# Thrapston Midland Railway Station Quarry



## reddwarf9 (May 4, 2010)

had a nice mooch around here for an evening recently with newbie to here davetdi, started on the site of the old midland line railway station (now sadly demolished) but further exploring in the undergrowth gave us lots of interesting finds - i'll put a few of my pics up then leave dave to add from his faves - he has the better camera and eye for a photo

anyway here we go

anyone any idea what this is, in the station yard, turned from solid steel and gas axed at around 4ft from ground (marks of both still visible) surrounded by a 3m circular brick paved area






there was a huge amount of machinery buried away in the undergrowth





2 huge boilers










some old buildings










and one of the hoppers that carried the ore





a truck still sitting on the rails





thanks for looking


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## davetdi (May 4, 2010)

some of the pics I took too

It was such a surprise to find so many unexpected things - well worth a visit as I suspect theres more there to see hidden in the dense undergrowth.

The steel spindle in the old train yard - I have an idea what this was for, but keen to see what you think.. Its finely machined on the main part of it....






remains of an old stone carrying railcart, you can identify by the rivets



































some kind of sorter - looks like the iraqi supergun!

















A crusher from London EC








inside it..






Not sure what this was but its at 90degrees to an old railway line









some old buildings on the site








The roof on this place was quite substantial for some reason









oh. a little bungalow!


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## davetdi (May 4, 2010)

Unfortunatley some developers seemed to have chopped the site into half by building a rather large dual carriageway straight through the middle! 

so some pics from the other side of the road where it was very very overgrown - got pricked a few times - OOO'er !

a 4x4 tyre





more trollies from the quarry 

















Then after much scrambling thru nettles and spikes we found this little beauty - still on the rails, it must be the only one left like it. Its got quite a look about it 









There cant be much rail left as untouched as this



















thanks for looking


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## ThenewMendoza (May 4, 2010)

Looks like a good mooch. The 'superguns' are barrel screens, chuck rocks in, small rocks fall out, big rocks don't. they make for nice pictures. 






M


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## Labb (May 4, 2010)

Very nice pictures. I love the old rusty rails in the wood.


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## remoteneeded (May 5, 2010)

Great stuff guys. Been meaning to check this place out for a while but I figured there wouldn't be much there... How wrong I was!


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## TK421 (May 5, 2010)

What a great find chaps, so much left to see, and to still get stuff on rails even better, excellent stuff!


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## godzilla73 (May 5, 2010)

Good stuff chaps. I've hung around in Thrapston a bit (saw the Midland Station before they demolished the last buildings). Never saw this stuff though. Top drawer!


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## MD (May 5, 2010)

I really like this one 
great find fellas


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## shakey (May 6, 2010)

This looks quite depressing but yet really interesting. I mean empty, unused, rejected for years on end 

Maybe one day.....



Shakey


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## Foxylady (May 6, 2010)

What an amazing amount of stuff left! Love all the bits of machinery.
Some really nice finds there, guys.


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## waynezbitz1 (May 9, 2010)

the rail cart you see were the carryers for the tappered tubs that youve pictured, they used to be ballast/ore waggons and with the lift of a lever they will tip both ways, there are several fine examples of these at the abbey pumping station in leicester all restored and they are made by a company called hudsons.


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## Goldie87 (May 9, 2010)

I like the look of that place, great work guys


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## davetdi (May 10, 2010)

thanks for the replies Guys

We are going to go back and have a further look around to see what else there is as its real easy to mis some great bits in the undergrowth. And given the time of year thats only going to get worse - and I hate stinging nettles!


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## paulydisco (May 31, 2010)

i still love the pic of the truck on the railway very erie but cool


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## sYnc_below (Jun 9, 2010)

davetdi said:


> thanks for the replies Guys
> 
> We are going to go back and have a further look around to see what else there is as its real easy to mis some great bits in the undergrowth. And given the time of year thats only going to get worse - and I hate stinging nettles!




This is pretty damn close to where I live, hadn't realised there was so much 'under the trees' so to speak although I had noticed a few months ago some of the bigger buildings have been demo'd 

I haven't posted enough stuff to be able to PM you guys yet, but this would be a neat local ex for me


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## historymadd (Jun 9, 2010)

hi there

the metal post was a pivot point for a small crane seen picture of it somewhere may be bridge street come to think of t now.

had a look at kettering to cambridge book bymiddleton press circ 1991

isbn 0906520932

the tramway was there in a 1901 map which may have served the nene side iron works just up on midland road local known as the foundary.

here is the link to the thing i was thinking about 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/t/thrapston_bridge_street/index.shtml 

cheers
hm







reddwarf9 said:


> had a nice mooch around here for an evening recently with newbie to here davetdi, started on the site of the old midland line railway station (now sadly demolished) but further exploring in the undergrowth gave us lots of interesting finds - i'll put a few of my pics up then leave dave to add from his faves - he has the better camera and eye for a photo
> 
> anyway here we go
> 
> ...


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## waynezbitz1 (Jun 14, 2010)

i visited this place yesterday with my better half and goldie87, we were in the area exploring somewhere else and though lets go and find it and look for ourselves. This place is such a little gem and untouched for many years. among the boilers and crushers i also found what is possibly a steam winch or pump and the huge stone grader i reckon was onced housed in the building that it seems to be sat upon, but fire at some point has destroyed all the timbers and collpses have taken place. i was even more suprised to see what the roof of the building was cladded in under the coragated tins (im sure those who have been will know)  

we never did get to see the rails and the carts as this was a spur of the moment explore and didnt read that this stuff was infact on the other side of the A14 and we were then drawn to photographing the large viaduct only a couple of hundred yards away. Then with the looming of a huge dirty rain cloud we decided to call it a day before we got soaked.


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## Gunny Guy (Jun 18, 2010)

Great pictures there thanks for posting. Liking the rails running through the trees, looks great place to explore.


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## J_a_t_33 (Jun 26, 2010)

MD said:


> I really like this one
> great find fellas



What he said^^


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