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lostwin - BR in the mid 80's

lostwin(m)

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13/07/86. 37415 emerges from under the road bridge as the driver re-starts the 14.00 Kyle - Inverness from Plockton.

835 final v2.jpg
 
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lostwin(m)

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08/07/86. By my standards perhaps, a very traditional composition to finish. But a sparkling, large logo 37 in the sunshine, with the classic Oban backdrop just calls for it. I guess i'll claim that choosing a crouched shooting angle adds an extra dynamic though! 37406 stands ahead the 13.00 to Glasgow.

755 final3.jpg
 
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lostwin(m)

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Oh, and I found this self portrait as well amongst my negatives - a reflected image shot through the kitchen window. 1985, so I would have been 16.

me2.jpg
 

lostwin(m)

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Lostwin, I’m sure I speak for many of us when I say thank you for posting all your photos.
The atmosphere of what you captured is so nostalgic and coincides time wise with many of the locations around the country that I was familiar with. Images that might have seemed commonplace forty years ago have nearly disappeared so you have done your bit for posterity!
Thank you, I'm glad you and others have enjoyed them. I do have a connection into a publisher, but there is little interest in B&W photos - the demand is for colour from this era. This Forum has been a great way to share and make them available, plus the feedback and extra contextual information provided in response has proven fine motivation to see this through to the end.

I haven't done a count back, but I guess that 250 - 300 images out of the 1500 have made the final cut, not a bad ratio all in all, even though you probably now know Leicester and it's surroundings as well as I do!
 
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Sun Chariot

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Many thanks, R, for taking many of us "50+ ers" down such a fabulous memory trip.
And thanks for the inspiration you provided me with my own, more "current", railway scene; I'll keep my thread going.
If I salvage enough acceptable images from my "1986-1995" prints, then I will do a "BR - the sectorisation years" thread of my own. :)

All the best.
 
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lostwin(m)

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I liked the idea of making a 'top 10', mainly because it has become such a moving feast for me as i have scanned and worked on images as part of this project - a number of which have been real discoveries along the way. Well, as it happened, 10 proved impossible - so I give you my top 15. Presented in chronological order, 1985 to 1987.

115 final.jpg162 final2.jpg212 final v2.jpg216 final.jpg255 final copy v4.jpg261 final.jpg279 final.jpg508 final v2.jpg887 final.jpg
 
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Cowley

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I think if we’re lucky there might be a new batch of photos coming…

Thread unlocked @lostwin(m)!
 

lostwin(m)

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Thank you Mr C. Nearly ready with a new batch of around 80 photos from my archive. First few should be up around this time tomorrow.
 

lostwin(m)

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A selection of shots taken 'window hanging' to kick off this batch scavenged from my negatives taken at the time.

10/08/85. 33062 is on the Bristol - Portsmouth roster that day. Seen here from the last coach wending its way along the banks of the River Itchen, just after Bitterne. (12.05 Portsmouth - Bristol).

[c334 update.jpg
 
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lostwin(m)

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18/07/86. I'm on the train behind 27046 approaching journey's end on the 09.30 from Dundee. 47635 is caught in Princes Gardens.

c883 update2.jpg
 

Sun Chariot

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06/05/85. My HST has the pace on 56082 on a long flyash train near Ratcliffe on Soar.

View attachment 169299
The (Fletton?) fly-ash workings are,.for me, a quintessential "1980s freight" with elderly PresFlo CPVs snaking behind a blue Grid. I never did see the working "in the flesh", as I was the wrong side of the UK at the time.

My other "1980s frieght" candidate: Railfreight 37/5 lugging clanky 21 ton MDV coal wagons up the Welsh valleys. I've a couple of 35mm colour shots.
 

eastwestdivide

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The (Fletton?) fly-ash workings are,.for me, a quintessential "1980s freight" with elderly PresFlo CPVs snaking behind a blue Grid
Minor point, not CPVs, but CSAs (air-braked and a bit bigger than most presflos). I was in Leicester early 80s, and it wasn’t always a 56 when I saw them. But yes, Fletton brickworks by Peterborough was the destination.
 

Sun Chariot

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Minor point, not CPVs, but CSAs (air-braked and a bit bigger than most presflos). I was in Leicester early 80s, and it wasn’t always a 56 when I saw them. But yes, Fletton brickworks by Peterborough was the destination.
I never realised they were larger bodies. But I've realised my schoolboy error, of thinking a vacuum-braked rake behind an air-braked 56. :D
 

lostwin(m)

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A couple of bright and clear autumn days during what was presumably a half term break, visiting my Grandma on the Kent coast. As usual, I spent plenty of time 'down the cliff'.

23/10/85. Newly refurbished CEP (or is it VEP?) on a London bound service at Folkestone Warren. I'm trying to imagine what colour this livery is, an early NSE variation with reds and blues?

c441 update.jpg
 

ls2270

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A couple of bright and clear autumn days during what was presumably a half term break, visiting my Grandma on the Kent coast. As usual, I spent plenty of time 'down the cliff'.

23/10/85. Newly refurbished CEP (or is it VEP?) on a London bound service at Folkestone Warren. I'm trying to imagine what colour this livery is, an early NSE variation with reds and blues?

View attachment 169352
It is indeed a 4CEP (Class 411). The livery is the London and South East sector ‘Jaffa Cake’ scheme that preceded the NSE branding that was launched in June 1986. Only some refurbished 4CEPs (together with the MLV Motor Luggage Vans that worked with them), 4CIGs and Class 309 units received the Jaffa Cake livery before it was superseded.
 

lostwin(m)

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A clamber upwards afforded a fine view looking East, as 1003 1604 forms one of the two units heading towards Dover.

c459 update.jpg
 
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eastwestdivide

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1003 forms one of the two units
Looks like 1604 to me! 1003 was a Hastings diesel.
How close was that to Samphire Hoe, the nature reserve they created from Channel Tunnel spoil? Weird place, but just alongside the line, and being at the foot of the cliffs, you get "welcome to France" on your mobile.
 

lostwin(m)

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24/10/85. The next day and another London bound EMU. In the far distance, just above the tunnel entrance can be seen Martello Tower No.1, the first of 74 such forts built along the South coast of Kent and Sussex.

c476 update.jpg
 

lostwin(m)

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24/10/84. The morning mail train was always the highlight, the only reliable loco hauled working. No Royal Train working today as pride of the Southern fleet, 73142 Broadlands, heads a fine chain of vans of varying vintage.

c475 update2.jpg
 

lostwin(m)

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Looks like 1604 to me! 1003 was a Hastings diesel.
How close was that to Samphire Hoe, the nature reserve they created from Channel Tunnel spoil? Weird place, but just alongside the line, and being at the foot of the cliffs, you get "welcome to France" on your mobile.
Corrected, thank you! Samphire Hoe is a couple of miles further East from this area. I know what you mean about it being a slightly strange place, as an artificially made landscape. Over time though it has matured and feels more natural and has fulfilled its promise of being a haven for wildlife. The Warren area too - where these photos were taken, is also now being recognised for its rare habitat and is likely to achieve a highly protected status soon.
 

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