rail regrets

[Crossover]

I hope that I don't come across as being condescending but I'm really pleased that you've started going out with someone. Good for you! The love of a good woman is the most amazing feeling in the world. However there is no need to give up your love of railways, you just need to find a balance that’s all. There will come a time when that bashing trip has to be postponed because your lass is after a new pair of shoes!

Can I just say something else? I've always enjoyed reading your travel reports, especially those overseas. Now if you've got the courage to take yourself off to the Netherlands etc by yourself, asking a girl out for a drink can't be half as bad!

Sorry to continue the off topic discussion briefly but I would agree regarding the balance. I am single at the moment, but don't intend to change who I am entirely if I meet someone

 

[cjp]

I always though the Canterbury & Whitstable railway was the "Crab & Winkle" line !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury_and_Whitstable_Railway

Interesting (though of course I never rode on that and have no regrets about it)

I wonder which one first became a Crab and Winkle line - but not enough to research it.

 

[Techniquest]

Yeah, handling rejection is a tough one but I've got better to the point that it doesn't bother me any more. I just give my head a wobble and remember the fact that I've actually been asked out by girls nicer than some of the ones who knocked me back. And I am still friends with a lot of the ones who knocked me back.

Another vote for your trip reports by the way, always enjoyed the ones I've read.

Aye I don't really think about it any more which is something I wish I could have done years ago! Better late than never I guess!

Thanks for the comment on the trip reports, they really were a PITA to write up most of the time. It takes some serious effort and determination to write up a 7 day ALR one, let alone one for a 14 day ALR! This is noticeable in other people's trip reports which don't get completed, it always sounds easy to type up a few notes on a trip but to make it worth reading is that much harder!

 

[Muzer]

I'm still relatively new at being a rail enthusiast - I've been going "seriously" for just over a year now - and already I have quite a few regrets, mostly from being a few years too late for various things - the Oldham Loop Line as heavy rail, A stock (though I travelled on this quite a bit when I was much younger), Valenta engines (would you believe I don't think I've ever heard one, at least knowingly, in person?) and a few others spring to mind.

I've noticed a few people have mentioned record keeping - I'm taking photos of everything at the moment, with a reasonably decent camera, but what records would you recommend I take and how, to avoid having similar regrets myself later? I've mostly been restricting record keeping to recording unit/loco numbers for trains I travel on, which stations between and WTT timings as well as actual timings, as well as headcodes and route if there is more than one/if it's odd for any reason, as well as platform numbers at origin and destination. Should I be recording more (ie an exact breakdown of which lines/platforms were travelled on throughout the whole route)?

 

[fowler9]

Spelling

I'm still relatively new at being a rail enthusiast - I've been going "seriously" for just over a year now - and already I have quite a few regrets, mostly from being a few years too late for various things - the Oldham Loop Line as heavy rail, A stock (though I travelled on this quite a bit when I was much younger), Valenta engines (would you believe I don't think I've ever heard one, at least knowingly, in person?) and a few others spring to mind.

I've noticed a few people have mentioned record keeping - I'm taking photos of everything at the moment, with a reasonably decent camera, but what records would you recommend I take and how, to avoid having similar regrets myself later? I've mostly been restricting record keeping to recording unit/loco numbers for trains I travel on, which stations between and WTT timings as well as actual timings, as well as headcodes and route if there is more than one/if it's odd for any reason, as well as platform numbers at origin and destination. Should I be recording more (ie an exact breakdown of which lines/platforms were travelled on throughout the whole route)?

It's one of those awkward things that only you can answer really. I'm 39 now and recently asked a group I traveled with many years ago which 50's took us from Reading to Paddington and which 73's took us from Waterloo to Southampton (They were double headed pulling/pushing 4TC's at the time). Also many trips on the Waterloo-Exeters behind 50's and countless 37's on the Liverpool-Cardiffs. No one could remember. For me personally at the age of 39 knowing the platform they arrived at or how early or late they were wouldn't interest me as much now, it may interest you. There is no right or wrong. I think keeping some record is nice, I lost interest for a great many years as I got more in to music and football then found as I got older the old interests came back and I wish I had kept a better record.

 

[Techniquest]

I'm still relatively new at being a rail enthusiast - I've been going "seriously" for just over a year now - and already I have quite a few regrets, mostly from being a few years too late for various things - the Oldham Loop Line as heavy rail, A stock (though I travelled on this quite a bit when I was much younger), Valenta engines (would you believe I don't think I've ever heard one, at least knowingly, in person?) and a few others spring to mind.

Most people in the country have heard one at some point in their childhood (depending on age obviously!), even if they don't know what it was at the time. I sure didn't at the time, but you don't forget the sound of a pair of 'proper' HST power cars on an 8-coach set screaming by you at 125mph through Slough. Amplified by the footbridge directly above where I was sat at the time on platform 2. Shame I was quite young at the time, but this was when the Fag Packet livery was the king on the Western and no sign of the Barbie livery for some time to come.

Oldham line when it was heavy rail? You missed jack squat, it was dull and in dire need of modernising when I did it years before the Metrolink conversion was to begin. TV screens were still on the entrances to platform 2 telling me the Pacer was going to Shaw and Compton!

As for the 'A' stock, meh I really didn't care for that. But then I much prefer the 'C' stock. Admittedly the 'S' stock is a lot better for various things including air conditioning, something I bet every Tube user was glad of last summer!

I've noticed a few people have mentioned record keeping - I'm taking photos of everything at the moment, with a reasonably decent camera, but what records would you recommend I take and how, to avoid having similar regrets myself later? I've mostly been restricting record keeping to recording unit/loco numbers for trains I travel on, which stations between and WTT timings as well as actual timings, as well as headcodes and route if there is more than one/if it's odd for any reason, as well as platform numbers at origin and destination. Should I be recording more (ie an exact breakdown of which lines/platforms were travelled on throughout the whole route)?

What records you keep and what you don't keep are entirely up to you, but to note things like whether you used the Down Slow Maidenhead to Reading platform 9 (I think this used to be 8 pre-remodelling) then crossed to the Down Fast from there to Didcot Parkway platform 1 might be excessive. That level of detail on a lengthy journey (say Euston to Glasgow Central) could take some doing! Below is what a typical journey would look like on one of my bashes, data is randomised for the example:

170503, in 79503, Hereford -> Birmingham New Street(p10b)(via Worcester Shrub Hill) (0849,1d,arr 1018,5u)

If the journey was taking an unusual route, I'd make a note of it in the same brackets as the 'via' bit in this entry. I'm going to mention that entry is impossible to fit on one line of a standard notebook without a lot of abbreviating!

Pre-RailMiles, I'd not note the arrival time, only the departure time and any delay). There was also a time I didn't even note the departure time, so an entry in my notebook at that point would look like this:

158850 Newport to Hereford

A fair bit of a difference in the detail, and for the first couple of years or so I didn't usually write it all down, I'd mark trains off in my Platform 5 book (yes I was once rich enough for one of those!) and that was it. That is one of the errors in record keeping I seriously regret.

 

[321Clss93]

If someone would've told me as a young 'un that I would end up genuinely missing the sound of the original screaming Paxmans, I'd have snickered at them like an annoying brat; this being the 1990s. They freaked me the hell out back then, often to the point of tears and holding my ears closed each time I heard that beastly rumble in the distance.

Nowadays, they don't half sound "neutered". No more telltale smoke, either.

 

[Techniquest]

So true regarding the sound and smoke. Currently remembering a trip in January 2007 from Hereford to Worcester Shrub Hill one Saturday morning and standing at the droplight on departure. Jeepers the clag and noise was brilliant even from coach E.

That said, noise wise I'd reckon now I've remembered it the best noise was from 43002 screaming like a banshee going up Llanvihangel on 4th January 2008. Sure woke me up and I was loving the racket

Of course, there was also 43065 opening up on departure from Kings Cross one morning in January 2010 (I think!), quite the clag! And 43107 starting up at the blocks of t'Cross one dark night of 2007 (again, I think!), watching two massive columns of clag shoot skyward

 

[LowLevel]

If someone would've told me as a young 'un that I would end up genuinely missing the sound of the original screaming Paxmans, I'd have snickered at them like an annoying brat; this being the 1990s. They freaked me the hell out back then, often to the point of tears and holding my ears closed each time I heard that beastly rumble in the distance.

Nowadays, they don't half sound "neutered". No more telltale smoke, either.

The EMT powercars don't scream like they used to - however some of the more interesting ones certainly throw out some smoke and they still have quite a pleasant throaty roar

 

[Lou92]

My biggest rail regret is jumping onto a moving freight set at around the age of 10 or 11. My so-called friend threatened to tell my parents that I was leading a double life as a spotter and lesbian unless I did the dare. A P-way worker saw me on it and notified the local station manager. Soon afterwards I was banned from the station, which meant a grueling 1.5 hour bus ride into the city - that really put a crimp in my spotting!

 

[Johnuk123]

My biggest rail regret is jumping onto a moving freight set at around the age of 10 or 11. My so-called friend threatened to tell my parents that I was leading a double life as a spotter and lesbian unless I did the dare. A P-way worker saw me on it and notified the local station manager. Soon afterwards I was banned from the station, which meant a grueling 1.5 hour bus ride into the city - that really put a crimp in my spotting!

I should imagine the lesbian train spotters club is quite small.

 

[47403]

I should imagine the lesbian train spotters club is quite small.

fantastic John. I would imagine your right on that fact lol
I Never liked the HST's and now they've been MTU'd they're even worse. However, I like them more than the 91's and a damn sight more than a voyager. Nowadays I have a grudging respect for the HST. Can't deny they're an invaluable workhorse on Britain's Railways.

 

[Lou92]

I should imagine the lesbian train spotters club is quite small.

Just as well - I probably wouldn't get much spotting done if there was one.

 

[47403]

Just as well - I probably wouldn't get much spotting done if there was one.

not a lot more to add really lou.

 

[Springs Branch]

I first became interested in railways as a young teenager in the early to mid-1970s, living near Wigan in Lancashire. In 1974 the Greater Manchester PTE was formed, and introduced famously cheap concessionary bus fares of 2p any distance (later increased to 4p) for under-16s and OAPs. As I was 14 or 15 y.o, this meant my meagre pocket money could be stretched a long way on bus trips around Greater Manchester.

My big regret is, at that time, I was more interested in modern railways than “old school” operations and I missed out on a lot of never-to-be repeated stuff around Manchester in the 1970s.

Back in the 70s the railway environment near home was best characterized as a post-Beeching bomb site - acres of redundant sidings and lifted trackbed, stations with sooty, semi-derelict Victorian-era buildings, big old signalboxes with most of the levers painted white and infrequent, poorly-patronized local trains made up of 2-car Cravens or Derby DMUs painted all-over Rail Blue. The recently electrified WCML was the one exception.

I craved a more positive, forward looking railway, so was drawn to the 25kV lines southwards from Manchester Piccadilly. Most of my spare time and 2p coins were spent visiting places like Piccadilly, Longsight, Stockport, Altrincham, Cheadle Hulme and Alderley Edge, which had been modernized a mere 15 years earlier. As a result I completely missed out on:-

1. 1500V DC action. I never visited Guide Bridge, Godley Jn, Dinting or Hadfield. Only ever saw Class 76s with their pantos down on a side trip to Reddish Depot after a visit to Longsight, and never rode on the Class 506 EMUs. The first time I ever travelled on the Glossop line was after closure of Woodhead and conversion to 25kV AC.

2. Peaks and Class 40s which hauled the Liverpool to York/ Newcastle Trans-Pennines through Victoria, Miles Platting and Stalybridge at that time.

3. The intensive semaphore signaling eastwards from Manchester Victoria. (I’m now a mechanical signalling enthusiast, back then a four-aspect colour light with three feathers and a LR plate seemed more thrilling!).

4. I even missed the opportunity for a good bounce along the Bury line on the unique 1200V DC Class 504s.

All of this variety was available to me for a handful of coppers, but I never took advantage at the time because, of course, “they would always be there tomorrow”.

 

[Techniquest]

All of this variety was available to me for a handful of coppers, but I never took advantage at the time because, of course, “they would always be there tomorrow”.

[My emboldening]

I've only kept that bit of your post, as interesting as the rest was, because this really sums up the attitude a lot of us will have had at some point. "It's OK, I'll do it next week, it's not like it's going anywhere", then boom it's all changed or gone. "New is always better" is another way of looking at it, with people rushing to try the new stuff. I remember I purposely got myself into an all-nighter in Manchester in 2004 just to try out a Pendolino for the first time on a Piccadilly to Stockport journey, and so heart-of-wessex wouldn't beat me to it! No doubt there's been a lot of flapping for the new 350s with TPX up that way, there sure was for the new 377/6s with Southern, as well as there was for the 172s with LM. Plenty more examples across the board without a doubt.

I think the easiest way to end this post is with one of my entries from my Thought of the Day log in 2012:

"Today's mundane is tomorrow's nostalgia"

 

[hassaanhc]

[My emboldening]

I've only kept that bit of your post, as interesting as the rest was, because this really sums up the attitude a lot of us will have had at some point. "It's OK, I'll do it next week, it's not like it's going anywhere", then boom it's all changed or gone. "New is always better" is another way of looking at it, with people rushing to try the new stuff. I remember I purposely got myself into an all-nighter in Manchester in 2004 just to try out a Pendolino for the first time on a Piccadilly to Stockport journey, and so heart-of-wessex wouldn't beat me to it! No doubt there's been a lot of flapping for the new 350s with TPX up that way, there sure was for the new 377/6s with Southern, as well as there was for the 172s with LM. Plenty more examples across the board without a doubt.

I think the easiest way to end this post is with one of my entries from my Thought of the Day log in 2012:

"Today's mundane is tomorrow's nostalgia"

This is actually really true, I've done it a few times with both buses and trains and sometimes wish time could go back so I could get that one last ride or especially photo . And then that feeling right at the moment something changes or goes, even if you spent ages in the run up to that riding or taking photos it still hits you.

 

[Techniquest]

Can only agree 100% with that thought, it does sometimes take a while to accept the change. I have a feeling I'll end up regretting taking 2 and a half months off from the railway scene!

 

[Muzer]

Not sure if he's posted here, but NSEFAN was telling me in person that he has photos of A Stock at every Met station. Except Chesham. And he had an opportunity to get one (he had loads of free time at Chalfont & Latimer), and can't remember why he didn't.

Thankfully, the other day he managed to complete his C stock collection - except Kenny O :/

 

[Uzair]

When I got my first child Oyster card I threw all my paper tickets I had collected over many years.