47403
Established Member
Way back in the mid to late 80's, once a month a coach full of North East Rail Enthusiasts used to leave Newcastle to various destinations all over the UK, You'd book your place on the coach and leave 8pm on friday from Newcastle Central and depending on how far you travelled, depended if you came home Saturday evening or a hotel was included in the price to come home Sunday. My Dads friend gave me a heads up one day at Tyne Yard and I soon told all and sundry about it and my friends and I would do at least 4 trips out of 12 per year in the following years. Mainly going to places we needed more locos from that specific region.
The very first such trip a few friends and I booked to go on, took in,Thornaby(hillside),Knottingley, Doncaster Station,Worksop,Shirebrook, Coalville, Barrow Hill, Derby Works, Toton, Tinsley, Healey Mills(bank side) Holbeck, York, (the siding next to the NRM).
Being as our usual haunts were obviously Tyne Yard,Gateshead Shed and Newcastle Central, the lines in the platform 5's in the 58's coloumn were largely anonymous. as were units south of York, so this trip certainly ticked a fair few boxes for my friends and I. It was good crack on the bus, getting to meet like minded souls and swap a bit gen. My Dads friend was one of the organisers and those up front of the coach certainly knew their stuff, in fact those gents could sell snow to the eskimo's, they managed time after time, to talk foreman round and get us get round Depots with a multitude of smooth talkimg and in many cases, bribes, that included cat and dog food,for depots pets, cans of beer, donations to the lads kittys for days at the races or xmas parties and the odd playboy calendar were used at various depots too. We got round Knottingley around 11.30pm, it was heaving with 56's and a couple of required 58's as well as 08's.Then a quick peak round Doncaster station, picked up the shunter and a coupple of locos on the west yard and a few units in the platforms, before seeing a couple of frieghts a quick ciggy and back on the bus. in the early hours of Saturday morning, the lads managed to sweet talk/bribe our way round,the lot of what, my mates and I called the 58's stamping grounds, Worksop, Shirebrook, Barrow Hill and although it was winding down Coalville. The sense of getting round these depots was amazing, the red pens were going mental, shunters, were big gains alongside the 58's scratching off 20's and the odd 56 too. All these done by around 8am.
We were all shattered but with permits for Tinsley and Toton, excitement for the rest of the day, tended to get in the way of any thought of sleep. After a breakfast and ciggy stop, full englishes absolutely wolfed down with a huge mug of coffee or tea, we all hopped back on the bus, to Tinsley. I had to admit I wanted lines in my book for the Class 13's, I'd seen pics of them at Tinsley and was eagerly awaiting to get em scratched off. Tinsley was heaving, the lines of locos in the shed was staggering, I scratched off a load, more shunters gained, especially the 13's, some 20's, 31's, the odd 37, and a huge quantity of their 47's. After that, everyone assembled in the Car Park, had a ciggy ready for the big one, Toton. My Dads mate, came oveer and asked, my friends and I, how it was going, bloody amazing so far, I said, This place was heaving, he said, yeah, theres a fair bit on, will you lads travel again then?, oh aye definitely we emphatically said. He'd been gauging wether we'd be regulars or not, he'd been smart alright cos after that trip, another 5-10 seats would be filled on a regular basis on future trips. Along with a smile as wide as the Tyne, as he walked away safe in the knowledge we'd certainly be telling our mates, he said, Well boys, if you liked this place your gonna love Toton.
Never has a truer word been said, I'd dropped off to sleep on the journey between Tinsley and Toton and was woken as we got through the sercurity gates at Toton, despite my grogginess, my eyes went as wide as saucers at the sheer numbers of locos outside the place. Our guide took us into every nook and cranny of the place. just about every diesel class of loco running at that time was in there, notable exceptions being 26,27, 33, 50 and 73, they didn't live that way. I lost count of what I scratched off in Toton. we spent a good hour and a half to 2 hours in the place. I know I'd managed to go from having seen just 1 class 58 before boarding the coach, after visiting their stamping grounds and their home shed, I was up to having seen 32 of them now, not only that I put a HUGE dint in my. 08'S 20's and NB 47's, along with the 0dd 31 and 37 too. Bloody Marvelos I thought.
By now its abot 3pm, next stop Derby Station, was shouted up the bus, a chance get a bit down time, a bit time to pick of some units and stuff and more importantly bite to eat, we hammered the stations buffet, coffee, crisps and Mars Bars done the trick. WE got round Derby Works but apart from a few shunters and a couple of loco's stabled close by, there wasnt much to see really, we seemed to be in and out in half an hour, I vaguely remember them they were building some units but I can't for the life of me remember what they were.
I have to admit after the works I truly zonked on the bus, I was only half awake on that bank side at Healey Mills, so after my mate was calling out numbers picked up with bino's, I climbed back aboard the bus, had what seemed like 5 more mins shut eye before my mate said, haway man, we're getting round Holbeck. I rapidly got off the bus and an old guy resembling Alfred Hitchcock with a thick Yorkshire accent said, get the numbers of the locos you see and get away before t'other foreman comes om. We did just that and to be fair there was a canny bit on too. It proved to be the last visit too, with everyone tiring the decision to hit York was scratched and it was straight home after dropping off some lads on Teeside.
It was an exhausting 24+ hours but very wortwhile, it was the first of many of them coach trips and even though i went to all four corners of the UK and between, I always fondly remember that trip.
The very first such trip a few friends and I booked to go on, took in,Thornaby(hillside),Knottingley, Doncaster Station,Worksop,Shirebrook, Coalville, Barrow Hill, Derby Works, Toton, Tinsley, Healey Mills(bank side) Holbeck, York, (the siding next to the NRM).
Being as our usual haunts were obviously Tyne Yard,Gateshead Shed and Newcastle Central, the lines in the platform 5's in the 58's coloumn were largely anonymous. as were units south of York, so this trip certainly ticked a fair few boxes for my friends and I. It was good crack on the bus, getting to meet like minded souls and swap a bit gen. My Dads friend was one of the organisers and those up front of the coach certainly knew their stuff, in fact those gents could sell snow to the eskimo's, they managed time after time, to talk foreman round and get us get round Depots with a multitude of smooth talkimg and in many cases, bribes, that included cat and dog food,for depots pets, cans of beer, donations to the lads kittys for days at the races or xmas parties and the odd playboy calendar were used at various depots too. We got round Knottingley around 11.30pm, it was heaving with 56's and a couple of required 58's as well as 08's.Then a quick peak round Doncaster station, picked up the shunter and a coupple of locos on the west yard and a few units in the platforms, before seeing a couple of frieghts a quick ciggy and back on the bus. in the early hours of Saturday morning, the lads managed to sweet talk/bribe our way round,the lot of what, my mates and I called the 58's stamping grounds, Worksop, Shirebrook, Barrow Hill and although it was winding down Coalville. The sense of getting round these depots was amazing, the red pens were going mental, shunters, were big gains alongside the 58's scratching off 20's and the odd 56 too. All these done by around 8am.
We were all shattered but with permits for Tinsley and Toton, excitement for the rest of the day, tended to get in the way of any thought of sleep. After a breakfast and ciggy stop, full englishes absolutely wolfed down with a huge mug of coffee or tea, we all hopped back on the bus, to Tinsley. I had to admit I wanted lines in my book for the Class 13's, I'd seen pics of them at Tinsley and was eagerly awaiting to get em scratched off. Tinsley was heaving, the lines of locos in the shed was staggering, I scratched off a load, more shunters gained, especially the 13's, some 20's, 31's, the odd 37, and a huge quantity of their 47's. After that, everyone assembled in the Car Park, had a ciggy ready for the big one, Toton. My Dads mate, came oveer and asked, my friends and I, how it was going, bloody amazing so far, I said, This place was heaving, he said, yeah, theres a fair bit on, will you lads travel again then?, oh aye definitely we emphatically said. He'd been gauging wether we'd be regulars or not, he'd been smart alright cos after that trip, another 5-10 seats would be filled on a regular basis on future trips. Along with a smile as wide as the Tyne, as he walked away safe in the knowledge we'd certainly be telling our mates, he said, Well boys, if you liked this place your gonna love Toton.
Never has a truer word been said, I'd dropped off to sleep on the journey between Tinsley and Toton and was woken as we got through the sercurity gates at Toton, despite my grogginess, my eyes went as wide as saucers at the sheer numbers of locos outside the place. Our guide took us into every nook and cranny of the place. just about every diesel class of loco running at that time was in there, notable exceptions being 26,27, 33, 50 and 73, they didn't live that way. I lost count of what I scratched off in Toton. we spent a good hour and a half to 2 hours in the place. I know I'd managed to go from having seen just 1 class 58 before boarding the coach, after visiting their stamping grounds and their home shed, I was up to having seen 32 of them now, not only that I put a HUGE dint in my. 08'S 20's and NB 47's, along with the 0dd 31 and 37 too. Bloody Marvelos I thought.
By now its abot 3pm, next stop Derby Station, was shouted up the bus, a chance get a bit down time, a bit time to pick of some units and stuff and more importantly bite to eat, we hammered the stations buffet, coffee, crisps and Mars Bars done the trick. WE got round Derby Works but apart from a few shunters and a couple of loco's stabled close by, there wasnt much to see really, we seemed to be in and out in half an hour, I vaguely remember them they were building some units but I can't for the life of me remember what they were.
I have to admit after the works I truly zonked on the bus, I was only half awake on that bank side at Healey Mills, so after my mate was calling out numbers picked up with bino's, I climbed back aboard the bus, had what seemed like 5 more mins shut eye before my mate said, haway man, we're getting round Holbeck. I rapidly got off the bus and an old guy resembling Alfred Hitchcock with a thick Yorkshire accent said, get the numbers of the locos you see and get away before t'other foreman comes om. We did just that and to be fair there was a canny bit on too. It proved to be the last visit too, with everyone tiring the decision to hit York was scratched and it was straight home after dropping off some lads on Teeside.
It was an exhausting 24+ hours but very wortwhile, it was the first of many of them coach trips and even though i went to all four corners of the UK and between, I always fondly remember that trip.
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