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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.

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...

With all that's been written and published down the years about the Grantham Railway Disaster of 19th September 1906 one could be forgiven for thinking that there are no stones unturned so far as interesting angles on that fateful night are concerned.  We did too until recently, when our attention was drawn to reminders still to be found of two of the passengers who died in the wreckage.

Discover how a searchlight in a lookout station at the mouth of the River Tyne and an angel in a Cambridgeshire church yard are connected with victims of the disaster in our latest new pages here.

At our meeting in Grantham on 12th April we asked the audience to help with information about four photographs.  It was a resounding success, providing either an answer directly or clues which have set us along the path to the answer.

First up was a colour photograph sent to us by Mick Grummitt showing gleaming A3 locomotive No. 60047 Donovan on the engine spur near the North Box.  The face of a member of the crew could be seen in the cab, but who was it?  See the picture here (scroll down to near the bottom of the page), along with the driver's name.

Yvonne Parker had sent in  a photograph of her mother, who became a ticket collector in 1944, on the platform in 1947 with three colleagues.  Yvonne said,  "Two of the people in it are known to me.  Ernie Huckerby on the left and my mother Irene Bradford (née Clarke) on the right.  I would really like to know who the other two people in the picture are too."  Station Inspector Joe Darmon was recognised from the photograph, which can be seen here (scroll to halfway through the page).

Next there was a query from Richard Whitaker: "Who are the three men with my grandfather, driver Sam Whitaker, in a photograph taken at a presentation marking 45 years’ railway service?"  Sam joined the Great Northern Railway in December 1918, so the picture dated from December 1963 or early in 1964.  Fellow driver Austin Brown was identified - seen here (again, about halfway down the page).

Finally, one of the series of photographs taken by Humphrey Platts of The Plant Centenarian excursion in 1953 showed the end of a passenger carriage in departmental use.

It was identified as of Great Northern Railway origin, and it was suggested that the GNR Society may help us with its identity.

Brilliant work!  We'll set aside some more puzzles for our next gathering in October, so please keep sending them in.

On Wednesday 12th April the Grantham Railway Club once again hosted a lively and enjoyable gathering of neary 50 friends and supporters of Tracks through Grantham.

The programme included:

East Coast Main Line Memories  An evocative presentation by Mel Smith of a selection of railway images dating from the 1950s to electrification, set off by some amusing captions with more than a hint of the popular culture of the day (song and film titles and the like).

A miscellany  Some short films from the 1950s and early 1960s (accompanied by a sometimes less than well-informed soundtrack commentary), and an Ask the Audience session to discover answers to queries that our and others’ research has thrown up, presented by John Clayson.

Pirt’s Pics of Grantham Tony Wright showed, and we the audience admired, a superb selection of photographs taken by Keith Pirt around the station at Grantham, the Loco (shed) and the immediate environs.  Tony was seeking new insights into the pictures.

The Tracks through Grantham website  An overview of some of the latest new pages, showing how resources are brought together to build content for the site.

Following the pattern of previous meetings, feedback at the event was generous and informative.   For example, the 'mystery locations' of several photographs in Mel's presentation were identified, the Ask the Audience session yielded answers to most of the questions posed, and Tony gained a great deal of information from the many comments he received on Keith Pirt's photographs.  We'll post a number of News items shortly as follow-ups, drawing attention to pages updated as a result of information gathered on 12th April.

Above all, it was again a great pleasure to have the company of our supporters.  We see the project as channel for contributors, and chatting to people at the meetings really does help us to guide the future of Tracks through Grantham.  New material continues to be offered most willingly, and as a result there are now several ideas ‘on the go’ for pages which will appear in the coming weeks and months.

Finally, some thanks are most certainly due.  First to the staff of the Railway Club who really pulled out the stops to ensure that the room and all the facilities were available as planned.

We would also like to express gratitude to:

• everyone who contributed items to sell on a Bring & Buy basis for the benefit of the project
• everyone who purchased something
• everyone who gave a donation towards the costs of running Tracks through Grantham.

We have sufficient ‘in the kitty’ to cover the baseline running costs of Tracks Through Grantham (for example meeting room hire, website and film hosting fees, and newsletter printing) for at least the remainder of 2017.

And thanks to everyone who was there - it is really encouraging to have so much support.  The next Tracks through Grantham get-together will be in October and we'll fix the date in the next few weeks.

John & Mel