Reminiscences

[L&Y Robert]

Is this a good idea? On the lines of, "I remember, back in the 60s, seeing the first main line diesels, numbered 10000 and 10001 double-heading the Mid-day Scott as it passed through Carnforth" - type of thing. I have lots of them!

 

[Johnuk123]

Excellent idea, just the type of thing a railway forum should be all about.

 

[LE Greys]

Might be interesting to compare notes. I'm almost 'middle-aged' at 27 on this forum, yet I remember BR when it was blue and grey (just). With service introductions, the one that really stays with me was the first Class 91 I ever travelled on, arriving at Stevenage with an HST set plus one power car. Now that was bizarre, but I soon got used to seeing them with buffers (although all the buffer-fitted power cars vanished after a couple of years, and by then Electras were everywhere).

 

[Welshman]

I'm 63, born in Yorkshire, and can just remember the early Derby Lightweight dmus being introduced on the Bradford Exchange-Leeds Central and Harrogate lines. On summer Sundays they were extended to Knaresborough, and their cleanliness, speed and visibility through the front windows made them a big success with passengers, as they replaced services usually consisting of 3 or so run-down non-corridor coaches hauled by a tank engine.

Calder Valley services were usually 6 corridor coaches[3 from Bradford, 3 from Leeds, and joining/splitting at Low Moor] and hauled by a Black Five, until they too were replaced by the [later to be called Cl.110] 3-car dmus with Rolls-Royce engines to cope with the gradients over the Pennines.

I remember the old Leeds Central station and crossing between there and the City[Wellington] stations, and the magnificent joint station which was Bradford Exchange.

I remember the A5-like paper handbills advertising excursions from Halifax to exotic places like Blackpool Central, Southport and Belle Vue, and the slow journeys on those trains, stopping at all Calder Valley stations, and often having to draw-up at places like Luddenden Foot! The Blackpools used to take anything from 2.5 to 3 hours, for there was often much congestion in the Preston/Kirkham areas, then block-to-block on the Marton line direct to Blackpool South. Arriving at the excursion platforms at Blackpool Central, the first thing was to queue-up for the toilets [especially if it had been non-corridor stock], and listen carefully to the station announcer giving the return times of trains to many and varied destinations. Then over to Woolworth's cafe for a fish and chip lunch [or dinner, as we called it then!]. Hey ho!

 

[Greenback]

I can just about remember travelling on the pre HST services from South Wales to London. This would have been around 1970, when I was 4 years old!

We used to travel regularly up to see relatives, and I remember my mum talking to an elderly chap on one occasion, who was happily reminiscing about pre World War 2 travel, when he said it took four and half hours to reach the smoke.

When we got to London we used to take the Undergrounf to Morden, Bakerloo and Northern Line. The smell of the old trains was amazing, and I was fascinated by the old grab straps that used to hang down. I enjoyed the experience so much, my mother reckons I had memorised the system, at least in Central London, by the age of 6!

 

[Pen Mill]

1963 shed coach tour from Manchester to Carlisle then across to the North East & back.
Even at the age of 14 , I was saddened by many dead West Coast Premier locos like Semis, Scots, Princesses ,Patriots and Jubilees with their nameplates off at Carnforth .
Great trip though !
Diesels were a no go area at the time !

But one forgives and moves on when one doesn't have a choice so :
1984 shed coach tour with my 10 year old son to Scotland taking in Eastfiueld , Polmadie, Haymarket and other sheds.
Always nice to see the 26s/27s as we didn't get them in Bolton .

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I can remember the original Blue Pullman at Swansea , just about seeing filthy black engines and red carriages running along Swansea Bay , tank engines traversing the Swansea dock high level line , what I now know to be ex GWR 72xx tank engines on coal trains to and from Ammanford , and green diesels - including DMU's arriving. On days out , I recall a train trip to Aberavon sands , and a steam hauled trip to Bristol Zoo - and even (filthy steam trains) at Porthcawl. Not bad for born in 1958. I blame all these things for later career choices. !

 

[CC 72100]

I enjoyed the experience so much, my mother reckons I had memorised the system, at least in Central London, by the age of 6!

I reckon I was about 11 by the time I achieved that, I was obviously a slow learner.

Being considerably younger, the closest to Pre-Privatisation I ever knew was around the turn of the century where you'd still get the odd mark 2 turn up on a VXC service in Intercity Swallow livery. Also remember a couple of 47s were still in IC livery at that time, and can remember many a Saturday day trip with the family to Paignton behind a 47.

Top & Tail 31s on a Great Yarmouth - Norwich (I think) was another memory, during a family holiday in that part of the UK, we arrived late and the London train was just leaving when we were pulling in, much to the annoyance of many other passengers. 170 back though, although must have been a couple of years at the most old at that time.

Final memory was doing a West Midlands Daytripper on a Saturday. We would park out at Northfield, 323 in (I loved the noise, thought that was really cool at the time) and then a day of doing Cov - Birmingham -Wolves behind 86s, 87s, and a couple of 90s. Good memories, and they're barely from 10 years ago!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I can just about remember travelling on CO/CP and R Stock on the District on family trips out when I was very small. Also seeing and riding on EPBs and SUBs still in green livery.

 

[Tracked]

31 & 37-hauled services from Doncaster to Sheffield in the 80's, before Rotherham Central and the Swinton Curve were opened (actually went on the old pre-Swinton route last xmas coming home from Manchester, but it was after dark).

Pre-electric Doncaster & the overhead lines being put up, proper DMU's to Gainsborough.

Leeds station subway toilets ... :x

 

[Johnuk123]

When I think of all the memorabilia that was simply trashed in the 1960's it seems criminal now.

Totems just chucked in with all the building rubbish, signal boxes just demolished with nothing saved.

Who remembers "Collectors Corner" at Euston, you could pick up a totem for a couple of quid.

Nameplates for £20-£30, station clocks for nearly nothing.

If only I'd have had the benefit of foresight.

 

[Johnnie2Sheds]

Heres one for ya. APT-E blasting through the cutting at Barrow-On-Soar heading towards Derby. I think sometime in the mid 70s. I guess it had been to Edwalton for a jolly, er I mean testing. Ive never seen anything moving as fast before or since, it was hammering, quite silently ISTR. I was on the footbridge sittin on my bike and the wonderful smell of Av-Gas lingered for ages.

 

[Johnuk123]

Heres one for ya. APT-E blasting through the cutting at Barrow-On-Soar heading towards Derby. I think sometime in the mid 70s. I guess it had been to Edwalton for a jolly, er I mean testing. Ive never seen anything moving as fast before or since, it was hammering, quite silently ISTR. I was on the footbridge sittin on my bike and the wonderful smell of Av-Gas lingered for ages.

Now we buy tilting trains from other countries.

 

[theblackwatch]

I'm 63, born in Yorkshire, and can just remember the early Derby Lightweight dmus being introduced on the Bradford Exchange-Leeds Central and Harrogate lines. On summer Sundays they were extended to Knaresborough, and their cleanliness, speed and visibility through the front windows made them a big success with passengers, as they replaced services usually consisting of 3 or so run-down non-corridor coaches hauled by a tank engine.

Calder Valley services were usually 6 corridor coaches[3 from Bradford, 3 from Leeds, and joining/splitting at Low Moor] and hauled by a Black Five, until they too were replaced by the [later to be called Cl.110] 3-car dmus with Rolls-Royce engines to cope with the gradients over the Pennines.

My Dad has often mentioned the Calder Valley 110 units on the Harrogate-Leeds-Manchester services, from what I remember he said, they would do Harrogate to Leeds non-stop in around 24/25 minutes. I don't remember the through services, but did have plenty of runs on these units on the Harrogate line and elsewhere in Yorkshire in the 80s and they were one of my favourites. They were particularly powerful when the centre cars were removed from a large number of sets in around 1982/83 - I must have a trip on the one at Wensleydale now it's back running.

 

[Oswyntail]

Summer Saturdays in the early 60s, when the Blackpool line was packed with excitement - locos and DMUs from Eastern, Scottish and even Southern region (never Western, for some reason). Two stick in the memory - Britannia making (at that time) a very rare appearance in the north (few at school believed it) - and Mallard on day release from the museum, with crowds packing every inch of the line and cheering as she went past.

 

[theblackwatch]

When we got to London we used to take the Undergrounf to Morden, Bakerloo and Northern Line. The smell of the old trains was amazing, and I was fascinated by the old grab straps that used to hang down. I enjoyed the experience so much, my mother reckons I had memorised the system, at least in Central London, by the age of 6!

I could find my way around London from quite an early age too, despite living in Yorkshire. We used to go to London a couple of times a year for day trips, micxing the sights with spotting, depot visits etc. When I was 11, I went with my Grandma and her sister for a day to see the sights in London and it was basically me taking them round the place! Despite it being sightseeing, we did manage to end up at London Bridge station for an hour or so in the evening rush hour. The highlight there was Class 33s and a 73 on Uckfield or East Grinstead rush hour services. They both remembered the day 20 years later, apparently I exhausted them with the rushing about the underground and between the sights.

 

[Ivo]

When I was 8 my father took my brother and I to Hastings for a weekend. We rode by bike through the City of London, and then carried them up the stairs at Charing Cross (from the Embankment end - how he expected me to do that he never told me).

On the way back, we road in the 312 Guard's compartment. Dad knew the Guard, as he was an LTS employee at the time - and I got to pull the bell-chain thing at Pitsea

When we got to London we used to take the Undergrounf to Morden, Bakerloo and Northern Line. The smell of the old trains was amazing, and I was fascinated by the old grab straps that used to hang down. I enjoyed the experience so much, my mother reckons I had memorised the system, at least in Central London, by the age of 6!

6? Pah. Slowpoke. I could do it before I started school Heck, at that age I could draw the entire system! (I had to be able to draw something...)

Although, it isn't exactly a fair contest when you were 200mi away - and me just down the river...

 

[Stephen55a1960]

All night spotting trips to Crewe. Great at around 3 am when the TPO's (Travelling Post Offices) arrived.

Manchester Victoria (in the days of the Coastal buffet). I think it's now a Pumpkin branded buffet. Seeing 47's on the Trans Pennines. Also the freight (particularly the "Binliners").

Travelling the Hope Valley line on an a Summer Sunday behind a Class 31.

Being rescued by a detachment of UN troops (British) at Darlington Station. A drunk threatened to tip me out of my wheelchair.

Spotting trips to Newark,Grantham,Doncaster, London Euston and Stockport.

Trainspotting at York during a thunderstorm - water cascading down the columns !!

 

[Johnuk123]

Spending literally days away from home armed with the trusty Locoshed Directory and a duffel bag.

At the age of 11 with other boys simply disappearing for a day or 3 to everywhere from Penzance to Wick.

No mobiles then, no contact with any family, never a thought about personal safety even when mixing with the drunks on Paddington.

Me and my mate decided to have a walk around London whilst waiting for the first tube of the day having arrived around midnight.

Picture the scene the both of us looking in shop windows with our trusty duffel bags over our shoulder at about 1.00 a.m.

We saw a police van pass us a couple of times but took no notice.

Then in a flash 2 vans arrived from opposite ends of the road and about 6 boys in blue had us up the wall.

They seperated us and questioned and searched us in the vans, fortunately our stories matched.

They told us we were in Hatton Gardens the centre of the gems trade, they thought we were a couple of smash and grab merchants.

They deposited us back at Paddington telling us not to leave till the first tube.

We never walked around London again at that time of day on our many spotting trips.

We stayed firmly on the stations.

 

[L&Y Robert]

Having just read the Todmorden West Curve thread I remembered changing at Tod. from a Manchester-Leeds to a Todmorden-Blackpool as an alternative route home to Burnley (Manchester Road) from Manchester, and of course The Blackpool used the West Curve. I tried all sorts of routes and combinations of bus-train-and car to get to and from Manchester in those days. The best, easiest, and quickest though was Burnley-Accrington-Bury-Clifton Junction-Manchester Victoria. It wasn't cheap, six shillings return from Burnley, but if you drove over to Accrington it was only four shillings by the same train! The fare structure was just as crazy then as it is now! The nice thing at that time was that they had just got a brand new 3-coach set of open saloons, standard tank on the front, and if you got in at Burnley there was nice time to have a wash and shave in the splendid clean new loos, abundant hot water, before the train filled up at Accrington.

 

[neilmc]

March 1967.
My first day trainspotting, down to Leeds Central station. What was making that huge thrumming noise? D9015 Tulyar in the siding, my first "cop".

May 1967.
Day out to York, roasting hot. Loads more Deltics. Dead steam including named B1s lying in the shed yard. 70038 Robin Hood arrives on a special.

July 1967.
First trip to Manchester, fascinated by the variety of electrics. Strange Metro-Vick loco on Reddish.

October 1967.
Second trip to Manchester, arranged on a Friday of half-term so we could get the steam-hauled FO Manchester-York. Expected a Black 5 but got 70023 Venus, to our delight.

November 1967.
Decided to go to Carlisle to see the last of the Brits but my mate Dave had his pocket money stopped so we went to Goole instead and got a shedful of dead WDs.

December 1967.
70013 Oliver Cromwell comes through Cross Gates on the final steam-hauled FO Manchester-York. No more working Brits.

February 1968.
70045 Lord Rowallan on Wigan Springs Branch scrap line and 70023 Venus on Newton Heath scrap line.

July 1968.
Final steam shed visit to Carnforth. Another red hot day, yard filled with dead 9Fs but a few Black 5s in steam. Final glance from the Morecambe to Leeds train, filled with nostalgia for what I knew I'd never see again. I was just 14.

 

[47403]

What a cracking thread..................
i remember the first time i went lineside to watch trains, i was 6yr old on the newcastle-sunderland line, with 2 of my cousins, armed with pen and paper, writing down the old class 101 DMU's and being totally confused why they had an E before the number, yet when the odd freight trains went by (usually 37's to Sunderland South Dock and Wearside Colliery) they didn't, pretty much where the Stadium of Light Metro Station is now, was a signal box and some sidings where there'd be a couple of shunters, i was transfixed after saving my pocket money up, i asked my cousins which book to get, they said Locoshed, so i duly handed over my pocket money to me mam and after work she had to hunt it down. My dad was handed the job of taking me and my cousins from Seaburn to Newcastle. We got on the 101 or the multi as i been told they were to be called now and all i remember about that journey to Newcastle was how bouncey the seats were. Now Newcastle Central Station isnt what I'd call a huge station, but to a nigh on 7yr old by then and my 2 older cousins, it was a railway mecca, my cousins and i come home with badges off the drivers, window stickers, drivers old timetables you name it, i thought i saw my first steam engine, which turned out to be an 03, a Deltic, which we cabbed and as i told me mam that night, i even got to sit in the seat where the driver sits. When me Mam and Dad split, I used to visit dad on school holidays, he moved to Gateshead and a family friend of his said, i'm taking the bairn down the lines, you think yours will want to come with us, me dad said, go, show him the way and he'll beat you there, me dad gave me a pencil, notepad and some money for sweets and pop and along i tagged, happy as a pig in ****. If i thought newcastle was my railway mecca, imagine the sheer delight, when not only did i get to see passenger trains roaring by but loads of freight trains too, Tyne Yard to me was heaven, then the next day i went with my new best friend and his dad to Gaateshead shed and back to Central Station, when i got home i showed my cousins my notebook, they were a bit jealous but not as much as i was, when i heard my uncle had taken them to York for the day.

 

[Johnuk123]

What a cracking thread..................
i remember the first time i went lineside to watch trains, i was 6yr old on the newcastle-sunderland line, with 2 of my cousins, armed with pen and paper, writing down the old class 101 DMU's and being totally confused why they had an E before the number, yet when the odd freight trains went by (usually 37's to Sunderland South Dock and Wearside Colliery) they didn't, pretty much where the Stadium of Light Metro Station is now, was a signal box and some sidings where there'd be a couple of shunters, i was transfixed after saving my pocket money up, i asked my cousins which book to get, they said Locoshed, so i duly handed over my pocket money to me mam and after work she had to hunt it down. My dad was handed the job of taking me and my cousins from Seaburn to Newcastle. We got on the 101 or the multi as i been told they were to be called now and all i remember about that journey to Newcastle was how bouncey the seats were. Now Newcastle Central Station isnt what I'd call a huge station, but to a nigh on 7yr old by then and my 2 older cousins, it was a railway mecca, my cousins and i come home with badges off the drivers, window stickers, drivers old timetables you name it, i thought i saw my first steam engine, which turned out to be an 03, a Deltic, which we cabbed and as i told me mam that night, i even got to sit in the seat where the driver sits. When me Mam and Dad split, I used to visit dad on school holidays, he moved to Gateshead and a family friend of his said, i'm taking the bairn down the lines, you think yours will want to come with us, me dad said, go, show him the way and he'll beat you there, me dad gave me a pencil, notepad and some money for sweets and pop and along i tagged, happy as a pig in ****. If i thought newcastle was my railway mecca, imagine the sheer delight, when not only did i get to see passenger trains roaring by but loads of freight trains too, Tyne Yard to me was heaven, then the next day i went with my new best friend and his dad to Gaateshead shed and back to Central Station, when i got home i showed my cousins my notebook, they were a bit jealous but not as much as i was, when i heard my uncle had taken them to York for the day.

Loved reading that.

 

[sprinterguy]

What a cracking thread..................
i remember the first time i went lineside to watch trains, i was 6yr old on the newcastle-sunderland line, with 2 of my cousins, armed with pen and paper, writing down the old class 101 DMU's and being totally confused why they had an E before the number, yet when the odd freight trains went by (usually 37's to Sunderland South Dock and Wearside Colliery) they didn't, pretty much where the Stadium of Light Metro Station is now, was a signal box and some sidings where there'd be a couple of shunters, i was transfixed after saving my pocket money up, i asked my cousins which book to get, they said Locoshed, so i duly handed over my pocket money to me mam and after work she had to hunt it down. My dad was handed the job of taking me and my cousins from Seaburn to Newcastle. We got on the 101 or the multi as i been told they were to be called now and all i remember about that journey to Newcastle was how bouncey the seats were. Now Newcastle Central Station isnt what I'd call a huge station, but to a nigh on 7yr old by then and my 2 older cousins, it was a railway mecca, my cousins and i come home with badges off the drivers, window stickers, drivers old timetables you name it, i thought i saw my first steam engine, which turned out to be an 03, a Deltic, which we cabbed and as i told me mam that night, i even got to sit in the seat where the driver sits. When me Mam and Dad split, I used to visit dad on school holidays, he moved to Gateshead and a family friend of his said, i'm taking the bairn down the lines, you think yours will want to come with us, me dad said, go, show him the way and he'll beat you there, me dad gave me a pencil, notepad and some money for sweets and pop and along i tagged, happy as a pig in ****. If i thought newcastle was my railway mecca, imagine the sheer delight, when not only did i get to see passenger trains roaring by but loads of freight trains too, Tyne Yard to me was heaven, then the next day i went with my new best friend and his dad to Gaateshead shed and back to Central Station, when i got home i showed my cousins my notebook, they were a bit jealous but not as much as i was, when i heard my uncle had taken them to York for the day.

That sounds not at all dissimilar to my own childhood railway experiences, although by the time I came into this world, Pacers had taken over the local services on the Sunderland to Newcastle route, and coal trains to and from Wearmouth Colliery were in the hands of class 56s. I lived throughout my childhood and well into my teens into a house overlooking the Sunderland to Newcastle line, not fifty yards from the signalbox near the present Stadium of Light station that you mention, and adjacent to the site of those self same sidings that you used to watch the trains at, although by the time I was growing up they had all gone and were no more than a stretch of ballast overgrown with shrubland.

Living next to the line as I did, I got to see and became familiar with everything that passed by on the Sunderland to Newcastle route: I poignantly remember the MGR coal trains, which were hauled by scruffy, noisy class 56 locos and seemed absolutely monstrous to me as a young boy, and they used to shake the ground as they passed!

Newcastle station was also my favourite haunt, and was indeed an absolute railway mecca for me between the ages of about six to twelve: Sometimes my parents, but more often my Gran would be saddled with taking me through to Newcastle for the day on the train from Seaburn, where I can remember Provincial liveried 143s and Cornish "Skipper" liveried 142s on the local services, and at Newcastle I would be mesmerised by the sight of relatively new Intercity 225s and the myriad of freight activity, particularly the postal trains that passed through. The class 03s were gone by this point though, and Gateshead shed was home to no more than a couple of manky blue 08s: Apparently when I was very young it had quite a sizeable allocation of 08s, but by the time I can remember the place it had been wound down to such an extent that a couple of 08s was all their was, and the final two lingered on, in store, there for several years.

I remember when the last 08 (until recently, when 08502 has again been stationed there) was relocated away from Heaton in 2000, not least because it made the entire trip from Heaton to Thornaby under it's own power, down the Durham Coast line! I recall that I was sitting eating my lunch, when 08633 just trundled genteely past in the direction of Tees-side: Even if it didn't get looped, which it undoubtedly would have been at various points throughout its' journey, at a maximum of 15mph that would have been a massively tedious journey!

I also discovered Tyne Yard a little later, which still held a decent amount of freight interest in the late 90s/early 2000s, although sadly this was greatly lessened following the loss of the Royal Mail traffic, and the yard is now barely a shadow of its' former self. Trips to York were a particular special treat for me, usually arranged in conjunction with my birthdays.

Whilst I am too young to remember the Sunderland to Newcastle line as you saw it, my mother remembers the old signalbox and the sidings near what is now Stadium of Light, the class 101s ("proper trains" as she calls them), and the class 37 hauled coal trains: You probably know that there used to be a mesh-sided green footbridge further south down the line from Seaburn station, and not far beyond the junction for the former North Dock line (The foot crossing is still in place, but the previous footbridge has been replaced by a high-sided, opaque affair, spoiling the fun): My mother and her friends used to watch the trains passing underneath from there from time to time and wave to the drivers: Apparently a large number of the drivers of the 37s on the coal duties used to let the locos idle on the way towards the bridge, and then when they were directly underneath, they would open the throttle right up and the whole thing would go mental with clag, engulfing everyone standing on the bridge: My Mam and her friends used to think this was great fun, although that sort of thing would be banned on health and safety grounds now!

Later in her life, when working in Gateshead, she remembers that some of the guards on the 101s on the Sunderland to Newcastle line were really good humoured, and on the way back from work (They used to go to The Cooperage for a few pints of Westons on a Friday lunchtime, and then again after work) they would sometimes get up to a bit of hi-jinx, where the guard if asked would lock someone away in a cupboard in the brake van and threaten to not let them out again until the train finished its' run in Middlesborough, although he would always open it up again in time for their stop at Sunderland

 

[sprinterguy]

The following photo (One of Ian Carrs') will probably be of interest to you if you haven't already seen it: 40015 stabled in the sidings, after working a footex from Blackpool North to Seaburn on 22nd August 1981:

 

[Rugd1022]

This is what the forum is all about, my eyes are misting over having read all of the above posts, but in a nice way of course...!

First real encounter with the big railway.... it would have been Christams week 1970, at the bottom of Railway Terrace in Rugby trying to see what was over the brick wall at the north west corner of 'Midland' station, I could just kake out the shiny cast alloy numbers on the various AC Electrics passing through, a few of which still had white cab roofs in stark contrast to their otherwise rail blue liveries. Great long rakes of parcels vans or 'liner wagons would go by behind AL1s, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s, with AL6s on the expresses - the 87s were yet to be built. In the north end bays there were AM4 and AM10 EMUs, and over in the Up Side Yard a green 350HP stood on the shunt neck with the old wiring train and some condemned coaching stock. This area of Rugby was a dumping ground for all sorts of rolling stock right through the 70s, some of which was used occasionally for unofficial staff accomodation on the sly, including several Met-Camm Pullman cars, some still in their original umber and cream liveries and others in the 'reverse' corporate grey and blue. It all seemed highly exotic at the time but this was nothing compared to the near mystical stuff I'd see a bit later down on the Western Region on family visits to West London.... a couple of blue Warships in the carriage sidings up by Royal Oak, Westerns galore and still several Hymeks about before the 1972 / 73 slaughter of the class which left a handful to continue on into 1974 / 75. Visits to Old Oak on Saturday and Sunday mornings in school term time and numerous weekday ones during all of the holidays meant the WR was really getting under my skin at an early age.... those mighty Hydraulics left an impression on me which hasn't deminished one bit over the four decades since I saw my first one. The first one I had for haulage was Hymek D7100, from Bristol to Weston-super-Mare and back on an excursion, a couple of months before it was withdrawn. Boy that thing was loud!.

As the 70s wore on I'd go further and further afield, but still spent more time on the Western than anywhere else. It's always been frustrating though that you can't be in two places at once - chasing Thousands down in the West Country meant missing out on Deltic haulage on the East Coast, something which I've sometimes regretted.

Some very specific (not to mention vivid) memories that have stayed with me including this one...

November 1976, standing next to D1058 Western Nobleman on a freezing cold platform at Plymouth North Road, unable to tear myself away and take refuge in the waiting room, as it stood there idling away for half an hour on the down milk empties, awaiting a fresh crew.... both Maybachs ticking over at high revs with a bitter wind carrying the sound across the platforms and back again, almost like a phasing motion, I can almost hear it now as I type this, it really was unlike anything else on the railway at that time. We knew then that there were only three more months left for the remaining class members, so every encounter with one was to be savoured. Great days!

 

[flymo]

The sense of smell is one of the most evocative to me and the sniff of a passing scent can instantly transport me back to the 06:00 (or thereabouts) train from Newcastle - Edinburgh way back some time in the 70's. Quite a few stops if I remember too.

To this day I can still remember the dank, foisty smell of that Mk1 compartment.

 

[dcd]

My first memories at the age of 11 were being taken by a school friend to bunk Eastleigh shed. Lots of steam and no problems going round the shed, the next excitement was on a coach trip with Locospotters to Bristol and hearing the first Diesel 2 tone. A year later we went on Holiday to a farm at St Germans in the west country and were near the railway line where I remember a mixture of steam Countys and diesel Warships.

 

[theblackwatch]

November 1976, standing next to D1058 Western Nobleman on a freezing cold platform at Plymouth North Road, unable to tear myself away and take refuge in the waiting room, as it stood there idling away for half an hour on the down milk empties, awaiting a fresh crew.... both Maybachs ticking over at high revs with a bitter wind carrying the sound across the platforms and back again, almost like a phasing motion, I can almost hear it now as I type this, it really was unlike anything else on the railway at that time. We knew then that there were only three more months left for the remaining class members, so every encounter with one was to be savoured. Great days!

Mention of freezing cold platforms has reminded me of my days on the end of platform 14 at York, where there used to be a big paraffin (I think!) heater used for stopping the water used to fill loco boilers from freezing. They were good to stand near on those cold winter days!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

What about food - ? - when HST's sets came in , you could get the Express Burger for 20pence , chips for the same price , - draught beer for a while !

Standard MK1 buffet fare of cheese , cheese and tomato , ham and tomato - (thats it) - individual Lyons "fruit" pies , Maxpak "tea" and "coffee".