231 would have been an Up train. Up trains had odd numbers; Down trains had even numbers.@6Gman, many thanks ...you have collated the direction of my thoughts almost exactly and @chief
Planner has very kindly answered them. I had not envisaged that there would be so much interesting information when I uploaded
the photograph!
...and ChiefPlanner, you suggested earlier that it could be the 231 down, where did this train originate (I presume it's
destination was Kings Cross)
Whereabouts was Niddrie and what happened to the yards there?
231 would have been an Up train. Up trains had odd numbers; Down trains had even numbers.
I can't find a 231 in 1955. I can find:
275 1935 C Niddrie-Kings X
251 0020 C Niddrie-Whitemoor
273 0020 C Inverkeithing-Kings X
255 0350 E Niddrie-Skelton (York)
257 1022 C Aberdeen-Kings X
259 1230 C Aberdeen-Kings X
261 1340 C Aberdeen-Kings X
271 1805 C Niddruie-Woodford Halse
279 1836 C Niddrie-Doncaster Decoy Yard
Which makes a pretty impressive set of Anglo-Scottish fast fitted freights!
I probably made an error of memory - sorry - though I recall that one of these down fitted trains caught up with the Talisman passenger service one day , unprecedented but picked up in the running sheets by an observant senior railway man. Driver Hoole.....
......
It was the ‘266 down’ and the episode is mentioned in Bill Hoole Engineman Extraordinary, although the driver is not specifically mentioned. Making up time after a late start he ran the 27 miles from Hitchin to Huntingham in 20 minutes, then had to stop at Peterborough to have a vehicle with a hot box removed. The Talisman passed here, but the ‘266’ was soon away and had caught up by Retford, and consequently got signal checked. The report on the running sheet read ‘Five minutes delay at Grove Road waiting for Talisman to clear’.I probably made an error of memory - sorry - though I recall that one of these down fitted trains caught up with the Talisman passenger service one day , unprecedented but picked up in the running sheets by an observant senior railway man. Driver Hoole.....
It was the ‘266 down’ and the episode is mentioned in Bill Hoole Engineman Extraordinary, although the driver is not specifically mentioned. Making up time after a late start he ran the 27 miles from Hitchin to Huntingham in 20 minutes, then had to stop at Peterborough to have a vehicle with a hot box removed. The Talisman passed here, but the ‘266’ was soon away and had caught up by Retford, and consequently got signal checked. The report on the running sheet read ‘Five minutes delay at Grove Road waiting for Talisman to clear’.
It was not unknown for guards to lie on the floor hanging on to the brake pedestal.Thank you - I hope the guard has the couplings screwed up very tight , and was well wedged in the brake. Terrifying thought of those vans careering along at that speed.