The Triangle at Norton-on Tees

[Darwin4975]

As a young boy living in Norton-on-Tees I was fortunate enough to have a grandstand view of the Norton triangle from my bedroom window and at a sufficiently close range to be able to identify any locomotive that may come into view both on the triangle and also the main line. A spotters paradise!
I was an ardent fan of W J V Anderson's photographs which appeared regularly in Train Illustrated and tried to emulate his work in my home area though not with anything like the same success. Still, I did obtain some pictures which are worthy of being shown to anyone interested and propose to submit a few of the better ones on a fairly regular basis in the weeks and months ahead (giving me something else to do in my dotage now that I have reached my 70s).
The triangle was operated by three signal boxes, Norton East, Norton South and Norton West and I was a frequent visitor to them all. This picture was taken from Norton South box in June 1959. It shows B16/1 No 61458 on what was known as 'the brakey', a fitted freight of drikold containers which started at ICI Billingham and had a destination somewhere in the Midlands. It ran every weekday and in 1959 was a regular B16 turn more often than not with a B16/1 in charge. The train is coming south along the main line on the eastern side of the triangle having recently passed Norton East box. The line on the left of the picture is the western section of the triangle which travels up to Norton West box and the line beyond to Ferryhill. (A regular ECML diversionary route which made this location even more interesting.)

[52D]

WJV Anderson and others of that era had an eye for a photograph and you can usually hazard a guess to the identity of the photographer by his composition.

[twa_dogs]

Blimey. Nice to see it once looked tidy and presentable. My Grandad had this in his area for quite a while and I visited the location in the mid '80s a bit, by which time it was distinctly rundown. Please post more, the background infrastructure detail is fascinating.

[PinzaC55]

As a young boy living in Norton-on-Tees I was fortunate enough to have a grandstand view of the Norton triangle from my bedroom window and at a sufficiently close range to be able to identify any locomotive that may come into view both on the triangle and also the main line. A spotters paradise!
I was an ardent fan of W J V Anderson's photographs which appeared regularly in Train Illustrated and tried to emulate his work in my home area though not with anything like the same success. Still, I did obtain some pictures which are worthy of being shown to anyone interested and propose to submit a few of the better ones on a fairly regular basis in the weeks and months ahead (giving me something else to do in my dotage now that I have reached my 70s).
The triangle was operated by three signal boxes, Norton East, Norton South and Norton West and I was a frequent visitor to them all. This picture was taken from Norton South box in June 1959. It shows B16/1 No 61458 on what was known as 'the brakey', a fitted freight of drikold containers which started at ICI Billingham and had a destination somewhere in the Midlands. It ran every weekday and in 1959 was a regular B16 turn more often than not with a B16/1 in charge. The train is coming south along the main line on the eastern side of the triangle having recently passed Norton East box. The line on the left of the picture is the western section of the triangle which travels up to Norton West box and the line beyond to Ferryhill. (A regular ECML diversionary route which made this location even more interesting.)

You should be prouder of your photos. I feel like I was there looking at it.

[Darwin4975]

Glad you felt you were there. Wish I could turn the clock back and take the picture with an even better camera. This was one of the more successful efforts for a 15 year old -I was pleased with it at the time and it remains one of my favourite unrebuilt B16 pictures.

The three signal boxes at the corners of the triangle are shown below as they were in 1960-62. I believe that Norton South and Norton West are still in use but Norton East has for some years been unmanned. All three still exist (?) but this may very soon change as there are plans to radically alter signalling in the area. (Perhaps someone can provide further details.) The northern limb of the triangle between Norton West and Norton East has been very rarely used since the unmanning of Norton East. The picture of Norton West box shows a diverted Sunday working with an A3 heading towards Norton South where it joins the coastal route via Stockton; it would have regained the ECML at Northallerton.

[StevieG]

Yes much appreciate the photos Darwin.

Also interesting that the structure of East box (and North I think) was orientated with its roof ridge at right-angles to the track instead of parallel with it : Reminiscent of the boxes at Newark Crossing and of (half of) Holloway North Up

[PinzaC55]

I could be wrong but I think East box was something of a mish mash of styles between the NER Northern Division and the NER Central Divison (Norton On Tees box was typical). The boxes at Weaverthorpe and Heslerton on the York to Scarborough line were also sideways on but I doubt we will ever know why this was done.

[Bryan]

Any reason for the angled bar a couple of feet below the Norton Home Signal?

[Boris]

Unless someone come up with another reason I would suggest it was longer at one side than the other and was to compensate the signal wire pull to correct it so the arm went to the proper position, ie not to far or not far enough depending which was needed

This method was sometimes used on point angles

[Darwin4975]

The 'angled bar' was certainly part of the signal mechanism as it moved to horizontal when the signal was pulled off as shown in the view of 61458. There were wires attached to both ends but they don't show up in the photograph. Boris may well be correct -the side nearest the field does seem slightly longer.

[PinzaC55]

The bar would probably be to convert the pull of the signal wire into the movement of a rod attached to the arm. It would normally have a balance weight attached but maybe the signal was close enough to the box to not require one.

[Darwin4975]

This is how permanent way works were carried out on our railways 55 years ago. The junction at Norton South was renewed on Sunday 19th April 1959 and I recorded the goings on with my camera. No hi-vis garments in those days, just heavy overcoats. Plenty of manpower (some quite advanced in years) and no sophisticated machinery. The Q6 is standing on the line forming the west side of Norton triangle whilst ballast from its train of hoppers is offloaded. The track sections to be laid in place later are carried on another train headed by Darlington's 62005 (long before she became famous on NYMR and elsewhere), standing on the down main line. The arc lights were to permit work to proceed in darkness. The job had to be finished before the next day when the lines would resume their normal intensive activity. It so happened that the following Sunday (26th April) there was an ECML diversion and the Norton South - Norton West section of the triangle became very busy for a day. These diversions were great occasions for the local spotters with a procession of pacifics and V2s guaranteed. 1959 was 100% steam! Occasionally they would take place on consecutive Sundays. The view of Fairway was taken that day (26th April) with a southbound express approaching Norton South. It clearly shows the new track and ballast laid a week earlier as well as discarded sleepers at the lineside which have yet to be removed from site. At this date 60092 still had a single chimney being one of the last of the class to be 'doubled'. All had been so treated before the end of the year.

[Bryan]

In the first photo with the Q6.
Has the full junction been out as it looks like the track is low compared to either side of the junction?
Just looking along the line of the top of the wagons there seems to be a dip through the junction area.

[Nortonboy]

Wonderful to hear from another 'local'. I lived in Norton in the late 60's and 70's. Not far from you either - although I wasn't blessed with a lineside view. I have a number of books on the area and one point of interest is that the Norton south to east curve was rebuilt with a wider arc to reduce the severity of the curve. This line carried the most traffic of the three and the 4 track section section between Norton and Billingham was a serious bottleneck with trains stacked buffer to buffer awaiting a path.

[Darwin4975]

Here's a view of the southern tip of Norton triangle looking north taken in March 1961. 63370 is climbing the 1/135 gradient of Stockton Bank and has a clear road for the main line towards Norton East. Norton South box can be seen on the left and (I believe) is still in use in May 2014. For some years it has been the oldest regularly manned box on Network Rail. All three of the Norton triangle boxes were built at about the same time (1870) with Norton South being constructed first. The re-signalling of the coast line has now been brought forward to 2015 when the ROC at York will commence activities and all the remaining signal boxes in the area will close.
(Norton South may be demolished but Norton East has been given Grade II listed status and will remain in situ.)
The tall up home signal seen here in the distance was converted to upper quadrant just a few weeks after this picture was taken, in 1961 (using the same post). I don't know what was the eventual fate of that signal. Perhaps someone else can provide details...

The second picture taken close to the box, in 1960 shows a Tyneside Q6 and therefore a rarity in the Norton locality. Having brought a freight to Tees Yard and there being no return load she was using the triangle in time honoured fashion to return home engine first. Rather than take the direct route to Norton West straight ahead she continued along the down main around the corner to Norton East and then into the branch which formed the northern limb of the triangle to Norton West and on towards Ferryhill.