How old are you?

[dan_atki]

why is the minimum length of a message 5 characters?

This was changed to prevent messages like 'lol' and ':P' being posted on their own.

 

[4SRKT]

Lol

 

[CCF23]

We might feel old chaps, but pity these poor youngsters who have missed out on what we were enjoying when young ourselves. 40s, deltics, hoovers, loco-hauled passenger trains a plenty, varied and interesting freight workings, slam door stock, the heyday of [hardcore] bashing, and traction and stock largely built in Britain. I admire their enthusiasm I must say, in the face of a society much more determined to mock 'nerds' as they see them, and also in the face of an endless procession of plastic tubes that you can't get your head out of the windows of!

I agree sometimes i envy the fact that i wasn't born a couple of years earlier to experience the final years of loco-hauled trains and slam-door stock.

But there are positives mainly health related and i'm sure that my life expectancy and that of others my age is higher than older generations due to medical advances

I'm 15 by the way, 16 in August

 

[Ivo]

But there are positives mainly health related and i'm sure that my life expectancy and that of others my age is higher than older generations due to medical advances

Now you're just asking for trouble

I think that, as "youngsters" go, I have had a good return. Grew up in a slam-door area [even if it was the first to go entirely non- slam-door...], 86s [I assume] up to Norwich, using the Guard's Van in a 312 and pulling the "chain" at Pitsea, Thumpers through Rye [literally a couple of days earlier at that!], and - of course - HST 43s as my new primary unit. And I missed the Adelantes!

Sigh... It just isn't the same now. Even our joyride down to Lymington is gone now, replaced by "modern" units with a tendency to fail (aka 158s) :cry:

 

[thefab444]

I believe South West Trains have won awards for the reliability of their Sprinter fleet.

 

[dan_atki]

"modern" units with a tendency to fail (aka 158s) :cry:

I believe South West Trains have won awards for the reliability of their Sprinter fleet.

Indeed, SWT's 158s and 159s are among the most reliable trains in the country.

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/south west trains honoured for fleet excellence.aspx

 

[badger1badger]

Old enough to remember locos in green livery (just) and deltics as an everyday occurence. 39 in other words. I'm surprised by the number of younger posters on here TBH. Also, there seems to be almost nobody aged between 21 and 39. My teenage years (1980s) were without doubt a golden age for rail enthusiasm, probably the time just before society at large started having a serious dig at enthusiasts as some sort of national sport. However, it's good to see lots of youngsters coming through despite the nerdist behaviour of most people

is this the real mr rosbrooke !! ??

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I agree sometimes i envy the fact that i wasn't born a couple of years earlier to experience the final years of loco-hauled trains and slam-door stock.

But there are positives mainly health related and i'm sure that my life expectancy and that of others my age is higher than older generations due to medical advances

I'm 15 by the way, 16 in August

I'm not sure that's right, though I haven't looked at any statistics to justify my doubts.
Yes, there have been great advances in medical care, and perhaps even greater, the elimination / reduction in of some of the gravest environmental and industrial hazards to health. But sadly, many people lead unhealthy lifestyles, eating badly and lacking exercise. Excessive drinking has also increased recently. These have been blamed, for an example, in this last year, to a reduction in life expectancy in the USA. The peak of longevity has passed!

Maybe I'm lucky. I went to the doctor this year for the first time in decades (I had to re-register. They'd assumed I'd left or died), and the result of the tests weren't even on the scale of beginning to show any deterioration of health (and was on the Forum's Bishop Auckland cycle ride on Sunday, adding a few more miles at the end to total over 50 miles without tiredness) - and I've only got a few months left of my 50's.

Others have healthy or unhealthy lifestyles, just as some, though no doing of their own, may have infection, accident or genetic causes of disease or impairment. Its always hard to generalise.
There's one forum member (who hasn't posted in this thread) who worked steam locos out of the Tweedmouth depot. You can make as good a guess as me what age he might be now.

 

[ladydsm]

im not giving my age away but i cant believe how many on here are half my age

 

[DaveNewcastle]

i cant believe how many on here are half my age

that clearly won't be referring to the post immediately above yours then!
(which I was presumably typing at the same moment)

 

[yorkie]

I agree sometimes i envy the fact that i wasn't born a couple of years earlier to experience the final years of loco-hauled trains and slam-door stock.

Last 321 312 out of Liverpool St was Summer 2004, so you'd have been 10, so you could have experienced slammers on that line which I think isn't far from you. Also the Mk1 slammers ended on the main lines in December 2005. Loco hauled trains have not come to an end and HSTs are going to be around until you're in your 30s.

But there are positives mainly health related and i'm sure that my life expectancy and that of others my age is higher than older generations due to medical advances

I'm 15 by the way, 16 in August

I don't think so, as we won't be able to afford to keep the lazy sods of tomorrow who go everywhere by car and do no exercise alive forever, even if it's possible to do so. I'm sure health of kids must be declining now, the next generation are, on average very, very lazy and have everything done for them and expect to go everywhere by car. That's totally unsustainable.

 

[33056]

Another one of the "older generation" here, not saying exactly how old but lets just say I can remember locos with D numbers in green livery and Western Region hydraulics in service. Don't remember steam on BR, but that probably has more to do with the area I was born and brought up in finishing with steam comparatively early on.

 

[Ivo]

My apologies with the SWT 158s/159s. I am just used to FGW ones failing so I assumed (for some bizarre reason!) that it was the stock and not the TOC. Yes, Ivo; sure it's the stock. Especially given FGW 150s are prone to it as well

Last 321 out of Liverpool St was Summer 2004, so you'd have been 10, so you could have experienced slammers on that line which I think isn't far from you. Also the Mk1 slammers ended on the main lines in December 2005. Loco hauled trains have not come to an end and HSTs are going to be around until you're in your 30s.

Without meaning to sound pedantic, there are 321s at Liverpool Street right now! The last 312 out of Liverpool Street, on the other hand, would have run about six years ago.

 

[CCF23]

Last 321 out of Liverpool St was Summer 2004, so you'd have been 10, so you could have experienced slammers on that line which I think isn't far from you. Also the Mk1 slammers ended on the main lines in December 2005. Loco hauled trains have not come to an end and HSTs are going to be around until you're in your 30s.

Maybe i should have been more thorough in my post what i meant was yes i have memories and good ones they are of the 312's on the LTS before the 357's arrived, and of the Southern region slammers whilst going to the Isle of Wight via Portsmouth and when visiting the Bluebell Railway.

What i meant to say was when these and other "older and loved" trains like the WCML electric loco's were taken out yes i was alive but far to young to be able to travel around London and the rest of the country by myself and i never had a camera so i don't have any pictures of the older trains also being the only railway enthusiast in my family didn't help.

Regarding the HST, THANK GOD WE STILL HAVE THEM FOR SOME YEARS TO COME It's not all bad news.

 

[4SRKT]

Listen dudes, I don't want to have a longer life span in a world with no loco haulage!

 

[37401]

Listen dudes, I don't want to have a longer life span in a world with no loco haulage!

ohh come on chap, think about GM

 

[The 158 Man]

Happy Birthday 158 man

Thank you.

 

[Crossover]

I am not going to tell you! (I don't need to; I've probably said before here and it's in my profile. Instead, a few hints to my exact date of birth...

The Hillsborough disaster was little more than two weeks away.
Maggie was in the twilight of her time as PM.
Islip would re-open when I was six weeks old.
The 50th anniversary of the start of the Second World War would come later in the year.
The Exxon Valdez accident happened just days earlier.
Iron Curtain borders would soon be abolished.
The Simpsons debuted in America a few months later.
I experienced my first April Fool's Day aged 125 minutes.

Just spotted it on your profile Ivo and if my maths is correct, you're 5 minutes older than me...darn you!!! :P
Such a small world!!

For the rest of you, work it out :P
Another one to go toward there been few people between 21 and 35...until next year when some of us turn 22 hehe

Also, the day was the centenary of the opening of the Eiffel Tower

 

[CCF23]

Also, the day was the centenary of the opening of the Eiffel Tower

And that opened in 1889

 

[Trog]

I will give a clue to my age i left school and went straight into British Rail, on 20 June i will have been employed 30 years................... more then most on here in age it would appear. My god i feel really old.

New boy, by the time you started I had already been on the railway four days.

My god I feel very old.

 

[richw]

i am 22,

 

[oldrailman]

I'm 60, but in my head trying very hard to be about 40! Only just got into home computing and surprised how I've managed to pick it up lol!

 

[campainr]

16. Share a birthday with Miley Cyrus and a deathday with Roald Dahl.

 

[Ivo]

You're not the only one!

Could be worse, I share a birthday with Miley Cyrus hock:

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Just spotted it on your profile Ivo and if my maths is correct, you're 5 minutes older than me...darn you!!! :P
Such a small world!!

For the rest of you, work it out :P
Another one to go toward there been few people between 21 and 35...until next year when some of us turn 22 hehe

Also, the day was the centenary of the opening of the Eiffel Tower

I didn't actually know that; I just checked it on Wikipedia! Inaugurated on our, um, -100th birthday; officially opened in early May.

So you were born at 10pm then?

 

[Crossover]

You're not the only one!


--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


I didn't actually know that; I just checked it on Wikipedia! Inaugurated on our, um, -100th birthday; officially opened in early May.

So you were born at 10pm then?

I've known about it for quite a while.

Indeed I was born at 10pm, so you were 9.55pm then! So close to being an April Fool (on a semi-related note, Hannah who was in S Club 7 is an April Fool...just a bit older than us...also don't ask how I know that!!!)

 

[Heinz57]

Im 19. I'll be 20 in 24 days

 

[Kernowfem]

Im 33 in body. Still 21 in mind. I just dont FEEL like im in my thirties

 

[aspierail]

Im 23 but turn 24 in August.

 

[almark]

18,19 next friday.

 

[Stacey]

I'm 22; 23 in July...