European Railroad Discussion > Sand trains over Easter

On both Good Friday and Easter Monday (public holidays in GB) GBRf ran their usual trains too and from Middleton Towers, east of King's Lynn in Norfolk, carrrying sand for the glass works at Barnby Dun, near Doncaster, and Goole, both in South Yorkshire.

At 07:30 on Good Friday the empties (6L98) which will form the Middleton Towers to Goole Train (6E88) enter the Ely Loop - a balloon track which will turn the train around sending it north to King's Lynn along the electrified line in the background. For pathing purposes the 6L98 kicks its heels for about 90 minutes sitting on the loop before setting off towards Lynn just after 09:00.

A pair of 365s pass each other at Downham Market. When the King's Lynn line was electrified in the early 1990s the 'price' extracted by the government for releasing the funds to electrify was a cut down solution which saw two long stretches singled. This is the northern end of the southernmost single track section, from Littleport to Downham Market. From Downham it is double track for about 5 miles to the next station, Watlington and from there single track to King's Lynn Junction.

Later in the day the Goole train leaving King's Lynn, about to pass underneath the A47 which forms the King's Lynn Southern Bypass. Go back 60 years and this scene would have been a mass of railway tracks, the once double track Great Eastern mainline connected with the east-west Midland & Great Northern Railway which linked the East Midlands with the Norfolk Coast, a task today performed by the previously mentioned A47. The M&GN (known as the Muddle and Go Nowhere) crossed the GE close to where the A47 does now, the former's station in Lynn, called South Lynn was off to the right of this picture at a locality known as Saddlebow. There was a connection which saw a shuttle passenger train connecting the GE's station in King's Lynn with South Lynn, there was also an exchange yard and the branch to King's Lynn Harbour, it was a really busy place. Today traces of the M&GN (which closed in 1959) can still be found in and around Lynn, and across Norfolk and Lincolnshire. That traffic is stationary, I wonder whether those heading to the coast for the weekend would rather be traveling by train rather than stuck in the car going nowhere very fast?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/14 02:53 by 86235.

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On Monday the Barnby Dun (6E84) train is loading at Middeton Towers in the early morning.

A class 365 EMU crossing Polver Drain in the early morning light.

And finally the 6L98 on the Middleton Towers branch itself, having run round in King's Lynn it now heads east for a few miles, firstly through Lynn's eastern industrial area and past new housing development on the north side of the line. I took the picture from the QE Way, Lynn's eastern bypass, which marks the boundary of urban development, from here on the railway runs through cultivated arable farmland.

Some more from the weekend and the week before in London can be found here

http://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2014/Spring-2014/i-cNfN5Bz



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/14 13:28 by 86235.

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I appreciate the ethereal quality of pic 5.
Thanx!
...Lorenzo

Good to see the Middleton end of the line and the loader. A bit far from my location, but here's a pic of the sand train at Walton, heading down the former Midland Main Line to the Monk Bretton glass works. Some good color in these trains now tht GBRF are running them. Chris uk.

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55002 Wrote:
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> Good to see the Middleton end of the line and the
> loader. A bit far from my location, but here's a
> pic of the sand train at Walton, heading down the
> former Midland Main Line to the Monk Bretton glass
> works. Some good color in these trains now tht
> GBRF are running them. Chris uk.

66720 was on the 6E84 on Friday but, as usual, GBRf swapped power over the weekend. Nice picture.