Rolling stock that you regret not riding

[Bletchleyite]

Weird things.

They look like a bog-standard door-at-each-bay Southern EMU? Basically a 1200V third rail version of the Class 305 that was ubiquitous around Manchester in the mid to late 1990s?

I wish I'd been on some classic Merseyrail stock, I remember as a kid seeing them running on occasion (though I was very young I have some odd photographic memories from age 2-3 ish), then later the preserved one in service on a Merseyrail running day, but I never actually got a ride.

 

[AM9]

I've been on class306s literally hundreds (maybe 1000s) of times. I've even been on the same stock before conversion to 25kV, but I can't remember much of it. What I do regret was missing the class 506 before it stopped running from Piccadilly to Glossop/Hyde.

 

[fowler9]

They look like a bog-standard door-at-each-bay Southern EMU? Basically a 1200V third rail version of the Class 305 that was ubiquitous around Manchester in the mid to late 1990s?

I wish I'd been on some classic Merseyrail stock, I remember as a kid seeing them running on occasion (though I was very young I have some odd photographic memories from age 2-3 ish), then later the preserved one in service on a Merseyrail running day, but I never actually got a ride.

Nah, the 504's weren't much like anything else, 2 car and with a side contact third rail. Completely unique to the Victoria to Bury route. Looked a tiny bit like the 304's. I remember traveling on 502's and 503's around Merseyside when I was little. Lots of fun.

 

[Dai Corner]

Trying to avoid things already mentioned ...... the steam railmotor which operated the Looe branch a few years ago.

 

[ac6000cw]

APT-P, and for haulage class 26/27 on the Highland lines (they had moved on to 37's by the time I got up there for the first time), Warships and Hymeks.

(...and wandering offshore, while I was too young to even know about it then, a ride in the front dome car of one of Union Pacific's 'City of...' passenger trains with 2/3/4 twin-engined EMD 'E-units' on the front hauling 20 or more carriages, or hauled by any old Swiss/German/Austrian 'crocodile' electrics/Italian 3-phase OHLE electrics).

 

[Halish Railway]

GNER Class 373's and somehow I never went on a TPE Class 170

 

[Kneedown]

Class 76's, 82's, 83's and 84's.
As far as units are concerned, 504's and 506's.
My own indifference at the time with 504's. As for the rest, I wasn't old enough at the time to go chasing them. Never even saw a working 76, 84 or 506. My first trip on what remained of the Woodhead route was on a 303 to Glossop.

 

[Bletchleyite]

GNER Class 373's and somehow I never went on a TPE Class 170

Most 170s are much of a muchness, really, as long as you don't get one of the ex-MML ones (the first built) which have less legroom than a Class 700. All that really changes is the moquette colour, and there are two versions of the seat frame in use, one powder-coated (the 1990s Chapman frame) and one painted metal, but the foams are generally the same so unless you look out for such things you probably won't notice.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Nah, the 504's weren't much like anything else, 2 car and with a side contact third rail. Completely unique to the Victoria to Bury route. Looked a tiny bit like the 304's. I remember traveling on 502's and 503's around Merseyside when I was little. Lots of fun.

Remember seeing them in Victoria as a kid, don't think I ever rode them though. They used the same basic bodyshell and cab design as the 304/305/308s. Unlike the 308s, they never had gangways retrofitted between cars. Did the 304s and/or 305s ever have them added?

I have a vague childhood memory of riding on "old underground trains" in Liverpool, and given the journey (Lime Street to New Brighton) can cover 503s. Only remember vague things though. 502s possible, but can't think of a time I'd have done them. Trips to Southport would've been all on diesel via Wigan.

 

[theageofthetra]

ATP P & The Night Ferry.

 

[physics34]

Class 309s. And i didnt do enough trips on 310s and 312s before they went

 

[YorkshireBear]

Virgin class 47 when i was a kid. Not much else i can recall being withdrawn in my lifetime which i would realistically have been able to ride.

 

[AM9]

Class 309s. And i didnt do enough trips on 310s and 312s before they went

In their heyday, the best EMUs in the country, and 25kV gave them stunning performance. Lucky enough to have ridden them a few hundred times.

 

[RichJF]

For some unknown reason, a southeastern class 508.

You really didn't want to ride on those! I remember commuting to/from school on those & they were horrible!

I regret not riding a class 101 or Thumper on mainline metals.

 

[DarloRich]

I am quite happy with things and try not to look back with regret. Things are what they are. Apart from one or two trips to Scotland or Cornwall i was limited to stuff in the North East. Little point wishing i had done a 26 on in the highlands when i went to the highlands once!

I would like to have not taken things for granted ( lots of loco hauled, proper trains, urgh ANOTHER 47, oh it's an HST etc) but such is life. One thing I would have liked to have taken more notice of was the southern third rail system. I just didn't bother as a kid. Not when loco hauled trains were available.

BTW - It seems lots of the contributors may be youngsters. I would have liked to have been old enough to really enjoy travelling behind Deltics. I was tiny, they were MASSIVE and sounded like the world ending. They seem upset not to have been on a unit of some kind. Such is life.

Hastings thumper on the Whitby branch - was at uni in Lancaster at the time.

I missed it on the Yarmouth branch for a similar reason - still never traveled on it

 

[BucksBones]

Remember seeing them in Victoria as a kid, don't think I ever rode them though. They used the same basic bodyshell and cab design as the 304/305/308s. Unlike the 308s, they never had gangways retrofitted between cars. Did the 304s and/or 305s ever have them added?

I’m not really one for all this but I do regret not going on those 504s. Used to see them all the time and they always seemed exotic and different compared to the pacers on my line! I did travel a lot on 304s and I suppose they were probably very similar; very characterful units and no, they didn’t have gangways.

My other one is the NIR 80 class DEMUs; fabulous things! I did manage the 450 class though.

 

[E_Reeves]

For the 373s still in service, do they work certain services or are they randomly allocated?

 

[Wivenswold]

My grandparents assumed I'd prefer riding on the brand new HST to North Yorkshire in 1979, rather than behind a Deltic. Doh!

 

[Dai Corner]

My grandparents assumed I'd prefer riding on the brand new HST to North Yorkshire in 1979, rather than behind a Deltic. Doh!

Conversly, this 16 year old was disappointed when we got a Cl 50 instead of a spanking new HST on a trip to London in 1976. That was before the nostalgia bug bit

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

These!!! 151 's they sat at Llandudno Junction sheds rotting for years when I was a kid and I don't think they ever went into service near me, they looked so futuristic for the time. Would loved to have had a spin on one. Just to say I had.

 

[317666]

Probably 1959 and (unrefurbished) 1972 Mk1 tube stock on the Northern line. I may have been on them when I was very young, but it would've been too young for me to remember!

 

[43096]

For the 373s still in service, do they work certain services or are they randomly allocated?

Like anything else, they have specific diagrams.

 

[xotGD]

In terms of stuff I've never travelled in or behind, the obvious stock for me would be a sleeper of any kind. I've done plenty of overnights, but always in the seats.

As for locos, some mates went on a railtour that included a pair of 76s, shortly before their end. With hindsight I wish I had done it too. I've also watched 82s and 83s come and go through Carlisle on passenger services, but never had one for haulage.

I probably had one or more Westerns for haulage when we went to Cornwall on holiday in 1976, but can't be sure. Perhaps hypnotic regression would help? I definitely saw some and they created an impression as I wrote their names on a piece of paper!

DMUs/EMUs - not fussed.

 

[Ash Bridge]

These!!! 151 's they sat at Llandudno Junction sheds rotting for years when I was a kid and I don't think they ever went into service near me, they looked so futuristic for the time. Would loved to have had a spin on one. Just to say I had. View attachment 43099

I think it was roughly 1989 the first time I saw them laid up at Llandudno Junction. I remember I was passing through on a Sunday North Wales Coast steam hauled service from Crewe to Holyhead behind 34027 Taw Valley, always looked out for them on subsequent trips after that. Don't think they were ever used on any services around that part of the world though and only sent there for (relatively) safe storage, they were a non standard design and totally different to the BR Sprinter variants, don't think the reliability was too good either although I'll stand to be corrected on that point.

 

[70014IronDuke]

These are all ones which would have been possible had I more presence of mind at the time, or had circumstances been slightly different.
.....
Loco hauled on the S&C whilst I was living in Leeds..... .

He he he. Not only did I manage that on the cushions sevearl times (and once in a proper sleeper), I managed it in the cab of a 45 both ways. (well, only Appleby - to Settle on the up). A bit worrying on the down, as we were 15-20 late, and the driver took some liberties regarding speed on the bends somewhere around Kirkby Stephen. When negotiating the curve on top of one embankment, the distance from the cab of a 45 to the ground b elow was, er .. worrying for a few seconds.

Of course, to keep on topic, I regret not doing it with a Scot, Britannia or A3.

 

[delt1c]

For me would be a 29 on the WHL,

 

[eastwestdivide]

I regret not taking more interior pictures of the trains I've ridden on. There's a relative lack of interior views on the web from before digital photography. It's also tricky to get the lighting right with the sun streaming in sideways, dark wood veneer and dark Trojan moquette.
Occasionally I made notes on the ride etc, notably in the motor coach of a 210 DEMU, noisy with a lot of vibration.
I think I rode a 151 when it was doing the shuttle at a Swansea Landore open day, mid-1980s, but I've no recollection other than an exterior photo.
Biggest regret - I was around when the APT (370) was running timetabled extra London/Glasgow trips, but I didn't have the cash to splash.

 

[Muzer]

Southern Region slamdoor electrics. When I was commuting to school (Andover-Salisbury) they were still being run on the electrified lines out of Waterloo, but I wasn't a rail enthusiast at the time, so I never ventured onto one. I became an enthusiast about a year after the Lymington units were finally replaced . I have been on the Hastings unit a couple of times (what a fantastic train, I must say!), and I've done Southern EMUs hauled on heritage railways, and I've done 4TC. But not one under its own power. Hopefully that VEP will eventually be mainline certified...

To everyone bemoaning not having been on Thumpers, it's not too late to go on one of the Hastings Diesels railtours! They really are fun.

442s pre-GatEx refurb (first class compartments!)

I've definitely been on A Stock from time to time, but not since becoming an enthusiast so I regret that.

A Pendo drag.

I don't think there's much else that I realistically *could have* been on that I haven't. I've done the Devon class 57 day trains, and the 121s, and the Wareham to Swanage 33/37 runs last year.

 

[PeterC]

ATP P & The Night Ferry.

Same here and I would have loved to have repeated my one trip on a Blue Pullman

Also any DMU with a forward view, I could never get enough of a view of the track ahead.

 

[HainultLoop]

For me, I wish that I rode the A Stock more before they came off the Metropolitan line - I still remember waiting for an S Stock as they were being introduced while countless A Stock went by.

Ah it's A Stock for me as well - I remember seeing them everywhere but I never went on them and I don't think I ever used the Metropolitan before the S Stock was introduced. It's partly because of that regret of not travelling on them enough before withdrawal that I bought one of the A Stock luggage racks from the London Transport Museum Acton Depot last year! Also I made sure to travel on the D Stock and even on the very last service so I wouldn't have the same regrets again.