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Images from the train burned into the memory (but not your local area)

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muddythefish

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Views from a window and memories of Britain's heavy industry past...

Agree with previous posts on the landscape around Sheffield. I travelled from Manchester - Sheffield behind an EM1 circa 1971, and the steelworks and other industrial plants surrounding the city were awe-inspiring. The "Northern Powerhouse"really existed in those days.

Similarly, the DMU ride from Middlesbrough to Saltburn in the late 1970s, before Mrs Thatcher did her worst, and sheer gob-smacking power and might of the blast furnaces along the Tees, past South Bank. I'd hate to do the same journey today, they've probably all disappeared and been replaced by Tescos.

Schoolboy trainspotting trips to the sheds around Manchester and Liverpool, in some of country's poorest and most run-down areas, yet still clean and full of working class pride. Passing Speke Junction, with almost every withdrawn Crosti-boilered 9F in a long line - who could forget that ?

Another trip to Derby, barely 70 (?) miles from Manchester yet like another world with locomotives I'd never seen before, such as Peaks, and stations with different architecture, double telegraph poles, and diagonal station fencing.

Sitting on Carlisle station in 1967 after a visit to Upperby - and seeing about 40 Britannias in one day - and watching a Metrovic Co-Bo, the only one I ever saw, struggle through Citadel on a loose-coupled freight.

And then the big one - a trip to Bournemouth in 1966, to catch the end of SR steam, down from Manchester on the ultra-modern new electrics, walking across London at 5am and cabbing 35007 Aberdeen Commonwealth at Waterloo before the run down the SR main line.

Most of all, journeys then were full of railway interest. Even on short rides from home in Blackburn to Preston and Manchester there was always something to see with working goods yards and sidings full of wagons and shunting locomotives.

Journeys by train don't have the same appeal these days, while all the cities look much the same
 
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citycat

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I just thought I'd share some childhood memories of going with my mother to visit my grandparents several times a year, who lived up in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. This would be between 1968 and 1974. We lived in London, so we would go to Kings Cross to get the 08:20 (Saturdays only) service to Leeds. The calling points were Hitchin, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark Northgate, and Retford where we would get off, and then the train going on to call at Doncaster, Wakefield and Leeds.

From my memories as an 8 year old in 1968, the train consisted of Mk1 carriages in maroon and the locomotive would normally be a class 47 in two tone BR green. From 69 onwards, the carriages were a mixture of maroon and BR blue and grey, and the 47 was BR blue, eventually going onto all blue grey stock as the years progressed. I remember seeing the wooden Kings Cross signal box just beyond the platforms, the engine stabling point just before Gasworks tunnel, and usually a class 31 sitting at the head of a local service in the commuter platforms.

I don't remember anything distinct about the scenery on our journey to Retford, apart from Peterborough when we would pass the storage yards of the brick factories. The sounds I most remember though are the clickity clack of the wheels on jointed track and of course the sound of the brake blocks every time the brakes were applied. Also, how plump and comfortable the seats were in comparison today's seats on modern trains.

When we arrived at Retford, it was still the old platform formation before the station was remodelled. Our approach to Retford was signalled in the distance by the landmark of the chimney of the former Jenkins engineering factory. We would go through the subway to the other side and if we were quick enough, the train would still be there for me to see it depart, steam escaping from the steam pipes between the carriages. As it would pull out, I could hear the distinctive noise of the 47 in the distance as it would start to accelerate away. In later years when I started to travel about the railway system on my own, one of the first trips I did was on the 08:20, this time through to Leeds so I could finally see the mystery destination of my childhood train.

We would normally have about an hour before our connection to Gainsborough, so my mother would take me into the station buffet, comete with its hissing water boiler and clinking crockery, to drink some tea from a BR light green cup and saucer for my mother, and some Whites lemonade for me. The windows of the buffet were too high for me to see out at any passing trains, but I could hear them pass. You would be sitting there when suddenly things began to rattle, and you knew a class 52 Deltic was approaching, rushing through the station with that fantastic sound of the Napier engines at full chat.

When I got to about ten, my mother would trust me to go out onto the platform as long as I stood' well away from the platform edge', so I could watch the trains go through. Apart from Deltics and 47's, you also got the coal trains coming through double headed by a pair of class 20's. Occasionally, one coal train would get held by the station signal, and then when it started, there would be all the buffer clanging going on as the couplings stretched.

Eventually, it was time to head to the low level platforms to get our connection to Gainsborough, pausing to spend a penny (literally a penny in the coin slot) at the old fashioned loos with a cistern above, a pull chain, and the sound of the water as the cistern filled back up. In the seating area of the waiting room, there would always be a roaring coal fire in winter, the coal regularly topped up by one of the station porters in traditional BR uniform and speaking in a Nottinghamshire accent, strange to a London boy like me.

We would then wait on the ugly 60's style concrete low level platform, as the main line trains continued to roar above. I still remember the sign at the top of the stairs, indicating London and the South, Doncaster and the North. It was also about that time that the train from Cleethorpes/Grimsby to Manchester Piccadilly would pull in on the opposite platform. Mk 1 stock and a class 45 at the head. Pretty soon, our Cravens unit to Gainsborough would pull in, the engines rattling away. In 1968, definitely still in BR green with the BR logo, later changing to BR blue. If I was lucky we would get the front seats behind the driver's cab.

My distinct memories of the paytrain were the buzzer from the guard, and the sound of the engines as they changed gear. From a scenery point of view, it was passing through the darkness of Clarborough tunnel, and passing the water cooling towers of West Burton power station, with all the clouds of steam pouring out from the top, and the water pouring underneath the towers. We would then arrive into Gainsborough Lea road where we would go under the subway onto Lea road. As the paytrain pulled away, the sounds from the exhaust would echo around the station. My grandfather used to be on the railway so my grandparents had one of the railway cottages on Lea road, about a five minute walk from the station.

My father too was on the railway, though in the offices side, and in later years I too joined the railway as a Train Guard for GNER, so I was doing the ECML on a daily basis, never failing to look out of the window as we passed through Retford if we were not booked to stop. If I was doing tickets, the train leaning into the curve would be the first indication that we were approaching Retford, then the sight of the Jenkins factory in the distance before it was finally demolished for new housing I believe.

I would give anything to go back in a time machine to the late 60's and early 70's and do it all again.
 
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Bletchleyite

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My distinct memories of the paytrain were the the buzzer from the guard, and the sound of the engines as they changed gear

There's *something* about the sound of a classic DMU that just isn't there with modern kit, even if modern kit is in reality hugely better.

I think it might be to do with having two engines per coach, meaning you get harmonics that you don't get with one.
 

ac6000cw

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I think it might be to do with having two engines per coach, meaning you get harmonics that you don't get with one
You get 'phasing' effects with two engines running at basically the same rpm, like you get with twin-engined locos like Deltics/Westerns/Warships (a Deltic running on only one engine just isn't the same...)

As for memorable images from the train - where to start?

The coke ovens that used to be alongside the ex-Midland Sheffield-Leeds line (now partly closed) - bright red glow, heat and the pungent smell, best appreciated from the open window of a Mk1 with a class 45 on the front....

A driver's eye view of the Forth Bridge from the front seat of a Mk1 DMU.

The views across Loch Carron (on the Inverness - Kyle line) as the train squealed around the curves along the shoreline, accompanied by a class 37 soundtrack...(and the same between Fort William and Mallaig).

Lovely views along the French Mediterranean coast from the train.

The climbs on both sides of the original Gotthard tunnel route, especially the southern slope (this is definitely one of THE train rides in the world).

The very steep descent into Montreux on the MOB route from Zweisimmen - stunning views across Lake Geneva as the train zig-zags down the mountainside.

Climbing up into the Rockies west of Denver - the bit through the 'cinder cone' section is just 'other worldly'.

Watching the loco headlights illuminate the rock formations at night from a rearward car of the 'Southwest Chief' as it climbed the curves of Cajon Pass.

Watching the westbound combined California Zephyr/Pioneer/Desert Wind being split into three trains in the early hours at Salt Lake City (alright, not strictly a view from the train, but I was travelling on it so I think a leg-stretch on the platform might count?)
 

Bletchleyite

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Actually, this is probably the most memorable image in my mind I have from a train...I have a photo of it too. My most epic train journey of all - 48 hours in Sleeper Class (2' by 5' shelf) from Bangalore to Delhi, cost about £8.50. Taken when we stopped in the middle of nowhere, so as they do in India everyone got off for a wander!
 

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sprinterguy

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I was a student at Newcastle Polytechnic between 1983 - 85 and used to regularly do the run between Birmingham NS and Newcastle. Don't remember much of the journeys except for the southbound run into Sheffield. In amongst the devastation that was Sheffield back then - I'll never forget - the nosecone of a Vulcan bomber sitting in a scrapyard!!! I still find it quite bizarre so I'd be very relieved if anyone else can remember it.
I've been able to find one image of it online, at Coopers (Metals) yard on Brightside Lane, which incidentally was also responsible for cutting up a small number of class 76 locos following the closure of the Woodhead route:
http://www.picturesheffield.com/fro...words=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;t01301&prevUrl=

It's believed to be the nosecone from Vulcan B2 XM652, which was the subject of a failed attempt to preserve the complete airframe for display circa 1983 that ultimately saw the plane broken up. The nosecone has seemingly lead a nomadic existence moving from place to place since then, and in recent years can be found in Welshpool:
http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/vulcan/survivor.php?id=555
 

Welshman

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There's *something* about the sound of a classic DMU that just isn't there with modern kit, even if modern kit is in reality hugely better.

I think it might be to do with having two engines per coach, meaning you get harmonics that you don't get with one.

The sound of a classic Cravens unit which most sticks with me is the rattle!
Everything that could vibrate did -the interior doors, the quarterlights, the luggage-racks!!

Speaking of Cravens units - I think they were the only ones which had driving cabs with sloping control desks. I don't know if they made them easier to drive, but I can imagine one big problem was nowhere to stand the can of tea!!
 
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31160

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Laying awake in my mum and dads tent at Dawlish and all night very clearly hearing 50's and 47's going back and forth with parcels newspapers and freights excellent stuff, I went to Dawlish this week and saw 1 loco all day and I dont think that was in the timetable, times have changed unfortunately
 

AndyB28

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I've been able to find one image of it online, at Coopers (Metals) yard on Brightside Lane, which incidentally was also responsible for cutting up a small number of class 76 locos following the closure of the Woodhead route:
http://www.picturesheffield.com/fro...words=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;t01301&prevUrl=

It's believed to be the nosecone from Vulcan B2 XM652, which was the subject of a failed attempt to preserve the complete airframe for display circa 1983 that ultimately saw the plane broken up. The nosecone has seemingly lead a nomadic existence moving from place to place since then, and in recent years can be found in Welshpool:
http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/vulcan/survivor.php?id=555

Sprinterguy, you're a star! Many thanks for that, I was honestly starting to think I'd imagined it...
 
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