Intercity 225
Member
- Joined
- 2 Mar 2014
- Messages
- 329
Hi,
By providing some details from a childhood memory I’d like to kindly request fellow forum members’ knowledge in trying to establish what station the following information could describe. Here’s the story:
My grandfather worked as a Station Master for British Rail for the vast majority of his career and upon retirement he was awarded with an incredible travel pass that allowed him unlimited use of the network (including First Class) for the rest of his life. This continued even after privatisation. Up until I was 16 years of age I could join him for a nominal fare (c.£2 return) and as a result he took me all over Great Britain during my childhood - these are very treasured memories of mine and it was during this period that I became a rail enthusiast.
Sadly my grandfather is no longer with us but the memories of the fun we had on our journeys together remain rich and strong. However considering I was a very young child for many of them there are some specific details that I can’t recall and there’s one particular thing that I’d love to try and establish - a station we spent some time at but I’m not exactly sure why, most likely for a service change but could also be due to a train fault or indeed any other reason. The following is what I can remember about the station - I appreciate that this is a needle in a haystack scenario but hopefully the following can help us track it down:
Firstly, this station could be literally anywhere on the network apart from the Far North Line - even though I’ve ventured up there as an adult I know I didn’t go all the way up there with my grandfather.
We started most of our journeys at Alfreton (or Alfreton & Mansfield Parkway as it was known at the time) but also regularly began our travels at either Nottingham or Newark North Gate.
We headed North West more frequently than any other direction - Manchester and Liverpool were the most common destinations and I suspect the station I’m trying to track down was in Greater Manchester, Merseyside or Lancashire - but I could very well be wrong, it just seems to ring a bell.
The station building was made from red brick and had a centre platform with track either side. I’m pretty sure (but not quite 100%) that there was no further infrastructure.
There was a roof over roughly half/two thirds of the centre platform that was constructed using ornate metal in a “classic” style - most likely Victorian or Edwardian.
The platform was cobbled throughout, the reason that I have such a vivid memory of this station is because a huge ant farm had burrowed its way between the cobbles and I remember playing with this and fighting off flying ants whilst we waited for the train.
My grandfather refused to travel on Pacers or “Railbuses” as he called them, because we were travelling on leisure and weren’t in any hurry he’d rather wait for the next train if a service was being provided by a Pacer. He had no problem with Sprinters though and I’m fairly certain I never travelled on a Pacer with my grandfather despite what must have been well over 100 journeys together. This is the main thing that makes me question whether this station is in the North West or not.
In my adult life the most likely station I’ve visited that matches my description is Atherton but I’m still not entirely convinced that this is it:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherton_railway_station
Main reasons being, we’d be in Pacer country and I can’t imagine it’s ever been a place where changing services would be necessary. I also don’t recall us visiting the town itself. As a lifetime railwayman my grandfather never made a mistake when it came to journey planning... at least that I know of!
In all seriousness, I can’t imagine we’d have ended up at the station I’m describing unless it was necessary. He even used to teach me how to read paper timetables and test me on the trains we should take from when I was about four years old.
This memory is roughly from 1989-1993 but younger readers please still contribute to the thread if you think you have an idea about the station, it’s not likely to have changed much since.
I fully appreciate how hard this station will be to track down but I think this thread is worth a shot. Also if anyone has any questions I’ll more than happily dig into my memory banks to try and provide further information.
Many Thanks
By providing some details from a childhood memory I’d like to kindly request fellow forum members’ knowledge in trying to establish what station the following information could describe. Here’s the story:
My grandfather worked as a Station Master for British Rail for the vast majority of his career and upon retirement he was awarded with an incredible travel pass that allowed him unlimited use of the network (including First Class) for the rest of his life. This continued even after privatisation. Up until I was 16 years of age I could join him for a nominal fare (c.£2 return) and as a result he took me all over Great Britain during my childhood - these are very treasured memories of mine and it was during this period that I became a rail enthusiast.
Sadly my grandfather is no longer with us but the memories of the fun we had on our journeys together remain rich and strong. However considering I was a very young child for many of them there are some specific details that I can’t recall and there’s one particular thing that I’d love to try and establish - a station we spent some time at but I’m not exactly sure why, most likely for a service change but could also be due to a train fault or indeed any other reason. The following is what I can remember about the station - I appreciate that this is a needle in a haystack scenario but hopefully the following can help us track it down:
Firstly, this station could be literally anywhere on the network apart from the Far North Line - even though I’ve ventured up there as an adult I know I didn’t go all the way up there with my grandfather.
We started most of our journeys at Alfreton (or Alfreton & Mansfield Parkway as it was known at the time) but also regularly began our travels at either Nottingham or Newark North Gate.
We headed North West more frequently than any other direction - Manchester and Liverpool were the most common destinations and I suspect the station I’m trying to track down was in Greater Manchester, Merseyside or Lancashire - but I could very well be wrong, it just seems to ring a bell.
The station building was made from red brick and had a centre platform with track either side. I’m pretty sure (but not quite 100%) that there was no further infrastructure.
There was a roof over roughly half/two thirds of the centre platform that was constructed using ornate metal in a “classic” style - most likely Victorian or Edwardian.
The platform was cobbled throughout, the reason that I have such a vivid memory of this station is because a huge ant farm had burrowed its way between the cobbles and I remember playing with this and fighting off flying ants whilst we waited for the train.
My grandfather refused to travel on Pacers or “Railbuses” as he called them, because we were travelling on leisure and weren’t in any hurry he’d rather wait for the next train if a service was being provided by a Pacer. He had no problem with Sprinters though and I’m fairly certain I never travelled on a Pacer with my grandfather despite what must have been well over 100 journeys together. This is the main thing that makes me question whether this station is in the North West or not.
In my adult life the most likely station I’ve visited that matches my description is Atherton but I’m still not entirely convinced that this is it:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherton_railway_station
Main reasons being, we’d be in Pacer country and I can’t imagine it’s ever been a place where changing services would be necessary. I also don’t recall us visiting the town itself. As a lifetime railwayman my grandfather never made a mistake when it came to journey planning... at least that I know of!
In all seriousness, I can’t imagine we’d have ended up at the station I’m describing unless it was necessary. He even used to teach me how to read paper timetables and test me on the trains we should take from when I was about four years old.This memory is roughly from 1989-1993 but younger readers please still contribute to the thread if you think you have an idea about the station, it’s not likely to have changed much since.
I fully appreciate how hard this station will be to track down but I think this thread is worth a shot. Also if anyone has any questions I’ll more than happily dig into my memory banks to try and provide further information.
Many Thanks
