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Time Travel, what would you go back and see?

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Heinz57

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So let’s say time travel is possible, and you can safely go back to whenever you like, see whatever you want and not effect anything. Where would you go?

Now these don't have to be railway related and you can have as many as you like.

I'll start...

I'd go back to 1996, to witness those screaming Velentas again (how I miss that sound) and the MML teal green livery (and this livery) under the old St Pancras (and how the station used to be). I'd also like to see how long after privatisation there was InterCity liveried stock on MML. You often see photos going up to the late 90s/early Millennium of InterCity stock on Virgin and GNER, but never on MML, even early photos show full sets.

I'll also go back to X-Factor 2009, shortly before Jedwards audition and tell the judges (particularly Lois) what a big mistake they are about to make.

I'll also go back to 2003 and put a little investment into a certain new project of Mark Zuckerbergs :lol:

I'll probably think of more later, but for now it’s over to you...
 
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trentside

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There are a few things I'd quite like to do - but I'll stick specifically to rail related things as if I start going on about historical events we'll be here forever;

1) Go back and ride on the various slam-door EMUs in service with NSE, as I never got the chance to - only really getting into railways after their demise.

2) A chance to ride the Epping to Ongar line when it was electrified and part of the Underground network. Coupled with that a chance to ride on the 1962 Stock again would be wonderful - one of my earliest railway memories is of those trains.

3) Sticking with the Underground, I'd love to have ridden some of the older surface stocks - the CO/CPs, Rs and Qs on the District and Circle lines.

4) Go back to Lincoln St Marks before its closure, as I never got to see it. Coupled with some non-preserved first gen DMU action.

5) A general chance to go back an experience the wonderful 'bashing' days people talk about during the 70s and 80s with plenty of loco hauled action etc. I think this one should probably top the list - as I'm sure it would for many on here ;)
 

Darandio

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I'll also go back to X-Factor 2009, shortly before Jedwards audition and tell the judges (particularly Lois) what a big mistake they are about to make.

I think you would find that Louis Walsh does not think this was a mistake. As irritating as they are, they have made him a lot of money.
 

ainsworth74

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Some rail related:

1) Go back to about 1938 to experience the Big Four at their height and the height of the steam powered railway.

2) Back to 1960 to experience the railway as it was just starting to transition from steam to diesel/electric and just before the Beeching Axe.

3) Back to 1985 to experience the railway on the eve of full on Sprinter and Pacerization as well as things like Valenta HSTs, first gen DMUs and sectorisation.

Those would be my three railway destinations and whilst I'm aware that they're very broad you didn't say there was a time limit so I'm planning on going back to each for some time ;)

As for none rail related ones:

1) Go back to the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and in two parts a) See the battle unfold from David Beatty's flagship Lion and then b) See the battle unfold from John Jellicoe's flagship Iron Duke. This is mostly because I wrote my Dissertation on the battle so I'd rather like to see the thing for real.

2) V-E Day in London

Actually I'm going to leave it at that because otherwise we'll be here all day!
 

4SRKT

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Aberystwyth 37s. No question of it. The best railway experiences of the golden summers of my '80s youth. <sigh>
 

Aictos

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How about researching what was the biggest UK/Euro Lotto payout, then using these same numbers to win it then when back in present time you can use your ill gotten gains to do whatever you want to :)

That aside, I would have liked to have seen Network South East in it's height of popularity as well.
 

Lampshade

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Rail related: I'd go back to 1968 to do the final run from Manchester Central - London St Pancras via Millers Dale on the Blue Pullman.

Non-rail related: England winning the World Cup.
 

SS4

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How about researching what was the biggest UK/Euro Lotto payout, then using these same numbers to win it then when back in present time you can use your ill gotten gains to do whatever you want to :)

That sounds like a good idea to me! Due to causality I'd be very careful about changing too much in the past, none of this sleeping with my grandmother business - I'm no Philip J Fry!

I would go back in time and get myself in the public sector before they started these fixed term appointments. I'd go back to various points for gigs to see Queen, Hendrix, Sabbath, Priest, Scorpions etc.
 

Yew

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Railway related:
See the APT-P runs and get some haulage

Ride some INTERCITY liveried trains, specifically the sleeper

Deltics and Kettles on the ECML.

Non-railway : The apollo 11 launch, and moon landing. Maybe the naval flotilla for Queen Vic's diamond jubilee
 

Schnellzug

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X Factor? :o

How about:
A trip from Paddington to Plymouth on the broad guage (in first class, of course);
from Euston to Crewe in the heyday of the LNWR, perhaps behind a Webb Compound, and then going forward a bit to Crewe to Glasgow behind a Duchess;
KX to Edinburgh behind an A3 or A4, then back via the Waverley route and the S&C.
Waterloo to Plymouth on the Atlantic Coast Express behind a Merchant Navy and a West Country;
and coming back (going forward, again, a few years) from Plymouth to Padd behind a Warship or Western.
And perhaps a Blue Pullman as well.
 

185

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1. Go to Scotland 30 years ago, abduct Moir Lockhead and Brian Souter, and ask Avid Merrion to imprison the pair in his cupboard.
 

The 375 King

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So let’s say time travel is possible, and you can safely go back to whenever you like, see whatever you want and not effect anything. Where would you go?

Now these don't have to be railway related and you can have as many as you like.

I'll start...

I'd go back to 1996, to witness those screaming Velentas again (how I miss that sound) and the MML teal green livery (and this livery) under the old St Pancras (and how the station used to be). I'd also like to see how long after privatisation there was InterCity liveried stock on MML. You often see photos going up to the late 90s/early Millennium of InterCity stock on Virgin and GNER, but never on MML, even early photos show full sets.

I'll also go back to X-Factor 2009, shortly before Jedwards audition and tell the judges (particularly Lois) what a big mistake they are about to make.

I'll also go back to 2003 and put a little investment into a certain new project of Mark Zuckerbergs :lol:

I'll probably think of more later, but for now it’s over to you...



I would have to go back to 1960 to see and ride the Golden Arrow through Kent.

On a non rail theme I would go back to 1973 because I could put £25,000 on Red Rum to win the Grand National.
 

sprinterguy

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I'd go back to 1996, and take all the photos that I never did (and the ones that are of infuriatingly low quality) when I was a kid around the railways of the North East. I'd also like to have another crack at the ECML Durham Coast diversions that took place over the Easter weekend of 1999.

I also fancy spending a week, or at least a long weekend, in the 1979 - 1983 period. Probably 1979/80.
 

DaveNewcastle

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No hesitation in choosing: The Library of Alexandria.

The presumption that the enormous body of knowledge lost in the destruction of the Library might still not have been restored, relearned or rediscovered will haunt us forever, but we will never know what had been lost.
 

WestCoast

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I've too many non-transport related to list, so here are a few transport ones:

1) I'd certainly go back to the period leading up to sprinterisation and experience the sights and sounds of that era for a couple of weeks covering as many lines as possible. The boat train, Manchester Piccadilly to Harwich Parkeston Quay, would be a priority, preferably enjoying a nice lunch in the buffet car at some point.

2) Then, I'd catch a BR Sealink Steamer onwards to Europe and do much the same thing there...

3) I'd travel back to 2002 and experience a supersonic flight on Concorde - the most amazing passenger transport machine ever built - before her retirement.

4) See London again with Routemasters being dominant over OMO double-deckers. It's never been quite the same without the iconic buses.
 
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Schnellzug

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4) See London again with Routemasters being dominant over OMO double-deckers. It's never been quite the same without the iconic buses.

The subject of buses is an interesting one. I think I'd choose London in the mid 1990s (when I lived near there), when there was a tremendous variety of vehicles and liveries, and you had an incentive to visit places like Edgware and Romford, rather than everything being a dull monotonous standard livery because of a Politician's whim. On the subject of aviation, I would love to see, at least (perhaps even fly on) the Empire flying boats; and then what about
'somewhere in England' during 1943-45....?
 
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I'd like to stand on a hilltop in the south-east of England about twenty five milion years ago and see great herds of plant eating dinosurs moving slowly over the plain.

I'd like to stand in the Globe theatre in the 17th century and watch a new play by that Grammar school boy from Warwickshire.

I'd like to have been on a great London rail terminus in the golden age of the railways and seen the hustle and bustle as an express train was getting ready to leave.

There's so much, there really is so much that I'd love to have been a witness to.
 

Clip

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I would have to go back to 1960 to see and ride the Golden Arrow through Kent.

On a non rail theme I would go back to 1973 because I could put £25,000 on Red Rum to win the Grand National.

Would you have 25K to put on it though :lol:


Id go back to November 5th 1955. Seems a lot was happenning then.
 

Heinz57

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I'd like to stand on a hilltop in the south-east of England about twenty five milion years ago and see great herds of plant eating dinosurs moving slowly over the plain.

I'd like to have been on a great London rail terminus in the golden age of the railways and seen the hustle and bustle as an express train was getting ready to leave.

Yeah I reckon I'd like to do them too.

I'd also like to go back and see what my town, Ilkeston, was like before my time. I'd quite like to see it during the 50s/60s when it still had three operational stations. I'd also like to see it during the 1980s and early 90s before the Chalons Way bi-pass was put in (the early 90s is during my time but I'm too young to remember them) because so much has changed in only the past 20 - 30 years. There are plenty of photos documenting this and people who can tell stories, but its hard to piece it all together. I'd like to see it for myself.

Another idea would be to go forward in time to Saturday and have a look what the winning lottery numbers are :lol:
 

Scotrail84

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1930s prohibition era in the states when capone and co were around. I love the suits and the way people dressed back then. Would be very interesting.
 

Schnellzug

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Or Heathrow Airport in the 50s, before all this paranoia about Security and all that nonsense, with Constellations, Stratocruisers, Britannias, Comets and 707s.
 

Green Lane

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I would like to go back and as an adult, appreciate the rail services I rode on in the 1970s, when I was a young child. Just very modest things really. :D

On my own doorstep, I would like to walk down to Rock Ferry station and ride a DMU directly to Helsby. This would be completely pointless, but on a personal level, I would love to do it.

I would like to catch any train from Ditton railway station. I am sure this would not at all be exciting, but it is something that cannot be done at present, and therefore intrigues me.

Going back a little bit further, I wouldn't have minded doing Liverpool Central to Gateacre either.
 

LE Greys

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Roughly, in order of priority
  1. 1969, to travel to Florida by 707 and see the launch of Apollo 11, then move on to Huston to see the Moon landings on television (regrettably, I can't be there in person, no space suit) then home, with a brief visit to see the very last of BR steam and a run along the ECML by Deltic
  2. 1976, to add some film of Concorde's first commercial flight to my film of the last one
  3. 1938, to travel on the Coronation, Coronation Scot, Cornish Riviera Limited and Atlantic Coast Express, that's a pure railway visit
  4. 1802, for a visit to Pen-y-darren
  5. 1829, the Rainhill Trials
  6. Sometime around 1860, park myself somewhere on the Isle of Wight to watch the tea clippers arrive
  7. The 1880s, to travel at speed by broad gauge and catch the Races to the North
  8. Sample a bit of Edwardian elegance in 1908, hopefully seeing one of the first flights in the country
And that's just the transport-related stuff
  • Circa 150,000,000BC, I've always wanted to see a Sauropod herd
  • Circa 330,000,000BC, the Carboniferous sounds fascinating, newts the size of alligators
  • Circa 505,000,000BC, the Cambrian explosion (I'd need a diving suit)
  • Circa 3,300,000,000BC, I'd need breathing apparatus, but might see the dawn of life itself
I could get a plot for a book out of this...
 

Cruithne3753

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It would be a laugh to be at the infamous Bill Grundy Sex Pistols interview, and to take an iPad loaded up with couple of Country Life butter adverts. I'd ask the young Mr Rotten to take particular notice...
 

MidnightFlyer

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Go back to the American Old West and just see what it was like, in a way it fascinates me. Also, go back to places like London and towns local to me over various stages of history to see how things have changed, and how and when fields turned into council estates.

Other than that, maybe go back to 1974~ and the late 1980s to see various aspects of our railways change, everything from old DMUs and Deltics to fully staffed stations (even the dead rural outposts) to timetables, and all the stations now totally transformed - Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly / Victoria, St Pancras, Stratford (London), Blackburn...
 

Cruithne3753

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Also, go back to places like London and towns local to me over various stages of history to see how things have changed, and how and when fields turned into council estates.

...dont forget to take a camera, you could make some of the most awesome time-lapse videos in the process!
 

PaxVobiscum

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:D
No hesitation in choosing: The Library of Alexandria.

I've been there - it's rubbish. http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/arts-culture-and-libraries/libraries/branches/alexandria/ :D

(Sorry about that one, DaveNewcastle).

Slightly more than a bottle's throw from the station. I have often wondered if the staff there realise what a heavy burden of expectation the name of their branch puts upon them. The irony of the name will be evident to all those who have had the pleasure of visiting the delightfully named Vale of Leven late at night.
 
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I've been doing some more thinking. What would be nice would be to go back to 1965. I'd just left school, steam was still in use on the main line where I was. The railways were being operated by career railwaymen who could get on with their jobs without some nanny Manager of the day telling them what to do and how to do it. Drivers knew their job and didn't need idiot boards under platform starter signals telling them to check the aspect. Signalmen could regulate trains. P-way blokes could work without the nonsense of PTS cards because they worked on their own patch and knew the area. The ticketing system was fair and simple with fares collected and tickets checked by on-train staff who didn't treat passengers with fares to pay like criminals.
If anything went wrong there were experienced people who could get it all right again with the minimum of fuss and delay.
 
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