railway people and places
We have just added another section about Rob Taylor's many visits to Grantham. This time it's a lovely record in the form of cine film taken at Grantham during one of his trips there. So dim the lights, get your note book ready and enjoy a brief trip back in time to those memorable days. Here is the link to the new page. Use 'full screen' (near bottom right on each clip) for the best effect.
PS - we sent this message earlier before it was ready; apologies for the confusion!
Let's go back to September 1953, when the Eastern Region of British Railways celebrated the centenary of Doncaster Works by bringing the two preserved GNR Atlantic locomotives out of retirement at York Railway Museum and onto their old stamping ground, the East Coast Main Line. Humphrey Platts was on Grantham station to witness and photograph the arrival and departure of the veterans.
In Part 1 of our Railways Rediscovered series on the Woolsthorpe Branch there's mention of the former railway crossing of the Grantham Canal, though without any detail as to the type of bridge that used to be there. The March 2017 Newsletter of the Grantham Canal Society, Bridge, carries a page about the restoration of navigation by the clearance of the embankment and culverts, and the discovery and re-use of timbers from a wooden trestle structure that was found within the embankment. Turn to page 4 of the Newsletter.
Like many other railway enthusiasts Rob Taylor was attracted by the sight and sound of mainline expresses thundering through Grantham station. This new gallery is very much a 'spotter's collection' composed of images taken by him on different occasions but will hopefully provide you the reader with a flavour of a typical day trip to Grantham.
You can view this new gallery here
Tracks through Grantham aims to cover the railway at Grantham today as well as historically. Read about the latest new passenger (or is that customer?) facility on The Grantham Journal's website here.
Alan Pinchbeck recently sent us a photo of some tickets he has that remind him of days out by train from Grantham in the summer holidays with friends, and how a break of journey between Derby and Nottingham led to a sharp lesson in ticket availability! Read more here.
The next of our regular twice-a-year get-togethers for people interested in the Tracks through Grantham project will take place in Grantham in mid-April. These are always very enjoyable occasions, an opportunity for our contributors and supporters to meet while enjoying a varied and, we hope, informative programme.
If you are already on our list of contacts you should recently have received our notice giving details. Please remember to let us know if you hope to be there.
If you're interested in attending but are not currently on our contacts list get in touch using the Contact Form here, and we will send you information - date, time, venue and programme - and a reply form. We need to know how many people to expect so we cannot publish full details on the website. It might help if we say that it's a weekday, late morning to mid-afternoon.
In our latest article Richard Cumming shares parts of his Grantham fireman uncle's Codes of Engine Whistles booklet, turning another page in his appreciation of how the steam railway worked. Unnoticed by the casual observer, messages were passed in code between driver and signalman using a locomotive's whistle.
We've just received a new photograph for our page about the railways in Grantham during World War 2. It shows porter and ticket collector Irene Bradford (née Clarke) on the station platform with three colleagues. We could do with help identifying two of the people in the photograph.
Click here and scroll to about halfway down the page.
John Clayson
First a very warm welcome if you've recently become a subscriber to Tracks through Grantham, and this is your first message introducing a new article.
It's a dream for many of us - speeding along the East Coast Main Line in the wake of a streamlined steam locomotive of the 1930s, performing exactly the way its designers and builders intended. In 2013 Steve Philpott did just that. He was on board one of three special trains which were authorised to run up to 90 mph to mark the 75th anniversary of world record holder A4 pacific Mallard's unequalled 126 mph achieved in July 1938.
We've spoken to people who, as a passenger or on the footplate, have 'done the ton' or more with steam down Stoke Bank in the 1950s and early 1960s. Such speeds, while not called for by the timetable, were attained in 'normal service' by willing crews with double-chimney A3s and the post-war A1s, as well as A4s - as Roy Vinter describes. However, 90+ mph with steam in the 21st century had been, for many of us, unthinkable.
That there were three successful 90 mph runs in 2013 is a tribute to many people; some who dared to believe that it could and should happen, and others who had the professional standing to convince those in the railway industry who needed to be persuaded that a well-maintained steam locomotive, in skilled hands, could still be relied upon to deliver a high speed run in complete safety.
So let Steve take you through the build-up to his 'big day'. The anticipation, the disappointments and, finally, the thrill of charging through Grantham station 'with 11 [coaches] on' at top side of 75 mph, all but maintaining that momentum up to Stoke summit in preparation for what was to come... STREAK!
