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North Eastern Memoirs by Allen Ferguson

Living in Bridlington a few hundred yards from the railway station, it was inevitable I would be

interested in steam locos from an early age… and many of these were of North Eastern Railway

origin. Aged 8 in June 1954 I would record loco numbers in my school exercise book diary, much to

the exasperation of my teacher who had a class of over 40 to contend with.

I noted locos from NER class A8, B16, D20, G5, and N8 and so began my lifelong love of North

Eastern engines especially B16s which the other spotters derided as they were so numerous in

Bridlington in the 1950s…as many as 18 on a summer Saturday.

In the following years I made many trips to Durham and Northumberland to see other NE classes and

one Saturday 18th June 1966 was special….I had the morning off from Barclays Bank in Bridlington

and, with my late friend Robert Johnson, we left in his car at 9.00am and our route was Scarborough,

Whitby and then a brief stop at Port Mulgrave to photograph the former iron ore tunnel to the

Grinkle mines. We followed the coast through Redcar and Middlesbrough to West Hartlepool shed.

Despite steam in the NE only having 14 months left, there was plenty of interest.

Steam Locos on shed were:- * straight shed

K1 in steam 62045, 62001*, 62004 and in roundhouse 62048 (repair)

62041 passed with a down freight

WD in steam 90445, 90014, 90230* others 90459 and 90593(both repair) 90011 withdrawn June

1966 behind coal stage

Q6 in steam and at coal stage 63397, 63394, in roundhouse 63407

Straight shed 63412, 63440 , and stored outside 63368

Withdrawn in June 1966 and behind coal stage 63349, 63410, 63446, 63454

Ditto and tenderless in roundhouse 63421, 63435

4MT in steam 43056*, 43100* others 43057 43015

Mainline diesels D5170, D5169

At the time it was difficult to distinguish between withdrawn, stored and cannibalised locomotives—

some I noted as under repair were being used as a provider of spare parts.

We then moved on to Sunderland shed

In the roundhouse were 7 class J27 :-

In steam 65833, 65885, 65865 others 65853, 65835, 65817, 65872

Brid Lines Summer 2020 No 7

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I noted 65873 as under repair in the straight shed but 7 months later it was on York shed in transit to

Hull for scrapping.

Q6 ….in steam 63458, 63346, 63405, 63395

Under repair in the straight shed 63445, 63437 and in steam 63395 and 63436 though the latter was

marked not to be moved.

K1 on shed 62021(in steam ), 62007, 62008, 62026.

Our final shed was Tyne Dock :-

Q6 63413 in steam, 63453, 63360, 63379, 63366 and under repair 63381, 63459, 63455

9F 92060/61/62/63/65 92097/98 -latter in steam

So in total we had noted J27….8 Q6 27 WD 6 K1 9 9F 7 4MT 4

We enjoyed pie and chips at Newcastle station and then returned home via the A1, Sutton Bank and

Malton at 9.30pm. Another grand day out!

West Hartlepool 63394 West Hartlepool 62004

Sunderland 65833 West Hartlepool 63440

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Don’t you just Love it

Don’t you just love it when exhibiting a layout and someone points out an anomaly on the layout

such as the gravestones in the church yard are not orientated East to West or the cows on your

1930’s layout were not introduced in to this country until the 1950’s. Heaven forbid if you build a

wall in the Yorkshire Dales in the style of the Cotswolds but this one in my estimation beats them all.

A layout featured in the July edition of Railway Modeller depicted a WW2 scene on the Isle of Wight.

The back scene featured HMS Hood sailing by. A reader pointed out that as the layout had cameos

with US troops this was a scenario that could not have happened because HMS Hood sunk in May

1941 and the USA did not enter the war until December 1941. Don’t you just love it!

Serial Supplies

I mentioned in the last issue that getting materials and track for the new layout project was proving

difficult and I was having to search the lesser known traders to in order to obtain the goods. I have

managed to pick up a point here and there and things like point motors from certain suppliers. Some

traders have been very good and dispatched my order upon reciept. One supplier seemed to be

delaying rather too long. I know times are strange and because of work restrictions etc things will be

delayed. Anyway as my orders started to drift in I couldn’t make progress because I needed some

things that hadn’t arrived. I decided to email the the trader in question and was told to be patient

and my order would be sent as soon as it was ready. Next day I received an email to say my order

was ready to be dispatched. The following day I received another email saying they could not supply

the full number of point motors as they were waiting for a delivery. They asked if Iwould like the

order sending as it stood or would I like to wait until they had sufficient point motors in stock. Don’t

these people realise that serial layout builders need their fix! I asked them to send the order straight

away and cancel the outstanding point motors. I managed to track down some point motors from

yet another supplier. Ironically they arrived before my original order. There needs to be more

understanding of the needs of serial layout builders. If they are not busy building layouts people like

wifes find them things to do!

Sunderland 65885 Tyne Dock 63360

All photographs by Allen

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The Footballers

The current football season has climaxed with teams celebrating and other commiserating and what

a strange atmosphere in which to watch games. I thought it would be interesting to look at the

footballer locomotives and the clubs that they were named after.

The LNER B17’s was known as the Sandringham class or footballers. They were a 4-6-0 engines

designed by Nigel Gresley for hauling passenger services in East Anglia on the former GER mainlines.

By 1926 the former GER B12 locomotives were no longer able to cope with the heavier passenger

train services between London and Norwich and other routes from London to places like Ipswich and

Cambridge.

The locomotives were built

between 1928 and 1937. A total

of 73 were built. Many of them

were named after country houses

and estates but 25 of them were

named after football clubs

covering the LNER region. All the

locomotives had been withdrawn

by 1960 and none of them

survived into preservation. Some

of the clubs were presented with

the nameplates after the

locomotives had been cut up.

There were some changes during the lifetime of the locomotives. Locomotive 61670 was originally

named Manchester City but became Tottenham Hotspur and later City of London. 61571 was

subsequently renamed Tottenham Hotspur. The original Norwich City and the original Tottenham

Hotspur were both streamlined in the manner of the A4’s. (Mainly for effect rather than

performance) Norwich City was renamed the East Anglian and Tottenham Hotspur became City of

London. Rendlesham Hall then became Norwich City and Thoresby Park became Tottenham

Hotspur.

Here is the full list of footballers in the order that they were originally built. All of them constructed

1936-37.

Arsenal, Sheffield United, Grimsby Town, Derby County, Darlington, Huddersfield Town, Sunderland,

Middlesbrough, Leeds United, Doncaster Rovers, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Hull City, Sheffield

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Wednesday, Manchester United, Everton, Liverpool, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, Bradford

City, Bradford (Park Avenue) Barnsley, Manchester City, West Ham United.

It is interesting to compare the stature of the clubs now to their positions in the year their namesake

Locomotive was built.

Here is a list of the divisions the clubs were in when the locomotives were named followed by in

brackets where they finished the season.

Remember Div 1 = Premier league

Div 2 = Championship

Div 3 South or Div 3 North = League 1 or League 2

Arsenal 1 (P), Sheffield United 2 (P), Grimsby Town 1 (L2), Derby County 1 (C), Darlington Div 3

North ( NL North) -After folding and being reformed. Huddersfield Town 1 (C), Sunderland L1 (1)

1936 Champions. Middlesbrough 1 (1), Leeds United 1 (C), Doncaster Rovers 2(L1), Newcastle United

2 (P), Norwich City 2 (P), Hull City 2 (C) Hull finished bottom that year too. Sheffield Wednesday 1

(C), Manchester United 1 (P), Everton 1 (P), Liverpool 1 (P), Leicester City 2 (P), Nottingham Forest 2

(C), Bradford City 2 (L2), Bradford (PA) 2 (NL North ), Barnsley 2 (C), Manchester City 1 (P), West Ham

United 2 (P).

It would be interesting to know how the clubs were chosen. All of them were in Division 1 or Division

2 except Darlington. I read one account as to how lowly Darlington, came to be so honoured. The

story goes that employees at the Darlington works where some of the locomotives were built saw

the locomotives with the names or more prominent clubs being out shopped and took it upon

themselves to outshop a locomotive and name it after their own team It just steamed out of the

shop and nobody noticed!

Some of the named locomotives had very tenuous links to the LNER. Nottingham Forest, Leicester

City and Derby County only qualified by virtue of being on the former Great Central Line which was

allocated to the LNER at the grouping. Huddersfield Town, according to my railway atlas of that

period, is firmly in LMS territory. I can only think that both Manchester clubs and the Merseyside

clubs qualify through their connections to the Cheshire Lines Committee which remained

independent after the grouping but was managed jointly by the LNER and the LMS.

There are some omissions too including Lincoln City, York City*, Hartlepool United, Notts County,

Rotherham United**. Perhaps these clubs were considered too lowly to be included.

Why were footballers chosen for East Anglia? It was hardly a hotbed of football during the 1930’s.

Norwich City were the only league club spending time between Division 2 and Division 3 South. East

Anglia did eventually gain a few more league teams. Ipswich Town were elected to the league in

1938, Colchester United in 1950, Peterborough United in 1960 (At the expense of a truly North

Eastern team – Gateshead***) and Cambridge United in 1970 (At the expense of one of the original

footballers - Bradford (PA).

Footballers have been produced in model form. Hornby have released various models over the

years. Mainly the more popular teams. Crownline and Golden Arrow Products have produced kits in

00, Dapol made several models in N gauge.

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Hornby Footballer

Dapol N Gauge Footballer

In the more modern era, some Class 66’s have been named after football clubs – Sunderland,

Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Huddersfield Town.

*York City were quite a recent addition to the league and may not have been considered but with all

its railway connections!!!

**Rotherham had only recently settled on a permanent name having being previously known as

Rotherham Town and Rotherham County.

***Gateshead had recently relocated from South Shields so may not have been considered.

Layout developments (the continued adventures of a serial layout builder)

So how has serial layout builder been getting on since we last heard from him. The baseboards for

the main part of the layout i.e. the junction have been built as have the boards for the fiddle yard.

The track for the main boards has been laid and wired and a locomotive has been run up and down.

I have used code 75 track and it does seem a bit flimsy compared to the more regular universal code

100 but I like the appearance. The points come all ready for DCC all you need to do is snip the wires

that connect the blades to the frog. No more trying to saw through the rail just below the frog and

the frog already has a wire attached to connect to the frog juicer. I have stuck with traditional Peco

point motors as it keeps the operation of these on a separate electrical circuit.

I now need to lay track for the fiddle yard and acquire some more stock. Basically, I’m looking for 00-

gauge versions of the stock I had on Loch Oran. I‘m sticking to the same period 1995 to 2005 as I did

with Loch Oran then the period is fixed and there is no need to keep up with changes to liveries.

The branch line will be developed later once I have got the main boards well established.

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The first train on the new (as yet

unnamed layout). The loco is a class

37 in West Coast livery and is fitted

with DCC sound

Although the livery is reminiscent of the

Royal Scot 37’s I used to haul the

Caledonian Sleeper on Loch Oran I intend

to use this loco to haul special excursions.

I managed to get the Caledonian coaches

on Ebay. They have older style wheels and

tend to rattle a bit on the Code 75 track.

The track looking east. The single track to the left is

the branch to Killin and the line coming in from the

right is the line from Callander. The double track

forms the up and down lines through the station

platforms.

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AXHOLME JOINT RAILWAY by Dave Bannister The Axholme Joint Railway (AJR) was both a joint line and also a light railway. The Isle of Axholme is

an area in the extreme north west of the old county on Lincolnshire and lies in the peatlands South

West of the town of Goole. The railway was jointly owned by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

and the North Eastern Railway. This resulted in it being shared by the LNER and the LMS at the

Grouping. The mainline ran from Marshlands Junction near Goole to Haxey Junction near

Gainsborough, on the Great Northern & Great Eastern Joint Railway; a total of 19.5 miles.

The total length of the line, including the branches was nearly 28 miles. At the north of the region,

The Goole & Marshlands Light Railway was constructed from Marshlands Junction near Goole, on

the NER Hull - Thorne line, to Reedness Junction, with a branch from that location to Fockerby on

the banks of the River Trent. From the outset, it was planned that Reedness Junction would be the

connecting point with the second line, The Isle of Axholme Light Railway. This line headed south

from the Reedness to Haxey Junction on the Great Northern & Great Eastern Joint Railway. The rail

connection between the light railway and the GN&GE Joint line did not make through traffic

convenient, because it was intended for the interchange of wagons.

The view looking west. The train is

standing on the up side of the

station island platform. The branch

from Killin is coming in from the

bottom right in to the other side of

the island platform. The line from

Callander comes in bottom left. At

the top of the picture the line goes

off to Lower Crianlairich and Oban.

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There was a branch from Epworth to Hatfield Moor to exploit the peat moors. The G&MLR was the

first to open and was worked by the NER. Once the Joint Company was formed, the whole line was

worked by the LYR, their shed at Goole being most convenient. The G&MLR section had one

structure worthy of attention, a 120 feet steel bridge over Swinefleet Warping Drain. In the Axholme

district there were several notable bridges and viaducts. The largest was just south of Crowle and

crossed the GCR Doncaster-Scunthorpe line, a road and the Stainforth - Keadby canal. The whole

structure comprised approach brick arches at either end, a girder bridge over the railway and a

swing bridge over the canal with an intermediate brick arch between the rail crossing and the canal.

Further south there were two viaducts, one of twelve arches and one of nine arches.

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The first part closure came in 1956 with the southern section from Epworth to Haxey. Nine years

later much of the remaining system was closed except for the "mainline" from Marshlands to

Crowle. This was retained at the request of the CEGB for movement of equipment to and from

Keadby power station. This section then closed in 1972. The main purpose of the line was for the

movement of freight. The initial passenger service covered the G&MLR section in its entirety plus the

Axholme section from Reedness to Crowle.

There was one morning passenger train and one in the evening, both return services. The journey

was rather odd; commencing at Goole, the train ran to Reedness Junction and then covered the

Fockerby branch in both directions. Once back at Reedness, the train proceeded on the Axholme line

to Crowle from which it returned directly to Goole (omitting Fockerby). The evening train from Goole

ran directly to Crowle and covered the Fockerby branch on its return journey. Later a three train

service was introduced plus extra services on weekends and market days. Once the Axholme Joint

Railway mainline was completed, passenger trains ran through to Haxey.

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There were never any passenger trains on the Hatfield Moor branch; this branch was built mainly to

serve the peat extraction works at Hatfield. Excursions were run from time to time, for example, to

Blackpool and Hull. There were also inbound excursions, especially to Epworth. In the years before

the First World War, passenger traffic was quite brisk but like other railways, the motor bus started

syphoning customers away during the 1920s.