Trainspotting

[Compo 10,328]

Here's another memory; this time from September 1980. A Hymek at Old Dalby:

[Cliff Ton 10,466]

Yes, the Farnborough accident was 1952. I remember it like it happened yesterday. We were quite close to where the engine hit the crowd.

At the risk of being slightly morbid, that incident was featured and shown in a programme on BBC 4 which is still available on iPlayer. It starts at 22.05.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01m81f5/jet-when-britain-ruled-the-skies-1-military-marvels

[firbeck 859]

D7076, used as a load test unit based at Derby, now preserved at the East Lancs Railway and restored to service this Summer thanks to the amazing discovery of an ex Hymek engine in a scrapyard in York. This engine had been in use as an emergency generator at a local hospital.

Incidentally, did you know that the Farnborough Airshow disaster was the last time that viewing spectators were killed at an airshow in this country. The safety measures introduced in the aftermath of the disaster clearly worked, though in the nearly 60 years of going to airshows myself, I've seen a few fatal crashes and some very close shaves.

[Compo 10,328]

Thanks for the gen on 7076 Firbeck. Glad to know that it survived.

[Compo 10,328]

Here's a couple of little gems I picked up recently:

The first is a Horwich Crab at Daybrook Station in July 1959. What was a Crab doing on the GNR back line? I suspect it was on a seaside special, in which case I might well have been on it since that was my family's means of transport to the seaside in the1950s

The second is a (Sentinel?) railcar at Daybrook station on an unspecified date. Can anyone make a reasoned guess at the date, please?

[firbeck 859]

42769 was allocated to Nottingham Shed 16A at the time, some of the carriages look to be of LMS origin, but as it's heading east it couldn't have come from Midland Station, possibly Mansfield perhaps. I remember catching a Mablethorpe seaside special from Daybrook once, must have been about the same year, why we caught one from Daybrook when we lived in Wollaton was always a mystery to me, it must have been a pain to get there by bus.

The steam railcar was probably around 1930, I think the LNER painted them red and cream.

[Compo 10,328]

Thanks for the prompt reply Firbeck. Looking at the number of coaches the train must have been a special.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

In 'The Story of the Nottingham Suburban Railway Volume 2' by David G. Birch there's a photo of a Sentinel railcar, no. 45 'Commerce' at Victoria station '...about to depart in a southerly direction...in 1931 probably to travel over [the Suburban Railway] on its way to Daybrook station and Shirebrook.' It mentions the livery as green and cream.

Can't tell if this is the same one as in the photo above, but the one in the book isn't towing a trailer car.

According to the text, by July 1931 there was one remaining through passenger service over the Suburban Railway - the 5.05pm to Shirebrook (calling at Daybrook at 5.18pm) but that ceased after 14th September that year.

Of course the photo above may not be of a Suburban line service. This book indicates that there were five Sentinel steam railcars based at Colwick by 1925.

[firbeck 859]

I thought that the LNER only applied green and cream to 'holiday' stock, but I bet you're right, I was under that impression myself, I doubt whether any of these steam railcars survived into BR ownership to be painted into those colours unlike those lovely, streamlined, Art Deco GWR diesel railcars that I recall seeing back in the 50's in the Bristol area.

My old man was always taking us off on day trips by train in the 50's and 60's, we weren't very well off so tickets must have been cheap in those days. I recall catching a day trip Mablethorpe bound special from Midland one year, it pulled up next to London Road Low Level station then reversed into the south platform where a gleaming ex works K3 was waiting to take over, what a rigmarole, why didn't they start it from Vic instead and save all the shunting about, perhaps it had started from Derby and they knew that most people didn't know where Friargate Station was!!

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

That must have been among the last passenger trains to used that route. The following year, after an inspection, Mapperley Tunnel was condemned and all trains ceased using it immediately. All trains thereafter having to use the bottleneck at Victoria Station. However, as an ex-railwayman who worked with many old boys from that era, I heard from many sources that this all could have been a ruse to hasten the complete closure of Colwick Loco and marshaling yard. I remember my little stroll with Pete (Firbeck) around 1964/5 along the line from Daybrook to Leen Valley Junction and our rescue of certain artifacts from the said signal box before the demolition squads or the vandals destroyed them.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

The fateful closure day was 4th April 1960.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I thought it was around then. My memory fails a lot these days. There is an interesting book about Nottingham's railway ghosts with plenty about Daybrook Station. I'll send the ISBN number later.

[StephenFord 866]

For many years there was a Summer Saturday train from (I think) Burton on Trent, or it may have been Walsall, to Skegness which ran via Egginton Junction and Derby Friargate, then the Daybrook line from Basford to Colwick, avoiding Nottingham Victoria. There was a corresponding train in the opposite direction too. I can remember seeing published photos of this train heading up to Mapperley Tunnel behind a 4F - frequent performers on holiday specials and excursions in those days. I believe the train continued to run after the closure of Mapperley tunnel, but via Nottingham Midland, with the strange contortions at London Road Low Level described by Firbeck in #159.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

There is a photo of a 4F (43837) on a King's Norton - Skegness S.O. train taken in 1955.(photo 74)

In Railways in and around Nottingham by V.Forster & W.Taylor

ISBN 1-870119-13-4 published in 1991 by Foxline

[BulwellBrian 107]

Re the Sentinel steam railcar #156, These were built between 1925 & 1933 and withdrawn between 1939 & 1948. The coachwork for the early ones was built at the Cammell Lairds factory in Nottingham which I believe became the ROF.

9 different cars were at Colwick over the years with no 43301 Commerce there the longest. They were also used at Annesley for the dido to Bulwell Common.

There is a photo of 43301 Commerce with a GNR coach attached at Bagthorpe Junction in Vol 10B of Locomotives of the LNER by the RCTS.

Some were initially red & cream but later green & cream.

[Cliff Ton 10,466]

A massive amount of information on the subject, including references to all around the Nottingham area (and Cammell Laird - the ROF)

http://www.lner.info/locos/Railcar/sentinel.shtml

[BulwellBrian 107]

The LNER info site is a direct crib from the RCTS books.

[StephenFord 866]

Bubblewrap - re #164 - that was it, Kings Norton. I've been looking at the Summer 1947 timetable on the Timtableworld website. At that time it started at 9.15 from Birmingham New Street, and so far as I can trace it was scheduled non-stop from Burton on Trent to Skeg. (Bet it didn't actually manage that many times).

Well, one thing led to another, and I finished up compiling a list of all the long distance through trains to Skegness on Summer Saturdays. Here it is (arrivals in Skegness) :

10.33 from Kirkby in Ashfield via Edwinstowe,

10.40 from Derby Friargate,

10.55 from Nottingham Victoria (non-stop),

11.09 from Chesterfield Market Place via Bolsover,

11.14 from Leicester Belgrave Road via Melton Mowbray North,

11.24 from Nottingham Victoria,

11.53 from Sheffield Victoria,

12.04 from Bradford Exchange,

12.17 from Leeds Central,

12.46 from Manchester Central via Sheffield Victoria,

1.22 from Manchester Central via Sheffield Victoria,

1.41 from London Kings Cross,

1.49 from Birmingham New Street,

3.10 from London Kings Cross,

4.55 from Nottingham Victoria (presumably this was for those who had to work on Saturday morning before going on holiday - it was 2.45 from Vic, and divided at Boston, with the rear half going to Mablethorpe).

[BulwellBrian 107]

This shows why the seaside places had so many platforms and sidings. Blackpool even had three stations.

[Cliff Ton 10,466]

Blackpool even had three stations.

So did Hucknall but did anybody go there for a holiday?

[Smiffy49 590]

#167 Mainly because a lot of people are members of both organisations and this provides a level of shared knowledge and consistency.

Smiffy

[StephenFord 866]

Re #169 and 170 - Oldham had five (Werneth, Mumps, Central, Clegg Street and Glodwick Road)! Say no more about holiday resorts !

[firbeck 859]

We tended to go on daytrips to Mablethorpe rather than Skegness, probably because it was our traditional family holiday destination pre and post war up to the mid 50's. I also suspect that the fact that my old man was based there at the beginning of WW2 had something to do with it as well.

I gather that the lack of space in the station at peak times meant that trains were stabled in a line on the abandoned route to Saltfleetby, that must have taken some organising! I remember well the excitement of getting off the train and walking up the High St towards the beach, picking up a new bucket and spade on the way.

I recall going to Cleethorpes one Easter Sunday, around 1958, catching the K3 hauled excursion from Edwinstowe, we must have gone to Skegness on occasion, I remember looking at the clock tower and passing Boston Stump on the way there, but it was nearly always Mablethorpe, and always a ride on the famous red sand train along the beach.

[Compo 10,328]

Cliff Ton #170:

I remember going to Hucknall central from Nottm Victoria for an air show about 1960. The train was crowded so they put some of us into a van attached to the rear of the train. I don't know what happened then but the next thing I recall was being herded out of the van and back into the crowded coaches. It was a standing room only job all the way. I don't recall the return journey so it was probably on a bus.

[Compo 10,328]

I liked the experience fo getting off the train at Mabo and the walk along the high street. It gave a sense of excitement because you could see the end of the road where the seaside began and you passed the amusement arcades on the way. Cleethorpes was similar in that the seaside was next to the train whereas skeggy station was not within sight of the front.