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Published on Leave a comment on Suggestions for Holiday Reading

Current issues of two of the monthly magazines contain some Grantham interest:

  • Backtrack for August 2017 (Vol. 31, No. 8) has a 4-page feature of photographs by Derek Penney, several of which feature Grantham or locations nearby (pages 480 to 483, plus cover illustration).
  • 'Great Shot!' in Steam World for August 2017 (Issue 362) has a photograph of Grantham's turntable taken in 1958 (pages 34-35).  "... but there wasn't a turntable at Grantham after 1951,"  we hear you say.  And you're right of course, but the photograph wasn't taken at Grantham.  It's at Melton Constable, in Norfolk, where Grantham's 70-foot turntable was moved for further service after its foundation, on the site of the old Victorian workhouse, gave way.

 

Published on Leave a comment on ‘Grantham Matters’ – recent photographs

Here are links to two photographs recently published by local website Grantham Matters which may interest our readers:

Published on Leave a comment on Another Barkston Discovery

Humphrey Platts recently discovered another very attractive photograph, one of a series of three he took while at Barkston Station one day in the 1950s.  We've just added it to his Gallery page - scroll down to the third image following the introduction.

Published on Leave a comment on Ironstone Mining Rediscoveries

Keeping an eye on the user statistics for Tracks Through Grantham we're used to seeing an occasional surge in interest when we publish a new page.  However, around the middle of July there was a sudden spike in our viewing figures which wasn't set off by new content.  It was thanks to a favourable mention on RMweb of our Railways Rediscovered pages (about the former Woolsthorpe Branch) that, for a period of three days we practically trebled our normal readership.*  If you'd like to see what the RMweb contributors had to say you can find the start of the thread here.

Also recently, Richard Marshall was in touch, leaving a comment on our page The Woolsthorpe Branch Rediscovered – Part 2 and subsequently he sent us some photographs of a building which was connected with the ironstone quarries and remains standing today, near Harston.  You can discover the building by scrolling down to near the bottom of this page.

(* We should clarify that the site stats do not tell us who our users are.  They give the total number of views of each page per day and some indication of how those users have found Tracks through Grantham.)

Published on Leave a comment on No. 4472 ‘Flying Scotsman’ at Grantham in 1968

Some time ago we published several black and white photographs which showed preserved A3 No. 4472 Flying Scotsman arriving at Grantham with a special train from the south, but we weren't sure when they were taken.

One of the great things about Tracks through Grantham is that when we appeal for information, whether on the website or at meetings, our questions seldom go unanswered.  This has proved to be the case yet again, so we have revised the page and added further photographs in colour, which we are sure you'll enjoy.

 

Published on Leave a comment on GNR Centenary Celebrations, 1952

Back in 1952 someone in charge of the GN section of BR's Eastern Region must have realised that celebrating the centenary of the opening, in July and August 1852, of the section of the main line the line which links Peterbrough and Retford through Grantham and Newark would be a very good thing to do.  Coupling that with the 100th anniversary of King's Cross station in the October provided an opportunity to really go to town and organise quite a programme of events.

Starting with some photographs kindly made available by Humphrey Platts, we've put together our latest new page, which is about those events.  We hope you enjoy it.

Published on Leave a comment on ‘Flying Scotsman’ Crew

Joe Bell has sent us a photograph of his grandfather, fireman William R. 'Billy' Bell, in the time office at Grantham Loco with his driver, Bob Morris.  They are signing off  after bringing The Flying Scotsman from King's Cross.  This photograph appeared on the front page of The Grantham Journal on 15th October 1948.

Follow this link and scroll down to near the bottom of the page.

Published on Leave a comment on Our next Tracks through Grantham meeting

Another Tracks through Grantham project get-together will take place in Grantham on Wednesday 18th October 2017.

We are working on the programme and if you've been on our contacts list for previous meetings we'll send you more information once it's ready.  The same applies if you've been in touch with us more recently and left us some contact details.  In either case you should have received an email from Mel earlier today.

If neither of the above apply and you'd be interested in hearing more please let us know via the 'Contact Form' on our Contact Us or Subscribe page, and we'll get back to you.  (To prevent spam we don't publish a direct email address on the website.)

 

Published on Leave a comment on A grand day out

Our latest new page has been inspired by some photographs and the story of a trip made in 1959 by Loco men from Grantham and Retford to the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway in Kent, but it also sounded echoes of a friendship forged in the 1920s, and there's a resonance with a recent reunion at the Bluebell Railway...