Grantham Railway History

Photographs by Cedric A Clayson

This exhibition is drawn from a much larger collection of photographs taken by Cedric A Clayson during many visits to Grantham Railway.

Cedric was keen to share his life-long passion for trains with his son John and they would travel by bus from Leicester on half-day closing. Grantham offered the excitement of more high speed action and ‘named’ steam locomotives than their home town. Cedric was a keen amateur photographer, and enjoyed taking landscape views and candid shots with his trusty Leica M3 camera. His son, John, shared in his passion for railways and trains from an early age.

On their early visits to Grantham they struck up a friendly relationship with the Carriage & Wagon Examiners and Shunters, who occupied adjacent cabins at the south end of the down platform. Cedric and John would return to Grantham with prints from previous visits which were distributed and appreciated, and their circle of contacts widened, and more pictures were taken.

Phil Craft, one of the Station Inspectors asked Cedric to take some group photographs of the station staff. Phil also took Cedric and John behind the scenes to photograph staff who were not normally to be seen on the platform.

Looking back, John thinks that, as a manager, the Inspector may have seen this as an opportunity to boost the team spirit of his staff, for these were uncertain days for railway employees.

Whatever the motive for their taking, we have inherited an archive of pictures which captures something of the way of life at the main line railway station of this Lincolnshire market town in the 1960s.

Photographs from the collections of Lincolnshire County Council Heritage Service, in association with John Clayson. ©John Clayson. For more details contact tracksthroughgrantham@outlook.com or visit www.tracksthroughgrantham.uk .