Image ID: 21562

Steam locomotive and train passing Kirkby South railway junction

Kirkby South Junction
Kirkby in Ashfield
England

One of the 'O' class locomotive-types (O4/8?) hauls a load of what appear to be steel bars southbound over the former Great Central Main Line. This was a convenient route for freight traffic between the north-east and south-west of the country. Notes: 1) The brown vehicle at the end of the train is a brake-van, in which the train's guard travelled. 2) The line the train was leaving was possibly a separate route for traffic to and from the east, forming a second branch line at this location. 3) There is a 30 miles per hour speed restriction sign for northbound trains on the bank level with the engine. That it has 'cut-out' figures and is made of metal, indicate it is a permanent restriction. 4) The pattern of the oil-lamps on the front of the engine show that it is a 'class 8' freight-train (i.e. that the wagons cannot be braked from the locomotive, which has implications for the maximum speed the train can travel). 5) The semaphore signal to the right of the signal-box, on the branch line, is facing to the right of the photograph. This indicates that the curve approaching the junction is so tight that the signal was positioned on the 'wrong' side of the track, so that train drivers' could see it. 6) The specialist flat-wagons forming the train were called 'bogie-bolster' wagons (the name is a combination of the description of the body construction type and the wheel arrangement).

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Keywordslandscapefieldsrailwaystrainsteamlocomotivetransportwagonssignalboxsandstonecuttingjunction

Kirkby Library in Ashfield