Signalbox Safari - Lincoln

A pre-Christmas trip to Lincoln by train gave me the opportunity to snap a couple more signalboxes for my collection.

High Street signalbox, Lincoln, 22/12/14

High Street box is a brick-built Great Northern Railway type 1 structure dating from 1874 that stands by the level crossing at the west end of Lincoln Central station. Disused since Network Rail's resignalling of the area in 2007-2008 the box is now a listed building.

East Holmes signalbox, Lincoln, 22/12/14

East Holmes box stands a few hundred yards to the west of the station and is another GNR type 1 structure, this time of wooden construction dating from 1873, again it is disused and now a listed building.

Being pushed for time I didn't get to do much more exploring and so completely missed the remains of St Marks station that are now incorporated into the shopping centre a little further down High Street… A return trip is on the cards however…

Season's Greetings!

Just a quick post today to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I seem to be a bit lacking in the 'Christmas blog post photo' department so here's another shot from the Great Central Railway winter steam gala in January 2013, this time of Great Western Railway 2884 class 2-8-0 no.3803 (visiting from the South Devon Railway) running around its train at Leicester North in the snow…

GWR 2884 class 2-8-0 at Leicester North station, 25/1/13

A reminder…

As the shortest day approaches I like to remind myself of longer days and better weather.

This is another shot from the North Norfolk Railway and shows recent arrival at the NNR, London & North Eastern Railway class B1 4-6-0 61306 MAYFLOWER approaching Dead Man's bridge with the 12.00 departure from Sheringham on 12 September.

An absolutely gorgeous day with a calm sea that was hopefully causing no problems for the Sheringham Coastwatch coastal surveillance station that is just visible on the clifftop above the rear of the fourth carriage.

MAYFLOWER had changed hands in August 2014, being bought by Berkshire enthusiast David Buck from the Boden family who'd owned it since 1967. Built after nationalisation in 1948 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, 61306 carries the name originally bestowed on classmate 61379.

From the (digital) archives - The Garabit Viaduct

Following on from my last post, a short distance south from St Flour - Chaude Aigues on the ligne des Causses is the Garabit Viaduct that spans the Truyère River.

The Garabit Viaduct, 14/9/07

Constructed between 1882 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffel and opened in 1885 the viaduct was, when built, the highest in the world at 122m (400ft). With a length of 565m (1,853ft) and a principal arch of 165m (541ft) it is a very impressive sight, one that can be enjoyed from a rest stop (Aire de Repos de Garabit) alongside La Méridienne, the A75 autoroute linking Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers.

After an overnight stay in St Flour breakfast was a picnic overlooking the viaduct (in very dull weather) and we were just about to continue on our journey when a train rumbled into view with a pair of FRET-liveried SNCF class BB 67400 diesels in charge, 467467 and 467448.

SNCF class BB 67400s 467467 and 467448 head north across the Garabit Viaduct, 14/9/07

The train consisted of empty steel wagons returning to Clermont-Ferrand from the Arcelor Mittal plant at Saint-Chély-d'Apcher in the Languedoc-Roussillon Region, the loaded trains, even double-headed by two 2,367hp locos, run south in two portions due to the severe gradients on the line.

One fact that always pops up whenever the Garabit Viaduct is mentioned (and I'm not going to miss the opportunity to mention it myself) is that it was used in the 1976 film The Cassandra Crossing that starred Sophia Loren, Richard Harris and Burt Lancaster but was universally panned by critics and audiences alike.

Signalbox Safari - St. Flour - Chaudes Aigues

A signalbox from a bit further afield today…

Poste 1, La gare de St Flour - Chaude Aigues, 13/9/07

'Poste 1' is at the eastern end of La gare de St Flour - Chaude Aigues (St Flour station for those with even less of a grasp of French than I have) on the ligne des Causses that links Béziers in southern France with Neussargues in the Massif Central area.

I spent an hour in the station area on the day I took these photos back in 2007 and apart from a couple of bogie wagons carrying steel coils parked in a siding to the north of the station I saw nothing else on the rails… What I didn't realise at the time was that most of the passenger services in the area are by bus, indeed the current timetable for the line shows a service calling at the station every couple of hours but only two of them per day are trains!

La gare de St Flour - Chaude Aigues, 13/9/07

For anybody with even the slightest interest in French railways I would recommend becoming a member of The SNCF Society, their website and journals are an absolute goldmine of information about every aspect of railways in France, standard and narrow gauge, prototype and model alike.

Industrial Action - An unsympathetic rebuild…

I.C.I. Ltd's 1960 rebuild of Avonside Engine Co Ltd 0-4-0ST RS8 (works no.1913 of 1923), 1/3/14

This monstrosity, displayed at the National Stone Centre in Wirksworth started out as an 0-4-0ST built by the Avonside Engine Co Ltd of Bristol in 1923 as works no.1913.

The rear view…

The Avonside name cast into one of the buffers.

As far as I am aware it spent the majority of its working life at Tunstead Quarry in Derbyshire where it carried the number RS8. When steam working at the quarry ceased in 1960 it was converted to diesel power with hydraulic transmission (making it an 0-4-0DH) at the I.C.I. Ltd's South Central Workshops at Tunstead and continued to work there until 1974 when it entered preservation with the Bahamas Locomotive Society at the Dinting Railway Centre.

Upon Dinting's closure it was put on display in the car park of the National Stone Centre beside of the trackbed of the Cromford & High Peak Railway, now known as the High Peak Trail.

I've been unable to track down a photo of RS8 before it suffered its rebuild but would imagine that it bore more than a passing resemblance to this…

Avonside Engine Co Ltd 0-4-0ST DORA (works no.1973 of 1927) at the Rutland Railway Museum, 29/8/99

A brand new loco!

On our way home from the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society's members' day at the North Norfolk Railway last month Joy and I popped into Wells-next-the-Sea for a bite to eat by the harbour and half way through my sandwich the sound of a diesel horn drew my attention to this…

Alan Keef Ltd 0-6-0DH THE DUKE approaches the Harbour station on the Wells Harbour Railway, 5/10/14

The Wells Harbour Railway is a 10.25in gauge line linking the harbour (where else?) with the Pinewoods Holiday Park at the seaward end of the line, a distance of roughly 1200 yards.

Although I'd seen the line in operation before I hadn't seen this particular loco and a closer inspection revealed that it had been built this year by Alan Keef Ltd of Ross-on-Wye.

Alan Keef Ltd 0-6-0DH THE DUKE stands at the Harbour station on the Wells Harbour Railway, 5/10/14

Alan Keef Ltd works plate on 10.25in gauge 0-6-0DH THE DUKE on the Wells Harbour Railway, 5/10/14

An 0-6-0DH (diesel engine, hydraulic transmission) 'THE DUKE' is the third loco to be built by Alan Keef Ltd for the WHR (DENSIL b.1998 and HOWARD b.2005 are the others) and is the first that hasn't been made to resemble a steam engine.

Alan Keef Ltd steam outline 0-6-0DH HOWARD (complete with dummy saddle tank and chimney) arrives at the Harbour station on the Wells Harbour Railway, 9/7/10