Melton Constable History

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Trains on a Summer Saturday - 12th July 1958

For the majority of its life summer Saturdays at Melton Constable were the busiest days of the year for passenger traffic as trains passed through the station on their way from the Midlands to the east coast. The first holiday express from the west was an overnight service from Nottinghamshire which arrived at 5.30 am. The next arrival was at 09.44 from Derby and the last at 14.54 from Kings Norton (Birmingham). The first express to the west left Melton at 9.27 for Chesterfield and the last at 16.39 for Birmingham.

There are detailed records for one such day (12 July 1958) in the final year of operation. Doug Watts and Richard Adderson compiled a detailed list of trains at Melton on that day between 09.24 and 16.50. This listing is based mainly on a transcription of Doug's personal notes of a day spent on Melton's platform in July 1958.  In this period 51 trains visited the station as listed in the Table

Some notes may help users unfamiliar with railway terminology  -
Notes  to Table 
Direction: Up towards the Midlands, Down towards Norwich, Yarmouth and Cromer
Load: Number of carriages on a train 
Loco: 4xxxx, 6xxx are the numbers of the steam engines hauling the trains. Most steam locos were the 4xxxx Ivatt 4MT class introduced to the M&GN in the  the early 1950s 
Shed: The three digit codes represent the home base of the locomotive
32G being the code for the Melton Constable shed. 32G included small sheds at Cromer and Norwich City. This was the M&GN station in Norwich which closed to passengers in 1959
32F was Yarmouth Beach the eastern end of the line in 1958 
31D was South Lynn shed to the west (on the edge of Kings Lynn). 
All services were handled on this day by these three M&GN sheds with the exception of one loco from 40F (Boston) which joined the M&GN service somewhere west of Lynn and one from 32A (Norwich Thorpe) which had worked to Melton via Cromer
Addl. Rows 5, 8, 12, 23 means an extra train not listed in public timetable.

12th July 1958 12th July 1958 12th Ju;ly 1958
Melton Constable - 12th July 1958
Above left photo
Most trains from Cromer and Lynn arrived on the north (down) side of the long single platform.  Here, standing on the west of the platform and looking west,  Melton loco 43153 has just arrived at 10.08 on the seven coach 9.20 from Cromer to Birmingham. 43068 from South Lynn  backs on to the rear of this train and then heads west to Birmingham at 10.15.
Above centre photo
Another view of the north side platform.  A view from  the west end of the platform looking east. A train has arrived from the Cromer line at 14.11 and Melton loco 43156 has backed on to the train to take it of westwards towards South Lynn at 14.20.  The train consisted of five carriages. Note the prominent sign reminding us the station had a refreshment room. 
Above left photo
A view (looking west) from the eastern end of the south (up) side of the island platform usually used by Yarmouth to Lynn services. Most of the services on the Norwich and Cromer lines were provided by DMUs from the mid1950s. Here DMU E79072/E79276 waits  to depart to Norwich  at 10.43. It made several journeys from Melton to Norwich in the course of the day. It had moved into the Up platform once the 10.28 to Birmingham had departed to the west.
M&GN Circle MGN-MC.2059-2062, copyright Doug Watts

12th July 1958
12th July 1958
Above photo
D16/3 (one of the older engines on the line) is visiting Melton from Yarmouth where it was based. 62517 worked into Melton on the 11.05 stopping service from Yarmouth to Peterborough arriving at 11.43. It is being turned on the Melton turntable to return home on the 13.13 stopping service to Yarmouth which originated in Peterborough.  This service did not depart until  13.59 because of the very later arrival of the train from Peterborough. Behind the loco is the north side of the Melton Constable locoshed. The shed survives today as industrial premises.
M&GN Circle MGN-MC.2059-2062, copyright Doug Watts

12th July 1958
12th July1958

The above information is taken from the M&GN Circle Bulletin, Issue 556 July 2007 and reproduced with the permission of the authors (Doug Watts and Richard Adderson) and the current editor of the M&GN Circle Bulletin


If you have any memories, anecdotes or photos please let us know and we may be able to use them to update the site. By all means email or telephone 07836 675369.


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