Things you would like to do again (even if impossible)

[4SRKT]

Go back to the mid 80s and do a freedom of Scotland again, 25s, 26s, 27s as far as the eye could see and all in passenger service pulling mark 1 coaches, marvellous!

Early 80s to get much passenger workings. By the mid-80s the only regular workings to turn up a McRat that I can think of are Carlisle > Glasgow and Edinburgh > Dundee. 37s ruled the roost pretty much everywhere on Scottish secondary lines by 1984.

 

[37401]

I remember back to the 90s with class 47s in Virgin livery on cross country services, and in Intercity before that and think 'I wish I'd known then that the service would be taken over in 10 years by a fleet of smelly DEMUs.

Same here

 

[455driver]

Early 80s to get much passenger workings. By the mid-80s the only regular workings to turn up a McRat that I can think of are Carlisle > Glasgow and Edinburgh > Dundee. 37s ruled the roost pretty much everywhere on Scottish secondary lines by 1984.

Thanks for that it must have been the early 80s then because it was 25s/27s out of Edinburgh and solid 26s at Inverness.

 

[Aictos]

Go back in time to the 70s and 80s to see decent traction plus see Queen live at their concerts!!!

 

[CarterUSM]

Right all my wrongs, end of.

 

[Bittern]

Right all my wrongs, end of.

So you've righted all your wrongs before then?

 

[CarterUSM]

So you've righted all your wrongs before then?

Of course not But i'd like to have the chance again as now i most definitely cannot due to various reasons. On a lighthearted note, i would like to work loco and coaches again instead of dinky multiple units , reliability issues aside.

 

[Dai.]

So you've righted all your wrongs before then?

Maybe he righted the first set and has a whole new set of wrongs?

ANYWAY!

There is a certain sour sweet I could only find in one shop, (The shop has now gone out of business)

I would like to go back and buy thousands of them

LOVELY SWEETS!

 

[CarterUSM]

Soor plooms? Hope you find them again, though perhaps you will not find them as palatable as you used to!!

 

[Jeff Worsnop]

Hi,
As a spin-off from the 'earliest railway memories' thread, I just wondered what specific railway experiences you would relive if you had the chance? I'm not thinking in terms of riding the full length of the Somerset and Dorset, more the little things, the small pleasures you enjoy which are no longer possible, due to your favourite stock being withdrawn or whatever.

For some reason, when I was a commuter in the 80's and 90's I always used to love to travel in that large luggage compartment on old slam-door Southern multiple units, and also in the corridor bit between the drivers cabs when two units were connected together, watching the controls (and occasionally slipping into the driver's seat when the door wasn't locked). I've tried it on the new units and its just not the same. Also - and I know this is frowned upon - opening the door at Victoria before the train came to a stop and leaping off (I know it's dangerous but everyone used to do it back then)

xyzxyz

 

[the sniper]

xyzxyz

I'd like to do that again too!

 

[peradon]

I wouldn't mind getting a Eurostar from Waterloo again, that was an interesting route.

 

[Trog]

Weymoth Quay tramway behind an 03, getting there from Waterloo behind a Merchant Navy. Was almost the best bit of the holiday.

 

[Foxhound]

46026 on the Lynn Liner railtour. :cry:

46025 on local stoppers in Cornwall. :cry:

Whizos out of Penzance on stoppers....:cry:

And any NESW train out of Plymouth with a Peak on it. God, I hate Voyagers!

 

[yorksrob]

I'd quite like to go on the Southern Electric Group's Green Goddess railtour on EPB 5001 again. I'd have to be careful not to bump into my 13 yo self and blow a hole in the space/time continuum (imagine the disruption around London Bridge) but that shouldn't be too difficult on non-vestibule stock!

 

[asylumxl]

I'd quite like to go on the Southern Electric Group's Green Goddess railtour on EPB 5001 again. I'd have to be careful not to bump into my 13 yo self and blow a hole in the space/time continuum (imagine the disruption around London Bridge) but that shouldn't be too difficult on non-vestibule stock!

Never know. If the rips in the right place, trains might actually arrive on time there for once...

 

[duffman82]

I'd love to do my 1st ever rail rover again as myself now with my camera. Coast and peaks, 47's everywhere on VXC, FNW and on VWC. And the best memory of being on the FNW 47 diagram leaving Stafford with a VWC 87 on a Liverpool. We left side by side and the 47 was giving it a push, the clag was immense, and my head out the window screaming "give it some welly!" and we pushed passed the 87 and i was so excited.......Then the 87 flicked a switch and bam it went like a bat out of hell and out of sight. As a 12/13 year old it was a sight I will never see again but it is one of my 1st and best memories i would kill to do again !

The best memory as of late would be window hanging the Wrexham & Shropshire 67 through Birmingham Intl at 100mph.

 

[scotsman]

Lastly, the whole thing was much more relaxed than now, with H&S and CCTV everywhere it's impossible to get as up close and personal as it was then. How many friendly drivers would let you drive their loco (sorry, unit......) up and down a siding now? Something that was hardly uncommon in the '80s.

Heard one story of a teenager doing Kyle to Garve, and only stopped driving because the driver had 1) finished his lunch, 2) there was talk of an inspector in Dingwall

 

[Ivo]

Quite an obscure one, this. Coming back from the RailUK meal in Newport yesterday, Mojo and I were to travel on the 23:16 through the Severn Tunnel towards Bristol, which ultimately arrived on-time. But, there was something amusing about this journey.

The train pulled up on Pfm 2, with the guard leaving the vehicle and blocking access to the rear carriage and insisting on everyone travelling in the first one. So, sure enough, we joined the front carriage, and everyone from the rear half joined soon after departure from Newport. He then proceeded to obstruct the access to the rear carriage with the access ramp, which provided a nice three-foot hurdle to access the rear carriage. It turned out that the lighting in the rear vehicle was faulty, and kept cutting out. Cue several photographs of the rear carriage in total darkness, and one video which started with the safety instructions poster and then panned to the rear carriage! Being a bit childish, we both wanted to go in the rear carriage. It became even better in the Tunnel; you could barely see the rear cab door!

And the best bit?

It was a Pacer

 

[4SRKT]

Since I posted on this thread months ago, I'd actually like to go back and do this May's 'Twelve Counties' tour in Ireland again. What a fantastic day that was, made all the better by thumper bashing on NIR on the previous day

Given that this is quite a recent memory, it shouldn't be impossible to do it (or something like it) again

 

[Saxonia]

Well, now - where do I start with this one, eh ??
Top of the list would be my cabride with 40099 from Carlisle to Skipton, with the old girl giving it her all over the "Long Drag".
Oh, for a class 50 again on the "Ulster Express" from Morecambe Prom to Preston, or along the Furness line to Barrow with a through service to/from Euston.
Staggering up Shap with a class 25 & 11 x Mk 1's on ECS to Carlisle Upperby.
Taking Black 5, 5407, from Carnforth to Hellifield in a snowstorm.
Go back to where it all started for me - Carnforth - one of the finest depots you could ever have wished for under British Rail.
Class 26's to Kyle + the Far North, & steam heat class 37's to Oban/Mallaig.
Indeed - just to relive the whole shooting match pre-1992, & the dreaded P word.

 

[12CSVT]

1) Being able to spend a day at a main line station photting trains without the risk of being constantly harrassed by some jobsworth security bod.
2) Travel on overnight Euston - Scotland services without having to book aeons in advance.
3) Spend summer Saturdays on the Cambrian behind a pair of 37s (or Skegness line behind a pair of 20s)

 

[Oswyntail]

Rebuild Guide Bridge station

 

[Sherlock37]

Sit in the park at Uttoxeter, and actually work out whether it was a 56 (my memory maybe decieving me!).

Being sat on a 150 for about 15 mins after the guard told of 'A slow freight train'.

Seeing the NMT from my first school classroom!

The Valenta scream from the NMT echoing across the street.

Watching in amazement at Birmingham Intl as brand new Italian Plastic stormed through.

37405 cheering me up when I was off ill from school. Somebody was watching me that day.

My first Western, and being speechless by the sound.

The Royal Train pulling into the platform I was on at Stafford, and admiring 67005 in it's smart livery.

And finally, seeing my beloved 37401, which had teased me for years. And listening to the sound as it roared away around the curve at Uttoxeter. And feeling sad knowing that it was unlucky to be part of DBS's fleet

I've grown up around Modern trains/traction, and I only really remember 2000 onwards. But I would do anything to see Steam, Electrics on the WCML or EE machines.

Happy times for me, I just wish it was more than 'just a train' when I was young...

 

[chefjohn]

Footplate a 59 class Beyer Garrat again from Kilindini up through the spiral with 1000 tons on the tail. Flat out all the way apart from the water stop at Kipevu.
Or maybe footplate an ex Tunisian Railways pacific again on the La Robla metre gauge line from Bibao/Santander to Leon.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I'd do the '70's and '80s DMU and EMU trips, where I was sat at the front seating-bay and I could see what the driver could see. In particular -
- thumpin' it over the Calder Valley in a cl.110,
- bowling down the Thames Valley (a cl.119 for comfort or a cl.104 for masochism),
- down the south WCML in a cl.310 (used to love kneeling on the comfy bench-seat),
- along Manchester-Bury in a cl.504 (to see how high we'd be bounced off the seats - those units defied the laws of physics and left us with bruises...)

Aaaah, those were the days!

 

[talltim]

Having my first ever Chinese takeaway in a compartment of a DMU on the way back from the Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster. I would have been about 7 so its obviously stuck well in my mind.
Can anyone tell me what class of unit it would have likely been in 85ish?

 

[4SRKT]

Having my first ever Chinese takeaway in a compartment of a DMU on the way back from the Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster. I would have been about 7 so its obviously stuck well in my mind.
Can anyone tell me what class of unit it would have likely been in 85ish?

Most likely a 116.

 

[Wyvern]

Go into a dimly lit soot smelling Duffield station and buy a ticket.

Stand on the footbridge that lead to Eyes Meadow and watch the trains pass.

 

[anthony263]

cardiff to rhymney/fishguard on a loco hauled service with a 37