Summit to talk about

LAST week, we stumbled upon a picture of a man lighting his pipe at the top of the world on May 1, 1962. You may remember that he was photographed in his cloth cap beside the “Stainmore Summit” sign at 1,370ft above sea level where the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway reached its highest point in England.

The railway, from Barnard Castle to Kirkby Stephen, opened on August 7, 1861, crossing some of the most inhospitable terrain ever conquered by a railway and going over some of the most extraordinary viaducts anywhere in the world.

Jack Armstrong, who left an archive of 10,000 railway photographs, on the A66 near Bowes. If anyone cares to tell us what make and model of car (registration: BRA 338) it is, we'd be pleased to know

But the man in our picture was a track-lifter. The railway had reached the end of the line and on May 1, 1962, they started to remove it.

“The track lifting continued throughout the summer of 1962,” says Richard Barber, secretary of the Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust. “As a child I can remember seeing trains with track piled high at Stainmore summit.

“By November 1962 the track lifting trains were running on what track was left in place and one driver was caught out by this.”

The line up to the summit was quite steep, so if the couplings broke, a wagon could runaway down to Barnard Castle, causing untold damage as it went. So “catch points” were installed, to catch the runaway trucks.

One day in late 1962, the driver of No 63341, running backwards from the summit to Barnard Castle, forgot about the existence of the catch points. He should have stopped to check that the catch points were clamped shut so he and his train could pass over them safely, but he forgot, and so, to the west of Lartington, his engine was bumped off the line.

The de-railer was itself derailed.

“Luckily no one was hurt in the incident,” says Richard, “and the loco was not greatly damaged – it was repaired at Darlington shed rather than the North Road works.”

Even more fortunately, Jack Armstrong was on hand to record the incident, capturing the brilliant picture on today’s front page, showing the British Railways Steam Breakdown Crane from Darlington in action, lifting No 63341 back onto the rails.

But when the accident happened is not recorded. It was either November or December 1962. If anyone can tell us, we’d love to know.

Frankie Vaughan in 1958

FRANKIE VAUGHAN certainly put himself about in the 1960s. Last week, you will remember, we had him causing traffic chaos when in 1962 1,500 Frankie fans turned up in Darlington’s Northgate – then the Great North Road – to witness him opening a new branch of Fine Fare.

“It reminded me of a story my father, Jimmy Johnson, told me about when he was the village bobby at Coxhoe,” writes Malcolm Johnson. “He was on duty when Frankie visited Bowburn Boys Club for a charity show in the 1960s.

Frankie Vaughan at Newton Aycliffe Boys' Club

“At the end there were many young lady fans clammering at the stage door, trying to meet Frank and get an autograph.

“Concerned that the situation could get dangerously out of hand, my father took the girls’ autograph books and said he would get Frank to autograph them.

“He went inside, signed the books himself and gave them back to the then satisfied young girls. The crowd broke up and went home happy.”

Malcolm concludes: “Not strictly ethical but good practical policing resolving a potential difficult situation!”

Mel Idle takes us back further, with a story from before high-kicking Frankie hit the big time.

“It's not generally known that Frankie spent a lot of time at Billingham before he became famous,” says Mel. "In1953, he was a red coat at Butlins and during the close season, Butlins sponsored boxing coaching sessions which were held in the Maison de Dance in Yarm Road, Stockton.”

Frankie was sent to run the sessions, along with Jack Clancy, a former boxer who was also a red coat. During the winter of 1953, Frankie and Jack, along with Jack’s wife, holed up in a ground floor flat in Belmont Avenue, Billingham.

“They had boxing equipment in the back garden and local youngsters were welcome to use it,” says Mel.

The trio were regular visitors to the Swan Hotel in Billingham, which in those days was on the A19.

“Clancy was very popular with the ladies in the pub as he had a source of nylon stockings which were still not readily available after the war,” says Mel. “Many arguments took place in the pub as to why some ladies were offered stockings – and others were not!”

We’d better move on...

Last week, readers were asking for information about Frankie’s visit(s) to Newton Aycliffe – they had memories of him opening Aycliffe police headquarters and attending the community centre in Finchale Road.

Margaret and John Scott point us in the direction of Vera Chapman’s book Around Newton Aycliffe, which was most recently published by Nonsuch in 2006. In it are two pictures of Frankie visiting the Aycliffe Boys’ Club – conclusive proof that he came to the new town.

WE are probably muddling people with our dates for the demolition of Forcett Street in Cockerton.

Fine Fare, which faced on to Cockerton Green, took the place of old stores, including Piggfords, in the early 1960s, but Forcett Street and High Forcett Street behind it remained until the early to mid 1970s.

NEWSCASTER Gordon Honeycombe, pictured above, died recently at the age of 79 and many people were surprised to learn that before he cast the news on ITV he was an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

“This recalled a time 45 years ago, when north west Durham earned a brief national celebrity,” writes Michael Loftus. “The cause was a production of Honeycombe’s play, The Redemption, in Consett Civic Centre with a huge cast drawn from across the area.”

Honeycombe had drawn heavily on traditional medieval mystery plays to tell the story of the life of Jesus Christ, and as they were performed by members of the public so Honeycombe came to Consett in September 1970 to get members of the public to perform his play.

“At the time, he was one of ITN’s principal newsreaders, in people’s living rooms almost every evening, so his presence inevitably caused quite a stir,” says Michael, who was the second torturer responsible, with three others, for the crucifixion. “The production played to packed houses drawn from across the North-East for each of its dozen performances."

MENTION of North West Durham reminds us that David Walsh in east Cleveland has drawn our attention to the constituency’s candidates in the 1992 general election.

The poll, of course, was topped by the sitting MP, Labour’s Hilary Armstrong, who increased her majority.

In third place was a Lib Dem called Tim Farron, who was the president of Newcastle University Students’ Union and aged 21, the youngest candidate of any of the major parties to stand in the election. He, of course, is now leader of the Lib Dems.

And in second place was the Conservatives’ Theresa May, making her first stab at the House of Commons. Her campaign included a visit to Tow Law farmers’ mart.

Today, of course, she is Home Secretary and many people think she used her speech at the recent party conference to launch her bid to replace David Cameron and become the second party leader to cut their teeth in North West Durham.

THE front cover of Memories 250 featured this picture of Barnard Castle.

DJ Geldard of Stockton was one of a couple of people who got in touch with the same question about it.

“I visited Barnard Castle as a very small boy in about 1930, and I am sure it looked just like the picture," he says. Could you tell me when it was taken?

The picture is an unposted postcard, so we don't know.

We'd say early 1930s, but if any Barney historians or old vehicle enthusiasts can give us a clue, we'd love to know that as well.

MEMORIES 242 back in August featured this charming gentlemen emerging from the distinctly rural post office in Caldwell, near Aldbrough St John, in February 1960.

He turns out to be Tom Dobinson, Caldwell’s last postmaster.

"He was my mum’s dad, and the picture may well have been taken when he took over as postmaster from his mum," says Robert Gill, in Cotherstone.

The post office, which appears to have been in a shed, was on High Row in the village, which is behind the Brownlow Arms pub.

Tom also had a joiner's shed, where he restored antiques, but only in recent years, a house has been built on top of it.

"He retired from Caldwell in 1965, and moved up to Cotherstone," says Robert. That marked the end of Caldwell's post office.