lostwin(m)
Member
15/08/85. I like to imagine that 50023 is hammering through Woking with the 17.28 Waterloo - Exeter, but it would have made the stop here, wouldn't it?
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lostwin - BR in the mid 80's
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It would almost certainly have stopped. Every train from Exeter stopped at Basingstoke and Woking, but then at the time I think they were non stop after that to Waterloo and didn’t call at Clapham Junction (although the 33s on the TC sets from Salisbury might have)? Maybe @30907 might be able to confirm that though?
Sun Chariot
Established Member
I remember London-bound 50s non-stop through Clapham; and also "set down only" stops at Clapham. I wonder if the latter were from Salisbury?
Certainly in 1982 (online) no longer-distance services stopped at CLJ on the Main Line; off-peak the Guildford stoppers (both routes) did, but that's all (OT: the 1641 to Basingstoke stopped at Wimbledon, but that was for DMO staff). Not sure when that began to change - even on the Central side only the semi-fasts stopped then.
lostwin(m)
Member
Continuing the Class specific theming. What's a good collective noun for these... maybe a spluttering of Goyles?
15/10/85. By now well established on the Birmingham - Norwich run, ETH 31/4, 31424 awaiting departure at Leicester. A declassified First would have made for a pleasant trip.
15/10/85. By now well established on the Birmingham - Norwich run, ETH 31/4, 31424 awaiting departure at Leicester. A declassified First would have made for a pleasant trip.
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lostwin(m)
Member
01/12/85. 31305 passes light engine through the platform at Doncaster.
lostwin(m)
Member
28/05/85. Class 58's aside, weren't some 31's amongst the first of other classes to get the Railfreight grey livery? Here, 31154 poses in its new paint job on Nottingham depot. 47290 pokes its nose in.
lostwin(m)
Member
May/June 86. Similarly attired, 31158 marshals vans in the Leicester Postal Sidings.
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lostwin(m)
Member
18/08/85. High speed action at Knighton South Junction (well from the HST anyway!). 31425 working the 12.50 Birmingham - Norwich, crosses paths with an unrecorded HST London bound with the 13.09 from Nottingham. I like how you can see the signalman working the box.
Gloster
Established Member
It looks to me like the signalman, on the right with his back to the frame watching the train pass, and another. Looking at the way the figure on the left is standing, I wonder if he has just taken a photo of the HST as it approached the box.
lostwin(m)
Member
That's just a coat hanging up on the right, isn't it?
Gloster
Established Member
No, I think it is the signalman with one arm resting on a reversed signal lever and facing the train to (correctly) observe its passage. Knighton South Junction had its lever frame in the rear of the box and the signalman worked back to traffic: here he has turned round to watch the train.
lostwin(m)
Member
The so called 'Leicester Gap' was a section of the Midland Mainline that retained semaphore signalling until an unusually late date for a mainline route, right into the mid-eighties. Colour light signalling had been in place on the rest of the line from at least 10 years earlier. Roughly covering the section between Wellingborough and Loughborough, the Gap was only closed with the opening of the power box at Leicester in 1986. Co-incidentally, that timeline perfectly straddles the period I was taking photographs. The following pictures show some of the changes around Leicester.
01/05/85. Not much evidence of change at this point as 45112 accelerates out of the platform and will shortly pass Leicester North box. Working is the 17.35 St. Pancras - Nottingham.
01/05/85. Not much evidence of change at this point as 45112 accelerates out of the platform and will shortly pass Leicester North box. Working is the 17.35 St. Pancras - Nottingham.
lostwin(m)
Member
02/05/85. 56070 powers up after gaining the signal for the road onto Leicester depot.
lostwin(m)
Member
25/08/85. The next Box North of Leicester was Bell Lane which once controlled part of the large steam shed close to the site. This Box would close just under a year later. An un-recorded Peak works the 15.45 Derby - London and I was not the only one with my camera out!.
lostwin(m)
Member
05/05/85. These signals would also have been controlled by Bell Lane. Typical traffic for Sunday engineering work, 47335 being the Brush in frame and the cable reels may well have something to do with installation of the new colour light signalling.
lostwin(m)
Member
15/09/85. Tangible signs of change, even if it is somewhat incongruously marked with an upside-down traffic cone! The concrete mounting plate for the end of platform signals to replace the mechanical indicators. In the distance, behind Leicester North Box, the Power Box building structure is taking shape.
lostwin(m)
Member
May/June 86. The hole is filled and the signal in place, although still not in use. 31411 is Norwich bound.
lostwin(m)
Member
May/June 86. The signal arms have been removed and the Leicester South Box's days are numbered. 45022 works a mail South.
lostwin(m)
Member
May/June 86. The colour light gantry that has replaced them with a North bound HST passing below.
eastwestdivide
Established Member
Nice set showing the transition in the signalling, and an early 150 poking its nose into one shot.
Did you get any photos showing the Midland lower quadrant signal on the goods lines at the back of Leicester station? Did it last until the 1986 resignalling? It was certainly there early-80s when I was in Leicester, and it’s in some of my photos.
Did you get any photos showing the Midland lower quadrant signal on the goods lines at the back of Leicester station? Did it last until the 1986 resignalling? It was certainly there early-80s when I was in Leicester, and it’s in some of my photos.
Sun Chariot
Established Member
I only managed to see Leicester's and Ely's fine semaphores once - the former in 1986 and the latter in summer 1988.
On the plus-side... semaphore brackets are still in use on the south coast - at Bognor, Hastings, Littlehampton and (I think) Deal.
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lostwin(m)
Member
From a quick search, this image from the first page of the thread I think has the signal you mention at the edge of the frame.
eastwestdivide
Established Member
Cheers.
Yes - standard SW London-end 50 bash was off at Andover and return to Woking for another trip to Andover. Eat sleep* bash repeat.
* Reserved for Deltic bashers.
lostwin(m)
Member
Cromptons were high on my list of favoured motive power, which typically meant extended 2-3 days trips to the South West from Leicester, at the time I was taking photos. I had done a fair bit covering the Crewe - Cardiffs as well, but that preceded my days of photography. I cleared around 80% for haulage, which wasn't too bad for a Midlands boy.
31/07/85. 33003 eases down the hill into Exeter St. Davids, the last few meters of the 16.38 ex Waterloo.
31/07/85. 33003 eases down the hill into Exeter St. Davids, the last few meters of the 16.38 ex Waterloo.
lostwin(m)
Member
09/02/86. A bitterly cold weekend trip for these next three, night temperatures dropped as low as -12 - far from ideal if you don't have a bed to sleep in overnight.
Here, 33103 pushes a 4TC set into Fareham with the 09.08 Portsmouth - Reading.
Here, 33103 pushes a 4TC set into Fareham with the 09.08 Portsmouth - Reading.
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lostwin(m)
Member
Same day and location, thankfully my ride has arrived. 33056 bringing in the 09.45 from Portsmouth which today is only working to Westbury due to engineering.
lostwin(m)
Member
09/02/86. Southampton station was pretty bleak even at the best of times, let alone sub zero temperatures. An ex-works 33040 working the 13.15 Portsmouth - Cardiff at least has seen a fresh lick of paint.
lostwin(m)
Member
13/02/86. Undeterred, I was out again the weekend afterwards, this time taking the Crewe - Cardiff route South. It is pretty gloomy at Newport, as can been seen from the station lights, but this is a decent picture of 33013 in the circumstances. Train is the 13.45 Manchester - Cardiff.
