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Author: TracksthroughGrantham2

Published on Leave a comment on Grantham Station Columns

In a new page just added to our website Brian Maddison explains how, as the engineer responsible for all the structures on the South end of the East Coast Main Line in the early 1990s, he embarked on a project to thoroughly clean, protect and repaint the Victorian cast iron columns supporting the canopy over platform 1.  Preparation for undertaking projects of this kind had involved training some of his staff in new skills so as to both provide longer lasting protection and reveal architectural detail previously hidden by many layers of paint.  However, the process also exposed marks and blemishes on the surface of the columns, some of which arose from the method of manufacture while others were down to corrosion.  It was after looking at the columns again recently, while waiting for a London train, that Brian contacted Tracks through Grantham and told us the story, which you can read here.

Published on Leave a comment on Railway Recollections – By Paul Squires

Over the years our ongoing request to hear about your 'trainspotting memories' has steadily gathered momentum. In fact the Spotters' Corner section of the website had become quite congested. When you think about it, that's actually a good thing, so please do keep them coming. The 'down side' for our website visitors was an increasing difficulty in navigating each story. We've decided that the best solution was for us to reallocate each story across three 'new' sub-sections, all linked to the main Spotters' Corner page. That change has now been implemented, so to start things off, here's a rural trainspotting story sent in by Paul Squires. You can read Paul's story in full here

 

Published on Leave a comment on Fred Harris

Dear friends,

We have been very saddened to hear, from his grand-daughter Debbie, the news that Fred Harris passed away on Thursday 3rd July 2025.

When he was able, it was good to see him regularly attending and enjoying our bi-annual gatherings at the Grantham Railway Club. During the lunchtime interval Fred’s beckoning finger would always guarantee a previously unrecorded, often amusing anecdote about his life on the railway. The original foundation stones of our Tracks through Grantham project are built around the many personal railway stories that people like Fred kindly related to us.

Fred’s working life on British Railways began on Monday 15th August 1955 at Grantham, heralding the start of a near 48 year shift and during which he saw many changes.  When he retired in 2004 Fred was qualified for driving and firing steam locomotives on the national network as well as a good range of more modern traction.  He had widespread route knowledge based on Peterborough.  Here is a link to the page on our website where Fred relates the story of that railway life.

Seemingly unaware of the camera, Fred (centre) is captured for posterity in this typical everyday scene at Grantham Loco in the early 1960s.

Thanks for the memories Fred…..

Published on Leave a comment on Oh for a Time Machine!

After a few technical issues we have now been able to republish a new page on the Tracks through Grantham website. After Derek Meads had sent in a comment about one of our previous articles we invited him to tell us about his own memories of visiting Grantham. We are sure that you will enjoy reading Derek's nostalgic recollections in - Oh for a Time Machine!  There's a link to the page here

Published on Leave a comment on Oh for a Time Machine!

A new page has been added to the Tracks through Grantham website. After Derek Meads had sent in a comment about one of our articles we invited him to tell us about his own memories of visiting Grantham. We are sure that you will enjoy reading Derek's nostalgic recollections in - Oh for a Time Machine!  There's a link to the page here

Published on

As a means of monitoring and potentially improving the way in which content is displayed on the Tracks through Grantham website, we would like to invite you to take part in a very short survey.  To leave your response please go to the Contact Us or Subscribe page via the link and complete a Contact Form.  Submissions will not be published.

Note: Your feedback on Question 1 is our primary need, so please respond to that even if you have nothing to say on Questions 2, 3 or 4.

  1. When you are reading through our articles, do you sometimes have problems with the photographs displaying properly? If so please provide a brief description of your experience with this problem and the type of device you are using when visiting the website. If all is fine with the photographs displaying, then still let us know about that too.   
  2. What aspects of the Grantham railway scene do you enjoy reading about? Again, just a short reply will help, but would you like to contribute towards future content yourself?
  3. When visiting the website, are you looking for any specific content, or do you just casually read through everything? We would love to know, but you can also tell us about your own Grantham railway related interests.
  4. Finally, we would like to think that the Tracks through Grantham website brings enjoyment to all those who visit us, but can you think of any potential improvements? Please provide us with your thoughts.                                                                                                                                                                                              Thanks in advance for your help with our survey. Mel Smith & John Clayson.