One of the less expected stars of the show from an operating point of view was 3465, a NuCast O2/2 converted into an O1. A fortuitous find at Pontefract Show in January, it had nothing more than a clean and service and was brought along on trial rather than with any real expectation. It performed pretty well faultlessly over the dead frogs for a loco with no tender pickups (yet) and I suspect has leapt straight into the permanent roster. It did see service on the down mineral empties, which is the usual working for locos I want to try out, but here is taking the Iron Ore empties back to High D y k e.
In Platform 4, J5 3027 awaiting departure to Lincoln and Boston with a short train of older Howlden stock. 3027 is a London Road Models kit and one I very much enjoyed building.
On Platform 5 an arrival from Derby and Nottingham. J39 1273 has just detached and will proceed to depot for turning and servicing. This and the other Bachmann J39 we have never cease to amaze me - they still have their original split chassis mechanisms with no additional pickups and work reliably show after show. They are thoroughly cleaned between shows and every so often I strip them right down and clean the axles and keeps. I suspect that's probably why they still work so well, despite both being bought second hand.
Looking further right, towards London, an A3 waiting to relieve an Up express. Beyond it the end of a goods for Peterborough, which I think means we're fairly well through the sequence here. I can pick out C1 3251 in the old shed and bottom right is one of the High D y k e O4s, 6229 or 6246, having turned and getting ready to leave the shed and resume its journey north.
I included this picture not only for Graham's signals and North Box and part of Paul's townscape behind, but for the partial shot of the other Eric Fry loco we had on loan, the 'neverwazza' P10 2-8-2 tank engine. It's identical to a V1/3 above the running plate but with very different frames and motion. I believe this loco was built by the late David Steinle. We didn't run it but had it on show for the duration. It made an interesting contract with the usual north end pilot, a J54 built for us by the late Caroline Middleditch.
Almost the same scene, but 1273 has now reversed out onto the viaduct and then returned down the shed road. This was a Lincoln loco in the 1930s and I worked from a picture showing it well bulled up on shed. It has yet to have the detailing which these Bachmann models benefit from and I do have to point out that after 10 years I still have not completed the 3500 gallon GS tender which it should tow. Appalling lack of effort.
Down at the south end we can now see that the relieving engine is a local resident, Robert the Devil. Tom Foster weathered this engine and made his usual outstanding job of it. To the bottom of the picture, C12 4529 is south end pilot and across the bottom can be seen the loaded wagons from High D y k e, bound for Scunthorpe.
Back on the shed, but the new shed building, C1 4432 (DJH), A1 2550 Blink Bonny, a Grantham resident and beyond them K3 227 from York, identifiable by the Hulburd water treatment/heating gear it carried until about 1940. This is a Bachmann model with an SEF tender. 4432 was a lockdown ebay buy with a very tatty paint job: it turned out to have a big Portescap and now repainted and packed with lead it will pull anything a Pacific will manage. I have had up to 16 kit built carriages behind it, but that was probably just showing off.
Panning left to the old shed, 1273 is now almost turned and ready to return whence it came. The incoming O4 on the High D y k e service can be seen. There were no turning facilities on the branch, so engines went up chimney first and then returned tender first as far as Grantham, where they stopped and turned. In this case it looks as though whatever unidentifiable O4 this is will be relieved. An equally unidentifiable J6 (one of my NuCast ones) is just backing down to the coaling stage. In the background 3465 is turning onto the Up relief road, so the up and down High D y k e workings are visible together. The engine will run just past the Great North Road bridge at the south end and then stop to water.
1273 has turned and is now backing down to coal and water.
A wider view of the new shed, with C2 3254 (DJH, by Tony Wright) in evidence. I was looking for this loco at the weekend as it managed to shuttle in and out of north fiddle without ever crossing my eyeline in the three days. Behind it another J6, not one of mine so I can't identify it. The A4 waiting to move back up the shed is Commonwealth of Australia, one of the two Coronation A4s we had for the weekend. At the rear, where we started, the Up High D y k e which looks to be making its water stop.
