Seems odd to think that semaphore signals and HST's should go together. I remember Saltley swich over to MAS, in I think '69, part of the great modernisation plan of the infamous Dr Beeching. Even today I believe there are still pockets of semaphore lines. Some great shots 👍👍👍
The semaphores outlasted the HSTs going past them in some of those pockets, if we're talking proper full length HSTs rather than the shortened versions that still exist....Cornwall a good example, Scottish Highlands as well.
Is the 1990 part of the video filmed on the north curve, which if I remember correctly is quite sharp? For a few years around then, the Liverpool-Norwich sprinters were routed that way to avoid clogging up the ECML south of Grantham. Reversal at Nottingham, screeching round the Syston curve and then to Peterborough via Melton Mowbray. I don't think any weekday passenger services on either Liverpool-Norwich or Birmingham-Norwich routes were booked to be loco-hauled by 1990. Maybe it's one of the last summer Saturday loco-hauled workings (either Yarmouth, Blackpool or Skegness), else a special or substituting for a sprinter not being available.
Fab video. Syston is my local station and it's so hard to believe how the whole triangle junction and rail area has changed. Thanks for posting
Glad you enjoyed it
Cheers John, a decade earlier for me and a bit further south. All the best.
Remember it well as I lived in Syston for 11 years.
Syston and Wigston South boxes both met ignominious ends, heaved over with JCBs.
Seems odd to think that semaphore signals and HST's should go together. I remember Saltley swich over to MAS, in I think '69, part of the great modernisation plan of the infamous Dr Beeching. Even today I believe there are still pockets of semaphore lines. Some great shots 👍👍👍
The semaphores outlasted the HSTs going past them in some of those pockets, if we're talking proper full length HSTs rather than the shortened versions that still exist....Cornwall a good example, Scottish Highlands as well.
Class 31 on the Birmingham to Norwich.
Is the 1990 part of the video filmed on the north curve, which if I remember correctly is quite sharp? For a few years around then, the Liverpool-Norwich sprinters were routed that way to avoid clogging up the ECML south of Grantham. Reversal at Nottingham, screeching round the Syston curve and then to Peterborough via Melton Mowbray. I don't think any weekday passenger services on either Liverpool-Norwich or Birmingham-Norwich routes were booked to be loco-hauled by 1990. Maybe it's one of the last summer Saturday loco-hauled workings (either Yarmouth, Blackpool or Skegness), else a special or substituting for a sprinter not being available.
Yes Kevin, the '86 part is filmed at the south and as you say, moves to the north curve for the 90s shots.