Image ID: 16378

Austerity Class Locomotives at Retford Railway Station, 1965

Courtesy of John A Thickitt

Railway Station
Retford
England

View north from the island platform. These 'Austerity' class heavy-freight engines' had left Retford shed a few minutes earlier and run into platform 2. Now nos' 90007, 90551 & 90577 were leaving for Worksop Sidings. Two of the engines' were Retford based, the third at Immingham (Lincs.). They are running towards Whisker Hill Junction on the ex-G.C.R. Lincoln to Worksop line. On arrival at Worksop they would separate to work coal trains'. The elegant 'splitting' semaphore signal appears to date from the Great Northen Railway era (note the finials at the top of each post). The signals' on the tallest post controlled traffic on the 'Down Slow', the line in the foreground, which continued northwards along the East Coast Main Line. Further left, one of the other signal's allowed a train on the Down Slow access to the line the engines' are joining. In the the foreground a gaslamp may have been provided to illuminate the scene when an engine arrived at the water column. The white, circular object seemingly on the end of the platform was a Ground Disc, a shunting signal. The figure '5' in front of the middle locomotive's tender refers to the maximum speed along which the line the engines are travelling. Retford north signal box is hidden by the exhaust of the locomotives. The engine on the right is 'blowing off' (a plume of steam is escaping from mid-way along the boiler) as its safety-valves have just 'popped'. Photo taken mid-morning on 10th April 1965.

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Keywordsrailwaystationplatformcanopytransporttrackrailslinepillarstrainrailingsmokelocomotiveenginesignalboxsignnotice

Retford Library