Interesting and inspiring photos from Flickr....

[Jollibob]

Something that I found on FB.

 

I found this engineers train quite inspiring, two ex-GWR brake vans and some wagons being pulled by an ex-LMS 3F. Ideal for a little branch trip.

 

Rob.

[Pinza-C55]

I love this photo of 55021 at Darlington Bank Top because of the Lowry-like cobbled street and other details. I took loads of Deltic photos but few as good as this.

 

 

[iands]

18 minutes ago, Pinza-C55 said:

I love this photo of 55021 at Darlington Bank Top because of the Lowry-like cobbled street and other details. I took loads of Deltic photos but few as good as this.

 

 

Doubly good as the photo also includes the microwave dishes atop the station roof.

[33C]

2 hours ago, iands said:

Doubly good as the photo also includes the microwave dishes atop the station roof.

And an interesting ghost arch in the right hand end wall...

[MattR]

As an American, the digital message board on the right confuses me greatly!

 

 

Edited September 26 by MattR

[Mol_PMB]

3 minutes ago, MattR said:

As an American, the digital message board on the right confuses me greatly!

 

 

Its a printed advert of a message displayed on the Wimbledon tennis scoreboard, advertising a drink. Robinsons (the cordial manufacturer, not the Brewer) used to sponsor the tennis. 

[rodent279]

It's not actually a digital message board- it's a poster depicting a digital scoreboard at Wimbledon. Dates it to late 70's/early 80's.

[The Pilotman]

12 hours ago, rodent279 said:

It's not actually a digital message board- it's a poster depicting a digital scoreboard at Wimbledon. Dates it to late 70's/early 80's.

August 25th 1981 to be precise. 

[37114]

17 hours ago, iands said:

Doubly good as the photo also includes the microwave dishes atop the station roof.

Lots to like in that photo. Also re the advertising board, I reckon with some gentle digital manipulation it would be suitable for cropping and using on a layout.

[KeithMacdonald]

10 minutes ago, 37114 said:

Lots to like in that photo. Also re the advertising board, I reckon with some gentle digital manipulation it would be suitable for cropping and using on a layout.

 

Perhaps with a small Pi Pico display screen that could be programmed to display a variety of images?

 

 

Some parts required:

https://thepihut.com/products/3-5-touchscreen-display-for-raspberry-pi-pico-480x320

and

https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico-2

 

[The Pilotman]

1 hour ago, 37114 said:

Lots to like in that photo.

To give credit where it’s due; it’s by David Rostance on Flickr. He has hundreds more brilliant pictures there. 

Edited September 27 by The Pilotman

[Pinza-C55]

3 hours ago, 37114 said:

Lots to like in that photo. Also re the advertising board, I reckon with some gentle digital manipulation it would be suitable for cropping and using on a layout.

 

As I commented on the photo, if you look this place up on Google Earth a new house has been built where the billboard was (on the site of a demolished house) but in the same style as the existing houses. If it wasn't for this photo you wouldn't notice it. The house is also in North Eastern Terrace .

[The Stationmaster]

On 19/09/2024 at 08:16, Nearholmer said:

Tow tractors go back a long time, pre-WW2, both petrol-engined and battery.
 

Post Office tow-tractors were red, and BR ones I think first various regional colours, then yellow, sometimes with black chevrons on the front. I don’t think the PO ones were ever yellow, but I may be wrong about that. Some stations had both, and I have a dim recollection that W H Smith even had a few of their own at London Termini.

 

At some stations PO staff handled their traffic, using their own tractors and barrows, while BR handled “railway parcels” and newspapers, but at others BR staff did it all. At East Croydon there was/is even a pub to refresh the two sets of staff, The Porter and Sorter, and everywhere I came across there was “cross acceptance” of staff in canteens, so at Woking, for instance, we would eat at the PO canteen, or better still the railway retirement home kitchen, where you got a really good roast lunch for free!

 

 

The arrangement for Post Office Mails depended on what they were.  in all cases (except one) GPO staff moved the mails between the Post Office and the station - then a division of responsibility took place.  Parcel Post was handled by BR staff throughout from/to the handover point where the GPO staff left it on arrival at the station/collected from after arrival.  Letter Mail was handled throughout from Post Office to train side handover to the Gard/collection from the Guard at train side thence to the Post Office.  BR staff were only allowed to handle Letter Mail, and then immediately place it in secure accommodation, if a Postmnan had not arrived in time to collect it from trainside although I believe that at a few places arrangements had been made for BRstaff to handle letter mail (although the GPO was not very n keen on that for security reasons)

 

The only exception in respect of Letter Mail was traffic for Lynton following closure of the L&B and on one connecting service daily  it was transported by railway road motor vehicle from Barnstaple to the Post Office at Lynton.

 

On 19/09/2024 at 10:20, Artless Bodger said:

I have a dim memory of Reading in the late 70s, PO staff used their tractors and barrows to move post between the main post office in Friar Street and the station, entering through a wide concertina door onto platform 4. Not sure if it still happened in the mid 80s when I returned to Reading. Can't remember the colour of the tractors though, the trolleys were grey I think.

The Post Office tractors at Reading were painted red and were of course road registered because they used the public highway between the station and the Sorting Office entrance in Blagrave Street which was at the rear of the Post Office (which fronted onto Friar Street.   The trailers were galvanised metal with, at one end, a red placard bearing a GPO badge and fleet number in black lettering and they had pneumatic tyres for road use plus net to secure the mail bags; they were only open on one side  

 

There was also a Post Office building (presumably a mess room?)  on the south side of the east end of Reading General station - visible on the right in my photo attached below.  At that time Letter Mail was also handled in the former fish dock where a van can be seen behind the fence at the east end of Platform 1.  Mail was also brought in via a revised entrance and gates after No.1 Bay had been shortened at the stop block end following the resignalling as this was nearer to the lift for the parcels subway.

 

[Nearholmer]

34 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Letter Mail was handled throughout from Post Office to train side handover to the Gard/collection from the Guard at train

I’m sure I’ve seen letter mail bags, the buckled-up ones, being transferred between trains, I think where trains split en-route, so the bags had to be split from one guard’s compartment into two, I think guard-to-guard,  but perhaps I dreamt it.

 

And, weren’t the guys who took the bags between guard’s compartments and those conveyor systems that linked to sitting offices railway staff? I’m dredging my memory, and they may not have been, because there were red PO 4W “carts” on island platforms not-adjacent exits to sorting offices.

 

Used to see all this on a daily basis, and it’s a bit of a surprise not to have a photographic recollection of it!

 

 

Edited September 27 by Nearholmer

[Pinza-C55]

26 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m sure I’ve seen letter mail bags, the buckled-up ones, being transferred between trains, I think where trains split en-route, so the bags had to be split from one guard’s compartment into two, I think guard-to-guard,  but perhaps I dreamt it.

 

And, weren’t the guys who took the bags between guard’s compartments and those conveyor systems that linked to sitting offices railway staff? I’m dredging my memory, and they may not have been, because there were red PO 4W “carts” on island platforms not-adjacent exits to sorting offices.

 

Used to see all this on a daily basis, and it’s a bit of a surprise not to have a photographic recollection of it!

 

 

 

In the 80's to early 90's we carried internal cash bags and mail bags on BR. The cash bags were made of leather and usually had a brass plate with their destination and a wax seal. The internal mail bags were beige linen and about the size of a laptop bag.

[Nearholmer]

I was thinking of the GPO mail bags. They used to be “everywhere” on stations, certainly left unattended in heaps on trolleys, which sort of throws into question the security of the system.
 

Mind you, I once went on a visit to various courts as part of “general studies” at college, and saw blokes being tried for a couple of very traditional crimes: theft of mail, and breaking-open gas meters. The latter was a free comedy show, because the judge kept losing track of how much coinage, of what denominations, had been found in a suitcase under someone’s bed, which was pivotal, causing both lawyers, and the police witnesses to get visibly annoyed with him!

[Pinza-C55]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I was thinking of the GPO mail bags. They used to be “everywhere” on stations, certainly left unattended in heaps on trolleys, which sort of throws into question the security of the system.
 

Mind you, I once went on a visit to various courts as part of “general studies” at college, and saw blokes being tried for a couple of very traditional crimes: theft of mail, and breaking-open gas meters. The latter was a free comedy show, because the judge kept losing track of how much coinage, of what denominations, had been found in a suitcase under someone’s bed, which was pivotal, causing both lawyers, and the police witnesses to get visibly annoyed with him!

 

At Kings Cross one of the guards was suspected of being up to something and they broke open his locker and found it full of empty mail bags. What made it more incredible was that he had to lug the bags down the platform and up 2 flights of stairs.

[montyburns56]

Wednesfield Road Goods Depot 1986 by Jamerail

 

 

1983 by David Rostance

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

On 27/09/2024 at 17:44, Nearholmer said:

I’m sure I’ve seen letter mail bags, the buckled-up ones, being transferred between trains, I think where trains split en-route, so the bags had to be split from one guard’s compartment into two, I think guard-to-guard,  but perhaps I dreamt it.

 

And, weren’t the guys who took the bags between guard’s compartments and those conveyor systems that linked to sitting offices railway staff? I’m dredging my memory, and they may not have been, because there were red PO 4W “carts” on island platforms not-adjacent exits to sorting offices.

 

Used to see all this on a daily basis, and it’s a bit of a surprise not to have a photographic recollection of it!

 

 

The trick is to have known the difference between Letter Mail bags and Parcel Post bags - the latter had flat bottoms with a separate piece of material sewn in as the bottom.

 

On a train the Guard was in charge of the mail and responsible for its security so might well have to handle it but at trainside - unless ap roper arrangement to the contrary existed - a Postman would handle Letter Mail bags

[Sitham Yard]

36 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

On a train the Guard was in charge of the mail and responsible for its security so might well have to handle it but at trainside - unless ap roper arrangement to the contrary existed - a Postman would handle Letter Mail bags

Years ago a friend of mine was catching a train at Watford Junction to London and discovered a full mail bag sitting on the track. This was reported to station staff who carried out the required procedure (presumably had to take a possession) and retrieved the bag. Some covered loading bays accessed from the car park were provided on Platform 9 (Up Slow) for mail transfer which appear to be still there.

Andrew     

[Nearholmer]

Snipped this out of a photo on another site, because it shows the PO 4W barrows quite nicely (some were similar, but with much larger wheels), as well as the not-uniforms of the staff handling the mail. Tonbridge 1984. I’m not sure whether the train is a CIG, or a WR DMMU.

 

 

Edited October 1 by Nearholmer

[eastwestdivide]

4 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m not sure whether the train is a CIG, or a WR DMMU.

Almost certainly a 119 DMU on a Tonbridge/Reading service. CIGs weren't allocated to the SE div in 1984. 

[Nearholmer]

Sounds about right. I certainly don’t remember CIGs on the SE at all.

Edited October 1 by Nearholmer

[keefer]

15 minutes ago, eastwestdivide said:

Almost certainly a 119 DMU on a Tonbridge/Reading service. CIGs weren't allocated to the SE div in 1984. 

Notice the red 'Railair Link' 'Passenger Luggage Stowage Area' sign on the brake van (seen through the door window, just behind the head of the guy on the right).

https://railcar.co.uk/images/4177

"Sets used on Gatwick services had markings on the van (and often also on the [disused] buffet area) to show the luggage stowage areas. These were white text 'Passenger Luggage Stowage Area' on a red background as seen on 51056 at Old Oak Common on the 22nd December 1989."

[eastwestdivide]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Sounds about right. I certainly don’t remember CIGs on the SE at all

Some arrived very late in the slam-door era, after I moved away. 1991 according to Kent Rail at http://www.kentrail.org.uk/Class 421.htm 

Prior to that, occasionally on excursions etc from other bits of the SR, and I saw one once in the early 80s at Ashford, empty, to/from possibly Chart Leacon. 

Edited October 1 by eastwestdivide
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