A 'Window on the Past'; 'A Gallery of Miscellaneous Steam Traction', from AW1960s to 1970s

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A 'Window on the Past'; 'A Gallery of Miscellaneous Steam Traction', from AW1960s to 1970s
A 'Window on the Past'; 'A Gallery of Miscellaneous Steam Traction', from AW1960s to 1970s

Note: See earlier pieces in this series for details about the use of Adrian's photographic collection, both negative and digital.

** The fourteenth in a series of 'look-back' mosaics using pictures recently made available to me from Adrian Wynn's archive, I hope you enjoy these as much as I have putting them together from Adrian's most interesting Archive of personal digital & film and purchased negatives...

WELCOME TO THE GALLERY

* Preamble
For this 'edition' I opted to use a 'gallery view' format, partly as there is only minimal text which I can add to these pictures, and that is chiefly the engine numbers and location which fortunately, for these at least, is available in either the scanned filename and/or the negative packet. The 8 pictures featured here, were what I considered to be the best out of a batch of PSD files, scanned from the original negatives, I haven't re-scanned the 5 available negatives (unavailable ones are marked '??') but used Adrian's already created Photoshop PSD files. There looks to have been no subsequent processing in Photoshop to remove a plethora of marks of one sort or another, so, I have taken the trouble to undertake several hours of 'scratch/hair & blob' removal & cloning on the 8 images, to remove the worst of the defects. The result is rather good considering the equipment with which these black and white photographs were taken, 4 of them I have no idea about this as I don't have the negatives; the scanning details however would appear to reveal the frame sizes as shown below, for these 4. Of the remaining 4, one is a 35mm B/W negative, and the other 3 are all 60x60mm large format, 120 Ilford media; though this doesn't necessarily guarantee a 'good' picture.

As indicated above, this is the 14th piece in the 'Windows on the Past' series which was started on the 16th February, last year, with a 4-part view of the L.N.E.R.'s old Woodhead line, there passing through the old, and now disused, Cemetery at Wardsend, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/52717715273/
featuring just two of Adrian's pictures and for comparison, from present days, 2 of my own. 'Things' changed and became more complex as the series went on with, in the main, my own pictures taking 2nd place to Adrian's great material and indeed, the last six so far, featured none of my work at all. This largely came about as there were no pictures I had which could be used as comparison shots and as there was much more of the older material, it was obvious this should 'take centre stage'.

I have been looking through more of Ade's material over the past months and there is certainly much of note.. this picture at the link here, was taken in the mid-1980s in the north-east of England in the Boulby Mine area, see-
www.flickr.tightfitz.com/AdrianWynn/374_Strip_5-004.jpg
and recently Gavin.B has been in the area taking photographs, including a contemporary version of the the same image, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/49068127@N06/54085367478/
the hanging pieces of metalwork having been reversed between the two pictures...
This is just one example of how the material is so valuable showing scenes of 'Landscape & Memory' from the last 40 years or more, much of it in times when the railway infra-structure was a lot more interesting... This is the 'raison d'être' for pursuing this 'programme of work' in trying to present the material here, though I have no clue as to how he would have wanted it presented... his approach with presentation, to a large extent, being somewhat, 'minimalist', another good example being the recently up-loaded picture of the Riddlesdown Viaduct, which I had resurrected from the archive and for which I was seeking some detail regarding location and information, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/54010851784/
This got settled in a week or two but it illustrates the 'keen eye' Adrian had for a potentially interesting photograph and this particular one certainly had all the elements he was interested in.

So, here are a collection of, one of them having been changed at the last minute, upper row, 2nd from the left, as I realised the 2nd picture featured at Barrow Hill, had already been seen in an earlier set, 'Windows on the Past' #10, on the North Derbyshire lines, the picture being the centre right image, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/53399622165/
this was therefore changed to a second shot at Doncaster, there are 4 others, showing another class of steam loco, a 'Britannia', heading north in the same area as the train in the picture above it. Apart from that slight mistake, the others are all as indicated in the information below. It has taken some time to sort this lot out and discover as much information as possible, chiefly from on-line sources, as there is only a little information, if any, on the packets; the Dore & Totley shots being the ones with the most detail, there are 3 further shots in this area.

Taking the left 4 pictures in this 'on-line virtual gallery', wasn't quite sure whether to present the material this way... but here we go-

* at UPPER LEFT looking across the North Midland lines, the 'Old Road', at Barrow Hill Station, an L.M.S. Ivatt Class 4F 2-6-0, 43088, is coming off the goods lines through Seymour Jn. from the Staveley and Mansfield direction. It is heading west towards the Barrow HIll sidings and then on through to Chesterfield and southwards with what looks like a rake of old empty metal mineral wagons. The train is probably heading to one of the collieries south of here for another load of coal for the Staveley Works, which can be seen in Works in the background of this picture. Features here are the water column at left, the semaphore signalling of course and fine array of old multi-pole telegraph posts, receding into the distance on the left. The driver of 43088 looks out of the cab window directly at the photographer, and the lines between the 'Old Road' in the foreground and Staveley Works at the back, are full of metal bodied wagons of one sort or another... what a terrific scene; 43088's home was 35A, New England Shed. Withdrawn 1967.

* Looking now at the LOWER LEFT picture in this set of 4, the scene moves north between Rotherham and Doncaster, to the once very busy area of Cadeby and Denaby on the G.C.R.'s line between Mexborough and Doncaster. This is a fine shot, from the Denaby crossing footbridge, of B.R. Standard Class 2-8-0 8F, 'ex-WD-Austerity', 90250, coming from the Doncaster area and here seen passing over the Denaby level Crossing. The view looks eastwards towards Conisbrough on the right, to the south of the River Don and Cadeby off to the north of the river in the left background. On the extreme left at the side of the 90250 is the Denaby Signal box and in the lower right corner, part of the crossing footbridge from which the photograph was taken. The dour-looking buildings, beyond the box at the side of the long, empty mineral train, are part of Denaby Main Colliery which occupied all of the land between here and the River Don beyond the works at far left. The river formed the boundary on the northern side of the works with extensive sidings beyond the mine, the site extending along the river for around a mile parallel to Doncaster Road.! Coming along Doncaster Road, a motor car, with registration number 'XWE 620' has been halted at the gates awaiting passage of 90250, with the driver visible at the cab window, looking directly at the photographer on the footbridge. Car registration pre-dates the UK's alpha-numeric system of identifying the year in which the car was first registered, the system being introduced on the 1st January, 1963, with the letter 'A' added to the end of the registration plate, as this car does not have one, it is therefore older than 1963. As far as I am able to make out, its a 'Standard Vanguard' which were around in the 1950s, see-
www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/standard-vanguard...
There are one or two cyclists on the quiet looking road and on the right, Denaby Lane joins the main road with some advertising boards on the side of the dark shed beyond which, just discernable, is the 'Reresby Arms, Public House. Clearly, a trolleybus system operated here with double, over-head power lines, see-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexborough_and_Swinton_Traction_Com...
with '... The Manvers to Conisbrough High route was the first to go, on 1 January 1961, but the rest did not last much longer, and the final trolleybus service ran on 26 March 1961 on the Conisbrough Low to Rotherham route.... a picture, post-trolleybus era can be seen here-
www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightycat/6128408650/
www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/2280049444/
Among many other attractions which were the result of early 1990s 'enthusiasm', was the 'Earth Centre' and it was built on cleared land on the north side of the River not from from the village of Cadeby; around 400acres in all. Although this had a good beginning, 'footfall' by the mid-2000s was so low that the site was deemed unviable and the centre closed in September 2004, Lottery and other funding amounting to £42,000,000 was therefore wasted on what must have never been a going operation, the Sheffield's 'Pop Museum', London's 'Millennium Dome' and others, all going the same way..
A mile or so ahead of the approaching mineral train, is Mexborough and its locomotive Shed, Code 36B, the G.C.R. line on which the train is travelling having turned left and south, to pass the 90250's 'home shed' on the east and then on through Kilnhurst and so south to the Rotherham area. Withdrawn 1962.

* At UPPER RIGHT in the left set of four pictures, the scene moves north to the Doncaster area where a picture has been taken from the end of platform 5(as it was then, its now platform 4) looking south to Bridge Junction. The first of two shots in the Doncaster area, this one is L.N.E.R. Gresley A3 'Pacific' 4-6-0, 60063 with a wonderful name, 'Isinglass', heading north into Doncaster Station. Over to the left, the station 'Goods Shed Offices' with its sign writ large and to the left of the Goods Shed, the very prominent, St. James Church with its two 'rose' windows; and it, still extant. I have enhanced parts of his shot to show the track 'gang' of two, one wearing a white sleeved shirt, over to the left of 60063's buffer beam. The passenger service is arriving from the south and is seen passing Doncaster South Box with the signaller, by this time, operating a 'panel' rather than an array of semaphore signal levers. Outside, this change is reflected trackside by an early array of Multi-aspect colour light signals, the two most prominent having 'feathers' for the appropriate platform arrival; 60063 looks to be heading straight ahead for platform 5(4 now).
The Shed code disk of 60063 is unreadable but the 'List of British Railways Shed Codes',
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Railways_shed_codes
gives this loco's home at this time, being Kings Cross Shed, 34A. Withdrawn 1964.

* At LOWER RIGHT right in this set 1st set of 4, B.R., Standard 'Britannia Class' 7MT, 4-6-2, designed by 'R.A. Riddles', 70003, 'John Bunyan', comes into view in the same general area, but a little further south than the picture above, this one at Bridge Junction, Hexthorpe. It is once again coming up from the south and heading north into Doncaster on a 'mixed bag' of rail wagons in this not very good shot of the scene around the early 1960s I would guess. The lines at right curving away west are those to Hexthorpe, Warmsworth, Mexborough, then south to Swinton and the Rotherham area. Ahead is another of the M.A.S. signals for the line on which 70003 is travelling, this time the signal has two 'feathers' atop for routing into lines running off the main line before the station. Also visible and some what puzzled by these, are the prominent white disks on the two signal posts, I had to ask Chris Booth about these and here's his reply...
'... On the extreme right is the platform of St James Bridge station, the image being taken off Hexthorpe Road over-bridge, Donny station is behind the camera. The white circles on the signals are 'Fireman’s Plungers', if a train were to be stopped at the signal, it was the fireman’s job to get down and press the plunger, alerting the signalman of his presence...'
In addition to this, at St. James Bridge Station, an early type DMU, class 101 can be seen pausing for passengers on a station a mere 500m from the mainline station to the north. 70003's home was, 30A, Stratford Shed. Withdrawn 1967.
-----------------------------

* Looking now at the right-hand set of four pictures, the two upper ones were take at Dore & Totley Station, south of Sheffield, here both passenger workings are on the Hope Valley Line towards Manchester; the Midland Main Lines are in the background of both pictures. Of course these steam days pictures were taken when the railway structure still had double-track lines on the Dore Curve to Dore West Junction to the west. The double-track formation was removed during the 1980s purges of useful track!, it was singled but, during the the last year or so, due to increased traffic both passenger & freight, it has been doubled once more with a new station to boot, footbridge, but sadly no access to the Midland lines, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/53598618222/
during the latter stages in March this year.

at UPPER LEFT heading south and west along the Hope Valley line through the old station is B.R. Class 4P-C 4-6-0, 42084 with what looks like a 4-coach stopper, passing at 12:50 on the Sheffield to Chinley service, taken on 8th March, 1961. The driver has been given a clear run with both the main and distant signal off, the latter controlled by Totley East Box around the corner, next stop would have been Grindleford station at the west end of Totley Tunnel.
A NOTE: it appears now that Totley East Box was removed on the evening of 26th October, part of the Hope Valley upgrades which saw the station returned to doubles track through there, earlier this year, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/53598618217/
Two passengers stand on the station at the back of the train, but apart from them, there appears to be no-one else about; all other signals are standing at 'ON', danger. The new footbridge is more H.S.&E. compliant than the one seen here!! 42084's home was, 56F, Low Moor Shed. Also, is there a number, '?86' chalked on the left-hand buffer? Withdrawn December 1964.

*At UPPER RIGHT in this right-hand set of 4, once more at Dore & Totley Station B.R. Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0, 73155 can be seen one again on the Hope Valley Line, this time on the 16:30, Sheffield to Manchester service, taken on 8th March, 1961. Both the Hope Valley & Main Line 'running in' boards are visible, in standard B.R. dark-blue enamel with the standard font, 'Gil Sans', used for all such boards and on the right of the main-line board, a typical gas-mantle platform lamp which were also seen all over the network. This shot was taken on the same day in MArch 1961 as the one on the left, but now its nearly 4 hours later so the conditions aren't as good as the earlier shot. The current Northern Rail service, with class 195 DMU's, with 14 station stops takes about 1.5hours, wonder how this compares with the service shown here... The non-friendly for disabled passenger footbridge can now be seen in all its 'glory', the new one shown in the link above, having bulky passenger lifts at either side.. 73155's home was a short way down the track from here at 41C, Sheffield, Millhouses Shed. Withdrawn 1967.

* At LOWER LEFT in this right-hand set of 4, now in the Sheffield area, this shows a goods train heading north out of Sheffield Midland Station and just about to pass through the Sheaf Street tunnel. (I was in this spot yesterday for 'The Peaks Express' charter from Preston to Derby with 45212 leading). A B.R. Stanier class 5MT, 'Black 5', 45267, is hauling a goods train north with a typical B.R. 'XP' 'Vanfit', possibly numbered, 'M77..'. Two train-spotters sit on the wall where a panel has been removed and must have had a grand-stand view, very different to today's scene where a high red-brick wall blocks the view all along this location and no, since the mid-1990s, the Sheffield Supertram tracks are located taking service from Cathedral to Herdings Park & Halfway.
Joseph Rodgers & Son, their 'Maltese Cross' emblem can just be made out above the partial name, see-
www.sheffieldcollectableknives.com/about/joseph-rodgers
45267's home was, 14B, Kentish Town Shed. Withdrawn 1967.

* And finally at LOWER RIGHT in this set, one of the better pictures in this set of 8 and once more in the Sheffield area, now at the old Sheffield Victoria Station, closed to passenger traffic in 1970. At platform 3 alongside a class 27 Electric locomotive and the back of another passenger service on platform 4 with coach M4933 in view and a character peering out of the window at the photographer. Sat on platform 3 is L.N.E.R. Thompson Class 4-6-0 MT, B1, 61360 with a lot of activity going on so _very_ pre-1970, this train is facing west, towards Woodhead and Manchester, so it must have just come into the station to allow passengers to get off and swap to an electric service for the onward journey, west to Manchester Piccadilly. Below and to the left of the B.R. blue-enamel platform sign, a stanchion post ID can be seen, '4137', marking a post supporting the 1500VDC overhead line equipment. From the station clock it looks to be about 09:50 and below and in front of that, the guard stands holding what looks like the reporting number for the train which has just arrived, '1X44'... meaning, 1: Indicates an express train with limited stops, X: Services out of gauge or Royal Train? & 44: Route Number, maybe between Sheffield and Marylebone Station, London. 61360's home was, 36A, Frodingham Shed. Withdrawn 1966.

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Taken on: October 28, 2024
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