Returning to Grantham

[Donovan]

John,
Thanks for your kind response.My memories of course have been "bottled up" for the fifty years you have referred to.All uncorked by the photo of an "Aussie" at the start of this glorious thread initiated by yourself.
At present I am planning just one more memory delve-- about railway cycle rides within a few miles of Grantham---Barkston in particular and then will have a dabble at the Return to Grantham blog to try and bring my postings over the past month together.
Thanks for starting the journey in the first place, it's been really enjoyable.
Richard C

[Iron Duke]

This is a photograph of Grantham North Box - Autumn 1971.
Does anyone know why the mobile generator was positioned next to the Box at this time?

ID

[DaveF]

This is a photograph of Grantham North Box - Autumn 1971.
Does anyone know why the mobile generator was positioned next to the Box at this time?

ID

Between 1970 and 1974 there were a number of periods when industrial action by power workers and/or miners caused blackouts, some of which were almost random to shed load, others were preplanned on a rotational basis at times for up to 9 hours a day. There was also the three day week towards the end of this period.

I remember using Manchester Piccadilly at various times when the only lights were those of the trains and the booking office using a mobile generator. I also saw the same at Stoke on Trent.

I assume this generator at Grantham may have had something to with signalling or the station power supply.

I travelled on various emus in the Manchester area in the winter running with the heating turned off and coasting as much as possible to conserve electricity.

As a teacher trying to teach in winter afternoons with no lights, or at best candles, was not easy - and the heating went off when there was a power cut as the pumps stopped in heating the system in my school.
Edit - the generator also appears in one of my photos taken in September 1971.
David

[Iron Duke]

Thanks for that feedback Dave, it does tie in with other information sent to me on this.
Dark days indeed....
Had a look for the photograph you mention (September 1971) and would love to see it, do you have a page number?

www.returntograntham.wordpress.com

ID

[strang steel]

An interesting DMU working a Nottingham service on that photo. I think it may be a class 104 BRC&W jobbie, but can't quite make out the first number.

[Mickey]

I always liked G.N. s/boxes with clear glass window sashes right to the floor there was several boxes with them like that dotted along the main line.

Always interesting to make a direct link with the past and interesting to think that that was the same box shown in the picture in 1971 that 65 years earlier Grantham north signalman Richard Scoffin worked on the night of the 1906 accident.

[DaveF]

Thanks for that feedback Dave, it does tie in with other information sent to me on this.
Dark days indeed....
Had a look for the photograph you mention (September 1971) and would love to see it, do you have a page number?

http://www.returntograntham.wordpress.com

ID

Sorry about that, you couldn't see it as it is one of the 30,000 images I've not yet put on flickr, it is there now, and here too.

[Grantham Class 47 up ex pass Grimsby to Kings X September 1971 C721attachment=0]
Grantham Class 47 up ex pass Grimsby to Kings X September 1971 C721.jpg

David

[Iron Duke]

Thanks for posting your picture Dave, wonderful stuff.
John here is the full DMU pic ref type etc.

http://www.returntograntham.wordpress.com

ID

[Andy W]

The generator is probably there because there has been a planned outage or some fault. It looks like a 415v set although they did come in 650v versions too. The 415v ones could be hooked up to a transformer to provide 650v. There were various voltage settings on the 415v ones, if I recall correctly.

We had one of this type (415v) on the ODM at Hornsey and two smaller GCL 650v sets. They were hauled to site and hooked up for the period required, usually a planned overnight outage lasting a few hours. Starting them up anywhere near houses usually provoked a few complaints!

You couldn't put too much load on them - they were really designed for remote locations such as relay rooms or signal boxes.

[61070]

I always liked G.N. s/boxes with clear glass window sashes right to the floor there was several boxes with them like that dotted along the main line.

Thanks Micky. Your comment brought to mind the following local newspaper article (follow the link) about a former signalman at Grantham North (and elsewhere) who recalled the hazard of the occasional lump of coal coming in through the windows. Perhaps the lower level of glass at Grantham North, the proximity to the down main line and the onset of the r.h. curve at that point made this even more likely there.
http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/l ... -1-5515088
(This was published in The Grantham Journal last September as a follow-up to 4468's appearance in the town, hence the reporter's emphasis on said loco.)

[Donovan]

I shall be keeping my eyes on this thread as it develops further in the months ahead. I will also contribute if I possibly can but I just wanted to reminisce a little about bike rides around Grantham in search of the elusive train spotting “cop”.

Remember the fifties were well before “Google”, well before having the money to buy books, detailed maps and even railway magazines. All we spotters had was a vague atlas with railway lines on or the occasional view from a car or bus of an out of the way railway line or best of all rumours.

Thus it was with bated breath that I set off on my first local cycle exploration. The target, a line crossing beneath the A1 at Great Gonerby, just a few miles north of Grantham. It was of course the Nottingham – Skegness line heading for Barkston, more of which in a moment. Three hours spotting produced one engine J17 65506 from Colwick on a short eastbound freight. It was a ‘cop’ and managed to whet my appetite.

Barkston was the next venue and it became home to all us Grantham train spotters. Barkston - the hope of a Doncaster trial engine. During school holidays and even sometimes after school we would cycle the four miles, taking time out to scrump in the orchard off Barkston By Pass. We ended up outside the old station site and settled down in the vain hope of seeing a Scottish Pacific coming down light engine from Newark, turning on the triangle and resting for perhaps ½ hour before heading north once again.

I reckon that I cycled to Barkston at least twenty five times 60001 Sir Ronald Matthews yes, 70035 Rudyard Kipling yes, a number of other regular pacifics plus K3’s and Sandy’s yes, but never that elusive Scottish Pacific.

I still regret going to spot at Trent Junction near Nottingham one weekday then watching Forest play Arsenal in the evening and missing the mythical A3 60094 Colorado on trial – especially as all my mates were there!

Barkston was not without its other perks however. Our day usually ended with the blue spot fish train which sometimes threw up an alternative to the Kings Cross B1 but prior to that was often the ‘highlight’ of the day, a Northampton 2c’aussie’ or 8F on the Scunthorpe iron one turn. I don’t know how many were shedded there but it always seemed to be a ‘cop‘.

Am I correct that the arrival of a trial engine was preceded by a single peg (the only one of the day)? The excitement it brought. The disappointment that often followed.

This story started with bike trips – just two others to share with you.

Bottesford – the unusual array of lines to the west of the village looked likely candidates for a ‘cop’. I now know that this was the GN & LNWR Joint Railway and was being scaled down. Just one visit.
- Most of the day spent waiting with not one engine. Finally reverting to spotting at Bottesford station on the Grantham – Nottingham line nearby and being laughed at by the Nottingham spotters returning on the train from Grantham. The ignominy.

The Denton Branch – Denton was again just a few miles from Grantham. I knew the area well from fishing in the local reservoir. I knew also the Harlaxton ironstone quarries nearby with a line skirting the reservoir and regular Stewarts & Lloyds engines passing by
- I did not know that the old Great Northern also had laid a line right out into the sticks. One day when cycling from Denton to Woolsthorpe, at a railway underbridge, I heard the sound of a steam engine making heavy weather of the gradient and found myself watching a Colwick J39 with a full load of iron ore heading god knows where.

I later found that that the ‘where’ was Belvoir Junction and then onwards to the Stanton Works at Ilkeston. It would have looked incongruous if the Scunthorpe and Stanton iron ore trains passed each other at Bottesford going in opposite directions!

I have subsequently seen photos of diesels on this branch but never Eastern Region steam. If anyone has photos of steam on the branch I would love to see them. Also your memories of Barkston in the steam era.

Obviously as a bike riding spotter there were many other destinations over the years but with prior knowledge of what to expect. The trips around Grantham itself were always in the hope of a surprise. Richard C

[workev]

In doing some research into the operational aspects a thought has struck me with regards to the length of platforms at Grantham. Earlier in the thread there are some pictures of mail being sorted on the main platforms, but this was at a time when train formations were somewhat shorter.

In 1956/57 the Up Night Scotsman was made up of 14 coaches, with the two BGs at extreme ends of the train formation. Depending on the time of day and mail could be unloaded or loaded from either coach.

So my question is; does anybody remember the handling of parcels/mail in these trains at all. Given that the train left Grantham at 4.40am I guess my question is aimed squarely at ex railwaymen. It also made me wonder whether the platforms at Grantham were long enough to handle a 14 coach train (the 91s seem to use up most of the current platforms by themselves!).

Ian

[jwealleans]

I think 4479 said to me recently that they were long enough for 15 carriages (which were of course shorter then) but they may have been remodelled (shortened) since?

[workev]

That makes it a tight fit, and hard work for the mail staff too! In normal circumstances I suspect that they had some means of working out how to get to get stuff, and the sleeper services were heavily restricted to what could be carried; mostly mail traffic.

I guess if the front BG was not used they could draw the train forward a little, although still allowing for room for the engine change.

[61070]

Thanks Donovan/Richard - those are marvellous memories of days when exploring the countryside by bike, covering quite respectable distances in the process, was just a normal thing to do. It reminded me of a report in the local Grantham newspaper that I'd forgotten about. I found it today and have just loaded it onto our blog, here:

http://www.tracksthroughgrantham.uk/rec ... g-holiday/