Newark Castle and totems.

[neonison]

The refurbished Newark Castle station features the Maroon totems of the former London Midland region of BR.
Did Newark Castle ever sport Maroon totems? Though at one time Midland and thus LMS, surely it was in Eastern Region and had Dark Blue signage in earlier BR days?

Incidentally, was the Worth Valley line also not in LM region but rather North Eastern and would have had Tangerine totems?

 

[DPWH]

the Worth Valley Line was built by the MR, inherited by the LMS in 1923 and then LMR of BR in 1948 until it was closed and then sold to the preservation group.

 

[bunnahabhain]

I believe it was operated by the Eastern Region from 1958 onwards, prior to that it would have been the Midland Region, during the reshuffle of routes in 1958 the Eastern Region gained all Lincolnshire routes from the Midland, there are certainly original totems from places like Lowdham hanging around that were in blue. So both Midland and Eastern schemes would be correct for Newark Castle. The only thing that bugs me about the totems at Newark Castle are the strangely large number of screws/plastic things present.

 

[neonison]

the Worth Valley Line was built by the MR, inherited by the LMS in 1923 and then LMR of BR in 1948 until it was closed and then sold to the preservation group.

Are you quite sure that it was part of the LM Region? As BR divided its network by geography rather than on the basis of its constituent 'big four' companies, the Worth Valley line should have formed part of BR's North-Eastern Region and would thus have Orange totems / signage and turquoise and white paintwork.

 

[edwin_m]

In the 1980 Baker atlas the LM-ER boundary is between Staythorpe and Newark Castle and between Keighley and Skipton, so by then both would have been in the ER. This is the earliest source I have quick access to but regional boundary changes were reported in Trains Illustrated/Modern Railways and I recall a big batch soon after nationalisation and various others later. Unfortunately I don't have time to plough through and look for them.

 

[neonison]

My 1977 Baker shows the same. Other regional maps seen as photographic renditions (Google Images, Picsearch etc.) of paper maps seem to concur though their detail is lacking.

Of course BR merged North Eastern with Eastern in 1967 which would still have placed the Worth Valley in tangerine country.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Quail shows the old boundary between Midland and LNE as being between Newark Castle and Newark Flat Crossing.

 

[edwin_m]

Quail shows the old boundary between Midland and LNE as being between Newark Castle and Newark Flat Crossing.

That would be more recent than 1980 as you are referring to Railtrack/NR boundaries not BR. It probably relates to the AB boxes being under common management and separate from Doncaster power box.

 

[John Webb]

The 1955 Ian Allan atlas does show that by then the boundary between BR's LMR and NER was indeed at Skipton and that therefore the K&WVR was part of the NE region - but I've no date for when the change took place. But perhaps it was after the 1953 Transport Act?

Extra information:
Martin Bairstow's book on the K&WVR makes no comment on any change of the BR regional areas. But it does show the line was being worked by LMS locos until DMUs were introduced in 1960.

 

[30907]

The LM/NE boundary was and is Snaygill (so near the bypass bridge), so technically tangerine is correct. The KWVR has IMO quite reasonably opted for maroon, as it's a pure Midland line in history and style.