Best eras for each lines - and times you don't miss

[Sun Chariot]

1. Everywhere when steam ruled supreme, and the chance of surprise when a loco from a "rare" depot might appear.

2. Anywhere served by Summer Saturday loco-hauled trains, especially if there was a chance of non-boilered locos working.

I'm guessing the second point is the diesel era. I'm imagining the chaos if top shed rostered a non boilered steam loco.

 

[contrex]

I'm guessing the second point is the diesel era. I'm imagining the chaos if top shed rostered a non boilered steam loco.

In August?

 

[Sun Chariot]

In August?

In any month. You won't get far with steam cylinders if there's no kettle-like boiler to make the hot steamy stuff in 'em.

But - yes - I know Bevan meant no-heat diesels.

 

[peteb]

Loco haulage in the 80s and 90s, starting with Merrymaker excursions from the Midlands where it was anyone's guess what'd be hauling, and what stock (usually MK1 SK but sometimes the odd FK or MK2a stock). Regional Railways services always a good thrash with 37s from Birmingham to North Wales. Wrexham Trains luxury to Marylebone.

I don't miss Midlands based Class 150s at all, never liked their seating layout, noisy ride.

 

[Bevan Price]

I'm guessing the second point is the diesel era. I'm imagining the chaos if top shed rostered a non boilered steam loco.

Yes - diesel locos such as pairs of 20s on services like Scarborough - Sheffield, Derby & Leicester - Skegness, etc., Pairs of 25s on assorted services to Cambrian Coast & East Coast resorts. Non-boiler 47s, 37s, etc. on other holiday services.

 

[DerekC]

Late 50s/early 60s on ECML - the Indian summer of A3s, A4s and V2s. Never to be forgotten. WCML and Duchesses were OK, but the show seemed mundane by comparison, somehow. And another vote for the front seats in a 1st generation DMU, pretty much anywhere!

 

[Cricketer8for9]

As someone who used trains 5-6 times a week the best period is one with a well designed, reliable and frequent timetable. Thus immediately pre-Covid in the London area. 15 minute service on both the Waterloo Roundabout services; morning and evening peak services from Caterham and Tattenham Corner to Victoria - Thameslink had just about settled down to name three that are no longer the case

 

[Sun Chariot]

Yes - diesel locos such as pairs of 20s on services like Scarborough - Sheffield, Derby & Leicester - Skegness, etc.

That takes me back: I had a pair of Choppers to Skeggy and another pair to Scarborough. Happy times.

 

[Transilien]

I always preferred the Ayrshire coast line before the introduction of Class 380s when there was a variety of Class 318 and Class 334. It may not have been better but it was definitely more interesting!

 

[Ghostbus]

Will miss....

* Desiro (Dynamic Lines). Looks fast, sounds fast, feels fast, is fast.

* NSE Networkers (Kent and South London). So futuristic. Sssshh..Clunk...Click.....Whirrrrrr.

* Class 59 (anybody). So futuristic. Angles! Trainy McTrainTrain.

* Class 91 (GNER). A perfect blend of old and new.

* Class 08 shunter. Tiny but powerful.

* Pacers. You put a bus on a train? Hilarious.


Won't miss......

* Anything painted in a Stagecoach/First/Arriva corporate livery. Bleeurgh

* Regional Railways. Grime on top of grime.

* Slam door stock. Seriously, what the hell?

* Cabs with corridor connection. Ugly.

* The HST. Looks cool. But my God the fumes!

* Any train with a round "nose". Pendolinos, Eurostars, Novastars, Class 8xx, etc. Ugly.

 

[Taytripper]

My list for which era was the best for each route:

• West Coast Mainline - mid 90s Intercity
• Midland Mainline - err Midland Mainline teal era or uniform Midland Mainline blue/grey c.2007
• East Coast - 1970s BR blue
• West Anglia - I actually have to say mid 2010s with class 379s and peak Kings Lynn services
• Great Eastern - 1989 NSE
• LTS - either 1989 NSE or pre-COVID 2019 era
• South Eastern (main line) - I have to say 1998 Connex/NSE era. I'd say pre-HS1 2009 but don't want to give up the Eurostars
• Chatham Main - same as above
• Brighton Mainline - probably 2010-2015. Proper Brighton Express services, Electrostars and Wessex Electrics
• South Western - circa 2001 early SWT era
• Great Western - 2015 HSTs/Class 180 era
• Chiltern - pre Covid 2019

Some eras I don't miss:

• Virgin Trains era - that livery always looked dull on the Pendos. The Avanti brand is so much better.
• Pre-rebuild Blackfriars station - I remember the first time I went to that station when I was about 10 years old, I think. I have a feeling it was on a Saturday morning, so naturally the station was deserted, but I remember it being pretty creepy. There was a ghostly atmosphere; the cranking of the escalators, the faded Victorian optimism of the architecture, the lack of people. And to top it off, I remember distinctly finding Virgin Cross Country timetables from the leaflet racks on the platform - which was pretty uncanny. The new station, whilst wonderfully soulless, is at least not creepy.

Anyway, that's 10 mins of my time soaked up!

Growing up along the midland mainline I also fondly remember the MML teal era and agree it was (for me) one of the best era’s on that route. Also anywhere around the north midlands circa 1995-2005 when class 37/56/60 were still common on freight workings.

 

[SteveM70]

For me, without a doubt, the far north and Kyle lines in the early/mid 1980s.

It was like a whole different world north of Inverness, the pace of life was slower, the railway was more important, and you saw a different way of living to pretty much anywhere else I went by train back then.

At the beginning of that period the 26s puttering away, then latterly the 37s growling, both swathed in steam outside of the summer.

It looked different to anything else, it smelt different to anything else, and it felt different to anything else

And there are some very specific memories too…..

- waiting at Achnasheen for the last train to Inverness after a longish walk on a snowy day in winter, and being glad to hear and then see 26042 (99% sure of this, notebooks long since lost though) appear out of the gloom and then collapsing into a lovely warm compartment

- those mad formations with all the BGs for newspapers and mail, and vans on the platform to meet the train at some stations

- peering out of the window coming into Georgemas to get first glimpse of what was working the Thurso portion

- getting to Kyle and then the ferry across to Kyleakin, so much more romantic than bypassing Kyle and going over the bridge

- the rhythmic clickety clack of jointed track

- and finally the disappointment of leaving Inverness headed south, wondering when I’d next be back

Oh for a time machine

 

[peteb]

For me, without a doubt, the far north and Kyle lines in the early/mid 1980s.

It was like a whole different world north of Inverness, the pace of life was slower, the railway was more important, and you saw a different way of living to pretty much anywhere else I went by train back then.

At the beginning of that period the 26s puttering away, then latterly the 37s growling, both swathed in steam outside of the summer.

It looked different to anything else, it smelt different to anything else, and it felt different to anything else

And there are some very specific memories too…..

- waiting at Achnasheen for the last train to Inverness after a longish walk on a snowy day in winter, and being glad to hear and then see 26042 (99% sure of this, notebooks long since lost though) appear out of the gloom and then collapsing into a lovely warm compartment

- those mad formations with all the BGs for newspapers and mail, and vans on the platform to meet the train at some stations

- peering out of the window coming into Georgemas to get first glimpse of what was working the Thurso portion

- getting to Kyle and then the ferry across to Kyleakin, so much more romantic than bypassing Kyle and going over the bridge

- the rhythmic clickety clack of jointed track

- and finally the disappointment of leaving Inverness headed south, wondering when I’d next be back

Oh for a time machine

Agree, north Scotland in the 1980s was marvellous. I also liked the Mallaig route when loco hauled, especially the Rannoch Moor section, looking out of opening windows to take photos.

 

[peteb]

I'm guessing the second point is the diesel era. I'm imagining the chaos if top shed rostered a non boilered steam loco.

I recall taking a VERY cold Merrymaker Excursion from Cradley Heath to Cardiff, possibly winter 1978/9. Toilets completely frozen. Ice on inside of windows. Train was virtually empty. We were allowed off at Gloucester to get a hot drink and a 15 minute warm in the buffet. I guess a non heat loco was used as the stock was obviously mark 1 and dual heated SKs mainly. They must have rostered a heat providing engine on the return as I have no notes about that at all.

 

[Mat17]

I miss slamdoors.

I don't miss Pacers.

 

[Tetchytyke]

GNER if travelling Standard - people look back at them with rose tinted spectacles but it was really only First Class that was good.

I'd say it was the other way around. First Class on GNER was mediocre at best, you got nothing bar a cup of crap coffee and a bigger seat. The restaurant service was good but that wasn't first class, that was extra.

For First Class service the high watermark on the ECML was East Coast.

GNER standard was good, with the trolley service in addition to the buffet counter and with the very pleasant refresh of the HSTs from the bright lights and orange chevrons of Intercity into that soothing brown and nicely diffused lighting.

1990s on the WCML was depressing - watch that Victoria Wood Great Railway Journey. The whole thing felt like the railway was going to close next week.

It was incredibly variable. Get a full Mk3 on a Euston train, especially after Virgin had 'densified' them, and it was awful. But the Mk2Fs on the CrossCountry stuff were really very pleasant- big windows, lots of table seats, and the wingback headrests.

 

[Bletchleyite]

GNER standard was good, with the trolley service in addition to the buffet counter and with the very pleasant refresh of the HSTs from the bright lights and orange chevrons of Intercity into that soothing brown and nicely diffused lighting.

But when they did that refurb they replaced the seats with something utterly awful and backache-inducing, a single piece cushion where the base sloped the wrong way. Few liked them. The same frames were retained by VTEC but mercifully with a much more comfortable, softer two-piece cushion. But before that the original seats were pretty rubbish, too.

As for the brown HST interior I've never seen anything so utterly ugly in my life. It looked like the inside of a casino in the 1970s, complete with fag burns pre-added to the panelling.

It was incredibly variable. Get a full Mk3 on a Euston train, especially after Virgin had 'densified' them, and it was awful.

Virgin didn't "densify" Mk3s. The 76 seat interior was done by InterCity in the 1980s.

But the Mk2Fs on the CrossCountry stuff were really very pleasant- big windows, lots of table seats, and the wingback headrests.

Never liked those. The wings were too low down so I had to slouch, and there was no middle armrest. And they just looked old and decrepit.

 

[Acey]

Riding the DEMUs on the CX - Hastings line late sixties early seventies,just loved the sound of those diesels and the tossing and turning of the track layout !

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Summer Saturdays late 1960s and 1970s Preston-Blackpool - all the Blackpool specials

 

[yorksrob]

Riding the DEMUs on the CX - Hastings line late sixties early seventies,just loved the sound of those diesels and the tossing and turning of the track layout !

Yes, very good sound effects !

 

[SteveM70]

Agree, north Scotland in the 1980s was marvellous. I also liked the Mallaig route when loco hauled, especially the Rannoch Moor section, looking out of opening windows to take photos.

The West Highland was great too, but to me it just felt a lot less remote and other-worldly than the far north and Kyle. I know Rannoch is a remote area, but beyond Inverness *everything* seemed remote. Maybe its because it took longer to get there

 

[Pigeon]

I miss the pre-HST era when air conditioning and formation blight had not yet taken hold, and you would find long rakes of Mk2 non-aircon stock on inter-city services. The seats in a second class Mk2 open are still the best. (Mk1 open seats were a peculiar and not entirely congenial chunky shape; Mk3 seats seemed to aim at the Mk2 standard but fail to reach it due to trying too hard to be all slimline and modern and Trimphone and Harris Mann.)

The trouble with a Mk1 compartment was that the layout naturally produces only one properly decent seat per compartment, which was a pain if the train was at all busy. However if it was nearly empty and you could get a compartment to yourself, then turning up the steam heat against the cold outside and turning the lights to "dim" (or removing the bulbs altogether) would make a lovely cosy little den out of it. It also made it possible to actually have a proper cup of tea on board a train, by bringing a bottle of water, a flask of milk, a box of tea leaves, a cup, a teapot, and a camping stove along with me and brewing up in the middle of the compartment floor; this is indeed about the only method that works of getting a proper cup of tea anywhere away from home, but I don't think it works very well on trains any more.

The Mk2 opens were also unusual in that they had usually made a decent effort to keep them clean; the upholstery was blue, the tables weren't sticky and the windows were pretty well transparent. One thing I do not miss is the utter filth that you could so easily drop into once you got onto the minor routes. The local DMUs weren't exactly clean and spruce, but in some areas they were appalling; seat covers the colour of filthy old overalls and greasy brown filth all over the outside of the windows, which if it rained turned into such an occluded mess that you couldn't see out. Trying to look at the views of the Cumbrian coast through this stuff if the weather wasn't great was a bit pointless...

The DMUs locally got a whole lot more pleasant when they finally got round to re-covering the seats, doing up the paintwork, and scraping the dirt of years out of all the crevices in the ill-designed interior fitments. They still stank and rattled and hunted and barely made it up the Lickey, but they were much more pleasant places to sit in with all the grime removed. That's about the one thing I think the railway does get a lot more right these days - of course it helps that modern interior trim is much better designed for avoidance of filth-trapping crevices, but a cushion is still a cushion, and it's nice to be able to sit on them without worrying why they're that colour nearly as confidently as you can at home.

 

[steamybrian]

Late 1950s/early 1960s- Not only for steam haulage, first generation of diesels/DMUs and of course those rural branch lines with stations fitted with gas/oil lighting.

 

[nw1]

For Southern Region/NSE, and in particular the Waterloo lines: late BR, from around 1982 to 1990. 1982 because it was the first year I used the trains, 1990 because it was the last year when the railways felt they were on the "up", with cuts starting to happen in 1991.

For the "before my time" era I'd have liked to experience the Atlantic Coast Express, though.

 

[Winthorpe]

Purely for nostalgia, I used to enjoy the WCML during the early 2000s. Just before and during the introduction of the class 390 Pendolinos. I used to enjoy seeing what turned up. Usually rakes of carriages in mixed liveries. Some carriages in the VT red/black livery, some others in the InterCity livery.

I was a student so punctuality didn’t matter much. But from the practical railway perspective it was hopeless. If I needed to be somewhere at a certain time I’d allow for at least one cancellation just in case. Within five years that was unnecessary. Should not forget the railway worked really well from the late 2000s until the Covid era.

 

[Strathclyder]

From what little I can remember of it, the early 2000s on the Argyle/North Clyde Lines (my local lines).

As a very young tyke, the variety in stock on these lines really stood out and helped spark my initial interest in the railways, specificially my handful of sightings of & rides on the by-then rapidly disappearing Class 303s. I was 6 when the last examples were retired and of course couldn't be expected to be aware of the turbulent (to put it mildly) introduction of their replacements - the 334s - and the underlying reasons for it. By the time I was old enough to travel by train solo, they had settled down significantly and were a staple of family trips to Ayr/Largs.

 

[nw1]

In terms of Cross Country (Reading axis), my favourite timetable would probably be 1982/3, which was actually the year before I first started seriously "getting into" XC.

I did make one XC trip to Stafford and back from Guildford in late 1982, however it was only during the 1983/4 timetable that I first started seriously observing XC operations.

The reasons why the 1982 timetable edges it, however, are:

- it was the first year the Portsmouth-Manchester ran, which was my "local" XC service; any candidate for favourite XC timetable has to feature a Portsmouth service.
- a slightly-better-than-hourly frequency from Reading to Birmingham, due to a large number of Paddington-originators in addition to decent numbers of Pooles, Brightons and Portsmouths. This was never bettered in the following few years, which all featured at least one 2-hour gap during the day.
- Birmingham-Manchester was also hourly with just one gap, a pattern introduced 1979. From 1983 more gaps appeared on this route.
- hourly service from Stafford to Birmingham, again in later years gaps appeared. Stafford was a station I visited a fair amount. Where there would have been gaps, they got a Glasgow/Edinburgh service to call.

It's a shame my interest hadn't developed fully by 1982/3. The timetable is available in the 1982 GBPTT available for free (uniquely) on Timetable World.

More generally I would probably say 1982/83-1986/87 was especially good for XC. The Portsmouths went in May 1987 and by then there were less changeovers of locos in New Street, so while there was still plenty of interest to be had right up to the end of the 20th century, the stated period was especially good.

However I could also extend that and say 1979 to 2000 for XC as the "classic XC" carried on pretty much right up to the end of the century. Indeed, my first rail trip of the year 2000 was a good old "47 to New Street, 86 onwards" classic XC service, the Sunday morning Poole to Glasgow, I think. I chose 1979 as the starting year as that seems to be when "XC-as-we-knew-it" came to be with the Brightons, and some Paddingtons working through to Manchester/Liverpool.

As for least-favourite XC period: Arriva! (especially post-Covid...)

* Slam door stock. Seriously, what the hell?

I realise I am a fan of the SR slam-door era, but: what was the alternative in the 50s and 60s when most of it was built?

One era from the not-too-distant past which I don't miss is when South West Trains operated unrefurbished ex-Southern Class 456s on the Guildford to Ascot route.

I remember using one of these from Wanborough to Guildford in October 2014. My only ever trip on a 456, my only ever use of Wanborough station, and I have to admit it was an interesting change to the typical traction on SWT so I quite enjoyed it!

My favourite era of anything in the entirety of railway history as I've experienced it has to be Class 101s on the Conwy Valley, without any shadow of a doubt.

Something I thankfully experienced, in the latter years (1997-99). Did Llandudno Junction-Betws-y-Coed and v.v. and Blaenau Ffestiniog to the station with the youth hostel in the valley (was it Dolwyddelan?) and v.v. So did most of the line except a small section in the middle.

1990s on the WCML was depressing - watch that Victoria Wood Great Railway Journey. The whole thing felt like the railway was going to close next week.

I didn't mind the 1990s on the WCML, and I did travel via Euston around 1991-93 quite a bit in particular, which was presumably the worst period being the recession. Didn't seem that run-down to me, and of course, from an enthusiast POV it was still the good old AC electric locos we knew and loved, albeit with DVTs.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

I remember using one of these from Wanborough to Guildford in October 2014. My only ever trip on a 456, my only ever use of Wanborough station, and I have to admit it was an interesting change to the typical traction on SWT so I quite enjoyed it!

I do agree to an extent. From an enthusiast's perspective they were certainly interesting, but from a purely comfort (and general passenger) point of view they were truly dreadful.

My biggest gripe was how dodgy they felt on that line, particularly after dark.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I miss Preston in the 1973 to 1974 timeframe. Double Headed 50s and electrification north with loco changes etc. Even to Blackpool.

 

[nw1]

I miss Preston in the 1973 to 1974 timeframe. Double Headed 50s and electrification north with loco changes etc. Even to Blackpool.

50s up there always seems a bizarre concept, as for me they were always solidly "Western" machines.