LSGs Getting Out n About

[Iskra]

Looked a great weekend on the ELR! Nice photo's too.

 

[The_Train]

A superb, nostalgic read there 47403. Although I was lucky enough to see the railways on the 90s when loco hauled passenger services were still very much the norm, I can't help but feel I missed out on so much by not being born 10-20 years earlier.

 

[47403]

Looked a great weekend on the ELR! Nice photo's too.

It was a great few days away Iskra really enjoyable. Thank You, never had anyone praise me for my photos EVER, in shock but thank you for those kind words.

A superb, nostalgic read there 47403. Although I was lucky enough to see the railways on the 90s when loco hauled passenger services were still very much the norm, I can't help but feel I missed out on so much by not being born 10-20 years earlier.

Mr Train, we all have that, I wish I'd been old enough to be out bashing when the 40s and Westerns were common sights.
As for the nostalgia, thanks to some Facebook rail.related pages, it's allowing me to piece together a lot of scattered memories from notes that were lost. The 26 and 37 from Berwick has plagued me for years. I got a pdf of some of the DMU Replacements yesterday, from a guy, when the decision to put ETH locos on, instead of the big freight machines. Mainly 47s but still a few NB 47s, 37s and 31s sneaked on. I also missed out on 26038 dragging a dead 101 over the Tyne Valley.
Thanks for the kind words though Mr Train.

 

[MDB1images]

Cracking read.
Really do need to find my old note pads from bashing in the 80's.

 

[47403]

Cracking read.
Really do need to find my old note pads from bashing in the 80's.

Many thanks kind sir.
When you dig out them notepads, please share your stories. Unfortunately prgress marches on but it always nice to reminicise.

 

[433N]

A superb, nostalgic read there 47403. Although I was lucky enough to see the railways on the 90s when loco hauled passenger services were still very much the norm, I can't help but feel I missed out on so much by not being born 10-20 years earlier.

Yes. You missed Mrs Thatcher. Poor you.

 

[55013]

I love the ELR but sadly couldn't attend the diesel gala that you went to - looks like it was, as usual, a very good do.

I'll tell you what else I love - that 1980s nostalgia bit.
God, there's a few locos in there that caused me to go green with envy.

 

[Skymonster]

That report makes me want to visit the ELR again - it's been many years... The only problem I have is your dislike of Peaks - coming from the East Midlands, I have a great deal of affection for them. Will have to look up when the East Lancs has another diesel event - September 22 and 23 by the looks of it!

 

[Cowley]

Mickey - I’ve been up to my neck in plumbing and rebuilding our bathroom this last month so I decided to leave looking at trip reports for a few weeks and finally saw your 1980s nostalgia fest this evening.
Bloody brilliant.
I’d almost have Mrs Thatcher back to rekindle those days (I said almost)!
That right up my street, thanks for taking the time to write that lot out.
I came so close to having a 26 in the early nineties but just missing out on one on the Fife Circle. Used to love seeing them parked up at Inverness though.
Please share more stuff if it comes to you mate.

 

[47403]

That report makes me want to visit the ELR again - it's been many years... The only problem I have is your dislike of Peaks - coming from the East Midlands, I have a great deal of affection for them. Will have to look up when the East Lancs has another diesel event - September 22 and 23 by the looks of it!

Skymonster, regarding Peaks, each to their own sir. Its nowt personal to you wagon dragons, most Peak fans hated 47s too. Its only my opinion. If you like peaks and I hate them, it doesn't make either of us bad people. Please don't take it too personally, even though I'm right (runs for cover).

Mr Cowley thank you for the kind words, on the 80s Nostalgia. Only done it because I eventually got back a piece of them long lost notes, via a Facebook group. Even a pdf of locos working the DMU Replacements in 1987/88. Of which I had a lot but missed some biggies too. Here's a one I certainly missed, Robert Beaumont was in the right place at the right time, capturing a bit of a rare working.

26038 at Newcastle having dragged a failed DMU from Carlisle. Normally Carlisle stuck a rat, 31 or 37 on, to drag a dead DMU, however on 22nd Jan 1991, I'm not sure there were many rats left.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Mr 403 - let's all wallow in the nostalgia! Yeah, I am with you on Peaks but while we would wind up Peak bashers in the day, all old hatchets have long been buried.

I've still got loads to share but one day, when I get a little more time, perhaps.

 

[Skymonster]

Skymonster, regarding Peaks, each to their own sir. Its nowt personal to you wagon dragons, most Peak fans hated 47s too. Its only my opinion. If you like peaks and I hate them, it doesn't make either of us bad people. Please don't take it too personally, even though I'm right (runs for cover).

Its all good with me sir - I was speaking in jest - a bit! You like duffs, I like peaks. Takes all sorts!

 

[Far north 37]

Skymonster, regarding Peaks, each to their own sir. Its nowt personal to you wagon dragons, most Peak fans hated 47s too. Its only my opinion. If you like peaks and I hate them, it doesn't make either of us bad people. Please don't take it too personally, even though I'm right (runs for cover).

Mr Cowley thank you for the kind words, on the 80s Nostalgia. Only done it because I eventually got back a piece of them long lost notes, via a Facebook group. Even a pdf of locos working the DMU Replacements in 1987/88. Of which I had a lot but missed some biggies too. Here's a one I certainly missed, Robert Beaumont was in the right place at the right time, capturing a bit of a rare working.
View attachment 50634
26038 at Newcastle having dragged a failed DMU from Carlisle. Normally Carlisle stuck a rat, 31 or 37 on, to drag a dead DMU, however on 22nd Jan 1991, I'm not sure there were many rats left.

Nice bit of nostalgia there think the last time i seen 26038 was when it was on the scrapline in inverness back in the early nineties sad sight at the time glad to see its still out and about.

 

[47403]

Its all good with me sir - I was speaking in jest - a bit! You like duffs, I like peaks. Takes all sorts!

Exactly Skymonster, be a boring world wouldn't it, especially if we all liked Peaks.

Nice bit of nostalgia there think the last time i seen 26038 was when it was on the scrapline in inverness back in the early nineties sad sight at the time glad to see its still out and about.

Thanks Mr 37, a bit Nostalgia never hurt anybody. Nice to look back from time to time.
I remember seeing it parked on Gateshead shed one day too, maybe after it worked with the DMU, I'm not so sure on that. After the initial shock of seeing a 26 at GD, I just thought it probably rolled in off Tyne Yard, after doing the Kingmoor-Tyne Yard turn.
Happily 26038 does still see the light of day. Being kept busy on the NYMR filling in doing the daily turns, whilst the kettles are banned. Not so long ago it passed the top of my street, well on the Railway line, at the top of the street, being dragged by a Deltic on it's way to the NYMR from Boeness. Probably the first time I'd seen it since that very day at GD.

 

[47403]

A bit more Nostalgia, it's a bit of a rehash, from a thread I had earlier. Decided to put it here, many may have read it before but others may have not.

My First ever big trip away​

I was around 11 and I'd been badgering my dad to take me somewhere during the 6 weeks holidays, he'd taken me to the NRM one weekend a few months previous with a couple of my cousins and I was eager to get there again or go to Edinburgh, for a day out looking at trains, Dad said, he'd do his best and try and get some time off work and to leave it with him.
One afternoon, my dad shouted me in the house and said, I've got some news for you about going trainspotting but you need to ask a friend too, I was talking to Alan last night in the club and he wants to know, if you and a friend would like to go to Crewe with him and a few of his mates, I gleefullly said yes, then said, where's Crewe and are you coming too, he said no and its 4 weeks time, your going through the night, to Carlisle and down the West Coast, Carlisle, I said, its supposed to be brilliant there and overnight. Excitement wasn't the word.

If you want go you'll have to save your pocket money for your spending money, I had to choose a friend to go, there was only one place, so my 2 cousins were ruled out, there was only one option, my Tyne Yard companion, I nearly took his door off the hinges knocking to ask if he wanted to go. My Dad was told to go and explain to my friends parents and it was on, he could go.
In the 4 weeks leading up to the trip, any bit of pocket money, spare change and odd job money earned at grandparents houses went into a big jar in the kitchen. Alll changed to notes on the day at the post office and my grandparents added an extra tenner to the fund.
At 4 o'clock and like cats on a hot tin roof, my Dad, obviously sick of us being totally hyper told me and my mate to make ourselves scarce for a bit but be back in time for a bath and a change of clothes.

Where else would we go for a couple of hours? Tyne Yard ofcourse, stopping at the paper shop for new notebooks and enough pens to sink a ship and on the 10 minute walk to Tyne Yard, we spoke of seeing our first Electrics, we looked in our battered locosheds, hoping to see namers likes of Royal Scot, City of Lancaster, Peter Pan etc, excitement was fever pitch among us both.
Returning home, it was bath, ready, bag packed and sitting on the step for what seemed like an eternity, probably around about 45mins, waiting for my dads friend to pick us up, when he did, I just shouted, Alan's here, see ya , before being told to come back here and getting the speech about being respectful, thankful etc and have a good time, before adding, Alan if he works himself, give him a clip. Bet there's not many say that these days.

We all met at Central station, a few went for a beer off the Station, whilst the rest, accompanied my friend and I, taking the numbers down, marvelling how we were on Central so late.

After a while we boarded a 101, for the last train to Carlisle, it was then, my mate and I found out, why we'd been invited on this trip a) because Alan knew us and that we took notice but more importantly b) were needed for the railcards.

To be fair, Alan and his friends were brilliant with my mate and I, explaining what was planned and where we were going, a visit to the works planned on Saturday afternoon, then off to Chester, jump on the merseyrail to a depot called Allerton, then back home on the Liverpool to Newcastle, we learned a great deal from those lads on that trip.

At Carlisle the very first loco we saw is etched in my mind it was 37003, a Gateshead stalwart, we'd seen it at Tyne Yard in the afternoon:roll::roll:, we had an hour or so at Carlisle to kill, our eyes darted everywhere, our first electrics were a pair of 86's on a modal, an 08 was shunting mail vans and my mate and I went over an asked if we could cab it, the shunter driver an old guy, said hop aboard and asked what we were doing out of bed at this hour, we explained to him it was our 1st time in Carlisle and we were going to Crewe, I don't know if it was our excitement or our story but credit to that old fella, he said, shut that door son, I duly did as I was told and before we knew it, we were moving, we'd got our 1st cab ride in that 08, sure it was 08690 but I can't be sure. One of Alan's mates took a photo of me and my mate looking out the window of the 08 in the middle road of Carlisle Station, I wish I'd got a copy, it would confirm it was 08690, plus nowadays, it'd be a prize possession these days.

Have to say if we'd went home there and then, I'd have been a happy bunny indeed.

Our first ever electric hauled train wasn't an 86 or 87 but on other than 81013 to Preston, as we went over Shap, Alan pointed to the angle of the windows, I was quite gobsmacked at the time

At Preston, the Police asked us all what we were up to on the station and asked to look at the tickets, probably baffled why a motley collection of Geordies would be standing in Preston at god knows what hour, all the time, more electric hauled freight trains whizzed through, we couldn't(my mate and I) comprehend why they all were double headed but certainly weren't complaining.

85022 took us from Preston to Wigan, then after a very brief stay there, it was another 81, this time 81004 to Warrington, I was looking forward to an 86 or 87 for haulage, mainly because most were namers but was told by Alan, these are rarer, there'll be plenty time to be hauled by the 86/87's, I wasn't convinced. after a good hour and a half if not more at Warrington, which was an amazing for freight of all types both Electric and Diesel, it seemed everything we'd saw was a cop, truly fantastic. The next electric for haulage to Crewe was 86240, at last we'd got one.

Crewe was chocker block, we spent ages picking off loco's on Crewe Diesel and around the platforms, picking off the units and other passenger turns, both electric and diesel, my mate and I were on over 2 hours writing stuff down, evetually with our feet killing, we sat down on one of them parcel barrows taking stock of what we'd seen so far, this was trainspotting as good as it gets.

We took a wander to the Station shop and bought a copy of Rail Entusiast and as I was walking away I saw a spotters book and seen as we'd saved up for this and our locosheds were battered to bits, we decided to purchase the brand new Platform 5 loco, DMU and EMU books and all with new blue plastic covers to boot, my mate bought one of them labelling guns too and we labelled our books, so we knew which one was which, we were as happy as Larry, whoever he is. I didnt want to leave the station but with the works visit planned, we did and the wether it was the excitement or just the walk, getting to the works, seemed to take bloody ages.

The works was nothing like what I expected, but in a good way, definitely more interesting, than just getting the numbers. They were building the last 3new 56's then too, the numbers were chalked on the shells, seeing them repairing crash damaged loco's, can't remember if it was that visit or the open day, a few years later, when I saw 47452 there, 47452 had crashed on Morpeth curve and my mates and I saw it being dragged past Tyne Yard by a 31, 47452 was half covered in a tarpaulin. At the works, there was no tarp and we got to see the full extent of the damage to it, I asked then, will 47452 get fixed or withdrawn and was told it looks worse than it really is and it should get to run again, it was great news for this 47 fanatic.There was also electrics to pick off with binoculars off Crewe Electric, which we did rather succesfully

Back to Crewe for the next move, this time to Chester, even then, I was always been a 47 fanatic, so when a Peak took the place of the electric for the journey to Holyhead, to say I was disappointed, would be an understatement, only to be told again, you know how often peaks do this run?

I didnt really want to know but the journey was a laugh, with one of Alan's mates telling me some funny tales of the days, when he used to drive Claytons for the NCB. We bail at Chester and clamber straight aboard a merseyrail unit and off to Allerton.

At Allerton , I've never seen so many shunters in one Depot, mainly 08's but I'm sure the was an 03 and a couple of 37's too. Back on the Merseyrail to Lime Street, then it was a short hop on a DMU, I think one of lads wanted it for haulage but we did pass Edge Hill for and picked off the shunter there, then from Manchester to Newcastle it was 47422 home.

I had my head out the front window next to the loco as we left(bet thats a shock) but I decided to take a seat and promptly flaked out, till about Leeds, we all tried to pick off as much as we could at Neville Hill and York but I was too shattered but had the biggest grin ever, we got off at Newcastle and got the numbers of whatever was knocking about jumped in a taxi, got home and bored my dad to death before i was sent for a bath then bed after my supper. I waited till the next day to mark everything up in my new books an arduous task a one I still hate doing.
​

A sneaky move in the 80's​

Another trip back in time around the summer of 1987, the 6 weeks hols, was always a fest of Footy, Tyne Yard, Central Station and the local turns.
we always planned one trip for the start and one for the end of the school hols. A few of my friends and I we're planning a trip somewhere and seen as the start up one had seen us trip up to Scotland for the day, mainly to scratch off as many of the 47/7's as we could in a day, the plan was to venture South, we tried to convince our parents to let us go overnight to London but were all met with an emphatic, NO!!!

So as we sat at Tyne Yard, whinging about our London jaunt scuppered, awaiting the possibility of seeing a Class 25 or 26 on the Millerhill freight, we were discussing where to go in a couple of weeks time, a friend and I said, Crewe was good, there's Carlisle to take in, plus Warrington, throw some Leccy bashing in too. Then the brains of the group said, comeback via Manchester and hook up with the Liverpool-Newcastle home, yeah thats the trip sorted then.

Thats when it got a bit devious, now we'd been allowed to do an overnighter on Carlisle, due to numbers of us but after the London jaunt had went sour because of the distance, we were dubious wether it may go the same with Crewe, so we'd tell our parents that we'd decided Carlisle's better than nowhere. mainly so we could use the previous overnighter as a bargaining tool, telling our parents, well the last time we went overnight to Carlisle it was fine and we all came back unharmed. So after a 47 rolled in from Millerhill, we set off for home and We all agreed unashamedly, we'd tell our parents we were going to Carlisle but the whole plan was to go to Crewe. The subject had to breached quickly, because we had to make sure we had our rail riders vouchers topped up and savings to raid, not least parents pockets too.

My Dad was fine, who's going AND how much will this cost me, I suppose you'll want bait and a new flask too seen as you bust the last one. With parents humming and harring, who's going and your going overnight, I'll ring his mother and ask if she's letting him go mind, they all eventually agreed, so our plan worked a treat.

We all agreed to meet at a certain Bus Stop, so prying eyes couldn't be watching or hear any of us let the cat out the bag. We took the 2nd to last DMU over to Carlisle, it felt good handing over a ticket to Crewe to the gripper(guard), dunno why but 6 15yr old lads sat with huge grins on their faces all the way over Tyne Valley, the talk was of breaking the journey, like a friend and i had done previously but this time without adults.

Arrival in Carlisle has us cranning our necks to pick off a couple of loco's on wapping sidings and then to see what was round the back of the Station, result, theres a 26 and an 85, we stayed there picking of the freight trains when 86101 came in, 1st loco of the trip, we took it to Preston.

Again more freight passed before a member of staff came over and asked where we were off to and asked to look at our tickets, not so long after 87019 arrived, the gripper didnt even come down the train and before we knew it we'd bailed at Wigan anyway.

More freight trains were bagged, not all copped but more than our fair share were, Wigan was bloody freezing too and it was starting to get light, undaunted we pressed on, we were all looking forward to Warrington, as much as we were Crewe. next up was 86208. WarrinGton was amazing there seemed to electric and deisel loco's in equal abundance, class 20's on coal trains were a novelty to us, we were used to 37'S and 56's at Tyne Yard. Those couple of hours in Warrington, just flew by and all of us were happy as pigs in the proverbial. All too soon, we jumped aboard 86258 to Crewe.

Ever since my first visit, Crewe was my epicentre of trainspotting heaven,my 2nd visit merely confirmed it now, we were trying to pick off as much as we could off Crewe Deisel, whilst trying to watch for everything else going on, the rest of the lads, who were making their 1st visit, were saying, its blinding here, theres more loco's on Crewe Deisel today than a weeks worth at Gateshead

After things calmed down and us, we decided to purchase some tickets to ride the Euston-Holyhead, from Crewe to Chester, here the 86 was removed and replaced by 47490, this was had to Chester and the 1st diesel loco we'd had for haulage on the trip, since the DMU over the Tyne Valley, though then, we never counted that as a loco. We picked off the stuff round Chester, which included a few merseyrail units(what their numbers were were I'll never know) before 47539 took us back to Crewe, what really disappointment most, the grip got us, ruling out another trip back n forth.

However time flew on and with our notebooks fit to bursting, we decided to head for home, we wearily jumped aboard a train bound for Manchester Pic hauled by 86223, from here we had to get to victoria, none of us knew the way, so we split up into 3's and jumped in a taxi, after we'd had good butchers round the station first ofcourse, at Victoria we made our way to the platform where we waited for our last bash of the day, 47503 pulled in and took us home to Newcastle, we sat down and reflected on what we had seen and what we had pulled off, our parents all thought we were in Carlisle. one by one we all dropped off to sleep, exhausted but happy, we got home around 10pm. a big dent in our pockets but a helluva bigger dent in the underlines in our Platform 5's.

The fact we got away with it just added to the excitement, it wasn't till many years later we confessed at a New Years Eve Party what we'd actually done.​

 

[The_Train]

More awesome stories from the vault there Mr 403. Even though it is some years later you can still get a feeling of the excitement amongst you and your mates

 

[AJM580]

Great memories there, brought back my own memories of Coast & Peak rovers in the 80s, with many hours spent at Crewe, Warrington, Stockport etc. Highlights included 40122 on a Cardiff - Crewe turn and lots of roarers on the WCML

 

[47403]

Great memories there, brought back my own memories of Coast & Peak rovers in the 80s, with many hours spent at Crewe, Warrington, Stockport etc. Highlights included 40122 on a Cardiff - Crewe turn and lots of roarers on the WCML

Glad you enjoyed it. Glad I evoked some memories.

More awesome stories from the vault there Mr 403. Even though it is some years later you can still get a feeling of the excitement amongst you and your mates

Thanks Mr Train, that first proper trip away, is as vivid as yesterday.. When I read it, I can't help smiling to myself.

 

[rg177]

Sounds like some great trips from your youth.

Fear not, the adventurous kids still live on as when I was 15/16 I'd go off to Leeds, Manchester, London etc under the guise of somewhere local.

In fact I'm sure I only told my parents about my escapade to Berlin in January while drunk a few weeks ago

 

[Cowley]

Absolutely brilliant.
I can almost feel the excitement of the feeling of heading into a different region to start ticking off (at a speed a pencil had never moved before, well certainly not on a school book anyway) new exotic locos.
Like you it was a joy to see electric locomotives for the first time, especially the 87s which had such evocative names and were the WCMLs Premier Traction back then.
Everything was blue.
It was wonderful.

 

[55013]

Fabulous recollections.
I'm jealous of those 81s.

 

[47403]

Fabulous recollections.
I'm jealous of those 81s.

No need to be. Im sure you had stuff i wouldve loved for haulage too, Deltics especially. I had about half a dozen 81s for haulage, though i had a lot more 85s. Was never easy to distinguish between the 2 classes.
Neither of the above are my photos but they look identical, only difference is the 81s had windows on the side panels, where the 85 had grills.

 

[Cowley]

Love that mixed train behind the 85. I loved the sloped front on those old electrics.

 

[The_Train]

No need to be. Im sure you had stuff i wouldve loved for haulage too, Deltics especially. I had about half a dozen 81s for haulage, though i had a lot more 85s. Was never easy go distinguish between the 2 classes.View attachment 50958 View attachment 50959
Neither of the above are my photos but they look identical, only difference is the 81s had windows on the side panels, where the 85 had grills.

Were the 81s and 85s related to the 86 and 87s?

 

[Cowley]

Were the 81s and 85s related to the 86 and 87s?

Very different machines I think. 86s were a later development and then 87s were developed from them. 86s were very different inside compared to classes 81-85 though.
The worst out of the lot were the self igniting, spoke wheeled North British class 84s of course. Can’t be many bashers on the forum that had any of them?

 

[The_Train]

Very different machines I think. 86s were a later development and then 87s were developed from them. 86s were very different inside compared to classes 81-85 though.
The worst out of the lot were the self igniting, spoke wheeled North British class 84s of course. Can’t be many bashers on the forum that had any of them?

Thanks Cowley. They've got the look of the 86 about them which is why I asked.

As for the 84, not sure I've ever seen one of them. What sort of working life span did these locos have? Think a few may have been knocking about in my early days of spotting but can't be sure

 

[Cowley]

Thanks Cowley. They've got the look of the 86 about them which is why I asked.

As for the 84, not sure I've ever seen one of them. What sort of working life span did these locos have? Think a few may have been knocking about in my early days of spotting but can't be sure

Yes pretty short I think The_Train, there was one hanging around in RTC colours into the 1980s which was originally 84009 and used as a mobile load bank numbered ADB968021 seen here (not my photo).

but BR had given up on the rest of them by then.
One (84001) ended up at the National Railway Museum but I think it’s now in the care of the AC electric group at Barrow Hill, again not my photo.



Spoked wheels on a 100mph electric locomotive!?

I’ve always wondered why BR decided on three front cab windows for their electrics (apart from the later class 87 onwards). Does anyone know?

 

[The_Train]

Thanks for the info Cowley.

The window question is quite interesting actually. Why not just have one long window (lorry style)?

 

[Cowley]

Thanks for the info Cowley.

The window question is quite interesting actually. Why not just have one long window (lorry style)?

It’s interesting to think about lorries of that era - most had twin windscreens like for instance the Seddon Atkinson:


Or Scammell Routemaster:

(Not my photos), the twin windscreen was very much in fashion on the road. Perhaps it was cheaper?
One thing that I’ve read about a few times though is of part of the overhead electric wires becoming damaged leaving one of those chunky insulators dangling in mid air which have then smashed through the centre window of an electric locomotive with three front windows at speed often causing injury to the crew. A nasty thing to happen at 100mph.

Sorry 47403, we seem to have hijacked your thread here.

 

[The_Train]

Ah yeah, I'd never considered that about lorry windows back in the day. Should have considering how much Heartbeat I've watched over the years haha.

I honestly can't see what the reasons for multiple screens would have been, nor why it changed with the 87s (and other locos). There is always the unfortunate risk of something smashing a window when you're travelling at 100+mph no matter how many windows you have.

Anyway, maybe this discussion is for another thread and we should leave space here for 47403 to throw more nostalgia our way soon