A question for the seasoned travellers who frequent the group.

I'm set to undertake the aforementioned journey mid-September, and quite
simply I was wondering if there's anything of particular interest along the
route that I should look out for?

Many thanks in advance,

Bondee

In message <depv0m$426$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk>, at 15:57:29 on Sat, 27 
Aug 2005, Bondee  remarked:

>I'm set to undertake the aforementioned journey mid-September, and quite
>simply I was wondering if there's anything of particular interest along the
>route that I should look out for?


Depends on your interest! I find the cooling towers at the power station 
between Loughborough and Nottingham fairly interesting. As is the bridge 
halfway along Loughborough platform that has been decreed too narrow for 
passengers to walk past, so they have an interesting "white lie" about 
the platform being too short.

Some of the most interesting railway stuff is in the first quarter of a 
mile outside St Pancras, including the new CTRL2 works, and the (much 
older) tunnel mouth where the Thameslink services emerge.

A few hundred yards before Nottingham Station you can glimpse the Castle 
(to the left). At the station itself, the part to the east, beyond the 
footbridge/tram exit about halfway along the platform, is the original 
station. That part to the west, including the impressive concourse, is a 
later addition.
-- 
Roland Perry

Brickworks before Bedford, the change in levels as the old freight line goes 
through Sharnbrook tunnel;  Rushton Triangular Lodge, 200 yards on the left 
shortly after Glendon North Junction (Kettering); crossing the Trent north 
of Loughborough....

This is my favourite route north, it may be slow but it's not boring.

Regards,
MaxB

"Bondee"  wrote in message 
news:depv0m$426$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...

>A question for the seasoned travellers who frequent the group.
>
> I'm set to undertake the aforementioned journey mid-September, and quite
> simply I was wondering if there's anything of particular interest along 
> the
> route that I should look out for?
>
> Many thanks in advance,
>
> Bondee
>
> 





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Bondee wrote:

> A question for the seasoned travellers who frequent the group.
>
> I'm set to undertake the aforementioned journey mid-September, and quite
> simply I was wondering if there's anything of particular interest along the
> route that I should look out for?


My favourite is travelling on a HST alongside the M1 between Mill Hill
Broadway and the services at full speed, whilst the M1 is stationery :-)

The line is full of railway and social/political history, plus
geographical interest - why the Leicester and Hitchin Railway
originally went over the summit of the Northampton/Beds border (that is
Sharnbrook Bank), for example, only for the goods lines to later take
the tunnel. And the Bedford - St Pancras extension in 1868.

Not to mention the fact that every major town between St P and
Leicester once had at least one east and one west bound
branch/connection. Try spotting where the branches ran.
(Only Bedford - Bletchley and St Albans - Watford left today.)

Google this group for info on such subjects.

You also pass by the R100 + R101 airship hangars at Cardington, 3 miles
east of the line at around MP 47-48.

I believe I have heard claims that both of these sheds are the largest
man-made enclosed spaces in Europe, possibly the world (not sure about
NASA or Boeing in the US).

By Hendon you used to pass a score of Handley Page Victor bombers
dispersed at what is now (AIUI) the RAF museum at Hendon.  Not sure if
you can see any aircraft there today.

Not having been over it for a long time, do not know now what remnants
of what was once a huge iron ore mining industry remain to be spotted
around Wellingboro + Kettering.

Is the Weetabix factory still open at ....was it Finedon ? (Or is that
re-packaged as Beijingabix these days too ?)

Kester

Kesterj@mail.interware.hu wrote:


> By Hendon you used to pass a score of Handley Page Victor bombers
> dispersed at what is now (AIUI) the RAF museum at Hendon.



Victors dispersed at Hendon ?

I'm not that far into military aircraft so maybe adrift here, but
surely before Victors they became tankers, they were nuclear payload V
bombers, and as such would not be dispersed near populations centres ?
Even if not carrying such devices until situation demanded, the base
must have them on hand else bombers on alert standby has no meaning.


--
Nick

D7666 wrote:


> Victors dispersed at Hendon ?


I've not done an extensive search, but

http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/victor/history.html

makes no reference to Hendon, other than to preserved machinery.

--
Nick

Oh, sorry D7666. This is confusing, and possibly I have mis-used the
word "dispersed".
I just meant "hanging around" - whereas perhaps in RAF/military usage
this means "armed and ready to go".

I was rambling on about MML memories, but really, c 1961-2, maybe as
late as 64, there used to be loads of Victors there - I mean 15-20 or
so, all over the place. As my dad was a Handley Page fan (on Halifaxes
in the war) it was something I looked out for.

And yes, I suppose at that time they were still nuclear bombers, though
I have no idea if they were armed at Hendon. I suspect not, for the
primary reason that I think it was a Handley Page airfield (await three
hundred corrections on this surmise.) Maybe they were even there for
conversion into either B2s or tankers, not sure.

Funny thing, I met someone about 10 days ago who clearly knew a lot
about the V bomber force, and certainly knew where the Vulcans were
dispersed near the end of their times when as a strike force. He
happened to say that they were then in flights of four aircraft. (I
suppose he was talking about the 1970s, though we did not specify
dates.)

Since there were far more than four Victors at Hendon in those days,
that is another reason for assuming they were not nuclear armed.

I did not mean to imply you could see any Victors at Hendon
today......just wondering if you could see any aircraft there as part
of the Hendon Museum collection. 

Kester

Kesterj@mail.interware.hu wrote:


> Not to mention the fact that every major town between St P and
> Leicester once had at least one east and one west bound
> branch/connection.


I saw the claim printed once that Kettring was the only town on the
Midland that wasn't also served by another company's line.  I suppose
that rather depends upon what onwe counts as a town, and how pedantic
one is.


> Is the Weetabix factory still open at ....was it Finedon ? (Or is that
> re-packaged as Beijingabix these days too ?)


Burton Latimer, I think.  I was a bit nonplussed a couple of years ago
when, while passing over a railway bridge in Kettering, we came
face-to-face with a bus displaying 'Weetabix' as the destination.
Presumably a works service (in itself not something one sees a lot of
nowadays).

Kesterj@mail.interware.hu wrote:


> I just meant "hanging around"



OK, understood :o)


> ......just wondering if you could see any aircraft there as part
> of the Hendon Museum collection.


Very little, MML and TL go by their so fast you can see little more
than the buildings.

--
Nick

> I was wondering if there's anything of particular
> interest along the  route that I should look out for?


Depending on your interest, there's the gold dome
of the Mosque just north of Leicester station (on
your right heading north). If you ever go further
north than Nottingham on the MML you've also
got the church with the twisted spire in
Chesterfield. There's also the enormous, but
ugly, Vauxhall factory on your right as you go
through Luton. Finally, there's the Brush Traction
works at Loughborough.

This is a very nice route to travel at dusk,
especially south of Leicester.


Matt Ashby

In message , at 
12:07:50 on Sun, 28 Aug 2005, Matt Ashby  remarked:

>There's also the enormous, but ugly, Vauxhall factory on your right as 
>you go through Luton.


Didn't that close several years ago?
-- 
Roland Perry

On 28 Aug 2005 10:27:54 -0700, Kesterj@mail.interware.hu wrote:


>And yes, I suppose at that time they were still nuclear bombers, though
>I have no idea if they were armed at Hendon. I suspect not, for the
>primary reason that I think it was a Handley Page airfield (await three
>hundred corrections on this surmise.) Maybe they were even there for
>conversion into either B2s or tankers, not sure.


I think it was Radlett where you saw the Victors, which was HP's
airfield. I can recall seeing them there after they were withdrawn
from service, during my many trips to Sheffield during the late 1960s.
Oddly, I don't recall seeing them during Blue Pullman trips to London
from Manchester in the mid-60s.
-- 
Terry Harper
Website Coordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org

"Matt Ashby" wrote


> If you ever go further
> north than Nottingham on the MML you've also
> got the church with the twisted spire in
> Chesterfield.


In Chesterfield, and I think just about everywhere else except in
Hertfordshire Rail Tours' itineraries, it's always known as the *crooked*
spire.

Ah, thank you Terry. I was actually wondering about this last night
after posting. I knew there was a second drome on the line towards
London, but could not place it. However my memories put them there in
the v early 60s, not the latter end. Perhaps they came and went and
came again.

As another aside, will Mr Bondee be able, as he crosses the Gt Ouse
north of Bedford around MPs 55-56, to see anything of the airfield that
was until about 1985 (?) the Royal Aircraft Establishment Thurleigh ?
You used to be able to see the wind tunnels at Twinwoods, and I think
some of the other buildings.

This was a USAF drome in the war, and, IIRC, it was from here that the
first USAF raid on Germany took off. (Their is a plaque somewhere in
the village attesting to this.)

Mind you, Mr Bondee has not responded to anybody's suggestions, nor
indicated what he might deem interesting, so perhaps he is just a
troll. 

Kester

wrote in message
news:1125300365.446994.317520@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

<snip>


> Mind you, Mr Bondee has not responded to anybody's suggestions, nor
> indicated what he might deem interesting, so perhaps he is just a
> troll.
>
> Kester


Mr Bondee?  That's very polite of you, sir. : )

No, I'm not a troll, merely haven't had time to get back to my PC since I
posted the original question.

Indeed I'd like to thank you all for your suggestions.  I'm not sure that my
attention span will be able to cope with all of them! : )

Kesterj@mail.interware.hu wrote:


> Ah, thank you Terry. I was actually wondering about this last night
> after posting. I knew there was a second drome on the line towards
> London, but could not place it.



Radlett field was ummmm 'landscaped' for want of a better term 4 or 5
years ago.

It is that now rather anonymous vacant land on the Down [west] side of
MML just after crossing M25. The land had a lot of spoil dumped on it
then bulldozed around making on not much of a flat space any more. I
think the aggregate concern (Redland or whatever they call themsevles
these days) who operate the terminal on the Up side just before the M25
had something to do with this development.

--
Nick

On 29 Aug 2005 00:26:05 -0700, Kesterj@mail.interware.hu wrote:


>As another aside, will Mr Bondee be able, as he crosses the Gt Ouse
>north of Bedford around MPs 55-56, to see anything of the airfield that
>was until about 1985 (?) the Royal Aircraft Establishment Thurleigh ?
>You used to be able to see the wind tunnels at Twinwoods, and I think
>some of the other buildings.


Looking at the map, I doubt it, as it is on top of the hill according
to my ancient map (1915, revised 1946). Said map shows "Castle" in
that vicinity. Cardington, to the south of Bedford was always visible,
of course.
-- 
Terry Harper
Website Coordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org

Kesterj@mail.interware.hu wrote:



>
> And yes, I suppose at that time they were still nuclear bombers, though
> I have no idea if they were armed at Hendon. I suspect not, for the
> primary reason that I think it was a Handley Page airfield (await three
> hundred corrections on this surmise.) Maybe they were even there for
> conversion into either B2s or tankers, not sure.
>
> Funny thing, I met someone about 10 days ago who clearly knew a lot
> about the V bomber force, and certainly knew where the Vulcans were
> dispersed near the end of their times when as a strike force. He
> happened to say that they were then in flights of four aircraft. (I
> suppose he was talking about the 1970s, though we did not specify
> dates.)
>
> Since there were far more than four Victors at Hendon in those days,
> that is another reason for assuming they were not nuclear armed.
>
> I did not mean to imply you could see any Victors at Hendon
> today......just wondering if you could see any aircraft there as part
> of the Hendon Museum collection.
>
> Kester


The Victors were not at Hendon.....

They were visible at the Handley-Page works at Radlett, where they were
all built.
Some initial Victor Mark2 conversion work was also carried out at
Radlett, just before their airfields closure and the demise of the
Handley-Page company.

Perhaps the only other railway station from which operational V Bombers
(Vulcans) were visible on the ground was Finningley on the Notts/Yorks
eastern border.
Rails went near to RAF Waddington (Vulcans)

The Lincolnshire skies were full of V Bombers in the 60's/70's.
Lost and gone forever....not unlike steam locomotion.....

Cheers
Robt P.