Trainspotting

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

By the time it was entrusted to my capable hands (!!??!!) it was just a TPO . The Lincoln Section was usually just a TPO carriage and a parcels brake and the Peterborough section was a TPO carriage and two parcels brakes. As I said earlier they would be coupled at Derby. It was always a Class 31 whenever I shunted it. During the mid to late 1980s Crewe station was being re-signalled, most of the work done at night so a lot of the mail trains came through Derby. We had the Derby / Bristol TPO which started at Derby. We had to take the stock from the sidings to the North-end dock during the afternoon. In winter, a class 47 was coupled to pre-heat the coaches so the poor post-men wouldn't get cold. Later an electric heater was installed by the dock so all we had to do was un hook the shunt engine and connect the cables. The fitters had to come up and switch on (??). Around 8:30 pm a parcels train would arrive from Newcastle and we would connect the North-end shunt engine to the TPO stock and shunt them onto the rear of the ex-Newcastle. The next TPO was the Peterborough Crewe I have already mentioned. Later we had the North-East TPO on Platform 6 which would entail much shunting. This was followed by the Midland TPO from Bristol which would also entail much shunting. Not long after the Midland TPO going south would arrive. All these main TPOS also had relief mail trains without TPO stock following behind. Extremely busy around Christmas.

Sadly, it has all disappeared. A lot of mail has been replaced by electronic mail. Most first class goes by air now.

Derby station was a hive of activity on weekday nights with mail carts hauled by electric tractors whizzing up and down the ramps and through the tunnels from platform to platform. At busy times the mail wasn't always loaded, especially if a train had arrived late. This was because departure times were very strictly adhered to.

A glimpse of the atmosphere can be seen by watching the old 'Night Mail' film Even all those years ago it was very busy.

Reflections of W Auden's ................Here comes the Night Mail crossing the border................. I still love that poem.

[Scriv 168]

It was indeed a passenger train Scriv, one of the fastest on the Nottingham - Lincoln line. I think it may have ceased to carry passengers by the time Bilbraborn is talking of in #194. It was not always the only loco-hauled, even after DMUs came in in 1958. There was the daily B1 hauled 7.00 Cleethorpes - Birmingham (extended to Sidmouth on Summer Saturdays), and the corresponding 4.50pm Birmingham - Cleethorpes, which left Nottingham at 6.58, stopping only at Rolleston Junction and Newark. And, as I've mentioned on here before, there was a 3.05pm Lincoln - Derby that remained steam-hauled until at least the mid 60s.

All before my time I'm afraid, I must have seen steam trains on BR and travelled on them many times when I was a baby, but by the time I was old enough to retain memory of the journeys, usually to my grandparents in Loughborough, it was all diesel; I was born in 1960. I do however vaguely recall one day when we missed the train from Loughborough Midland, had to travel from Loughborough Central presumably to Arkwright Street then rush over to Nottingham Midland to catch the train to Thurgarton. I can also recall a steam-hauled goods train heading over Stanford viaduct, I'm sure it was carrying ex-MOD vehicles to Ruddington.

I do sometimes envy you lads who were born perhaps ten or even twenty years earlier, who were able to see steam working on a daily basis. The Nottingham-Lincoln had plenty of regular traffic but not much exciting stuff. Probably for that reason, it does not seem to have been intensively photographed; a pity really, for the line does have some very fine country stations.

Incidentally, I do have railwaymen in my family. My maternal grandfather, Claude Sills, was listed on his marriage certificate as being a "shunter on the railway" in 1926; given that they then lived at Curzon street, Netherfield I would assume this to be at Colwick. Not long after that, he was severely injured in an accident at work; he narrowly escaped losing his leg, and suffered from osteomyelitis for the rest of his life, necessitating him wearing a leg iron. He found another job as a clerk at Brush in Loughborough, where he remained until his retirement in the early 1960's. He was a quiet and withdrawn man, with a somewhat dour demeanour probably aggravated by the constant pain he suffered; sadly he died in 1968 before I was really old enough to get to talk to him about his railway memories. My mother's grandfather, George Shaw (died before 1926) was also a railwayman, a "wagon number taker" I believe.

[albert smith 803]

Night Mail? This one Bb?

[albert smith 803]

Poor reproduction but it's copied from the inside of the 'Gents' toilet door at the Ecclesbourne Rly.Wirksworth!

[Cliff Ton 10,464]

Re: the Nightmail film.

You can get a remastered DVD version of the original 1936 film which runs 23 mins. On the same DVD you also get the 1948 version at 17 mins; a 1963 version at 28 mins; and a 1982 version at 25 mins. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Mail-DVD-Geoffrey-Tandy/dp/B000WM9WKU/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1417876221&sr=1-2&keywords=nightmail

And you get the words to the poem.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

In 1986 they made a kind of documentary about the mail trains going through Derby. A few of my workmates were on it. When it was shown on TV they coupled it with the Night Mail film.

Interestingly, the original Night Mail film was about the Down Special TPO. Nearly 40 years later, the return working - The Up Special TPO was the subject of the Great Train Robbery.

[Cliff Ton 10,464]

Bilbraborn, you may already know this............on that Nightmail DVD which I mentioned in post #205, the one I named the 1982 version is, I think, the one you are referring to. I've just watched it again and it has a long sequence at Derby and at East Mids Airport, so if you haven't seen it you might recognise people you know.

[firbeck 859]

I recall that the Mail, when I travelled on it, had an ex LMS lineside pick up vehicle, I may be romantising here, but I'm sure there was a pick up point near Newark which I would watch in action from the train, without looking it up, there must be a list of TPO lineside sites somewhere on the net, apart from my Hornby Dublo example.

Scriv, we were lucky in some respects to be born at the end of the age of steam. It was painfull to watch it go, but at least I can remember a time when steam was still supreme and personally travelled behind the 'high rollers' on each of the 'Big Four' main lines.

Due to the fact that we used to go on South Coast holidays, the Southern was my favourite, particularly the way they used to really make those Merchant Navy Pacific's let go on the straight racetrack to Basingstoke.

I remember coming back from Weymouth behind a Schools class 4-4-0 and, man, could that thing shift, I think they were the most powerful 4-4-0's ever built, and it showed.

By the way, 'Night Mail' is on YouTube if you want an accessible viewing.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Thanks for that Pete. I do get watching stuff on You Tube but I tend to fall asleep. By the way Cliff Ton, If the one you mentioned is 1982 then it can't be the one I saw made at Derby as I didn't transfer to Derby until 1985.

[firbeck 859]

Bilbraborn, you may be interested to know I was put on to that reference by Steve Wood (Plod), who will probably read this when he's not restoring clocks in deepest Hampshire.

I've tried to find some sort of list or maps of where TPO lineside equipment was situated but only via my phone, I haven't had chance to use my PC and I'm currently working at Tescos as a Xmas extra, I have to go up there soon in fact.

There must be a list of these things somewhere, some of you seem to find remarkable info, I'd be interested to find out, didn't they install some of this lineside equipment in really remote places?

The other thing I tried to research once were the sites of water troughs, I'm sure I came across a map once. I think they were in short supply in the Nottingham area, the only one I can think of was near Loughborough, Hathern? I don't recall ever seeing it in use, my haunt used to be Hest Bank troughs near Carnforth, I've got some nice colour slides of those in action that I took from the lineside, yes, I did used to get a soaking but it was worth it.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

There was Muskham troughs on the main line just north of Newark.

[Chulla 4,946]

Further to my #14, another occasion when I experienced a marvellous railway moment. I was at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on a beautiful bright blue-sky day. A steam train ran excursions from katyjayville the sixty-odd miles to the canyon, hauled by a Baldwin locomotive. The train arrives into the station via a bend; it not being seen until the final few hundred yards. At about a mile from the station the driver begins sounding the whistle, just like the ones we heard in the old films. He don't half give it some welly; giving short and long blasts all the way up to the station. The sound of the blasts echoing around the canyons is something every railway enthusiast should live long enough to hear. When it has disgorged the passengers and reversed for the return journey, it stands there, its Westinghouse gear panting away.

[firbeck 859]

Chulla, I'm a fan of the photos of O Winston Link, for those of you who've never seen them, look them up now, I think they're some of the finest railway pics ever taken, anywhere, by anybody. I've got one of the books recording his work, there was a free CD of his recordings with it, the sound of those Norfolk and Western beasts sounding their chime whistles through the night is one of the most haunting things I've ever heard.

[Smiffy49 590]

#213 Hear that lonesome whistle blow....................

[firbeck 859]

I'm in a rush as I've got to take the dogs for a walk then get ready for work, my troublesome PC doesn't help.

Clearly Smiffy knows of O Winston Link, there was a fabulous documentary about him on BBC about 10 years ago, A snippet survives on Youtube.

Here's a small example of his work:-

[firbeck 859]

Sorry, I have to go, I'll put some more up tomorrow if anyone is interested, it's my day off and I'll have more time.

Not good quality I know, but taken with my phone rather than scanned.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

if you Google O Winston Link there are plenty of phgots to see.

[Chulla 4,946]

A couple of years ago we stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Pensacola, Florida. This is a beautiful old railway station building now transformed into the lobby/reception area and restaurant - the rooms are a modern extension. The railway still runs right beside the hotel and serves the dock area of the town. The trains are a sight to be seen. I saw seven locos pulling a train at least a mile long. The trains often had low flat-beds each with two full-size containers; one on top of the other. The tracks pass right through the town necessitating the continuous use of the warning whistle/chime. Marvellous.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Was watching Antiques Road Show Sunday. One of the items was a special ticket from the Midland Counties Railway which was opened in 1839 and initially went between Nottingham and Derby. It eventually merged with other small local railways to form the Midland Railway. In fact the MCR didn't exist for long before the merger. The ticket was valued at two thousand pounds. Yes 2 grand. The roadshow was in London by the way. The young lass that brought the ticket along was absolutely gob smacked.

[StephenFord 866]

Re #155 (Compo's picture of crab 42769 at Daybrook in July 1959) I have just found on the website www.annesleyfireman.com/id9 that five crabs were allocated to Annesley from early 1959 to June/July 1960 - and 42769 was one of them.

[firbeck 859]

My Ian Allan shedbook dated December 1st 1956 shows 42769 allocated to 16A Nottingham, my shedbook dated April 23rd 1960 has it down as 16D Annesley, so it was clearly a local engine. When was the GCR transferred to the LMR, as in the 1956 book Annesley comes under the ER as 38B.

Incidentally Bilbraborn, I saw that Antique Roadshow, didn't the valuer get it wrong, I could swear blind he said the Midland Counties Railway just ran up to Leicester with no mention of Nottingham or Derby, it was formed at the Sun Inn, Eastwood in 1832, my brothers old local before he acquired the station house at Denby.

[StephenFord 866]

Yes, 42769 was a Nottingham engine for a long time before going to Annesley, and I think may have come back again afterwards. It was a regular on the Sunday morning ramblers' train - 9.45 to Buxton, and I also saw it many times on the 3.05 pm Lincoln - Derby.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Pete I don't think these chaps know an awful lot of the finer detail. When they celebrated MCR 150 in 1989 I really milked it. As I worked at Derby station and sidings at the time I had access to stuff that the public didn't. I still have a lot of the souvenirs. I was on night shift at Derby Station the Saturday night before they used the Jubilee and 80080 on the Nottingham/Derby service trains and both engines were sat all night in Derby Station North end Dock. As Saturday nights were not busy at that time, we would grab a crafty snooze on the first class cushions we had in the mess room at the North end of platform 6. Every time I drifted off, one of the locos would lift its safety valves. I was hoping to get some kip as I wanted to spend most of Sunday riding up and down and photographing. I did manage to do it but was I cream-crackered.

[firbeck 859]

Don't forget that on the Antiques Roadshow, the experts have probably spent hours pouring over their laptops researching the items presented before they're shown to us 'As if they've just wandered up'.

I really regret that we weren't able to fully go through the contents of Edwalton Station, I reckon we probably missed out on some real gems there. For those of you who don't know, it had all been stored in the ceiling of the booking office which had collapsed in a heap on the floor, a bloody big heap of paperwork as well. We were hiking at the time and luckily had rucksacks with us which Bilbraborn and I managed to cram full. Many of the documents dated back to the opening of the station, I found pre grouping truck destination labels still pinned to the desk spike where they'd been placed during WW1, incredibly ornate company goods issue certificates, the station registers, loads of stuff, but never found any tickets, but then we never got to the bottom of the pile. Bilbraborn and I went back a few days later on the tandem with pannier bags attached, we were going to sift through everything. Unfortunately, when we got there, by coincidence, a JCB had flattened the place,all we found were fragments of torn historical documents blowing about the goods yard, it was heartbreaking. I regret not going straight back with my old man in his car and filling the boot, but it was getting dark by the time we got home and, unlike us on school half term holiday, he had to go to work the next day.

I bet there's still some places hidden away like this, I still have my eye on a certain abandoned station in Suffolk, it remains as it was when it was closed in 1964 and has never been touched, the green and cream LNER paint slowly peeling off.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Happy days Pete, Happy Days. By the way, w3hat happened to your GNR bridge number 6? Did you remove it from your old home? I keep meaning to nip round and have a look. I did manage to get a few bits and bobs at Derby Station before it was rebuilt, but it was the stuff I missed that rankles. Like the MR clock in the North-end mess room. I kept intending to get it and when I eventually remembered to take something to put it in, someone had beat me to it. Then there was the signal lamp servicing equipment in a van body at 4-shed car park. I clean forgot about that until they rebuilt 4-shed mess rooms and extended the car park. By then it was too late.