Hi All,
Posting this in some ways hoping that someone might be able to point me in the direction of resources,if indeed they are available....
I've been making a small route based in the heart of the Yorkshire Coalfield in the 1960's for a while now,it really doesn't consist of much,trying to get my dad's home town (Featherstone) as close to how it was as possible before I move along the route....
Essentially what is complete so far is the colliery (Ackton Hall Colliery,in the centre of the town) and the line through the town of Featherstone. Featherstone for those who don't know lies on the former Lancashire and Yorkshire Rly from Manchester to Hull and the route between Turners Lane Jct (Wakefield) and Knottingley was regularly used as a diversionary route for Leeds-KX expresses for many years,meaning variety of traffic over this line was tremendous (even though little is seen of it online!). If you wish to see some of my dad's shots from the 60's-present at Featherstone (and along the Wakefield-Knottingley) line then check out my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=423772 ... atherstone
There are many stories associated with Featherstone that my dad has told me over the years. My personal favourite is the tales of when Class 47's would work the coal trains out of Ackton Hall in icy conditions and take anywhere up to an hour to make the 1 in 107 climb out of town towards Pontefract Tanshelf,one can only imagine the sight when the steam loco's struggled to lift them up this section!
My main aim with this route (even if it never sees the light of day) is to try and capture some of the gritty West Yorkshire/Wakefield atmosphere and industrial/country combination that I believe is unique to this area.
However what I am in need of is a gradient profile for Wakefield-Knottingley so if anyone could possibly provide me with this info it would be hugely appreciated.
A few screenshots I took this evening are below:
One of the Colliery shunters prepares to leave the exchange sidings at Ackton Hall Colliery with a short rake of wagons to be loaded,the loading lines were very steep and as such only 4-5 wagons could be loaded at a time (also the headshunt at the top end could only comfortably accommodate this amount)
8F no.48430 waits in the background in the exchange yard with a rake of loaded wagons as the colliery shunter begins to meander its way towards the loaders.
The short loaded rake makes it's way towards the headshunt and bridge over Station Lane,note the typically rough colliery sidings...
Prior to dropping back down the loader avoiding line towards the exchange sidings,the NCB shunter takes a short breather after slogging it's way over the hill.
A photographer on the closed platforms of Featherstone station captures an image looking towards the 1 in 107 climb to the east,the shunter in the headshunt can just be glimpsed through the fog:
One of the first "MGR" trains roars through the closed Featherstone Station behind a Brush Type 4
48430 slogs up the 1 in 107 with the loaded wagons,a match appears to be taking place and the cheers (and jeers!) of the "Flat Cappers" (Nickname for us Featherstone Rovers fans!) are drowned out by the roar from the plodding 8F!
The 8F continues it's climb past my grandads well kept allotment right next to the railway...oh if only I were 40 years older!
Into the night now and an unidentified B1 roars through Featherstone with short freight in 1962.
Comments welcome
Cheers,
Mark