A Norfolk Ramble, part 2 - North Norfolk Railway

As usual, a trip to Norfolk means a visit to the North Norfolk Railway, easily one of my favourite heritage lines.

The warm weather had certainly brought plenty of visitors and even the first train of the day (the 09.45 from Sheringham-Holt) was pretty full. NNR stalwart 8572 (a London & North Eastern Railway B12 class 4-6-0) had no problems with its train of four coaches and one parcels van though.

LNER B12 class 4-6-0 8572 runs round its train at Holt, 11/04/14

The NNR is home to all sorts of beautifully restored items, from locomotives, carriages and buildings right down to this set of fire buckets, complete with Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway cast sign.

Fire buckets at Sheringham station, 11/04/14

A return visit was made the following day (more on this later) as I was hoping to photograph BR Standard class 4MT 2-6-0 76084 in action (I'd missed getting a shot of it the day before) but it wasn't to be… Great Northern Railway N2 class 0-6-2T 1744 (visiting from the Great Central Railway) was out and about instead.

GNR N2 class 0-6-2T 1744 departs Weybourne with the 13.44 service to Holt, 12/04/14

I thoroughly recommend a visit to the North Norfolk Railway if you're in the area, I'd even go as far as to say make a special trip if not! The combination of steam, sea views and (if you're lucky) sunshine really is unbeatable!

A Norfolk Ramble, part 1 - Middleton Towers

I usually manage to fit in a railway-related detour on any long car journey and last week's trip to North Norfolk was no exception with a brief stop being made to photograph a sand train at Middleton Towers.

Located on the former Great Eastern Railway (originally Lynn & Dereham Railway) line between King's Lynn and Swaffham the former Middleton Towers station site is now used as a loading point for sand trains from the SIBELCO UK quarry at Leziate.

66722 prepares to depart from Middleton Towers with train 6E84, 11/04/14

We arrived just as GB Railfreight's 66722 Sir Edward Watkin was about to leave (27 minutes early) with train 6E84, the 08.20 Mondays and Fridays only (MFO) service to Rockware Glass at Doncaster.

66722 makes its way across the level-crossing at Middleton towers, 11/04/14

Sir Edward Watkin (1819-1901) had links with numerous railway companies and projects but is probably best known for being Chairman of both the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (that changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897) and the South Eastern Railway and for his aborted scheme to build a railway tunnel under the English Channel. Work began on the latter in 1880 and a pilot tunnel extended over 6,000 ft from Shakespeare Cliff before Parliament brought the project to a halt believing it would 'compromise Britain's national defences.'

The '3M 11C' marking on the crossing gatepost refers to the location's distance of 3 miles and 11 chains from the station at King's Lynn, a chain being a unit of length that measures 66 feet (there are 80 chains in one mile).

66722 heads for King's Lynn, 11/04/14

Double-heading at the MR-B

This weekend was the Winter Steam Event at the Midland Railway-Butterley, a fairly low-key affair in comparison with other railways perhaps but still worth a visit (especially as it’s just down the road from me) so today I spent a couple of hours by Butterley Reservoir photographing the trains crossing the causeway to and from the Hammersmith end of the line.

I'd photographed the 'usual suspects' in the shape of 'Jinty' No.23, the 'Caprotti Five' 73129 and Peckett 0-4-0ST WHITEHEAD but kept hoping that visiting Ivatt class 2MT 2-6-0 46521 (from the Great Central Railway) would put in an appearance…

Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 46521 & Standard 5MT 4-6-0 73129 cross Butterley Reservoir, 9/3/14

After a lengthy pause in operations my patience was eventually rewarded with an earlier than timetabled train double-headed by 46521 and 73129 that were making very light work of four BR Mk.1 coaches.

I did hear a number of people grumble about the inaccuracies in the published timetable, indeed the above working was almost an hour early which not only caught out lineside photographers but also (and more importantly) paying passengers. Whilst I understand that there will always be problems when it comes to running a timetabled event I do wish that some railways would try harder to get these things right on the day.

Didn't we have a lovely time, the day we went to Marylebone?

With some time to kill whilst in Birmingham this week I decided to take advantage of a Chiltern Railways offer of a Super off Peak return ticket from Moor Street station to London Marylebone for only £28.90.

Having just missed the 09.55 service, the first train I could have caught was this…

168004 departs from Birmingham Moor Street, 19/02/14

The 10.15 (10.12 from Snow Hill) in the shape of 168004 but I was waiting for this…

67014 Thomas Telford at Birmingham Moor Street, 19/02/14

The 10.55 Mainline service hauled by 67014 Thomas Telford.

A fleet of BR Mk.3a coaches has been extensively modified for Chiltern with sliding plug doors and toilets with retention tanks and they are extremely quiet and very comfortable, and best of all, the seats line up with the windows giving a good view of the countryside slipping past (at speed!)

BR Mk.3a TSO 12602 at London Marylebone, 19/02/14

I had just enough time at Marylebone to take a couple of photos and grab a coffee before climbing back aboard for the return trip, now with 67014 propelling and the driver doing his stuff up front in the BR Mk.3b Driving Van Trailer 82301.

BR Mk.3b DVT 82301 at London Marylebone, 19/02/14

Both trains were well loaded but not unpleasantly so and I can easily see why people choose Chiltern over the competition for a journey from the West Midlands to London.

I must thank the ticket office staff at Moor Street station for insisting on checking whether the 10.55 was going to be loco-hauled or not before I parted with my money, such consideration is rare but very welcome to us enthusiast types.

First trip of 2014! - Peak Rail

A reasonably good day (weather-wise) a couple of weekends ago provided an opportunity for what is becoming my annual winter trip to Peak Rail.

Hunslet 0-6-0ST "LORD PHIL' departs Rowsley South, 11/1/14

Whilst a lot of heritage lines close up for the post-Santa Special winter months Peak Rail continue to operate a regular, weekend steam service and it makes a very pleasant start to the year indeed.

For most of the year trains are operated with a locomotive at each end as Matlock station has no facilities for a loco to run round its train but in the winter months services are cut back slightly to the wooden platform at Matlock Riverside, a short walk from the town centre and Matlock station proper. Riverside station does have a run round loop and this makes the use of a single locomotive on a train possible which I assume brings about a significant reduction in operating costs during the quieter winter months.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. Class WD 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST 'LORD PHIL' (works no.2868 of 1943)* was in action and it's rake of five coaches were surprisingly full (as was the buffet at Rowsley South which seemed to be doing a roaring trade in bacon sandwiches!)

After enjoying a couple of round trips through the Derbyshire Dales I popped into Bill Hudson Transport Books at Matlock station and came away with a couple of secondhand bargains to add to my library, I recommend calling in if you're in the area, the shop is a veritable (if small) Aladdin's Cave!

* 'LORD PHIL' carries the works no.3883 which dates from its rebuild (by Hunslet) in 1963 along with a smaller plaque that reads 'AUSTERITY LOCOMOTIVE BUILT FOR THE 2nd WORLD WAR ORIGINALLY DATED 1943 HUNSLET ENGINE Co. No.2868'.

Signalbox Safari - Glenfinnan

Having mentioned the state of my traditional photographic archives here it would appear that my early digital archives aren't any better organised as this image cropped up today while I was looking for something else entirely, from the other end of the country and a totally different year!

Glenfinnan signalbox, 8/9/05

Built by the Railway Signal Company (RSCo) in 1901, Glenfinnan signalbox closed in 1987 when the West Highland line between Fort William and Mallaig switched over the the Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) signalling system.

Now part of the Glenfinnan Station Museum (and with a new staircase installed!) the box is apparently home to a heritage film studio, something that probably interests the legions of Harry Potter fans that visit the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct (used in at least one of the Harry Potter films) more than a heritage signalbox would do…

'Twas the night before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

Then suddenly I heard a tiny voice speak,
'You lazy old s*d, you've not blogged anything in weeks!'

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

So instead of three Kings from the east let me wish you all the compliments of the season with a suitably wintry image of one King from the west.

GWR 6000 class 4-6-0, 6023 KING EDWARD II, 25/01/13

The Great Western Railway's KING EDWARD II to be precise… Photographed in the snow at Loughborough Central station during the Great Central Railway's winter steam gala in January this year.

So I'll just finish this brief entry with the last line from Clement Clarke Moore's poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas'

'Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.'