Oops, Missed It!

Luckily, Chris did much better with a panning shot on her phone. This is Salfords, in Surrey, and the Black Five was on its way to the south coast with a dining train from London Victoria on Tuesday 26 November. It sounded - and looked - as though she was going very well. I thought that I had already taken two pictures before this one, but it seems that I had not pressed the shutter right down on either occasion. Call yerself a photographer? Not really. And anyway, its a fairly new camera....and it was raining - quite heavily, actually.... 

Takes yer back

The one advantage of the “Multies” [DMUs] was that you could see the numbers on approaching steam locomotives from the comfort of your seat, instead of having to stick your head out of the window. So, it was in the sixties between Birkenhead Woodside and Chester General, as well as New Brighton to Chester Northgate and Wrexham. This reminder was at the Great Central Railway’s “Last Hurrah” of the season on Sunday.

Seacombe station

These shots of Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2 tank No. 41231 were taken by John Dyer in October 1958. The train is destined for Wrexham Exchange. I can’t remember going to Seacombe station, but in 1957/8 I attended Poulton Junior School, where the line ran through a cutting [now occupied by the tunnel approach road] at the foot of the playground. Mum also allowed me a brief occasional detour on our way home to visit Poulton station in Mill Lane.

Bouncy, bouncy

We took the Pacer unit from Worksop to Sheffield. They will soon be pensioned off to be replaced by proper trains [OK, still bug carts].

I know they have their following as curiosities but the heater wasn’t heating, the draught whistled round the cavernous interior and the rain seemed to be on both sides of the window, even though the top vent was closed, as it bounced and swayed its way over the points all the way to Sheffield.

The pedestrian walkway connecting Sheffield city centre to the station has been transformed since the last time I was there with the addition of the impressive steel sculpture and fountain in Sheaf Square. 

Legbourne Road station

The station was opened by the East Lincolnshire Railway in 1848 on its Louth to Boston route. It later became part of the Great Northern Railway, then LNER and finally BR. It closed to passengers in 1953, to goods in 1964 and the line itself in 1970. The station building became a private house and the owners operated a museum of railwayana until their retirement in 1998 and an auction the following year.

Market Rasen

The station was opened in 1848 on the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway. It is a Grade II listed building, which once boasted an overall roof. It became derelict after closure in 1995. The redundant signal box was reinstated at Quorn on the Great Central Railway.

Restoration of the station buildings took place between 2015 and 2018 after the intervention of the organisers of the Market Rasen Station Community Project, who made a successful grant application towards refurbishment. It now has a café, community rooms and a heritage centre with a display. East Midlands Trains today run a somewhat sparse passenger service between Lincoln and Grimsby on this former GCR and LNER route. 

Great Central Railway Autumn Steam Gala 2019

Quorn and Woodhouse is always a good place to watch the action at these events. The Schools Class, Repton, and the ex-LSWR National Collection T9 were visiting. 30120 is as old as the GCR itself.