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LOWESTOFT & GREAT YARMOUTH IN FULL COLOUR

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Devon rail roving In 1960

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Gloucester to oban 60 years ago With steam haulage all the way!

LOCO PERFORMANCE THROUGH KETTERING

THE GARSTANG & KNOTT END RAILWAY

No 396

August 2022

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Trains of thought

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Timed through Kettering Andrew James considers performances on the various routes and contrasting services that served Kettering.

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West of England Rail Rover 1960 A Plymouth circular via Halwill Junction, Ilfracombe and Dulverton Venturing into Southern Region territory as part of a wide-reaching day trip, Leslie R Freeman circumnavigates Devon on everyday services on 1 June 1960.

Cover: On high ground on the northern edge of Dartmoor, Okehampton station was both on the Southern Region main line from London (Waterloo) and Exeter (Central) to Plymouth, and played a role as the junction station for services from this route to both North Devon and North Cornwall. Named after a beauty spot near Lynmouth, Bulleid Light Pacific No 34030 Watersmeet calls at Okehampton with a down service on 1 September 1960.

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EDITORIAL & DESIGN Rex Kennedy, Andrew Kennedy, Andrew Wilson, Roger Smith and Ian Kennedy 64 Littledown Drive, Bournemouth BH7 7AH 01202 304849 red.gauntlett@gmail.com ADVERTISING Craig Amess 01507 529537 camess@mortons.co.uk Fiona Leak 01507 529573 fleak@mortons.co.uk Group advertising manager: Sue Keily skeily@mortons.co.uk Publisher: Tim Hartley Publishing director: Dan Savage

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Awaiting departure from Halwill Junction from its dedicated platform, the Torrington service is in the hands of Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41313 on 26 June 1961, the one-coach load being typical. R F Rayne/David Dunn Collection

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STEAM DAYS in Colour 212: Rails around Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth An area filled with much-loved seaside destinations, we look at the main routes into Lowestoft Central and Yarmouth South Town, as well as the coastal Norfolk & Suffolk Joint line.

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The Garstang & Knott End Railway Stanley Jenkins examines the 11¼ mile branch line from the West Coast main line at Garstang & Catterall through to Knott End-on-Sea on the east bank of the River Wyre.

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‘Spot the Difference’ competition winners

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Gloucester to Oban 1962 … with steam all the way!

Gordon Kirkby recalls an outward journey travelling via London, of a memorable family holiday 60 years ago, entirely hauled by steam locomotives, albeit the transition from steam was all around.

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Reviews

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Tail Lamp

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TRAINS of thought

T

Next month...

Leominster, Ludlow, Clee Hill and Craven Arms sub-sheds Building up the National Collection The East London line Travels with unmodified Bulleid Pacifics Fowler tank engines - in full colour On sale Thursday, 18 August 2022

his month’s Steam Days all-colour photo feature on East Anglia helps me recall my move to Wells-next-the Sea in Norfolk in August 1968 to work at the stately home, Holkham Hall. By then, of course, steam had ended in that part of the country and many of the places in Norfolk had lost their railway services completely. I would drive around that county over my two years there looking at closed lines and stations, with fascinating names like County School, and I even visited the site of the old Midland & Great Northern Railway’s locomotive works at Melton Constable, once a real railway town, with the hope that there would be some relic from the past lying in the grass (without success), but I did acquire the bridge plate off the only bridge on the Wells-next-the-Sea quay line.

On visiting some of these locations I would see stations that had become residential properties, perhaps now lived in by a railway enthusiast, or even become a commercial premises. Two that I recall, not in Norfolk, being Moretonhampstead’s former broad gauge engine shed in Devon and the station at Newnham Bridge on the Bewdley to Tenbury Wells line in Worcestershire that had been turned into a garden centre, where the track between the up and down platforms had been filled in with soil for planting.

In the early 1990s I had lunch at a friend’s home. He lived in the old Midland & South Western Junction Railway station at Savernake in Wiltshire that closed to passengers in 1958, where the former signal box and water tower still stood. He had made this property look so attractive, and the old signal box there was occasionally visited by railway enthusiasts. On that site around that time was also some former London Transport Underground stock and apparently someone wrote in the local newspaper, ‘Where, in this county, would you find London Transport Underground stock?’ Much to his despair, he was flooded with enthusiasts arriving at his house – the sign ‘Beware of Adders’ did not seem to put them off. Indeed, I nearly bought Penrhyndeudraeth station on the Cambrian line in the early 1990s, where trains from Portmadoc to Harlech still stopped, but sadly the sale fell through.

Returning to Norfolk, where I spent those two happy years from 1968 to 1970, I would have loved to have lived there in steam days. I only got to places like Norwich in the diesel era, but there was still so much to see where closed lines and old stations still stood. No doubt some of our readers did the same as I, conjuring up pictures of former steam days from what remained. Enjoy your read and your own happy memories when the former rural lines had so much to offer, with their attractive architecture, even after steam had gone forever.

Steam Days Magazine In the days when going to the seaside for a summer holiday almost certainly involved a journey by train, this scene on the Norfolk & Suffolk Joint line, a former Great Eastern and M&GN route between Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, records the drama of a changeover day, in this case arriving on a northbound train on Saturday, 1 June 1957 and gathering all the belongings before the train pulled away, and then likely heading for the nearby holiday camp. In the years that followed, car ownership would cut back the numbers of travellers, and lines that depended on seasonal traffic became vulnerable. For Corton the end of services came on 4 May 1970, its station building now a private residence. E Alger/Colour-Rail.com/124569EA

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Timed through Kettering

Andrew James considers performances on the various routes and contrasting services that served Kettering.

O

ne of my character traits is a yearning for an era which I never lived in, and thus engendering an interest in history in general. It was in 1990 at the age of 17, when I began to get interested in train timing on the contemporary scene, and this broadened from the current scene back to the steam era, which at this period was less than three decades before. I say this as many readers will be aware as one gets older, time seems to diminish and three decades feels like one at most on the chronology scale!

The Northamptonshire town of Kettering was blessed with some of the fastest schedules in the United Kingdom during the steam era with regard to services to and from the capital.

This reached its zenith in the periods immediately before the outbreak of World War II and prior to the onset of dieselisation on the Midland main line in 1959. The trend continued until the advent of the HST in the

For more than two decades the Stanier ‘Jubilee’ class 4-6-0s held sway within the top flight of motive power on the Midland main line through Kettering. This view records Holbeck-allocated No 45564 New South Wales arriving with an up express on 30 March 1959 and passing what is clearly a favourite location for trainspotters, the north end of the fast line platforms. Beyond the social gathering on the up platform are wagons on the ramp leading to the coal stage of Kettering shed, the shed itself going unseen behind the north end of the up slow platform.

K C H Fairey/Colour-Rail.com/8306

mid- to late-1970s. This was the exalted mile-aminute rate so coveted by performance commentators C J Allen and O S Nock in the so-called ‘racing pages’. It was the gold standard of scheduling during the steam era in the UK. The July 1957 issue of Trains Illustrated reflected this eulogising tone with the restoration of the pre-war XL Limit schedules on this route, a salutatory reminder to just how long it took to regain these standards in the post-war world. Included in the schedule trimming were journey times of just 71 minutes from Kettering to London (St Pancras) and vice versa, a distance of 72 miles 2 chains. These workings received coverage by C J Allen in both his train running columns in Trains Illustrated and Railway Magazine, much less coverage however, has seen the light of day on duties that served other intermediate towns north and south of Kettering. This will hopefully be partially addressed in this article.

The text and tables include references to equivalent drawbar horsepower (edhp) – the power left at the drawbar of the locomotive after the allowance for various frictional and aerodynamic resistances – as well as indicated horsepower (ihp) – the power developed at the locomotive’s cylinders. The load figures include the number of vehicles in the train, coaches + other, as well as the tare and gross weight in tons. In regard to the best services, the XL Limit is the timing class for trains with an average speed of 60mph, and a ‘Jubilee’ was traditionally allowed a maximum of nine vehicles on such a working, and beyond this there were three slower timing classes for heavier duties.

On the Midland main line the XL Limit schedules in the less benign post-war era were amongst the most arduous set in the UK at the time. Initial restoration of these services was a ‘Jubilee’ monopoly, and the running vacillated between the dire and the delectable.

Peter Barlow was on hand to time Stanier ‘Jubilee’ class 4-6-0 No 45613 Kenya heading the 4.25pm ex-Manchester (Central) from Leicester (London Road) on Thursday, Completed at Crewe Works and released to traffic on 6 August 1934, Stanier ‘Jubilee’ No 5613 Kenya, the subject of our first timed run, sports LMS crimson livery with sans serif letters and numerals when recorded at Cricklewood shed on 29 May 1937. Named on 16 March 1936, this 4-6-0 was new to Camden shed but incredibly it had already been re-allocated three times when photographed, taking in spells serving Kentish Town, Millhouses and Kentish Town (again), before seeing allocation to West Coast main line sheds. In fact, when timed in June 1957 it was a Carlisle (Upperby) engine that was about to see a loan period at Longsight, so was perhaps a scoop for Midland main line spotters when it headed along their route. Railphotoprints Collection

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Sporting a 17A shedcode as a Derby-allocated engine, Stanier ‘Jubilee’ No 45602 British Honduras arrives at Leicester (London Road) station on Tuesday, 9 July 1957. It is seen just 12 days after Peter Barlow joined a similar Manchester to St Pancras train on 27 June – see Table One, Run One – and timed the train, headed by classmate No 45613 Kenya, between this station and Luton. South of Mexico on the east coast of Central America, British Honduras was a British Crown colony from 1783 to 1964, when it became self-governed. It was renamed Belize in June 1973 and became fully independent in September 1981.

D C Ovenden/Colour-Rail.com/13546

27 June 1957 – see Table One, Run One. Just what a tough ask they were for the locomotive and crew is reflected in the running to Kettering. A signal check at Knighton North Junction hardly helped matters, but the

running on the ascents up to Kibworth and Desborough North were of a uniformly high order, yet they only gained less than a minute on to Kettering. To look at it in another way, if one of the more esteemed Great Western

Table One Midland main line ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Britannia’ performance: Express duties Leicester (London Road) to Luton (Midland Road) Run Date Train

One 27 June 1957 4.25pm Manchester (Central) to London (St Pancras) Loco Stanier ‘Jubilee’ class 4-6-0 No 45613 Kenya (6P) Load 8 vehicles: 277 tons net/ 295 tons gross Recorder P G Barlow m. ch.

0 00 1 07

Two 14 November 1959 4.25pm Manchester (Centrall) to London (St Pancras) BR Standard ‘Britannia’ Pacific No 70014 Iron Duke (7MT) 8 vehicles: 236 tons net/ 250 tons net F Lodge

3 5 7 9 12

42 18 44 32 62

Location min.sec. mph schedule Leicester LR 0 00 dep. 7 late Knighton North Jn 3 48 sigs/23 Wigston North Jn 7 25 44 Wigston Magna Kilby Bridge 9 52 52 Great Glen 12 25 59 Kibworth North 14 17 56 East Langton 17 12 79/81

16 18 20 23 27

13 42 38 41 05

Market Harborough Braybrook Desborough North Glendon & Rushton Kettering

20 22 25 27 31

06 45 07 51 29

0 1 2 3 6 9 12 15 19

00 26 54 65 77 29 22 29 06

24 31 32 34 28 39 41

64 22 63 62 02 60 63

Kettering Jn Burton Latimer Finedon Wellingborough MR Irchester Milepost 59¾ Sharnbrook Oakley Bedford North Jn Elstow Ampthill Flitwick Harlington Milepost 34 Leagrave Luton MR

0 2 4 5 8 10 13 16 19 21 23 29 30 33 37 38 41

00 50 14 20 10 15 21 10 03 35 48 17 54 56 35 54 49

60*/61 52 48 71/65

50 61 64 68 70 50 80/83 63 75 70/72 55 61 56 53 59

min.sec.

0 00

mph

5 54

51/47

10 20 53/58 12 20 54 15 13 80 signal stop 21 20 39

(32)

27 00 29 23 32 51

(42)

0 2 4 4 7 9 12 14 17 20 22 28 30 33 36 37 40

edhp/ihp/mph/ Great Glen-Kibworth North (1 in 175) Run 1/1065/1443/59.5

schedule

00 45 02 56 30 40 21 51 46 07 20 52 37 21 22 25 23

54 80/84

56 70 75/78 67 70 63 78/82 70/82 78/79 72/tsr 47 60/66 66 65 72/74

(36)

(44)

Run 2/1089/1462/55.5

edhp/ihp/mph/ Irchester-Milepost 59¾ (Sharnbrook Summit) (1 in 120) Run 1/731/1071/56.3 Run 2/1346/1857/65.1 tsr – temporary speed restriction

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‘Castle’ class 4-6-0s (rated in the ‘7P’ classification as opposed to the ‘6P’ of the ‘Jubilee’) was working on a similar load from London (Paddington) to Reading at this level of power, this would be enough to ensure a time of under 35 minutes to the latter. This was some way in advance of the general schedules on this section, which were around 40-43 minutes in this period.

The continuation to Luton, it has to be said, was less energetic in places, particularly on the 1 in 120 climb from Irchester to Sharnbrook summit, but the grind through the Chilterns up the long 1 in 200 section to the summit at milepost 34 was topped at 53mph. Again, quite creditable, however, the gain on schedule was minimal. No doubt, the acoustics that emanated from the chimney was the characteristic ‘Jubilee’ roar, something the author has had personal experience of behind Leander and Galatea in recent years over Shap.

Salvation was sought for the erratic steaming of the ‘Jubilees’ by transferring a number of ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0s, ‘Britannia’ Pacifics and the odd rebuilt ‘Patriot’ class 4-6-0 to the Midland division during the period from 1957 to 1960. Once again consulting Table One, Run Two features a renowned runner in British Railways ‘7MT’ ‘Britannia’ Pacific No 70014 Iron Duke. Frank Lodge, who was witness to many fine exploits on the Midland main line at the end of the steam era, was fortunate to record this effort for posterity – it is on the identical service to the ‘Jubilee’ on Run One, but on a Saturday evening nearly 2½ years later. Whilst for the most part it was competent as opposed to scintillating, the metallic nobleman did rattle his sword in one or two bursts – this was most apparent in the ascent of Sharnbrook summit where the fall in speed from only 70mph at Irchester to 63mph at the summit was worth around 1,350edhp. This was beyond the capacity of a ‘Jubilee’ and on par with the new-fangled English Electric 1Co-Co1 type ‘4’ diesel-electrics that were entering service on the West Coast main line at the time. The other incidental note of interest is the marked difference in the tare weight between the two consists. The former was almost certainly British Railways Mk I stock with a catering vehicle, which would swell the tonnage,

Table Two Midland main line ‘Black Five’ performance: semi-fast duty Leicester (London Road) to Wellingborough (Midland Road) Run Date Train

Three 11 March 1961 12.00 Nottingham (Midland) to London (St Pancras) Loco Stanier ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0 No 44811 (5MT) Load 9 vehicles: 288 tons net/300 tons gross Recorder F Lodge m.

0 1 3 7 8 9 Heading along the 1902 stretch of Midland main line that offered a more direct route from Manchester (Central), avoiding Stockport (Tiviot Dale), BR ‘Britannia’ Pacific No 70014 Iron Duke has just passed through the 2 miles 346 yards of Disley tunnel and from a 1 in 132 grade to a level section with the up ‘Palatine’ for St Pancras, circa 1960 – No 70014 was Trafford Park based from summer 1958 until the end of 1960. This titled service originated under the LMS in 1938 for the 10am up duty and 4.30pm down, but war inevitably saw the titled service withdrawn, and its BR return saw the down duty now the earlier of the two trains, the 7.55am from St Pancras. The return duty, as seen, settled into the 2.25pm slot from Manchester (Central) and called at Chinley, Miller’s Dale, Matlock, Derby and Leicester. The train’s title references Lancashire’s status as County Palatine, as awarded in March 1351 by King Edward III upon making Henry Grosmont the first Duke of Lancaster in recognition of astonishing deeds of prowess and feats in battle, while the locomotive is named after Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, of Battle of Waterloo fame. Alan H Bryant ARPS/Rail Photoprints

whereas Run Two was with Stanier corridor stock, with possibly one or two non-corridor coaches in the formation – such differences in the steam era are a reminder of the varying rolling stock configurations a train-timer could encounter on British Railways at the time.

Table Two takes us on to an up semi-fast service from Nottingham (Midland) featuring

one of the ubiquitous Stanier ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0s, No 44811, on Saturday, 11 March 1961. Again, traffic congestion out of Leicester is apparent, which caused a ten minute loss on the schedule to Kibworth. Whilst the hill climbing between Great Glen and the box at Kibworth North was not as energetic as the ‘Jubilee’ performance in Run One, in terms of power output it was the maximum that could

ch.

00 07 42 44 32 12

Location min. sec. mph sched.

Leicester LR 0 00 Knighton North Jn signal stop Wigston Magna 16 07 43 Great Glen 21 04 54 Kibworth North 23 08 50 Kibworth 24 25 (14)

0 00 2 50 East Langton

0 00 58/max 4 10 (5½)

0 00 3 31 Market Harborough

0 5 40

0 00 0 00 4 35 Desborough North 7 51 4 67 Desborough & Rothwell 8 40 0 00 2 41 Glendon & Rushton 6 05 Kettering 0 00 1 26 2 54 3 65 5 63 6 77

Kettering Junction Burton Latimer Finedon Neilson's Sidings Wellingborough MR

00

38

(6)

(11)

0 00 3 30 67/71 7 03

(8)

0 2 4 5 6 8

(9)

00 37 53 01 62 04 65 51 70/68 25

edhp/ihp/mph/ Great Glen-Kibworth North (1 in 175) Run 3 – 890/1183/53.7

Nearing Kettering Junction on 18 May 1959 are ‘Britannia’ Pacific No 70021 Morning Star on the 11.30am ex-Manchester on the up fast line, and Stanier ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0 No 44839 on the up slow. Kettering Junction lays about 1¼ miles south of Kettering station and in steam days it offered ladder links between the various tracks, as well as seeing the single-track Kettering, Thrapston & Huntingdon branch diverge east. The ‘Britannia’ is Trafford Park-based when photographed, its time there running from the four week period to 12 July 1958 until transfer to Willesden shed in the run up to 4 February 1961, while the ‘Black Five’ is Derby-allocated. In the up direction the route is generally downhill for the 13 miles or so beyond Desborough, the climbing to Sharnbrook summit beginning a mile or so beyond Wellingborough. K C H Fairey/Colour-Rail.com/1622

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With its incoming train now away, Stanier ‘Black Five’ No 44811 is released from the buffer stops within the trainshed at London (St Pancras) in 1959, and now retreats to be serviced and turned in readiness to return north, its home shed in Leicester denoted by the 15C carried on the smokebox door. The gasholders at the north end of St Pancras station were ordered in 1860 and built over the next seven years. One was bomb damaged and never recommissioned, and the whole site was decommissioned in 2000. It is now beneath the wider and longer station area of St Pancras International, but with the gasholders listed structures, they have been resited and re-purposed. The cast iron framework of the largest (to hold 1.1 million cubic feet of gas) is now in gasometer park about 250m to the north and on the opposite bank of Regent’s Canal, and the so-called gasholder ‘triplet’ is alongside and has been converted into luxury apartments! Colour-Rail.com/91558

be expected from the class on a daily as opposed to an exceptional basis, which was around 1,150-1,200ihp. It also coincided with what would be considered as the economic limit of operation by the LMS. The continuation to Wellingborough saw the crew skilfully regaining time without undue thrashing. The start-to-stop time of 8 minutes 25 seconds from Kettering to Wellingborough (Midland Road) was exceptional by steam standards, this however wouldn’t have kept the ultra-sharp allowance of eight minutes that some services were allowed, and was well nigh impossible to adhere too without a boiler-busting effort and judicious braking at the last second, one suspects. The run also exudes a certain pre-Beeching charm, featuring stops at Kibworth, East Langton, and Desborough & Rothwell, all of which would close on New Year’s Day 1968.

Table Three features the former route to Nottingham via Manton. In the steam era this was a first-class route with a 90mph limit in places. It still survives between Kettering and Melton Mowbray, although much diminished in terms of importance as a passenger route. It is only the section between Kettering and Corby that now boasts this limit for the recent electrification, the rest of the line between here and Manton is no better than 60mph, and with a long-standing slack after Harringworth. However, the continuation is better between Manton and Melton Mowbray, with a 75mph limit for locomotive-hauled trains.

The run was recorded on a Thursday in November 1936 and the climb to Glendon South by LMS Stanier ‘Jubilee’ No 5622 Nyasaland was quite energetic from the restart at Kettering, but was unfortunately hindered

On Monday, 22 April 1935 we find LMS ‘Jubilee’ class No 5657 just in the daylight at the north end of the 1868-built Barlow trainshed at St Pancras as it awaits departure with a Midland main line express. As yet the 4-6-0, new from Derby Works on 17 December 1934, is un-named but resplendent in LMS crimson livery, early February 1936 seeing it adorned with Tyrwhitt plates.

These honoured Royal Navy Admiral Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, 1st Baronet, GCB DSO, commander of the Harwich Force in World War I. He led the British Navy in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, in which three German cruisers and a destroyer were sank, and also naval forces during the Cuxhaven Raid of December 1914 when British seaplanes destroyed Zeppelin airships, and at the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915. V R Webster/Kidderminster Railway Museum

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Table Three Midland main line ‘Jubilee’ performance: express duty Kettering-Manton-Melton Mowbray (South) Run Date Train

Four 26 November 1936 1pm London (St Pancras to Bradford (Forster Square) Loco Stanier ‘Jubilee’ class 4-6-0 No 5622 Nyasaland (5XP) Load 7 vehicles: 209 tons net/218 tons gross Recorder G Aston m.

0 2 5 7

ch.

00 44 01 40

Location Kettering Glendon South Jn Geddington Weldon & Corby

min.sec.

0 00 5 16

mph sched.

0 3 5 9 10 14

00 40 33 25 49 19

Gretton Harringworth Wing’s Sidings Manton Oakham

0 3 5 7 10 11

00 09 32 55 19 41

0 00 Ashwell 5 05 60 Whissendine 7 13 69/60 Saxby 10 20 60/64/70 Brentingby Jn 12 24 Melton Mowbray (Sth) 15 07 (15)

42 signal stop 14 45 (11)

0 00 5 02 6 42 10 03 11 19 15 40

66 77 61 62

(19)

On the section of the Syston & Peterborough line within the Nottingham-Kettering route east of Melton Mowbray, ‘Jubilee’ No 5594 Bhopal passes Saxby in August 1946. Built by the North British Locomotive Co Ltd at its Queen’s Park Works in Glasgow and new to traffic in December 1934, in mid-March 1946, when LMS express passenger black livery was standard for the class, Bhopal received a post-war red livery, as seen. Soon allocated to Millhouses shed, sometime in the week ending 13 April 1946, the Sheffield depot proved to be home for this 4-6-0 for more than 15 years.

This express is seen having passed through Saxby station, where the Bourne line diverged east from the Peterborough route, and is betwixt Nottingham (Midland) and London (St Pancras). H N James/Colour-Rail.com/LM47

by a signal stop between Geddington and Corby. The favourable nature of the road between here and Harringworth viaduct, that most impressive piece of Victorian engineering, which is at the foot of the 1 in 200 downgrade, saw the ‘Jubilee’ reach 77mph with consummate ease. This section in the steam era was something of a racetrack with these locomotives often reaching speeds in the 80s with heavier loads than the run featured here. The final section between Oakham and the pork pie capital of the world, Melton Mowbray, calls for little comment except that that the crew more-or-less kept time.

Something different is offered in Table Four, our Run Five. This was the long standing through working between Northampton and Kettering that dated back to the pre-Grouping era when the Midland Railway had running powers between Wellingborough’s Midland Road Junction and Northampton (Castle) on the cross-country Peterborough line, which were London & North Western Railway metals. The line from Northampton (Bridge Street) to Wellingborough had a gentle downward trend with only a hump of 1 in 327 between Hardingstone Junction and Castle Ashby & Earl’s Barton to contend with. In truth, the running behind the Fowler ‘2P’ was something of a soporific trundle, particularly between Northampton and Billing and also on the continuation between Wellingborough and Kettering, although, in fairness, the crew of No 563 had no reason to hurry. The call at Billing is something of a collector’s item for a performance buff like myself and reflects that

many wayside stations on such routes had closed long before the Beeching era, in this instance in 1952. The running between here and Wellingborough (London Road) was fair and a maximum of 55mph was very similar to what Bruce Nathan subsequently timed behind ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0 No 45302 on a four-coach consist with a through Northampton-Leicester working on Saturday, 20 January 1962, which reached a maximum of 56mph on a non-stop working between Northampton (Castle) and Wellingborough (Midland Road). All such workings ceased with the closure of this route on 2 May 1964.

In its final years the Kettering working was often the preserve of one of the ‘2MT’-rated 2-6-2Ts – LMS-designed Ivatt or BR Standard ‘84000’ – on a two-coach push-pull set.

Finally, a run on the branch to Cambridge is featured in Table Five (overleaf). This line was another pre-Beeching casualty, closing to passengers on Saturday, 13 June 1959. As in the instance of the NorthamptonPeterborough line, I have quoted the final day of operation as opposed to the official closure date, which in both instances was two days later, the first day that trains would ordinarily have run but didn’t. When the intrepid Gerald Aston timed this effort the previous service of three trains a day was cut to a bi-daily working – no doubt an economic measure

Table Four Fowler ‘2P’ 4 4 0 performance: cross-country Northampton (Castle)Wellingborough (Midland Rd)-Kettering Run Date Train

Five 14 August 1945 3.45pm Northampton (Castle) to Kettering Loco Fowler ‘2P’ class 4-4-0 No 563 Load 4 vehicles: 116 tons net/120 tons gross Recorder G Aston m. ch. Location 1 04 Northampton (Bridge St) 1 44 Hardingstone Jn 5 06 Billing 0 00 2 73 Castle Ashby & Earl’s Barton 3 58 Hardwater Crossing 6 72 Wellingborough (London Road) 0 00 1 17 Wellingborough (Midland Road) 0 1 3 4 6 6

00 15 13 24 52 77

Neilson’s Sidings Finedon Burton Latimer Kettering Jn Kettering

min.sec.

3 32 4 33 9 48

mph sched.

29 30

(10)

0 00 5 54 6 48

53 55

11 33

(11)

0 00 signal stop 5 37 0 00 2 43 6 05 7 44 11 39 14 00

(4) 33 37 44/sigs (15)

LMS Fowler ‘2P’ 4-4-0 No 563, the subject of train timer Gerald Aston in Table Four, is shown on Leicester shed in the 1930s. New from Derby Works in March 1928, this locomotive was clearly still Midlands based when recorded working between Northampton and Kettering on VJ Day, the very day that Japan surrendered unconditionally to the allies, effectively ending World War II. However, in the last month of the LMS No 563 was noted as newly on the books of Bath Green Park shed, and throughout its nationalised days it operated over the Somerset & Dorset Joint line through to its withdrawal in May 1962. Rail Online

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The 63 chain ‘Midland Loop Line’ at Wellingborough connected the L&NWR’s London Road station with the Midland main line immediately south of Wellingborough (Midland Road), allowing the Northampton to Kettering service to serve both. On 3 August 1957 we find ‘2P’-rated 4-4-0 No 40548 pulling away from Wellingborough (Midland Road) station as it heads north. Nominally with 7ft 0½in driving wheels, this locomotive harks back to a Johnson class ‘60’ of 1901 that was renewed by Henry Fowler as a class ‘483 renewal’. These took the running number of the original locomotive but had new frames and new cylinders – they became the template for the LMS ‘2P’.

No 40548 saw out its career at Kentish Town shed, between March 1957 and its withdrawal in mid- to late-January 1961. K C H Fairey/Colour-Rail.com/8433

caused by the circumstance of wartime. This is something of a rural gem featuring an elderly LMS ‘2F’, Johnson-designed Midland Railway ‘1798’ class 0-6-0 No 3195 of 1888 vintage. The line itself curved away from the main line just south of Kettering Junction and then went up a short but steep grade of 1 in 69 towards Butlin’s Sidings and on to Cranford; the trackbed of this is now the A14 trunk route to Felixstowe. The veteran had something of a struggle here, which wouldn’t have been helped by a 20mph restriction at the bottom of the bank. However, the crew knew just where to regain time without any undue exertion and did so on the continuation to Thrapston. From Cranford, the line descended on a steep and meandering course where the goods locomotive reached 50mph on the continuation to Twywell, which I suspect felt quite lively on the footplate.

The restart from Thrapston (Midland Road) station is a different matter, being surrounded by a high ridge of ground that necessitated a gradient of 1 in 80 for over 1½ miles as the line climbed out of the Nene valley. In this era it marked the boundary between the industrial landscape west of this point with a labyrinth of quarries, and the predominantly agricultural land to the east. A speed of 24mph was attained at the summit, rising to 41mph on easier grades before Raunds was reached. Even by the standards of branch line stations, this was an isolated spot some two miles or so from the locality it purported to serve. No doubt the GWR would have used the suffix ‘road’ had it served this line. The speeds attained between Raunds and Kimbolton reflected the switchback profile on this section, thereafter the 0-6-0 reached speeds in the low 50s between station stops, as the log testifies.

Table Five Johnson ‘2F’ 0 6 0 performance: cross-country Kettering to Huntingdon (East) Run Date Train Loco Load Recorder m.

0 1 3 4

ch.

00 21 30 48

Six 21 February 1945 8.45 Kettering to Cambridge Johnson ‘2F’ class 0-6-0 No 3195 3+1 vehicles: 89 tons net/93 tons gross G Aston

Location Kettering Kettering Jn Butlin’s Sidings Cranford

0 00 2 20 Twywell

min.sec.

0 00 8 32 11 11

mph sched.

22/39 (10)

0 00 4 14

50 max

0 00 0 00 3 30 Thrapston (Midland Rd) 4 30

47 max

(5)

0 00 3 07 Raunds

0 00 7 43

0 00 5 07 Kimbolton

0 00 45/36/52 8 07 (11)

0 1 2 4

0 00 3 04 5 02 7 33

00 33 Longstow Goods 73 Magpie Crossing 63 Grafham

24/41

(5)

41 50/52

0 00 2 50 Buckden

0 00 5 06

50 max

0 00 2 49 Huntingdon (East)

0 00 6 30

39 max

(8)

(8) (6) (5)

Awaiting departure from Kettering on 27 March 1937 is ex-Midland Railway ‘2F’ 0-6-0 No 3096 on a Cambridge branch duty, which will head south along the Midland main line as far as Kettering Junction and then branch east towards Huntingdon (East). A Johnson ‘1357’ class of Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd-build, originally Midland Railway No 1598 of 1883, two rebuilds later it has larger cylinders (17½in up to 18in in 1895) and a G6 boiler in 1920 (previously B type). Running as No 3096 since 1907, this 0-6-0 would still be serving upon nationalisation, its BR identity being 58217, and ultimately it was withdrawn in October 1959 from Barrow shed.

H F Wheeller, distributed by R S Carpenter

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