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What are your fondest memories of the railway?

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R4_GRN

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Going to motor show in Birmingham with two friends who were motor dealers, got entrance on traders day. Meeting at Kirkcaldy station for adjoining sleeper and opening bottles of wine for a pre sleep drink. All four bottles empty, train is stopped, where are we? Says someone we open curtains to see some football ground or was it rugby ground in outskirts of Edinburgh!

Great trip, breakfast at a cafe on leaving station forget where, superbe, great day visiting all the stands on trade day at motor show, not busy reps had time to speak to you, my friends owned Ferrari so even got onto their stand, invitation only, free hospitality from Ferrari is not to be refused.

One friend wanted pictures of new skoda which was being shown for first time, on leaving show friend took pictures of a car and female model played up to him and posed and pouted for him as you would pay a professional model a lot of money for. We get on train for return journey and friend states"I forget to take pictures of latest skoda" to which I had to say that the model he spent photographing was draped over the skoda, he had not noticed!
 
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Strat-tastic

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Way back when we had regular church charter trains for days out. This time we went to Grange-Over-Sands.

The usual 47 into New Street, nothing too exciting there. Then they put on a roarer (an 82 I think) up to Carnforth. Lovely.

Next up... 40 133 I think. Anyway it was a 40! Being a young Brummie we didn't get to see many of them, never mind haulage; it was my first for haulage.

Same 40 and roarer back to Brum. Coming in there was a pair of 20s whistling away (20 044 & 070??).... No way, surely not. YES WAY!!!! All the way back to Northfield. A fantastic end to a great day out.

Oh and the ferry on Lake Windmere was nice too :D
 

Cowley

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Way back when we had regular church charter trains for days out. This time we went to Grange-Over-Sands.

The usual 47 into New Street, nothing too exciting there. Then they put on a roarer (an 82 I think) up to Carnforth. Lovely.

Next up... 40 133 I think. Anyway it was a 40! Being a young Brummie we didn't get to see many of them, never mind haulage; it was my first for haulage.

Same 40 and roarer back to Brum. Coming in there was a pair of 20s whistling away (20 044 & 070??).... No way, surely not. YES WAY!!!! All the way back to Northfield. A fantastic end to a great day out.

Oh and the ferry on Lake Windmere was nice too :D

That would certainly do me for a day out. :)
 

dubscottie

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The many trips to Liverpool whenever my uncle fancied going to the football the next day. We were in Scotland!)

Had to decide on the Friday night before 10 and he got the train tickets for himself, my 2 cousins my brother and myself.

Good old family railcard! He paid full fare and we went for £1.

Back down to Inverkeithing to get the sleeper. Stayed on until Person (got out at Warrington once.. Never again.)

Slept in the waiting room till the first train to Liverpool and killed time until kick off.

Mad dash back to get the train home but I remember we missed one. Had to come home via Glasgow and got stranded in Edinburgh. BR sorted us with a taxi though.

Still have the tickets!
 

Desiro360

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I've got a few memories since my interest in railways began when I was a toddler. As there are a lot here are some memories of mine for you.

On one evening my Dad and I travelled from London Liverpool St to Ipswich via Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds. This was due to issues on the Great Eastern Main Line at the time. Highlight of that journey was travelling on one of Anglia Railways then new Class 170 units from Cambridge to Stowmarket due to engineering works between there and Ipswich. We got a rail replacement bus from Stowmarket to Ipswich on that evening.

During August 2008 my Dad and I travelled on the Eurostar for the first time to and from Paris. On the return journey from Paris Gare Du Nord to St Pancras I rememeber my Dad going to get me a drink from one of the buffet coaches. There was only a small cake left as everything else food and drink wise was sold out.

Another adventure during the same month was having an organized tour of London Euston Station with Virgin Trains. This had been arranged by Virgin after my Dad and I had wrote a letter to Sir Richard Branson. Highlight of this day was getting to explore a Pendolino including the cab.

I also remember the Class 86 loco's and Mk2 coaches that used to operate on the Great Eastern Main Line between Norwich and London. :)
 

adamskiodp

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Getting into a warm Class 115 DMU Aylesbury - Marylebone and enjoying the 'bounce' of the seats, sticking my head out of the window and feeling the wind on my face. Also the smell and sound of a 1st generation DMU engine. I did this quite regularly from the age of 11, crossing London and onwards to Blackheath, unaccompanied. However, I would not allow my own children, now of similar age to do this journey alone :(
 

frodshamfella

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Taking the train (emu slam door) from Bexleyheath to Dartford as a lad, when I was only allowed to travel by bus !
 

Harbornite

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Same 40 and roarer back to Brum. Coming in there was a pair of 20s whistling away (20 044 & 070??).... No way, surely not. YES WAY!!!! All the way back to Northfield. A fantastic end to a great day out.

Oh and the ferry on Lake Windmere was nice too :D

What service was this? There weren't many local hauled stopping services on the line from Birmingham to Gloucester but I have seen pics of one that called at Longbridge in the early 1980s that was being hauled by a class 50.
 

brstd4260

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1965, watching the loco's on shed at Worcester from the famous "Railway Walk" vantage point, seeing, if I remember rightly Halls, GWR Panniers, the odd Black 5, at least one Jinty 0-6-0 and even a couple of BR Standards. Happy days!
 

Crewe Exile

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Many a decent memory, one that stands out were 2 weeks in August 1989 when the Crewe - Derby route went over to class 20s - sprinter shortage (which saw many a decent haulage on the Crewe - Derby route). These 2 weeks were something else though. Numerous different pairs performed, from 0615 to 2300 hrs you could experience class 20 haulage - nowadays faced with a unit shortage I imagine they'd just turn the route over to coaches and cancel the train service.
 

70014IronDuke

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I could probably quote thousands, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

I think the big difference between the railways of 1960, when I first got hooked, and 2010 is the loss of humanity brought on by technical change. On the steam railway (and even well into the 70s), the railway was peopled with, er, people with whom you could interract. Footplate crew, porters, signalmen, ticket collectors, even shed foremen. And it was often these incidents that stick in the memory.

Just one example: one day, probably 1965, I was on Basingstoke station and a West Country came in with a stopping train heading west. It was one of the early ones - not sure, it might have been 34010 Sidmouth. Anyway, I thought I'd seen it, but looking it up as the train was right away, I saw it was a cop, and immediately jumped in the air, kicking my legs together. This was just as the loco was passing me, and the driver laughed and shouted: do that again!
So I did - and I have this abiding image of the driver laughing some more as he chugged off into the misty morning towards Salisbury or Bournemouth.

Whether it stayed in his mind, of course I have no idea. And a trivial incident, for sure, but one little human interraction which would be impossible to replicate on the modern railway, methinks.
 

Cowley

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I could probably quote thousands, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

I think the big difference between the railways of 1960, when I first got hooked, and 2010 is the loss of humanity brought on by technical change. On the steam railway (and even well into the 70s), the railway was peopled with, er, people with whom you could interract. Footplate crew, porters, signalmen, ticket collectors, even shed foremen. And it was often these incidents that stick in the memory.

Just one example: one day, probably 1965, I was on Basingstoke station and a West Country came in with a stopping train heading west. It was one of the early ones - not sure, it might have been 34010 Sidmouth. Anyway, I thought I'd seen it, but looking it up as the train was right away, I saw it was a cop, and immediately jumped in the air, kicking my legs together. This was just as the loco was passing me, and the driver laughed and shouted: do that again!
So I did - and I have this abiding image of the driver laughing some more as he chugged off into the misty morning towards Salisbury or Bournemouth.

Whether it stayed in his mind, of course I have no idea. And a trivial incident, for sure, but one little human interraction which would be impossible to replicate on the modern railway, methinks.

Fantastic. I'd like to think that you still do that now when surprised by something? :lol:
 

Strat-tastic

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What service was this? There weren't many local hauled stopping services on the line from Birmingham to Gloucester but I have seen pics of one that called at Longbridge in the early 1980s that was being hauled by a class 50.

It was a private charter Northfield to Grange-over-Sands and back.
 

TT-ONR-NRN

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As a very young child standing up in my bed, holding on to the windowsill peering out of the window at trains on the main line near our house in Durham. I was tiny and all the trains were massive blue beasts. I think they were all Deltics but they cant have been ;)

A second one was my first train trip I can remember. I was with my dad ( and i must have been quite small) and we were going from Durham to York to see a relative. I remember this MASSIVE blue machine coming towards us (it was a deltic) making an incredible noise and then travelling really fast for what seemed like ages.

My dad died in January so it makes me both happy and sad to think about it.

I'm very sorry to hear that. :( Please accept my condolences.
 

Strat-tastic

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I see, quite an unusual starting point!

Here's a link to the 50 I referred to in my previous post.

https://jpegjuice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/50009-conqueror-on-cross-city-line-in.html


Thanks :)

I remember the 1M43, which replaced the 1E10 as a loco-hauled morning service into New Street (the 1E10 went forward to Leeds).

The 1E10 was a booked peak, so I got loads of 45s and 46s haulage, which was the only regular peak action around the Brum scene at the time. It even threw up the odd 31, 37 & 40. Then it was replaced by the 1M43, a booked 47 of which you could already get plenty for haulage, so I was not a happy bunny. Oh well... :)
 

pitdiver

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Some of my earliest memories are going on holiday from Waterloo. Looking up at the old wooden departure board and seeing all the destinations that the trains would be stopping at. Knowing we would soon be getting on either the Portsmouth Harbour train for the Isle of Wight or the train to Weymouth.
It always seemed in those days that the journey to Weymouth took all day.

As a matter of interest has anybody got a copy of the Weymouth timetable for say 1962-63 or can let me have the timings for a Summer Saturday?
 
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RJ

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Without a doubt, doing Heathrow T4 and T5 sandwiched between two Class 37s. The anticipation of the ascent out of T123 was quite something. We paused in the platform for a couple of minutes - I recall the air was acrid from the smoke the engines were blowing out, as if the oxygen was being converted into something rather more noxious. My eyes and throat were burning!

Then came the departure. The loud fan clutch squeal followed by a ripping open of the two locomotives with a ferocity that I'd never seen when observing from a platform, camera in hand. One of the locos had a loud screaming turbo, with the other's fans going like the clappers, echoing within the tight confines of the station. The engines remained on full power for 2-3 minutes. There was no point in trying to converse with anyone at this stage, though the sound of those engines did induce an extended period of ASMR. All over by Airport Junction and it was a spirited, clear run into Paddington.

That's my fondest rail memory and I don't expect to have a better one any time soon!
 

fowler9

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Without a doubt, doing Heathrow T4 and T5 sandwiched between two Class 37s. The anticipation of the ascent out of T123 was quite something. We paused in the platform for a couple of minutes - I recall the air was acrid from the smoke the engines were blowing out, as if the oxygen was being converted into something rather more noxious. My eyes and throat were burning!

Then came the departure. The loud fan clutch squeal followed by a ripping open of the two locomotives with a ferocity that I'd never seen when observing from a platform, camera in hand. One of the locos had a loud screaming turbo, with the other's fans going like the clappers, echoing within the tight confines of the station. The engines remained on full power for 2-3 minutes. There was no point in trying to converse with anyone at this stage, though the sound of those engines did induce an extended period of ASMR. All over by Airport Junction and it was a spirited, clear run into Paddington.

That's my fondest rail memory and I don't expect to have a better one any time soon!

The DC class leaving the Britomart station in Auckland were good fun.
 

30907

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As a matter of interest has anybody got a copy of the Weymouth timetable for say 1962-63 or can let me have the timings for a Summer Saturday?

Dont have access to timetables for a few days but can do 61 and 63, PM me next week if no-one else replies sooner.
 

DerekC

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Eating a full Scottish breakfast in the Rannoch Hotel and watching the down Caledonian Sleeper approach across the moor. Snow on the mountains in the background. And I have the photograph to prove it!
 

gazthomas

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Being taken to London by my late mum when I was very young. We used a "Ready Teddy Go" promotion
 

Nonsense

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So many fond railway memories. I think being a train obsessed small child around 1980 trying to glimpse any hint of a train from the bus window as it snaked through the industrial decay of the Dearne and Don Valleys. Long rows of coal trucks on weedy tracks at Wath, yellow NCB shunters crossing the road at Manvers. The delight as a wall of blue and grey would whoosh thunderously past. Peaks, 40s, 25s, 76s, classes long gone before i picked up my first spotters companion in 1988, but I bet I saw loads.

Then, being about 11 or 12, and sitting patiently for hours on a sweltering summer day, taking in the scents of the oily track, with that spotters companion and a badly nibbled bic biro in hand, waiting to mark something else off. A train or two an hour, a 141, a British Steel 37, a 56 with 36 loaded HAAs, and the hours ticked slowly by. Loved those days.
 

Taunton

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Juvenile days on the footbridge west of my namesake station. It was right through the steam/diesel changeover. Westbound Castle-hauled express snaking out of the Down Relief across to the Down Main, perfectly parallel with the Minehead 41xx snaking out of the bay onto the Down Relief. Standing on the footbridge right over the two as they passed underneath. Or summer afternoons sat on the steps on the north side, if you chose the right step you could see all down the line, under the Staplegrove Road footbridge, and even (just) whether the gates were across and cars going over the line at Silk Mills crossing (always plural to a Tauntonian, but singular Mill to the GWR), a good mile to the west.

Many individual memories there. The 57xx storming the 1 in 10 gradient up to the coal stage pushing a couple of coal wagons, in the rain, not quite making it, spinning wheels and real sparks, then back down for another go. Later, well into all-diesel blue/grey stock days, the D600 arriving with an up express. Just one WD ever, on the goods lines, I can still remember it's number, 90573. Gosh, that's been going round somewhere in my head for the last (too many) years. Amazing.
 

pitdiver

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Someone I think may have mentioned Luggage in Advance. It always used to amaze me that you could take your holiday luggage to your local staffed station. Mine was New Southgate, wasn't exactly the hive of activity but you get most tickets. Leave your luggage and miraculously it would appear at your holiday lodgings by the time you got there.
New Southgate always smelt of dust and gas from lights oh what memories.
 

341o2

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Some of my earliest memories are going on holiday from Waterloo. Looking up at the old wooden departure board and seeing all the destinations that the trains would be stopping at.

for me, the two glorious summers when my godparents moved to Holsworthy and invited us to a free holiday, less fares. So we used the Atlantic Coast Express, and despite a bus service to Bude, I insisted that we used the train for our seaside visits. Mostly BR standard tanks and being invited onto the footplate.

On our last return, waiting at Halwill for the Padstow section and one hell of a bang as it was coupled up. Good ol' buckeye couplings

The church then moved my godparents to Ealing. Beeching's advice to withdraw the ACE and close these lines....
 
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