• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

What is your earliest memory of travelling on a train?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Altfish

Member
Joined
16 Oct 2014
Messages
1,065
Location
Altrincham
I was born about 100 yards from the Altrincham to Manchester line; so we saw the MSJ&AR electrics, Chester Northgate to Central on the mid Cheshire line; additionally there were regular freights, in particular the Tunstead to Northwich ICI trains.
First journey, almost certainly on one of the electrics, probably just to Altrincham where my Nana worked.

Early journeys I remember were to Abergele and Prestatyn on the North Wales coast; we went to Chester Northgate and then walked to General to get the train onwards. Great memories of the Western locos (usually County's) in the bay platforms. One we were taken by car to Warrington BQ (It saved the walk across Chester) and remember seeing a 462xx as we reached the platform.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Joined
11 Jan 2015
Messages
677
Earliest conscious memory was a Southampton Docks boat-train in April 1974 aged 7. Ultimate destination Sierra Leone on the MV Aureol. My father was going to be working there and my mother wanted to go the old fashioned way, by boat. As a consequence I’m one of the younger people to have done a multi-day ocean voyage to go from A to B as opposed to doing it as a cruise.

As for the train we left from Waterloo on a loco-hauled set (probably Class 33 and almost certainly Mk 1 coaches). Living in Croydon I’d obviously used Southern Region before (though not from memory) but this journey seemed to be particularly rough (it must have been bad for someone brought up on the Southern to notice).

Earlier railway memories watching the trains go by from the recreation ground near Purley Oaks station including the Brighton Belle (so can’t be any later than 1972).

As for the voyage out the Bay of Biscay was horrible (I can remember being sick, my mother was definitely poorly and my father made every meal) but later everything became much nicer: definitely memories of seeing dolphins riding the bow wave.
 

Nonsense

Member
Joined
20 Oct 2009
Messages
292
My earliest memory of a train was a trip from Bolton on Dearne to York with my Dad. It was some time around 1979-81. I was very young, only remember vague bits of it, and I was sick on the train on the way home.
 

Tomos y Tanc

Member
Joined
1 Jul 2019
Messages
640
My earliest memory is going on one of the last passenger trains from Efail Isaf to Cardiff on the Barry Railway's route linking Pontypridd and Cardiff. The line closed to passengers in 1962 so I'd have been five at the time.

My Dad used the Barry Railway train to get work from Efail and I remember it was always jockingly referred to as the 'Saint Fagans Pullman'.
 

Trackman

Established Member
Joined
28 Feb 2013
Messages
2,922
Location
Lewisham
Earliest memory a dmu to the original Blackpool North station.
I was gutted when they rebuilt it into the soulless thing we have today.
 

Journeyman

Established Member
Joined
16 Apr 2014
Messages
6,295
I can't pin it down exactly, but as I was born in 1974 and lived in the Twickenham area for the first few years of my life, my earliest train journeys were on what I now know to be SUBs and EPBs. I can remember the Trojan moquette and the tungsten lighting very clearly, and it always makes me feel nostalgic when I see pictures of it.

When I was growing up, we were friends of a family down the street because my sister went to school with one of their kids, and the father and son were keen railway modellers and enthusiasts. They took me out on trains a couple of times, and I can remember my first trip on an HST - must have been about 1978. I remember the orange and blue interiors of the time. They also took me on a brand new 508 when they were introduced on the Southern.

I also remember trips to Hammersmith on the CO/CP and R stocks, and riding on brand new D stock trains.
 

beardedbrit

Member
Joined
1 Aug 2019
Messages
33
Location
Massachusetts, USA
When I was growing up in London (early 1950s) we lived in West Norwood; my parents were lucky enough to find a place for me at a newly opened nursery school in Balham so we traveled the two stops there and back on a Southern Region electric every weekday for a year or so.

Longer distance journeys: we had at least one summer holiday in Broadstairs and I remember traveling on the 'Thanet Belle' from Victoria - pretty sure it was pulled by a West Country/Battle of Britain loco. In 1953 we took advantage of a two week school holiday in June as part of the Coronation festivities to stay in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight; I can remember the 4-COR (as they were in those days) express going very fast from Guildford to Havant, and of course those wonderful IOW steam trains which we took from Ryde to Ventnor.
 
Last edited:

Wyrleybart

Established Member
Joined
29 Mar 2020
Messages
1,623
Location
South Staffordshire
This is a tricky one. My mum took me from Coventry to Northampton on an AM10 in probably 1967 or 1968 and we also travelled Tile Hill - Birmingham New St - Bristol and back for two consecutive Summer holidays which were either Aug 1968 and 1969 or 1969 and 1970. I remember the coaches were maroon Mk1s adn there might have been a large 16 wheeled beast on the front, sadly no photos or other evidence.


However, what makes this tricky is - my father was friendly with a dentist from Coventry named Dennis Blackham, who had a 7 -1/4" railway around his large garden. I remember being put prone into a Vale of Rheidol railway coach with the roof put back on, and hauled around Dennis' railway by his "Prince of Wales" 2-6-2.

Does that count as I was probably about five at the time ?
 
Last edited:

Strathclyder

Established Member
Joined
12 Jun 2013
Messages
3,178
Location
Clydebank
Either travelling on a GNER 225 set both from Edinburgh Waverley to Stevenage & from Peterborough to Glasgow Central (with a WAGN 365 from Stevenage to Peterborough for good measure) in early 2002 (en-route to Stevenage for a weekend to visit some distant relatives) or travelling on a ScotRail (Nat-X) Class 303 from Dumbarton Central to Balloch and from Balloch to Singer as part of a family day out to Lomond Shores/Balloch Country Park in the summer of 2001 (if I recall correctly). Those are my earilest conscious railway-related memories (unless something else suddenly springs to mind).
 

curly42

Member
Joined
23 May 2008
Messages
747
Plenty of trips from Cheltenham to Paddington behind steam in the 1950s,but an abiding memory is having D0260 "Lion" from Gloucester to London around 1962/3.
 

Calthrop

Established Member
Joined
6 Dec 2015
Messages
3,295
Seconded. A very enjoyable and nostalgic read.
I was hoping that a greybeard would have a pre-nationalization memory, but I haven't seen one.

I recall reading in one of the railway mags, not that hugely long ago; an interview with a very elderly enthusiast who came up with a pre-Grouping memory: of seeing as a small child, lines of splendidly gleaming black LNWR locos at Warrington. One thinks of the gentleman in the news a couple of days ago, who had just celebrated his 112th birthday. By his words when being interviewed on TV, he seemed perfectly "all there" mentally; if only he were a railfan...
 

WesternLancer

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
6,996
I recall reading in one of the railway mags, not that hugely long ago; an interview with a very elderly enthusiast who came up with a pre-Grouping memory: of seeing as a small child, lines of splendidly gleaming black LNWR locos at Warrington. One thinks of the gentleman in the news a couple of days ago, who had just celebrated his 112th birthday. By his words when being interviewed on TV, he seemed perfectly "all there" mentally; if only he were a railfan...
Yes! I thought of that chap when the point was made. And the lady the same age too. Maybe they both are? Just too busy to get on line:D
 

Calthrop

Established Member
Joined
6 Dec 2015
Messages
3,295
Some three years ago I started a thread in "Railway History & Nostalgia", musing sadly on how few must, then, be people still alive -- especially with clear and coherent memories -- who had known first-hand, various rail delights of the early-ish 20th century. Expressed thoughts there, that a person would need to be 100 years old or almost, to have relatively-early-childhood memories of stuff which perished in the mid-1920s. That pales in comparison with these two good folk; who would as at the mid-20s, have been a very young man, and ditto woman.
 

WesternLancer

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
6,996
Some three years ago I started a thread in "Railway History & Nostalgia", musing sadly on how few must, then, be people still alive -- especially with clear and coherent memories -- who had known first-hand, various rail delights of the early-ish 20th century. Expressed thoughts there, that a person would need to be 100 years old or almost, to have relatively-early-childhood memories of stuff which perished in the mid-1920s. That pales in comparison with these two good folk; who would as at the mid-20s, have been a very young man, and ditto woman.
This thread is quite good in that regard as it involves photos taken by a poster's father when he was at school - which looks to go back to 1920s/early 30s images
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/help-with-identifying-location.170505/

Yes, even to have decent memories of things pre world war 2, you have to have a good 'mileage' under your belt. I always enjoy posts from those who can tell us how things used to be before one's own time - always much to learn.
 

Ostrich

Member
Joined
15 Jul 2010
Messages
239
Earliest memories would be the scrummage on a summer Saturday at Birmingham Snow Hill to board our special train for our family holiday fortnight at Rhyl. Our luggage had been sent on ahead for collection at Rhyl station, and we paid to have a meal in the dining car en-route. I remember one year my father pointing out to me the shiny bell mounted on the buffer beam of the locomotive hauling us as far as Chester …. ;)

I'm fairly sure haulage from Chester along the North Wales coast was a Black 5. I recall the Welsh Dragon DMU service, the Land Cruise circular excursion via Corwen, Barmouth and Afon Wen riding in the observation carriages, and spotting on the intermediate Saturday at Llandudno Junction, where I saw my first ever B1s on specials - 61004 Oryx and 61044 from memory. There were also a couple of 52xxx (?) freight locos dumped outside Rhyl shed, but I could never get the numbers ….
 

beardedbrit

Member
Joined
1 Aug 2019
Messages
33
Location
Massachusetts, USA
And a couple more recollections from childhood: going on holiday to Minehead in 1957, alighting from the London train at Taunton and changing onto the Minehead branch train hauled by an aged and dirty GWR tank - don't remember the class. But most memorably - traveling Edinburgh to London on the nonstop 'Elizabethan' in the late summer of 1961. I was delighted to see 'Mallard' at the head, but disappointed when we were stopped near Newark for over 25 minutes - apparently due to a buckled rail ahead. But when at last we got going again she ran like a bat out of hell the rest of the way, arriving at KX just 5 minutes late. That was the last time I traveled on a steam hauled train on the ECML.
 

Calthrop

Established Member
Joined
6 Dec 2015
Messages
3,295
This thread is quite good in that regard as it involves photos taken by a poster's father when he was at school - which looks to go back to 1920s/early 30s images
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/help-with-identifying-location.170505/

Yes, even to have decent memories of things pre world war 2, you have to have a good 'mileage' under your belt. I always enjoy posts from those who can tell us how things used to be before one's own time - always much to learn.

Thanks for that linked thread -- absolutely fascinating. I somewhat regret that essentially I have never known well person-to-person in "meatspace" -- so as to be able to receive a decent amount of first-hand material re their experiences -- any railway enthusiast more than a year or two older than my 1948-born self. (I am within my family a unique one-off "sport", in having a strong interest in the subject.) The nearest I remember, to first-hand acquaintance with a "veteran" -- and that not very near -- was with the President of my university railway society, who had been on that scene, geographically speaking, "forever" as it were: first studying, then teaching. I remember him speaking of having, as a student, visited the Brill branch shortly before it closed -- heaven knows what other wonderful stuff he must have done. I wish now, that I'd bestirred myself to try to get to do a much larger amount of "sitting at this guy's feet", than actually did occur.
 
Last edited:

Ploughman

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2010
Messages
2,882
Location
Near where the 3 ridings meet
Earliest rail memory would be Merseyrail Electrics around 1962 and a last memory of BR Steam in 1967 between Liverpool and Fazackerley with a Standard Tank passing my train hauled by a 3f Jinty.
 

181

Member
Joined
12 Feb 2013
Messages
801
On the subject of other people's memories, my father (still very much alive in his mid-80s, but not a user of online forums) used to know railway historian Maurice Greville many years ago in the Railway and Canal Historical Society, and Mr. Greville had in his youth known Charles Rous-Marten. My father once asked him what he thought of City of Truro's reported 100 mph; apparently he laughed and said something to the effect of 'if you'd known Charles Rous-Marten you'd take it with a pinch of salt'.

As for my own experiences, apparently at a very early age (much too young for me to remember) I was introduced to railways by being pushed in my pram from Surbiton to Hampton Court to be loaded into the guard's van (presumably of a 4-SUB or something similar) to travel back to Surbiton. That would probably have been in early 1971. As we travelled by train moderately often, there's no one memory I can say is the earliest; the earliest that I can put a definite date to (without further investigation) was a trip to visit relatives in Suffolk and Lincolnshire in autumn 1975, including front or back seat views from various d.m.u.s (I was pleased to find a few years ago when looking at a picture of Skegness station, which I haven't visited since, that my memory of it was, as far as it goes, fairly accurate), but various undated memories of the Southern Region, a few preserved or miniature railways and the Motorail to Scotland are probably earlier than that.

I sometimes regret the fact that BR didn't stick to their original 1975 target date for the elimination of steam, as that would have been a few years into my lifetime; but the last workings would probably still have been in Lancashire and my chances of seeing them small.
 

ATW Alex 101

Established Member
Joined
28 Dec 2010
Messages
2,083
Location
Ellesmere port
My earlier memory would be on a Merseyrail train at Ellesmere Port, where I was invited into the cab with my dad. The driver gave me a badge. This was around 2001, when I was about 3-years old.
 

Fleetwood Boy

Member
Joined
11 Oct 2017
Messages
189
A memory which has always troubled me. In 1967 we holidayed in Morecambe. I would have been about 3. I remember a big steam loco on a passenger train in a big station when we arrived in Morecambe on the Saturday, almost certainly a Black Five in Euston Road?

Anyway, we were in a caravan and the site had a railway line at the bottom. My Dad took me down each day to watch the trains go by, usually DMUs. But one day the signal was on and up chuffed a tank engine to stop till the signal cleared. I remember it distinctly, including the fireman waving. Something like a Stanier or a big Standard tank.

Fast forward to accessible data on the internet and I thought I’d see if I could narrow it down. Only to find that there were no tank engines still in service (possibly anywhere, but certainly in the North West) by early autumn 1967.

Any thoughts? My memory is really clear of it being a tank and it’s general outline.
 

Wyrleybart

Established Member
Joined
29 Mar 2020
Messages
1,623
Location
South Staffordshire
A memory which has always troubled me. In 1967 we holidayed in Morecambe. I would have been about 3. I remember a big steam loco on a passenger train in a big station when we arrived in Morecambe on the Saturday, almost certainly a Black Five in Euston Road?

Anyway, we were in a caravan and the site had a railway line at the bottom. My Dad took me down each day to watch the trains go by, usually DMUs. But one day the signal was on and up chuffed a tank engine to stop till the signal cleared. I remember it distinctly, including the fireman waving. Something like a Stanier or a big Standard tank.

Fast forward to accessible data on the internet and I thought I’d see if I could narrow it down. Only to find that there were no tank engines still in service (possibly anywhere, but certainly in the North West) by early autumn 1967.

Any thoughts? My memory is really clear of it being a tank and it’s general outline.

Not sure if he is still around, but the man to seek out is Ron Herbert who was a Controller at Preston in those days. Ron has written several articles for magazines and I think still has extensive notes from the period you are asking of.
This might be a starting point https://shop.lyrs.org.uk/products/last-levers-on-the-fylde
 

WesternLancer

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
6,996
A
On the subject of other people's memories, my father (still very much alive in his mid-80s, but not a user of online forums) used to know railway historian Maurice Greville many years ago in the Railway and Canal Historical Society, and Mr. Greville had in his youth known Charles Rous-Marten. My father once asked him what he thought of City of Truro's reported 100 mph; apparently he laughed and said something to the effect of 'if you'd known Charles Rous-Marten you'd take it with a pinch of salt'.

As for my own experiences, apparently at a very early age (much too young for me to remember) I was introduced to railways by being pushed in my pram from Surbiton to Hampton Court to be loaded into the guard's van (presumably of a 4-SUB or something similar) to travel back to Surbiton. That would probably have been in early 1971. As we travelled by train moderately often, there's no one memory I can say is the earliest; the earliest that I can put a definite date to (without further investigation) was a trip to visit relatives in Suffolk and Lincolnshire in autumn 1975, including front or back seat views from various d.m.u.s (I was pleased to find a few years ago when looking at a picture of Skegness station, which I haven't visited since, that my memory of it was, as far as it goes, fairly accurate), but various undated memories of the Southern Region, a few preserved or miniature railways and the Motorail to Scotland are probably earlier than that.

I sometimes regret the fact that BR didn't stick to their original 1975 target date for the elimination of steam, as that would have been a few years into my lifetime; but the last workings would probably still have been in Lancashire and my chances of seeing them small.
great link back there to the legendary Rous-Marten!
 

WesternLancer

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
6,996
Thanks for that linked thread -- absolutely fascinating. I somewhat regret that essentially I have never known well person-to-person in "meatspace" -- so as to be able to receive a decent amount of first-hand material re their experiences -- any railway enthusiast more than a year or two older than my 1948-born self. (I am within my family a unique one-off "sport", in having a strong interest in the subject.) The nearest I remember, to first-hand acquaintance with a "veteran" -- and that not very near -- was with the President of my university railway society, who had been on that scene, geographically speaking, "forever" as it were: first studying, then teaching. I remember him speaking of having, as a student, visited the Brill branch shortly before it closed -- heaven knows what other wonderful stuff he must have done. I wish now, that I'd bestirred myself to try to get to do a much larger amount of "sitting at this guy's feet", than actually did occur.
Sorry - only just spotted your post (not sure why the alert sometimes tells you when you have been quoted, but not always...)

Anyway - I very much agree with you. When I was a child in the late 70s early 80s my father got to know an elderly chap (I guess maybe in his 70s at that time c1981) via a mutual model railway interest. Anyway, said chap was also a keen full size enthusiast, and a very generous spirited man in general. I recall being impressed that he had bound volumes of the Railway Magazine dating back to the 1920s and 30s on his bookshelves, various items of railwayana dotted about the house and most interestingly a lot of railway home movies and photos that he had taken which I enjoyed looking at. As well as a very good O gauge model railway layout in the loft with the classic brands eg Hornby, Basset-Lowke etc. He often spoke of pre war railway matters tho sadly I can't now recall specific things. He was very helpful to me in lending me pictures to use in a school project, and teaching me how to make better use of the SLR camera a relative had given me, including sourcing extra lenses for it for me. A very generous chap for whom nothing more than indulging a youngsters enthusiasm can have been his part of the discussions.

Sadly as he aged he had to move to smaller bungalow which was further away from us so my father and I met up with him less often. He didn't have children and I heard that when he pre-deceased his wife she disposed of his fascinating films etc to rubbish, which if true was a great shame.
 

Calthrop

Established Member
Joined
6 Dec 2015
Messages
3,295
Sorry - only just spotted your post (not sure why the alert sometimes tells you when you have been quoted, but not always...)

Anyway - I very much agree with you. When I was a child in the late 70s early 80s my father got to know an elderly chap (I guess maybe in his 70s at that time c1981) via a mutual model railway interest. Anyway, said chap was also a keen full size enthusiast, and a very generous spirited man in general. I recall being impressed that he had bound volumes of the Railway Magazine dating back to the 1920s and 30s on his bookshelves, various items of railwayana dotted about the house and most interestingly a lot of railway home movies and photos that he had taken which I enjoyed looking at. As well as a very good O gauge model railway layout in the loft with the classic brands eg Hornby, Basset-Lowke etc. He often spoke of pre war railway matters tho sadly I can't now recall specific things. He was very helpful to me in lending me pictures to use in a school project, and teaching me how to make better use of the SLR camera a relative had given me, including sourcing extra lenses for it for me. A very generous chap for whom nothing more than indulging a youngsters enthusiasm can have been his part of the discussions.

Envisagedly enviable are those who get the chance to hear things from sharers in whatever passion, who were around that long ago: the more so with an interest like ours, in which (for those of us with that particular bent) there was so much wonderful stuff which obtained "back then", but is now no more.

I had many conversations with a dear uncle (1918 -- 2010); re which I have posted a fair amount on these Forums. He wasn't a railway enthusiast as such; but was a very bright guy who delighted in many and varied things which the world around him, had to offer: he "got" what it was about railways in the era of steam, and most of the system still active, which kindled the passion in people such as me -- notwithstanding its never becoming a big interest of his. He loved talking about his doings in times past, and had interesting stuff to tell of, concerning rail-related experiences which had come his way in the course of his going about his life's occasions -- he'd travelled widely in the British Isles (not much, further afield: he was, a bit, of the "abroad is bloody; it's insanitary and full of foreigners" school of thought).

One of the most splendid "things heard from someone much older" which I have come across, relates to the USA. Came my way from a past message-board contact of mine, who was a railway enthusiast and a resident of Colorado. This chap -- I think roughly my age, born 1948 -- had been acquainted -- again, I think: in the 1970s or '80s -- with a gentleman born around the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries: once more, a bod with a certain amount of interest in railways, but not an "addict". Said elderly gent told my contact of travels in Colorado in his extreme youth, in the company of his father, who had a senior managerial position in the mining industry which took him to all manner of different locations in the area. These journeys often involved travel on the lines of the Colorado Midland Railway (named thus, not the more common American "Railroad"); which has a certain sad fame, as the earliest large-scale railway abandonment in US history -- at the early date of 1918. This fantastically mountainous-scenic and -acrobatic line was from its late-1880s inception, always something of a "white elephant" -- but would have almost for sure lasted at least a bit longer than it did; had its closure not come about largely as a result of dictatorial bureaucratic bungling stemming from US railways' falling temporarily under nation-wide control, as a result of the US's entering World War I. I feel that living memories at so few removes, of the Colorado Midland, must be more than a little bit rare.

Sadly as he aged he had to move to smaller bungalow which was further away from us so my father and I met up with him less often. He didn't have children and I heard that when he pre-deceased his wife she disposed of his fascinating films etc to rubbish, which if true was a great shame.

The above, in general, is sometimes a big worry for railway enthusiasts of my generation: when we die, which in the nature of things must be relatively soon -- what will our non-railway-obsessed nearest-and-dearest do with our collected, of whatever kind, rail-related stuff? It will often be what your guy's wife did with his material. A thing which exercises my mind a bit; albeit I have re this matter, comparatively understanding and well-disposed younger relatives...
 
Last edited:

SeanG

Member
Joined
4 May 2013
Messages
1,175
I have a couple of early memories, not sure which one came first!

Firstly, travelling with my father on a 1st gen DMU in the late 90s (presumably one of the North Western Trains/ FNW 101s) to Stalybridge from Manchester and being invited to stand in the cab by the driver - the only other person oboard was asleep - but we had to temporarily duck out of the cab passing a signal box.

Secondly, on a Mk2 or Mk3 Virgin set leaving Wigan, again late 90s, sitting down at an airline seat and there being a waste apple core in the seat back pocket - I was horrified that nobody had put it in the bin. Amazing what you remember!


I may remember going on holiday to a caravan park in North Wales and seeing 37s going past, but I may have just seen family photos and think that I remember it, if you know what I mean.
 

Arglwydd Golau

Established Member
Joined
14 Apr 2011
Messages
1,421
Had to think about this as it is reasonably easy to have false memories prompted by an old photograph or a tale often retold, but an early memory that I have was a journey from Pwllheli to Paddington in 1959 when I was four...having a steam enthusiast father and two older brothers meant that railways played a very large part of my upbringing. The only piece of that journey that has stayed in my memory was at Shrewsbury where we were scheduled to meet my Aunt for a few minutes during the engine change. I recall standing at the window with my father whilst he chatted with his sister, one or both of my brothers returned from the rear of the train (now the front) with the news that the new loco was 6000 King George V, which caused some excitement. For some time afterwards I thought Shrewsbury was a terminus as, of course, we went out the same way (I knew what a terminus was as there were buffers!) That was the only time I met that particular aunt.
Probably the same year...or the next as it must have been January....the family were sat in the warmth of the old waiting room on Peterborough station waiting for a train back to St. Neot's having been to a pantomime. Absolutely no memory of the performance, but I have always had a splendid vision of a train going past and noting the name on the engine 'Madge Wildfire' and the number 60135. I was a competent reader at an early age, and so it wouldn't have been too difficult to read the name, and recall of numbers was instilled at an early age!
 
Last edited:

WesternLancer

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
6,996
Envisagedly enviable are those who get the chance to hear things from sharers in whatever passion, who were around that long ago: the more so with an interest like ours, in which (for those of us with that particular bent) there was so much wonderful stuff which obtained "back then", but is now no more.

I had many conversations with a dear uncle (1918 -- 2010); re which I have posted a fair amount on these Forums. He wasn't a railway enthusiast as such; but was a very bright guy who delighted in many and varied things which the world around him, had to offer: he "got" what it was about railways in the era of steam, and most of the system still active, which kindled the passion in people such as me -- notwithstanding its never becoming a big interest of his. He loved talking about his doings in times past, and had interesting stuff to tell of, concerning rail-related experiences which had come his way in the course of his going about his life's occasions -- he'd travelled widely in the British Isles (not much, further afield: he was, a bit, of the "abroad is bloody; it's insanitary and full of foreigners" school of thought).

One of the most splendid "things heard from someone much older" which I have come across, relates to the USA. Came my way from a past message-board contact of mine, who was a railway enthusiast and a resident of Colorado. This chap -- I think roughly my age, born 1948 -- had been acquainted -- again, I think: in the 1970s or '80s -- with a gentleman born around the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries: once more, a bod with a certain amount of interest in railways, but not an "addict". Said elderly gent told my contact of travels in Colorado in his extreme youth, in the company of his father, who had a senior managerial position in the mining industry which took him to all manner of different locations in the area. These journeys often involved travel on the lines of the Colorado Midland Railway (named thus, not the more common American "Railroad"); which has a certain sad fame, as the earliest large-scale railway abandonment in US history -- at the early date of 1918. This fantastically mountainous-scenic and -acrobatic line was from its late-1880s inception, always something of a "white elephant" -- but would have almost for sure lasted at least a bit longer than it did; had its closure not come about largely as a result of dictatorial bureaucratic bungling stemming from US railways' falling temporarily under nation-wide control, as a result of the US's entering World War I. I feel that living memories at so few removes, of the Colorado Midland, must be more than a little bit rare.



The above, in general, is sometimes a big worry for railway enthusiasts of my generation: when we die, which in the nature of things must be relatively soon -- what will our non-railway-obsessed nearest-and-dearest do with our collected, of whatever kind, rail-related stuff? It will often be what your guy's wife did with his material. A thing which exercises my mind a bit; albeit I have re this matter, comparatively understanding and well-disposed younger relatives...

Thanks for this - I will look up the Colorado Midland - it sounds interesting.

Yes, I guess the only solution to the stuff is to bequeath it to railway clubs / societies or equivalent who might at least know how to find it ia good home and know if it is of interest. You only have to read some of the threads here to see what amazing notes of info / workings etc people have from their hobby - always interesting to see the replies.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top