railway people and places
It's 50 years or more since a stationmaster last walked Grantham's platforms in gold-braided cap and highly polished shoes. We've been delving back in time to discover what the stationmaster's job entailed at Grantham between the 1850s and the 1960s, and who performed the role during that time.
Read more on our latest new page here.
The current issue of Steam World (Issue No. 354) has some Grantham and Barkston Junction interest in an article titled All Lines Lead to Loughborough by Peter Roulston, which starts on page 36.
Peter's spotting vists to Grantham from Loughborough in the late 1950s are described on pages 38-39, while on page 41 a couple of paragraphs describe Saturday trips by the Loughborough Railway Society to Barkston.
Colour-Rail photographs show Grantham station in August 1958 (including a porter with a barrow of boxes of Kia-Ora squash, doubtless bound for the down side refreshment room) on pages 36-37, and Barkston South Junction box in May 1959 on page 40.
Thanks to Mike Mather we've been able to add some interior shots of the signal box at High Dyke in 1974. Go to this page and scroll down.
We've just added a page here with a list of books and a list of articles in periodicals and magazines we've found which have significant content about the railway in and around Grantham.
We have just added a "Grantham Railway Timeline" to record interesting and notable events in and around the area. This covers the period from 1850 to the present day. We still have lots of gaps to fill in so if you have anything "interesting and notable" that we could perhaps include within this section and want to share it, then just let us know - use the 'Comment' box below. Here's a link to the page.
In April 2009 Steve Philpott boarded the Top Gear 'Race to the North' train at Grantham and settled down to record the trip to York as No. 60163 Tornado competed with a Jaguar XK120 sports car and a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle in a race from London to Edinburgh.
Steve provides a unique insight into the running of the train, The Cathedrals Express, over the 83 miles, and shares photographs taken at Durham and at Berwick upon Tweed as he traced its progress to the Scottish Border using the regular services of the day.
Read more in I was NOT 'The Stig'!