STAR LETTER
Leeds Nor thern Memories
Harking back to Huddersfield
Date of ‘Royal Scot’photo
Toton family tree
IN THE excellent 125th anniversary Issue (July), many RM readers would have noticed that in the nostalgic feature ‘Thanks for the memories!’ there was a contribution from Practice & Performance writer John Heaton, with his memories of the Huddersfield railway scene in 1959, and the sight and sound of a LNWR G2a 0-8-0.
JOHN Heaton’s letter in July’s ‘Reader Memories’ sparked my own memories of Hillhouse MPD (Huddersfield) in the late 1950s and early 60s.
IN John Heaton’s July article (‘The Famous Five’), there is a photo of No. 46162 ascending Shap ‘on an unknown date’. Whilst I cannot give a precise date, it was clearly taken in the early BR era judging by the ex-LMS carriages, with a mixture of LMS maroon and BR’s ‘custard and cream’ liveries.
I WAS delighted to receive your special edition of The Railway Magazine featuring 125 years of history. I have been a reader since the late 1950s.
Send your letters to: The Railway Magazine, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR. email: railway@mortons.co.uk
John’s recollections of a product of Crewe Works are interesting, but equally so are his ‘Practice & Performance’ articles, particularly those which feature products of Doncaster Works, and their performance in the 1950s on the former North Eastern Region of British Railways.
Many were the times I spent at the same location, along with many hours in the signalbox, which controlled the impressive signal gantry adjacent to Red Doles Road bridge! A particular memory was the Palethorpes sausage train, which ran to Hull about 9.00pm with a Hull Dairycoates ‘K3’ for motive power.
Then as No. 46162 received its BR number on April 17, 1948 and its smoke deflectors on November 4, 1950 – the photo must have been taken between these dates!
What caught my eye was the photograph on page 9, which shows a marshalling yard full of wagons. Whilst the caption does not say, I am sure it is a picture of Toton as the locomotive depot is in the background.
NB. Publication of a letter does not imply that the Editor or staff of The Railway Magazine necessarily agree with its contents.
In the closing paragraphs of his P&P in the May 2007 issue, there is a very brief reference to locomotive rosters on the Leeds Northern (linking Leeds to Thirsk/Northallerton via Harrogate and Ripon). Logs of locomotive performance on the Leeds Northern are probably in short supply, but of particular interest would be the Liverpool-Newcastle trains, which during that period reversed at Leeds following arrival behind perhaps a ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0 double-headed with a ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0.