Scrapbook Pic - Year?

[strang steel]

Although the signal could have been added or removed in the years between the photos.

[Danby Wiske]

This is true - I hadn't spotted the date mentioned in Andy's post.

[JASd17]

But is that the same bridge?

It looks very similar, but the one in the 2501 photo has a distinctive line of "turretted" (sorry I don't know the correct terms for these things) brickwork running its entire length under the parapet, whereas that one has a plain ridge above the arch.

I don't think they are the same location, as the arch is flatter in the 2501 photo, and the gap from the ballast to the start of the embankments is wider.

I agree that the brickwork does not look exactly the same, but I am not sure if that is the lighting.

Anyway, what I failed to do was look at the picture in the LNER Album Volume Three carefully. On the left hand side brickwork is painted the number 254. The figure 4 can be seen in ID's posted copy, the rest being cropped. As Sand Lane under-bridge near the station just to the north is still 'ECML 255' I think that is it. As said the signalling has been considerably altered, no Belton Box to the south? And some re-sited for the faster services?

John

[Mickey]

A date was posted for the closure of Belton s/box a couple of months ago.

I'm not that familiar with the road north of Peterborough let alone north of Grantham but after Grantham wot i can recall after 40 years is after leaving Grantham and the right-hand curve north of the station the road is basically straight until you get to Barkston south junction where the road curves to the left slightly and then straightens out virtually all the way to Barnetby level crossing before going into a right-hand curve on the approach to Newark.

[60129 GUY MANNERING]

A date was posted for the closure of Belton s/box a couple of months ago.

I'm not that familiar with the road north of Peterborough let alone north of Grantham but after Grantham wot i can recall after 40 years is after leaving Grantham and the right-hand curve north of the station the road is basically straight until you get to Barkston south junction where the road curves to the left slightly and then straightens out virtually all the way to Barnetby level crossing before going into a right-hand curve on the approach to Newark.

I think you mean Barnby level crossing, Micky. An easy mistake to make and we all do it on occasions.

Regards, Derek.

[AndyRush]

I agree that the brickwork does not look exactly the same, but I am not sure if that is the lighting.

Anyway, what I failed to do was look at the picture in the LNER Album Volume Three carefully. On the left hand side brickwork is painted the number 254. The figure 4 can be seen in ID's posted copy, the rest being cropped. As Sand Lane under-bridge near the station just to the north is still 'ECML 255' I think that is it. As said the signalling has been considerably altered, no Belton Box to the south? And some re-sited for the faster services?

John

The key is the type of bridge – flattish single arch overline bridges were comparatively rare on the GN main line

Working north from Grantham the overline bridges were:
250 Gonerby bridge at 107m 48½ch

251 Grange Farm bridge at 108m 41¼ch

252 Hunter's bridge at 108m 70ch

253 Hardy's bridge at 109m 09ch

All photographs courtesy Graham Austin collection

254 Pyewipe bridge at 109m 25½ch (previously mentioned)

Edited to rotate bridge 251 photo - examination of the high res image confirms this is now correct - in spite of the white patch on the brickwork being in the 'wrong' place

Andy

[JASd17]

Hi All,

This is what Richard's set-up can really help to explain. Well done to everyone.

Although I believe the road 'Sand Lane' at Barkston station was a level crossing originally, any confirmation?

John

[giner]

I'm curious to know what was behind the camera in that last photo, of Hardy's bridge. Yikes, those signal posts are so tall the signal arms could almost be obscured by low cloud on a miserable day. Looks like there's some sort of maintenance going on, judging by the fellow clinging on to the ladder. Either that, or he's a very avid spotter. Had he just climbed over the parapet of the bridge, I wonder?

[AndyRush]

Hi All,

This is what Richard's set-up can really help to explain. Well done to everyone.

Although I believe the road 'Sand Lane' at Barkston station was a level crossing originally, any confirmation?

John

Barkstone Crossing at 109m 54ch replaced by underline bridge No.255 at 109m 55ch (known simply as 'Barkston(e) bridge' by the GNR/LNER) in 1892

Andy

[Mickey]

A date was posted for the closure of Belton s/box a couple of months ago.

I'm not that familiar with the road north of Peterborough let alone north of Grantham but after Grantham wot i can recall after 40 years is after leaving Grantham and the right-hand curve north of the station the road is basically straight until you get to Barkston south junction where the road curves to the left slightly and then straightens out virtually all the way to Barnetby level crossing before going into a right-hand curve on the approach to Newark.

I think you mean Barnby level crossing, Micky. An easy mistake to make and we all do it on occasions.

Regards, Derek.

Yes you are correct Derek i did mean Barnby, when i wrote my post i had a feeling that Barnetby wasn't the correct name but thanks for pointing out my mistake.

Some excellent old photographs of the road around Belton.

[JASd17]

Barkstone Crossing at 109m 54ch replaced by underline bridge No.255 at 109m 55ch (known simply as 'Barkston(e) bridge' by the GNR/LNER) in 1892

Andy

Thanks for the extra information Andy.

John

[Iron Duke]

Wonderful pics Andy,

Is this collection available on line anywhere, if so what other sections does it cover?

ID

[Mickey]

I presume that those signals at 253 Hardy's bridge are the down line 'splitting distants' for Barkston south junction?.

[AndyRush]

Wonderful pics Andy,

Is this collection available on line anywhere, if so what other sections does it cover?

ID

The collection took the form of an album of official bridge photos, mostly dated around the turn of the century. It covers the Peterborough - Doncaster section of the GNR and the photos were probably taken around the same time as those featured in the RCTS The Great Northern Railway in the East Midlands series by the late Alfred Henshaw.

One day, if we ever find anybody capable of making our infrastructure database accessible via the internet, these photos (and many thousands more) would become available along with a wealth of detail about the bridges themselves acquired over the last 35 years or so. But, based on past experience with our technical friends, don't hold your breath!

Andy

[StevieG]

" .... Looks like there's some sort of maintenance going on, judging by the fellow clinging on to the ladder. Either that, or he's a very avid spotter. Had he just climbed over the parapet of the bridge, I wonder? "

Hard to tell, but in the cases of such signal/bridge proximities that I've known (okay, nothing like that long ago), I have never seen posts near enough to the bridge that someone could climb across the gap.

I like the fancy-finialled short white post at the hut at the approach to the signals - carried fog-repeaters perhaps, for the observance by a fogman when deployed, although the post is quite tall for such a function.
The hut is quite large though; surely far superior to any weather protection usually provided for that duty. Perhaps it was a normal PWay gang hut as well, and I'd have thought further back from the signals than would normally be the case for a fogman. Someone stationed there would have a good sky-background view of the signal arms, but only in good visibility - almost certainly NOT in fog!.