TRACK TALK

➜ Mystery of Spilsby lamp lettering

I FOUND the article in issue 264 interesting regarding the forthcoming ELR50, especially the reference to Spilsby and the photograph of the GNR signal lamps.

Many years ago I purchased a railway lamp from a stall at an open day at the Science Museum’s reserve collection at Wroughton near Swindon. Thanks to the article, I can now identify my lamp as a Gnr‘large’ signal lamp and can confirm that it is marked‘spilsby’.

One feature which I do not understand is the lettering following the word Spilsby and I would be interested to discover the meaning. After a punched full stop are the additional letters‘rd.xing’

The letter D is underlined with a punched full stop in the middle of the underline and the feature is raised above the line of the other characters.

I am pleased to say the lamp is in good order although the reservoir does weep – an ongoing problem judging by the number of old soldered repairs!

One other question concerns the original finish on these lamps. My lamp has a bare metal finish and this is the same as the lamps shown in the picture. I suspect this is a feature of their preservation rather than representative of the finish during their service lives. Clarification would be appreciated. Thank you for an excellent publication.

Graham Squires, Didcot, Oxfordshire.

➜ Electric seasonal greetings

MANY thanks for the inclusion in the letters column of issue 264 of the saga of my No. 86259 Christmas card. It really is a nice story, isn’t it, and a lovely card!

I had many glowing comments from recipients of the card, which of course pleased Glynis no end, and now she is really thrilled to have her‘wronghand’work featured in Heritage Railway! With rest and physiotherapy, she is recovering from her injuries, and should be back to right-handed drawing and illustrating very soon.

Thanks again – it’s always a thrill to have my modern heritage traction featured in your magazine!

Les Ross, owner of Class 86 No. 86259 Les Ross