STEAM DAYS in Colour 197: Retford – an East Coast main line crossroads

Famed for its flat crossing where the Sheffield-Lincoln route crossed the East Coast main line at right angles until 1965, we look at the interaction and we look at the interaction and variety of these two routes in the last years of steam.

Famed for its flat crossing where the Great Central Railway’s Sheffield-Worksop-Lincoln route crossed the Great Northern Railway main line at right angles until 1965, a favourite spot for trainspotters, we look at the interaction and variety of these two routes in the last years of steam. All photographs are by Keith Pirt and appear courtesy of Book Law Publications.

Gresley ‘A3’ Pacific No 60082 Neil Gow gets away north from the Retford stop with a late afternoon East Coast main line service in September 1958. The installation of double-chimneys had not long been authorized for members of this class but had not yet been applied to this North Eastern Region, Heaton allocated engine. This would later be followed by the application of German-style smoke deflectors. The lines to the left of Retford North signal box lead to Whisker Hill Junction and, together with a cord line at the south end of this Great Northern station, these enabled Great Central line trains to serve the station. Wagons in the distance are in the reception roads for the Great Northern goods yard, which was further north on the up side, opposite Babworth signal box.

Some performance modifications did little for the aesthetic appearance of an engine but on the whole those applied to the Gresley ‘A3s’ were well received. Permanent way gangers are disturbed at work on the main line at Retford North in November 1961 as ‘A3’ 4-6-2 No 60109 Hermit crosses over from the up main to the loop and hence into the platform road for a booked stop. The working is unrecorded but is probably a restaurant express from Leeds. The engine was fitted with a double-chimney in March 1959 and the deflectors followed in January 1961.

In the last summer of extensive passenger steam working at this end of the East Coast main line, Gresley ‘A4’ 4-6-2 No 60014 Silver Link rolls to a halt in platform 1 at Retford with a service from Leeds. This is likely to be the 2.10pm from Leeds (Central) to London (King’s Cross), which conveyed through carriages from both Bradford (Exchange) and Harrogate, a practice common to many services between Leeds and the capital. Steam working would continue on the more prolific Bradford section of these trains until the end of West Riding steam operations in September 1967. Much of the station here dates from an extensive rebuild carried out in 1891/92 but platform 1 was later extended around the curve leading to the GCR and the canopy awning was presumably cut away to aid signal sighting as a result.

With two busy lines intersecting and the presence of two engine sheds, and a number of goods yards and sidings and their associated movements, it is easy to see the attraction of Retford to the spotting fraternity. In August 1958, Gateshead allocated ‘A4’ Pacific No 60023 Golden Eagle excites the gallery at the station as it runs in past South box from King’s Cross at the head of a down stopping express just before noon. The lines in the foreground lead to Platform 3, a loop platform accessible to both GC line trains and main line trains. The latter continued north behind Retford North box over an acute angle and over the link to the GC. The GNR engine shed was located alongside the station on the same side.

The signalman at Retford South has taken the opportunity to make the most of a gap in East Coast main line traffic and gives the nod for Gresley ‘O2’ class 2-8-0 No 63987 to run light engine down the 1 in 146 grade towards the GC shed at Thrumpton, while Gresley ‘O1’ class 2-8-0 No 63571 approaches the flat crossing from the other direction with a westbound freight in May 1960. Note the catch points in the foreground to arrest the progress of any breakaways from the rear of these mostly unfitted goods trains, or strays from the nearby Whisker Hill sidings. Despite the appearance given by the out of line gradient post, the East Coast main line was in fact level through Retford.

Locally allocated at Thrumpton, former Great Central Railway Robinson ‘J11’ class 0-6-0 No 64395 propels wagons, probably retrieved from Whisker Hill sidings adjacent to the GC line on the west side of the flat crossing, around the curve through Retford No 1 platform and towards the GNR goods yard north of the station during an afternoon shunt in November 1960. Convoluted and lengthy shunts such as this were the price paid for the legacy of railway infrastructure build by two competing railway companies. New as GCR ‘9J’ No 1119 in August 1906, No 64395 would serve until January 1962.

After crossing over the East Coast main line, Immingham-allocated WD ‘Austerity’ 2-8-0 No 90662 heads westbound in mid-day autumn sunshine towards Whisker

Hill Junction on the GC lines, passing the rail-served cattle market on the left in October 1963. The miscellany of empty coke hoppers has no doubt originated from one of the heavy industries immediately south of the River Humber or from the steelworks in and around Scunthorpe. Eagle-eyed readers may recognise this image from a 97p postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail in 2011. However, this is the un-doctored version, the graphics department at Royal Mail having taken some licence with the smoke emissions on the stamp.

Wagons loaded with spent ballast occupy the exit road from Retford Low Yard in October 1962 as locally allocated Gresley ‘O2’ class 2-8-0 No 63975 heads east with a train of empties, presumably towards an engineering possession on the line to Gainsborough. A new coat of paint is obviously still wearing well as the engine had been released from its last general overhaul at Doncaster a few months earlier, on 12 July when it received a standard Thompson ‘100A’ boiler (as used on ‘B1s’) to become an ‘O2/4’.

Thompson ‘B1’ class 4-6-0 No 61231 is on a rarely photographed duty as it sets off from Thrumpton in February 1959 loaded with churns conveying fresh water destined for crossing keepers and signal boxes along the line at remote locations like Welham Road Crossing and Clarborough. This view is taken at the site of the original Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway station opened in 1849 and closed a decade later after arrangements were made to share the GNR station on the East Coast main line, but some structures survived the closure and back onto the former Great Central Railway engine shed, which is out of view on the left. On the other side, the up-side building is in use today as a restaurant.

Robinson ‘D11’ 4-4-0 No 62669 Ypres has just passed the shed at Thrumpton and now takes the cord line to Retford station with a local train from Lincoln (Central) to Sheffield (Victoria) in August 1958. By this time the nine remaining English engines of this class were in their dotage and spent most of the year in store at either Sheffield (Darnall) or Staveley (GC), only emerging for the duration of the summer timetable. Important passenger services over this route, like the boat trains between Harwich Parkeston Quay and Liverpool (Central), were routed over the flat crossing, while these local trains, which were partially dieselised by now, all called at the station. This is likely to be the noon departure from Lincoln and has arrived here over the sparsely populated line between Sykes Junction and Clarborough Junction via Cottam. This crossed the River Trent via a splendid but structurally weak viaduct at Torksey, the condition of which led to premature closure in November 1959. Thereafter, all services were re-routed via Gainsborough (Lea Road), adding 5½ miles to the journey. Despite the apparent condition of the viaduct in 1959, amazingly it is still standing today, more than 60 years after closure.

Sporting activities have always brought extra business to the railway and the football season has not long kicked off in September 1962 when Thompson ‘B1’ class 4-6-0 No 61212 is employed on what was recorded as an excursion to Hillsborough, home of first division Sheffield Wednesday. The nearest station to Hillsborough is Wadsley Bridge, on the electrified Woodhead line beyond Sheffield (Victoria), so it is assumed that this was the destination. Also, as the engine was allocated to Thrumpton, there is a good chance that this relief train has started from Retford as it comes off the loop line from the GNR station to join ex-GCR metals at Whisker Hill Junction.

With steam to spare, Top Shed-allocated Gresley ‘A3’ Pacific No 60044 Milton nears the flat crossing at Retford with a down express in April 1963. By this time British Railways was gearing up for the introduction of the new accelerated diesel-operated summer passenger timetable on 17 June, and these were the final months of express steam haulage out of King’s Cross. The identity of this late morning service is unknown but workings were often difficult to pin down as trains ran out of path due to delays or as a result of standing in for failed diesels, so few photographers could record with any surety. The timetable change brought with it the closure of King’s Cross Top Shed and this engine would not escape elsewhere, being withdrawn at the same time, on 16 June 1963. The nearest East Coast main line shed to London was then Peterborough’s New England, which remained active until 1966.

Viewed from the down refuge siding, British Railways Standard ‘9F’ class 2-10-0 No 92149 rounds the curve away from the flat crossing at Retford with an up train of Blue Circle Cement branded ‘Presflo’ wagons in November 1960. Block flows of cement and aggregate traffic were good business for the modernising British Railways but the irony is that many were run to feed the construction of Britain’s expanding motorway network, which ultimately helped undermine the railway’s profitability. Although unrecorded, the train may be heading for the Dow-Mac concrete works adjacent to the East Coast main line at Tallington. This facility had opened in 1943 and made concrete railway sleepers, motorway pillars and beams, and is still active today, operated by Tarmac Ltd.

Gresley ‘A4’ Pacific No 60001 Sir Ronald Matthews crosses the River Idle as it nears Retford with a lengthy northbound express in September 1959. The shabby appearance unfortunately seems to befit a lifetime allocation to Gateshead shed, with the train likely to be the 12.20pm from King’s Cross to Newcastle. The locomotive carried the name Garganey when delivered new in April 1938 but in common with a number of other members of the class, relinquished this in favour of the identity of an LNER director at its first general overhaul less than a year later.

Just over a mile south of Retford an extended running loop nearly two miles long on the up side, ran between Grove Road and Gamston signal boxes. In October 1962, Gresley ‘A3’ 4-6-2 No 60107 Royal Lancer has passed over the River Idle near Ordsall with an overnight up ‘Scotch Goods’ and is given the road by the Retford South advanced starter. On the same bracket are the splitting distant signals for Grove Road, and the main line, not the loop, is indicated for this fast fitted freight.

After over a century of operation the flat crossing at Retford is on borrowed time in October 1964 as the new GC line formation and platforms that will eliminate it are taking shape below. The crossing was closed on Sunday, 13 June 1965 when the new line was commissioned, but Retford South box, on the left, which dated from 1892, out-lived the changes, closing on 27 May 1968. On the horizon, the tall building at Thrumpton was the Northern Rubber Co premises, a company owned by the Pegler family and whose financial help assisted the struggling Festiniog Railway and in the acquisition of ‘A3’ Pacific No 60103 Flying Scotsman from British Railways.

Work began in November 1963 and the newly-excavated Retford dive-under formation dominates the scene as Brush ‘Type 2’ A1A-A1A No D5576 has just run over the East Coast main line, past Ordsall level crossing and nears Whisker Hill Junction with westbound coal empties in October 1964. The re-grading of the GC line hastened the end of Thrumpton engine shed in January 1965, and for the final months of steam its remaining activities were moved to the former GNR shed visible here in the distance above the locomotive. Freight traffic over the GC line was heavy at times but was about to get a lot busier with the commissioning of a new coal-fired 2,000mw power station at East Burton, near Gainsborough, and another on the truncated former GC line to Lincoln, at Cottam. These would bring a projected 40-odd extra trains a day each way and were of course the raison

d’être for this dive-under project.

Caught in late morning autumnal light, and with the road set for the line to Retford North Junction and the East Coast main line, Thompson ‘B1’ class 4-6-0 No 61138 nears the Whisker Hill Junction home signals from the west with a fitted van train in October 1964. The Peterborough New England allocated engine is no doubt heading home. When the new arrangements here were completed, this line would be retained as the up line to Retford North Junction, and the down line from there would form a flying junction with the new GC line under construction on the left.