Disused Stations: Grange Court Junction

Grange Court Junction: Gallery 3 1953 - c1961

BR Standard Class 5 4-6-0 No. 73021 arrives from Hereford while 5700 class 0-6-0PT receives some attention at the Down platform, its bunker apparently being very low on coal. The Standard Class 5 was something of an interloper, a number of the type had been allocated to the ex Midland/LMS Gloucester Barnwood shed before moving to the ex GWR Gloucester Horton Road shed, following which they became a common sight at Grange Court. No. 73021 was a Horton Road locomotives from 4 May 1964 until 11 July 1965. The Pannier Tank is No. 4623 and she was a Hereford locomotive from January 1963 until November 1964. We can therefore date this otherwise undated photograph to the 4 May 1964 to 31 October 1964 period. On the Up Hereford platform, the reason for its odd surface is not known.
Photo from Josh Bliszko collection

Signalman Clarence 'Clarrie' Claridge poses for the camera in 1953. A rag, or in this case what appears to be a tea towel, is an essential item in manual signal boxes. Keeping the lever handles clean and polished is matter of some pride and a rag or cloth prevented oils in the skin of the hands from instigating corrosion. It also helped prevent sore or blistered hands; levers, especially point levers, require some effort to pull although there is a knack to it.
Photo from obsolete Grange Court Junction web site (2004 - 2012)

Signalmen Hubert Chinn, left, and Clarence Claridge, right, stand beside their signal box. Most likely in 1950s although the precise date is unrecorded. 'Signalman' or men and 'Signalwoman' or women were accepted terms at one time. Today the term is 'Signaller', covering either gender but with an element of 'Political Correctness' thrown in. Back in the day nobody gave this sort of thing a second thought.
Photo from obsolete Grange Court Junction web site (2004 - 2012)

Another staff line-up from the 1950s. Two are identifiable; third from left is Albert King (clerk) and fourth from left is Herbert Phipps (porter). Station staff had a tendency to relocate fairly often, either at their own request or when opportunities for promotion arose. Also if station opening hours were lengthy there would be more than one shift while staff could be drafted in from elsewhere temporarily to cover for sickness and holidays. These are the reasons why staff group photographs taken at more or less the same time can show a mix of the same people and unfamiliar people. An exception tended to be signalmen who could work the same signal box for many years. For the same reasons as previously, signalmen were also covered by reliefs who could work different 'boxes as required and often on the same stretch of line.

Photo from obsolete Grange Court Junction web site (2004 - 2012)

Collett 2251 class 0-6-0 No. 2225 pauses at Grange Court with a train from Hereford. The period will be between May 1953 and June 1958 when this locomotive was based at Hereford. She appears to have been recently repainted and her tender carries the early BR device. This engine was the leading locomotive on the Royal Train when the late Queen visited Brecon in August 1955, suggesting the photograph was taken shortly after this. She was to be withdrawn from Brecon shed during June 1959. While judging liveries is not always easy from black and white photographs, the three carriages appear to be wearing the early BR carmine and cream paint scheme.

Photo from obsolete Grange Court Junction web site (2004 - 2012)

This view was captured from a train just arrived from the Hereford line, with the 1935 signal box visible. This is another undated photograph but there are indications of it being quite late in the life of the station. The Grotesques around the canopies are falling apart and the running-in board is looking quite dilapidated, apparently with battens added to aid rigidity. The island platform shelter appears to have been exactly that, despite the window in the end wall giving the impression of there being a small room. Passengers requiring to change onto a Hereford-bound train at Grange Court would have been few and far between, with those who did likely coming from stations west of Grange Court on the South Wales line.
Photo from John Mann collection

Ex GWR 4300 class 2-6-0 No. 7326 branches off onto the Hereford line with the fireman taking the single line tablet. This locomotive was shedded at Hereford between October 1955 and February 1961 with only a brief escape to Exeter during the summer of 1958. The photograph will therefore date from sometime in that wider period. The second carriage looks to be a little uneasy, perhaps there was a dip in the track at that point. Note the very untidy running-in board on the left. The goods yard stands on the right and visible are part of the dock, the 1½ ton crane and in the background some goods vans. The GWR used oval-shaped brass stamps worded 'GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY' and 'TRANSHIPPED AT GRANGE COURT' for printing labels with space for specific details to be written by hand. It is unclear however if these stamps were used in the goods yard or on the station.

Photo from John Mann collection

Rather work-stained Manor class 4-6-0 No. 7815 Fritwell Manor waits with a train for the Hereford branch. This locomotive spent several periods based at Gloucester Horton Road shed and was a familiar sight on Gloucester - Hereford workings, being photographed not infrequently. The Hawksworth vehicle behind the tender is wearing BR lined maroon livery, dating the photograph to no earlier than 1956. A small number of Hawksworth vehicles lasted long enough to receive BR blue and grey livery while several non-passenger examples received all-over blue and were relatively long lived. Note the difference between the shabby running-in board on the island platform and the immaculate example on the Up Hereford line platform. Fritwell Manor after which the locomotive was named is an Elizabethan house not far from Bicester, Oxfordshire.
Photo from John Mann collection

During engineering work a locomotive ran through the buffers at the end of a siding or was derailed by trap points to the east of Grange Court station, the result being seen here. The stationmaster, a Mr Howell, was on the train and he received a back injury. The locomotive tender is nowhere to be seen so presumably had already been removed. The breakdown Crane appears to be a Ransomes & Rapier 45 ton machine. Mr Howell was stationmaster at Grange Court between 1957 and 1961 so the incident occurred sometime in that period. Unfortunately nothing else is known such as locomotive identity, which siding was involved, was it on the Up or Down side etc. No official accident report, which would have given all the details, has been traced and given the public were not involved it is probable only an internal BR report was produced.
Photo from John Mann collection

A general but undated view of Grange Court signal box facing north-east. This is the Type 31 'box which replaced the second East and West 'boxes in 1935. None of the various signal boxes at Grange Court carried the word "Junction" on their nameboards and as far as can be ascertained neither did the diagrams inside the 'boxes. The contraption to the right of the signal is token apparatus but it appears to be incomplete. It applied to Down Hereford trains and if the line to Longford was clear the signalman would place the token on the apparatus to be picked up by the crew of an arriving Down train. This meant the signalman did not have to leave his 'box to hand the token to train crew and could focus upon his other tasks. But as another photograph shows, it appears signalmen and crews had their own bespoke methods at Grange Court,

Photo from obsolete Grange Court Junction web site (2004 - 2012)

Facing west along the Down South Wales platform probably circa 1960, as at the time the station closed the track in the foreground had been re-laid using flat bottom rail. By the time of this photograph the station had received electric lighting, the posts most likely coming from the GWR/BR(W) concrete works at Taunton. Curious are the smoke stains on the footbridge above the South Wales tracks but none at all above the Hereford tracks; probably the result of the large number of trains which passed through on the South Wales line without stopping. Both banner repeaters mounted on the footbridge are 'Off' to indicate clear signals ahead, the view of which is obstructed by the road bridge. A locomotive can be seen just beyond the bridge and under magnification there actually appears to be two, so maybe one has just passed through the station light engine. While the sidings west of the station, in the 'V' of the two routes, could be accessed from either route it would appear this was usually done from the South Wales line, possibly because of the token arrangements for the Hereford line. However the local regulations in force for shunting operations had not been discovered at the time of writing. Grange Court Junction never received British Railways 'totem' nameplates but the next station towards Gloucester, Oakle Street, did, despite being a relatively minor affair. Oakle Street closed to passengers at the same time as Grange Court Junction.
Photo from John Mann collection

Surveying the scene from the footbridge and facing west circa 1961. The waiting shelter design is rather peculiar and suggests the roof over the Up South Wales platform, left, was extended outwards at some point in time. The slightly darker area of the roof, left, also suggests this. The supporting pillars were present both sides of the shelter. The shelter would certainly be an interesting project for modellers.
Photo from obsolete Grange Court Junction web site (2004 - 2012).
Photo from obsolete Grange Court Junction web site (2004 - 2012)collection

Click here for Grange Court Junction: Gallery 4
c1960 - April 1964

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Station Name: GRANGE COURT JUNCTION