47403 The Early Years, 2 Trips to Crewe

[55013]

I'm sure that the HST farewell will draw the crowds.
Whether it produces the same scenes as 2nd January 1982 remains to be seen.
Personally I doubt it, not because HST fans aren't as passionate about their favourite traction but simply because there seems to be far fewer cranks these days.

The final scenes at Kings Cross were amazing, they even made the ITN news that night, which is how I know they were amazing as I wasn't there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSbmBhFnQk

 

[47403]

I mustve seen that news clip at least 20 times Phil and when the deltic pulls into kings cross with horn blaring, the hairs on my neck still stand up. For.popularity among rail enthusiasts, I think the 37s and Westerns are the only loco that come close to the popularity of the Deltic.

 

[DarloRich]

As a very young child we lived at Newton Hall in Durham and my room overlooked the railway line at the bottom of the hill ( I bet the view isn't there now due to more houses) My earliest memories are of standing in my bed, hanging onto the window sill watching the trains go past ( and, apparently, being found by my parents like that at all hours). In my mind they are always Deltics pulling away from a stop at Durham, taking the bend heading north and always blowing the horn ( perhaps there was a foot crossing?)

We often went on the train for days out (cheapo in those days) and I can remember these massive (absolutely massive!) THINGS at the front and the noise they made pulling out of Durham station, laying down a smokescreen and sounding like the world was about to end.

 

[RichmondCommu]

We often went on the train for days out (cheapo in those days) and I can remember these massive (absolutely massive!) THINGS at the front and the noise they made pulling out of the station, laying down a smokescreen and sounding like the world was about to end.

My mates and I used to see the same Deltics roar through Grantham in the late 1970's. Their imminent arrival would produce the same uncontrolled excitement among twelve year old boys that an 18 year old gets from a 'private dance'.

 

[55013]

As somebody who's had a "private dance" (at a stag do, we all had a go!) I can say with some certainty that Deltics always caused me, and still do, more excitement than that did

 

[AJM580]

Another contribution to this part of the thread, I remember catching the first train of the day from Norwich to Peterborough with my dad and a few mates from school to see 55015 go north - I still have a tape recording of the sound Tulyar made as she flew north. If memories serve me correctly we ended up getting some sounds of everything from 37s & 47s at Cambridge and 312s at Royston later in the day. Unfortunately we couldn't see RSG as the last train home left before she got in, but like many others I saw the ITN clip later on. At the time Rail Enthusiast magazine were big on the Deltics and most of the 1982 issues had the farewell tour and that Deltic farewell do at Doncaster where 55002 worked an LE move either to or from the depot.