll see if I can source a copy from somewhere. May even have it myself and forgotten about it. (I've got far too many magazines stashed away! - my other half accuses me of being the arch hoarder!) I was too busy with family and work to model in 1993, but I'd often get a copy in.

For my new layout, I had been planning on using the old system as illustrated and used in in a OO layout I built in 1981, now dismantled. To achieve the bounce you did have to push the signal lever back to the 'on' position a bit sharpish and so it wasn't ideal. Your system definitely sounds the way to go.

Best Wishes

Clem

[Bryan]

I see we are going off topic again and into more modelling discussions.

[61070]

Timely reminder from Bryan to try to keep the content focussed on Grantham. This thread enjoys the odd branch line excursion (e.g. here we started with Grantham-related modelling, which in my book is OK) but perhaps we're now veering into 'foreign territory' and need to regain the main line. (...I loved the 'bounce' of some semaphore signals though!)

I'm beginning to look for information for a new topic in our blog about signalling in the Grantham area. I have Michael Vann's excellent An Illustrated History of Great Northern Railway Signalling and I also know about the superb multi-part feature by Don Anderson about the development of the track layout at Grantham which has appeared in recent issues of Great Northern News. If anyone knows of other sources of information that I should be aware of I'll be very glad to hear.

I aim to cover the area bounded by Grantham South and Barrowby Road boxes. The Telegraph Office at Grantham Station should, I think, also be included. An important hub of communication for the railway, but I do feel I don't yet know very much about what went on there. All help/advice very gratefully received.

[LNER4479]

Hi John,

A great topic (signalling) to get immersed in. Next time you visit that 'other' website(!), if you drop a PM to LNERGE (unless he is on here as well?) he has a large collection of signalbox mimic diagrams and I think he has all the Grantham ones (he has sent me Grantham South one which helped me with some of the details there).

Of course, as I am finding out(!), the signalling arrangements were constantly being changed over the years and eras (no doubt the BR steam era will be of most interest to the followers of this thread); I have amassed quite a bit of detail in my research folder over the last few years so I may be able to help directly with some of the specifics.

[Iron Duke]

Grantham Passengers - you help is required !
Please visit our Passengers – Memories & Anecdotes page on:- http://www.returntograntham.wordpress.com

If you were one of the many people who made a daily trip through, to or from Grantham Station, we would like to hear from you.
You are invited to send in your own personal memories and experiences (good and not so good) accumulated over the years from any period to the present day. This may be just a brief anecdote or a full blown epic, whatever your tale let us know about it.

Maybe the trip was just to watch the trains come and go? You have probably lost your notes long ago, but those precious memories are still safely stored in the back of your mind? You can help us by contributing to what we hope will become a central social reference point, telling part of the story of Grantham, a great railway town.

Please note:- We want to provide a variety of social stories contributed by the regular and infrequent passenger. Whatever your destination up and down the mainline, or perhaps other local services to Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire or Lincolnshire. We want to hear your story.


ID http://www.returntograntham.wordpress.com

[61070]

Hi John,
A great topic (signalling) to get immersed in. Next time you visit that 'other' website(!), if you drop a PM to LNERGE (unless he is on here as well?) he has a large collection of signalbox mimic diagrams and I think he has all the Grantham ones (he has sent me Grantham South one which helped me with some of the details there).

Of course, as I am finding out(!), the signalling arrangements were constantly being changed over the years and eras (no doubt the BR steam era will be of most interest to the followers of this thread); I have amassed quite a bit of detail in my research folder over the last few years so I may be able to help directly with some of the specifics.

Many thanks Robert, I'll certainly follow that advice about where I might find diagrams. I'm sure your folder will be useful too. I'll need to to think quite carefully about how we approach this because I could become overwhelmed by the detail if I try to cover the technical minutiae (in any case an impossible task), yet if it's oversimplified it could be a meaningless exercise. I'll be starting off by compiling a 'potted history' of each of the boxes from new build to demolition, with a broad-brush indication of the areas of the layout they controlled, incidents in their history and, where possible, some of the names of the people who worked them. Should keep me out of mischief for a bit.

[Donovan]

Roy's recent superb photograph of Donovan (albeit a model) at South Parade railway bridge in Grantham brought back long forgotten memories. Obviously with the username of Donovan, the engine is close to my heart but also the location on Spittlegate Hill was one of my earliest spotting places. South Parade was a mistake - the locomotives moving too quickly for an eight year olds eyes. I seriously doubt whether 60079 Bayardo (a very rare 68C engine) and 61251 Oliver Bury passed in the space of half an hour. Guilty conscience after 60 years I suppose - I did see both later.

The photograph also reminds me of later, as a teenager, spotting in luxury,seated in passenger coaches lined up in the siding nearest Roy's camera.

For a short while I did find that by peering over the wall at Spittlegate Infants School there was a narrow gap between station and other buildings where a slow moving engine could be spotted. You always remember the first! - easy - 60136 Alcazar coming by ready for an up engine change.

After South Parade my next period of spotting was at the 'Loco'. The 'Loco' was an all action area even if it did have one major disadvantage - down main line stoppers blanked out in coming up trains --hence there was always a regular dash along the subway into Station Road. A sufferer of the blanking out was the up Elizabethan with the possibility of a not to be missed Haymarket A4----60012 Commonwealth of Australia was my last.

It is nearly sixty years since the Loco was closed to spotters and yet the memories are still there.

--- Another Carlisle Canal shedded A3 60068 Sir Visto hanging around for a week or so before ultimately disappearing north on an evening freight originating in Grantham. This came from the south yard between the old shed and the station. An unusual occurrence during daytime hours at least.

--- The regular New England Ivatt Class 4 Mogul or irregular D16 on the evening Peterborough local.

--- A whole string of mainly Heaton shedded clean Al's with exciting sounding names --Meg Merrilles, Hal o' the Wynd, Madge Wildfire, Redgauntlet.

And finally, an abiding memory of the long named V2 "The Snapper etc" taking over a Newcastle express at dusk with the fire lighting up the night sky.

My next spotting location was the station itself along with lads from all over the East Midlands. A 1d platform ticket was all it took for maybe a couple of years. After a while we were all ejected during the day but locals were allowed back in the evening when it was much quieter.

I mentioned "Union of South Africa" and "Dibatag" a few weeks ago but my first Scottish Non A4 Pacific is well remembered. A2 60529 Pearl Diver, in sparkling ex-works condition, drifting south on an evening freight.

The first of many new 9F's --funnily enough 9F's did not appear at Grantham until well into the build. More in demand replacing older engines elsewhere I guess.

My first shot at photography with my uncle's box Brownie and then my own Kodak 44A. I was not very good.

Once the station was closed to spotters and having ruled out Wharf Road Bridge due to horrible sightlines, the locals now chose Springfield Road. A good view of all lines, handy for the new shed and a quick cycle ride for engines turning on the angle. Just as girls and Nottingham Forest came along this was my home.

A Brit, a Sandy and named B1's are my only clear memories of Springfield Road this far down the years apart from one absolute highlight. Neville Hill (50B) engines were rare at Grantham, presumably working the Leeds-Newcastle turns. I presume that Copley Hill borrowed them occasionally and A3 60074 Harvester surprised us all one evening with an up passenger train. The cheering ended with one spotting book disappearing over the timber fence behind us. This sticks in the memory because a Policeman happened to pass by just as the retriever came back over the fence!!!.

My move from Grantham to work originally as a trainee quarry manager at Ketton Cement near Stamford coincided with the running down of steam at Grantham and my spotting memories. I always thought that it was a pity the move was not a few years earlier when I could have been learning on steam engines rather than Ketton's Fowler diesels.

Thanks for bearing with me folks - just practicing for my Return to Grantham web blog in due course

Richard C.

[Iron Duke]

Lovely evocative memories Richard

ID

[strang steel]

I don't think that you should beat yourself up about 61251 Oliver Bury, Richard.

I have vague memories of it being quite a common loco, along with Geoffrey Gibbs.

In fact after writing that, I looked up 61251 on BRDatabase only to find to my relief, that it was indeed a Grantham engine from 1959 to 1963.

[61070]

Donovan (Richard) - what a wonderful range of memories. I didn't realise it then of course, but by the time we began to visit in autumn 1961 the real 'glory days' were over and decline had set in - though I'm still grateful to have been around in time to have a taster of how it was, and we have the work of photographers like Colin Walker and TG Hepburn, the sound recordist Peter Handford and, not least by any means, the many contributors to this forum and thread who have captured the spirit of those days almost as if it has been 'bottled' for half a century.

Your memory of rushing through the subway to see trains which were obstructed reminded me that when we arrived by bus at the stop in Harlaxton Road there was always an impatience on my part to get through the bridge and up Station Road. Occasionally there was the frustration of hearing a train rush by above during the minute or two until we arrived at the station entrance. How I wonder now if any of those might have been a Scottish or Carlisle-based rarity!