Phoenix
Established Member
Hey all basically was set an assignment in University to improve my writing skills by doing a fair bit of practice so decided after a good read of Traction magazine to bring back a few memories from Marston green of which my first railway memories came from this Is quite a long story as I intended to describe fully my feelings for the place and the traction enjoy please and if you could and criticism or praise will defiantly go a long way!!!!
So rather than pulling out times, dates and other such recordings of various trains from the past I just thought that just my memories from the 90s when I was just a small boy would do the trick.
So back then around 1991 and 1993 I had many experiences with the railways and that has been the main reason behind why I am the railway enthusiast I am today. So my era was the years before privatisation started to come into play so I could still see liveries such as provincial, regional railways and intercity ECT.
The main place that spurs on my memories is Marston green mainly because it was the best station to get to Birmingham from where I lived.
If any of you know of Marston green you will probably thing that its another garish looking station that was remodelled when WMPTE started putting money into the railways. To me it was quite different as it was the only place I could remember where the trains used to scare me back onto the bench. But beyond that I always thought it was a place of importance because it was the Mainline with its constant flow of express trains and the units and its overhead wires which you dont always see on the railways in Birmingham.
Another thing about that station was its two bridges which I found strange obviously now I know its because one allows disabled access but is not exactly part of the station where as the other one is your average station footbridge.
Now we come to the traction well as I said I was quite young so details get a little hazy but what I remember is the electric locos on the express services in and out of Birmingham and how they would hurtle through the station scarring me whit less but also at the same time they would impress me to no end. Also the liveries were great and to me if it had intercity livery then I would consider it to be important no matter what loco it was and every time I seen the logo of the swift/swallow I would immediately shout its intercity to which my parents would humour me as I was only about 2-4 years old.
Also before the advent of the class 323 was the 310 and 321 the 310 were strange to me at the time with the way the fronts looked with their wrap around cab windows and not to mention the colour they carried which was WMPTE livery which was a strange dark purple and blue combination.
They also would produce the odd clunks and clinks which would always make me laugh or even jump but anyway these were the units I would always find myself on as the 321s never stopped as they were express unit with more important places to go but I still was happy to be on the 310s with their slam doors which I never considered something I should savour as It was soon to disappear with the 323s coming into play.
So actually back to the station memories.......the HSTs also proved to be an enjoyable experience as at Marston green diesels were not in the greatest variety compared to electrics with only class 47s and HSTs but the thing that made them stand out would always be that high pitch sqeaul that the Valettas were always so famous for and even to this day I always stick my ear out just a little more towards the end of the HST if I know whats coming next. But at Marston green they would not always dart past at the greatest speed and this would defiantly be the case if they were heading towards Birmingham as they would have most likely stopped at Birmingham international which was only a mile down the road. But there would always be the one or two occasions in the day when you seen it hurtling towards you and you instinctively knew that you should stand a little more back just for you own safety.
But although I did just down play the class 47s I can defiantly say they were quite impressive to as they seemed to be the closest thing to be like the old trains you would see in the postcards which a loco on the front and nothing at the back rather than a power car or DVT.
One time I remember my brother and a friend trying to be daring and standing a little closer to the yellow line each time a train came by which seemed quite scary to me but in actual fact they were still just as far away as I would stand these days, so they had been doing this a few times each time being either 321s or 90s but then a 47 was coming along the line and putting on quite a lot of power and my brother and his mate once again moved a tad closer which made me just run to my mum for safety and then I noticed it was a class 47 so I was a little more interested in seeing what would happened anyway so they class 47 approaches the platform at a decent speed and the driver (in some kind of prank) starts blasting his two tones through the station which scared my brother so much he managed to run into one the platform lamp posts to which I can remember very clearly to this day.
Generally Marston green station has and always will be close to my own heart as I earned my admiration for all things railways there and also most of my childhood family outings would always begin at Marston green and when I walk through the doors into the booking hall I feel as if I should just shrink into a little 4 year old terror which I was when It came to being around trains which most people can relate to.
But as the years go on I still find myself creating memories at this place and although quite an Ugly station I always see the beauty of this place of which in a sense I call home.........
So rather than pulling out times, dates and other such recordings of various trains from the past I just thought that just my memories from the 90s when I was just a small boy would do the trick.
So back then around 1991 and 1993 I had many experiences with the railways and that has been the main reason behind why I am the railway enthusiast I am today. So my era was the years before privatisation started to come into play so I could still see liveries such as provincial, regional railways and intercity ECT.
The main place that spurs on my memories is Marston green mainly because it was the best station to get to Birmingham from where I lived.
If any of you know of Marston green you will probably thing that its another garish looking station that was remodelled when WMPTE started putting money into the railways. To me it was quite different as it was the only place I could remember where the trains used to scare me back onto the bench. But beyond that I always thought it was a place of importance because it was the Mainline with its constant flow of express trains and the units and its overhead wires which you dont always see on the railways in Birmingham.
Another thing about that station was its two bridges which I found strange obviously now I know its because one allows disabled access but is not exactly part of the station where as the other one is your average station footbridge.
Now we come to the traction well as I said I was quite young so details get a little hazy but what I remember is the electric locos on the express services in and out of Birmingham and how they would hurtle through the station scarring me whit less but also at the same time they would impress me to no end. Also the liveries were great and to me if it had intercity livery then I would consider it to be important no matter what loco it was and every time I seen the logo of the swift/swallow I would immediately shout its intercity to which my parents would humour me as I was only about 2-4 years old.
Also before the advent of the class 323 was the 310 and 321 the 310 were strange to me at the time with the way the fronts looked with their wrap around cab windows and not to mention the colour they carried which was WMPTE livery which was a strange dark purple and blue combination.
They also would produce the odd clunks and clinks which would always make me laugh or even jump but anyway these were the units I would always find myself on as the 321s never stopped as they were express unit with more important places to go but I still was happy to be on the 310s with their slam doors which I never considered something I should savour as It was soon to disappear with the 323s coming into play.
So actually back to the station memories.......the HSTs also proved to be an enjoyable experience as at Marston green diesels were not in the greatest variety compared to electrics with only class 47s and HSTs but the thing that made them stand out would always be that high pitch sqeaul that the Valettas were always so famous for and even to this day I always stick my ear out just a little more towards the end of the HST if I know whats coming next. But at Marston green they would not always dart past at the greatest speed and this would defiantly be the case if they were heading towards Birmingham as they would have most likely stopped at Birmingham international which was only a mile down the road. But there would always be the one or two occasions in the day when you seen it hurtling towards you and you instinctively knew that you should stand a little more back just for you own safety.
But although I did just down play the class 47s I can defiantly say they were quite impressive to as they seemed to be the closest thing to be like the old trains you would see in the postcards which a loco on the front and nothing at the back rather than a power car or DVT.
One time I remember my brother and a friend trying to be daring and standing a little closer to the yellow line each time a train came by which seemed quite scary to me but in actual fact they were still just as far away as I would stand these days, so they had been doing this a few times each time being either 321s or 90s but then a 47 was coming along the line and putting on quite a lot of power and my brother and his mate once again moved a tad closer which made me just run to my mum for safety and then I noticed it was a class 47 so I was a little more interested in seeing what would happened anyway so they class 47 approaches the platform at a decent speed and the driver (in some kind of prank) starts blasting his two tones through the station which scared my brother so much he managed to run into one the platform lamp posts to which I can remember very clearly to this day.
Generally Marston green station has and always will be close to my own heart as I earned my admiration for all things railways there and also most of my childhood family outings would always begin at Marston green and when I walk through the doors into the booking hall I feel as if I should just shrink into a little 4 year old terror which I was when It came to being around trains which most people can relate to.
But as the years go on I still find myself creating memories at this place and although quite an Ugly station I always see the beauty of this place of which in a sense I call home.........
