Hi Mickey,
You may have spotted me sitting on a buffer stop close to Crescent Bridge! It was cleaner than sitting on the beneath the bridge. The track and signalling were being rationalised by the early 1970s with the removal of the 20mph PSR, as confirmed in my 1972 photo (hopefully attached).
Track layout on south approach to Peterborough in the 50s & 60s
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SteveBrissle
- NER Y7 0-4-0T
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Re: Track layout on south approach to Peterborough in the 50s & 60s
Ha ha could well have done Steve. Yeah rationalisation was in progress around Peterborough back in the very early 1970s. Seems like a lifetime ago having a ride down from Kings Cross to Peterborough and back up to 'the cross' on a few of those Saturday afternoons back in 1971-72.SteveBrissle wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 5:13 pm Hi Mickey,
You may have spotted me sitting on a buffer stop close to Crescent Bridge! It was cleaner than sitting on the beneath the bridge. The track and signalling were being rationalised by the early 1970s with the removal of the 20mph PSR, as confirmed in my 1972 photo (hopefully attached).
Nearly ran into some 'personal bother' with 4 or 5 possibly London football fans on the old Peterborough North station Up platform one Saturday tea-tine back then in the early 1970s I vaguely recall when asked by some cocky yob in the group who I supported(?) and I said I work on the railway and he said "That's even worse!" but I managed to walk away in one piece!!. Ha ha ha...
Original start date of 2010 on the LNER forum and previously posted 4500+ posts.
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StevieG
- LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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- Location: Near the GN main line in N.Herts.
Re: Track layout on south approach to Peterborough in the 50s & 60s
I'm not seeing a photo SteveBrissle, or your one of Fletton SB in the other thread; not sure if the problem is your end or mine though.SteveBrissle wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 5:13 pm " .... as confirmed in my 1972 photo (hopefully attached)."
BZOH
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SteveBrissle
- NER Y7 0-4-0T
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Re: Track layout on south approach to Peterborough in the 50s & 60s
I uploaded two photos but they haven’t been posted.
Re: Track layout on south approach to Peterborough in the 50s & 60s
From memory after passing Holme box and travelling on the fast two road straight section across Stilton fen on passing Yaxley box the main line curved to the right a little and became quadrupled again and it was then four roads on a straight section of main line for a quite a distance with the tall chimneys of Fletton brickworks in the distance to the left of the main line before the trains speed was brought down on passing Fletton Junction box which had several railway connections on the Down side of the main line with a couple of connections in the Down goods line to & from the nearby Fletton brickworks and then the railway swept around on a wide left-hand curve and then straightened out with the trains speed brought down to maybe around 20mph to cross the river Nene iron bridge and also passing over the Northampton LNWR/GER line running underneath the GN main line into Peterborough East station as well. Back on the main line after crossing the river Nene iron bridge a vast number of railway sidings appeared to the left of the main line before the train passed the tall Crescent Junction box at around 15mph and on into Peterborough North station.
Original start date of 2010 on the LNER forum and previously posted 4500+ posts.
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DonAnderson
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Re: Track layout on south approach to Peterborough in the 50s & 60s
Hello everyone. Newbie Alert!
I would like to try and clear up some of the OP’s questions.
What the viewer of the 1924 Ordnance Survey of Fletton sees is the widening be-tween Fletton Jct. and Crescent Jct., in a state of partial completion.
The down goods line from Yaxley to Fletton came into use on 14/06/1904 and it end-ed and joined the down main line south of the box, until the widening scheme was completed. The map shows that at Fletton Jct., track has been laid to provide an new extension of the down goods line towards the north. It crosses the Longville branch and has its own new connection from the branch. Physically the four tracks continue under bridge 181 (Fletton High St.) and bridge No. 182 (Peacock). The surveyors drew only what they saw. At this point in time the new line, though physically in place, was quite probably not yet in commission. The other three, i.e. down main, up main and up goods, remained as before.
North of bridge 182 we begin to see the indications that the work is still in progress. From here to Crescent Junction the original down and up main lines remain as they were. So did the up goods line between Woodstone signal box and Yaxley, both of which opened on 06/08/1890.
On the down side we see that the necessary widening of underbridge No. 183 (Oundle Road) has been carried out and the two new spans of the Nene Viaduct (bridge No. 184) over the GE and MR lines and the River Nene. Two lines of railway were surveyed as having been laid over these bridges. The down goods is shown as continuous from Fletton Jct., but was again not necessarily in commission. The dead-end mentioned by the OP, was to form the future down main line. This awaited connection. To fulfil the scheme, it would be necessary to break the down main line between bridges 182 and 183 and slew it into the new line. This alteration was the obvious next stage in the scheme. However a corresponding step would be necessary at the Crescent Jct. end. Thus the new bridges would carry the new down main and down goods lines. For the time being the original spans continued to carry the former down and up main lines.
On the up side between bridges 184 and 182 the original main lines from Crescent Jct. would have had to be broken and slewed so that the former up main was joined to the up goods, and the former down main was joined to the up main, to assume their future order. This of course presupposes that the alterations necessary at the Crescent Jct. end had been carried out. Woodstone signal box and its connection from up main to up goods, was no longer necessary and it was closed on 02/11/1924: which is the only available date of completion for the scheme.
What happened at the Crescent Junction end is rendered somewhat ambiguous by the limited information that is available. I will post further about that if necessary.
The running lines were not re-designated from main/goods to fast/slow until:
2-3/12/1972 up main and goods lines between Peterborough station and Fletton Jct. re-designated fast and slow.
28-29/04/1973 down main and goods lines between Yaxley and Peterborough station re-designated fast and slow.
I would like to try and clear up some of the OP’s questions.
What the viewer of the 1924 Ordnance Survey of Fletton sees is the widening be-tween Fletton Jct. and Crescent Jct., in a state of partial completion.
The down goods line from Yaxley to Fletton came into use on 14/06/1904 and it end-ed and joined the down main line south of the box, until the widening scheme was completed. The map shows that at Fletton Jct., track has been laid to provide an new extension of the down goods line towards the north. It crosses the Longville branch and has its own new connection from the branch. Physically the four tracks continue under bridge 181 (Fletton High St.) and bridge No. 182 (Peacock). The surveyors drew only what they saw. At this point in time the new line, though physically in place, was quite probably not yet in commission. The other three, i.e. down main, up main and up goods, remained as before.
North of bridge 182 we begin to see the indications that the work is still in progress. From here to Crescent Junction the original down and up main lines remain as they were. So did the up goods line between Woodstone signal box and Yaxley, both of which opened on 06/08/1890.
On the down side we see that the necessary widening of underbridge No. 183 (Oundle Road) has been carried out and the two new spans of the Nene Viaduct (bridge No. 184) over the GE and MR lines and the River Nene. Two lines of railway were surveyed as having been laid over these bridges. The down goods is shown as continuous from Fletton Jct., but was again not necessarily in commission. The dead-end mentioned by the OP, was to form the future down main line. This awaited connection. To fulfil the scheme, it would be necessary to break the down main line between bridges 182 and 183 and slew it into the new line. This alteration was the obvious next stage in the scheme. However a corresponding step would be necessary at the Crescent Jct. end. Thus the new bridges would carry the new down main and down goods lines. For the time being the original spans continued to carry the former down and up main lines.
On the up side between bridges 184 and 182 the original main lines from Crescent Jct. would have had to be broken and slewed so that the former up main was joined to the up goods, and the former down main was joined to the up main, to assume their future order. This of course presupposes that the alterations necessary at the Crescent Jct. end had been carried out. Woodstone signal box and its connection from up main to up goods, was no longer necessary and it was closed on 02/11/1924: which is the only available date of completion for the scheme.
What happened at the Crescent Junction end is rendered somewhat ambiguous by the limited information that is available. I will post further about that if necessary.
The running lines were not re-designated from main/goods to fast/slow until:
2-3/12/1972 up main and goods lines between Peterborough station and Fletton Jct. re-designated fast and slow.
28-29/04/1973 down main and goods lines between Yaxley and Peterborough station re-designated fast and slow.