The mundane turning to nostalgia

[Techniquest]

I've been busy tripping down Memory Lane again, hence this thread. I'm struggling to sleep again, nothing new there, so I'm curious...

What's your experience of the routine, the mundane, becoming nostalgia?

One example always comes to mind, and it'll probably be fairly obvious for those who know me at all well. It is of course journeys such as Swansea to Cardiff on 'proper' HSTs. I did that sort of journey many more times than I care to count, and I'm nostalgic for standing by the droplight at the departure time to listen the pair of Valenta-ised power cars, fitted preferably with Marston coolers and NA-256 turbos, clear their throats and scream away. It was even better when it was IC70 seats too

The lesser example would be when the North and West (the Marches route) was pretty much all 158s. Since 175s became the norm, a 158 is most welcome these days for a change!

The third example that comes to mind is being on the Snow Hill lines and having 150 after 150 after 150 going by. Not the same now it's 172s!

Apart from motive power, one of my most favourite things to do in Newport upon arrival always used to see what was stabled on Godfrey Road. Long gone sadly and it's just weird now there's *that* monstrosity at the Cardiff end of the station!

So that's enough hopefully to get some of you replying, let's see what you lot have to add!

 

[RichmondCommu]

Having been born in 1966, by 1977 me and two train spotting pals were making regular trips to Crewe from Derby. The DMU would always be a Class 120 Swindon built unit which at the time seemed to be the slowest thing in the world, especially as we were impatient to get the Mecca known at the time as Crewe. The smelly old thing would cursed by young lads obsessed with speed but at least there was plenty of room! Take note EMT!

Back then the line to Crewe was full of interest, especially around Stoke. Cockshute sidings would always have a couple of loco's stabled and even more at weekends; Class 25's, 40's, 47's. Heavy industry was still very much alive in the Potteries and generated a lot of business for the railway. And then just before Crewe we had the MOD sidings, complete with old four wheel box vans. All this was taken for granted although we still jotted down numbers in search of cops. All of this has now been swept away, along with thousands of jobs.

And finally we would get to Crewe. Roarers and Class 86 and 87's were in abundance along with yet more Class 25's, 40's and 47's and in 1977 even one or two Class 24's. A trip over to the freight avoiding lines would always be rewarded and there was always plenty of loco's knocking around on Crewe Diesel.

Memories!

 

[Welshman]

My interest in the railway scene was being awakened in the early 1960s in West Yorkshire.

I feel very nostalgic about the trips from Leeds Central to Liverpool Exchange on the "Calder Valley" [Cl.110 dmus].

The poky but cosy Leeds Central station reverberating to a "Deltic" awaiting departure to King's Cross; the girder bridge at Holbeck High Level station; the large yard at Laisterdyke and its four platforms; Hammerton St diesel depot; Bradford Exchange station with it's magnificent roof [was it really modelled on St Pancras?] and ten platforms; Low Moor mpd and large station [on a bend, too]; Halifax when it had 6 platforms and the inevitable smell of chocolate from the adjacent Mackintosh's; Sowerby Bridge yards and mpd with the odd WD 2-8-0; [no Tesco then]; Rochdale and Manchester Victoria stations in their original size; the Cheetham Hill route past Red Bank Carriage sidings, now partially traversed by the Oldham tram; the original Lancashire & Yorkshire road from Manchester to Liverpool; no Salford Crescent; Brindley Heath flyover; four tracks through Atherton; one train per day using the Pemberton loop avoiding Wigan Wallgate; no buffer-stops at Kirkby; journey's end at Liverpool's Exchange station.

Bradford Exchange to Liverpool Exchange in two hours, every two hours.

Nurse - the curtains!

 

[RichmondCommu]

My interest in the railway scene was being awakened in the early 1960s in West Yorkshire.

I feel very nostalgic about the trips from Leeds Central to Liverpool Exchange on the "Calder Valley" [Cl.110 dmus].

The poky but cosy Leeds Central station reverberating to a "Deltic" awaiting departure to King's Cross; the girder bridge at Holbeck High Level station; the large yard at Laisterdyke and its four platforms; Hammerton St diesel depot; Bradford Exchange station with it's magnificent roof [was it really modelled on St Pancras?] and ten platforms; Low Moor mpd and large station [on a bend, too]; Halifax when it had 6 platforms and the inevitable smell of chocolate from the adjacent Mackintosh's; Sowerby Bridge yards and mpd with the odd WD 2-8-0; [no Tesco then]; Rochdale and Manchester Victoria stations in their original size; the Cheetham Hill route past Red Bank Carriage sidings, now partially traversed by the Oldham tram; the original Lancashire & Yorkshire road from Manchester to Liverpool; no Salford Crescent; Brindley Heath flyover; four tracks through Atherton; one train per day using the Pemberton loop avoiding Wigan Wallgate; no buffer-stops at Kirkby; journey's end at Liverpool's Exchange station.

Bradford Exchange to Liverpool Exchange in two hours, every two hours.

Nurse - the curtains!

I remember Hammerton Street from the late 1970''s with its Class 03's complete with match trucks. With Leeds Neville Hill close by how that place survived I really don't know. Red Bank sidings is a famous name, I remember newspaper empties running back from Cleethorpes to Red Bank, a definite for Class 40 haulage right up until the end! Memories!

 

[eastwestdivide]

While we're at it, how about the opposite?
Reverse nostalgia - something you thought was the bee's knees at the time, then looking back on it you decide "what was I thinking?"

For me, endless miles of track bashing, just to fill in some lines in the atlas, without spending time out of the station at the destination.

 

[RichmondCommu]

While we're at it, how about the opposite?
Reverse nostalgia - something you thought was the bee's knees at the time, then looking back on it you decide "what was I thinking?"

For me, endless miles of track bashing, just to fill in some lines in the atlas, without spending time out of the station at the destination.

Reminds me of being at Uni and pulling girls with the beer goggles on. And the walk of shame in the shared student house in the morning!

However, back on topic! The destinations still exist so all is not lost. Even if some are now only accessible by road.

 

[LE Greys]

Well, I've always liked the sound of d.c. motors. I've been known to reject a 365 and wait half an hour for a 317 if I know it's due. Not sure why, but I just think it's a much smoother sound.

Maybe, you just never appreciate what you have until it's gone.

 

[Buttsy]

While we're at it, how about the opposite?
Reverse nostalgia - something you thought was the bee's knees at the time, then looking back on it you decide "what was I thinking?"

For me, endless miles of track bashing, just to fill in some lines in the atlas, without spending time out of the station at the destination.

I agree with that one so while I still track-bash, I do take a wander around some of the towns I visit or, as I enjoy walking, jump off at one stop and walk to the next (Ribblehead - Dent is a particular favourite).

 

[Welshman]

I remember Hammerton Street from the late 1970''s with its Class 03's complete with match trucks. With Leeds Neville Hill close by how that place survived I really don't know.

Of course until 1967, dmus from Bradford Exchange went into Leeds Central, and the only way to Leeds City & Neville Hill involved a detour via Wakefield or Brighouse & Dewsbury, or a double reversal at Holbeck [High to Low Level].

And, originally, Hammerton St serviced the dmus for the Bradford - Huddersfield-Penistone[via Halifax or Spen Valley], Bradford-Harrogate via Leeds Central & Bradford-Wakefield-Goole [via Dewsbury Central] services, in addition to the Calder Valley dmus to Manchester & Liverpool. So it would have been difficult to service all those at Neville Hill, with the cumbersome journeys to get too and from the depot.

However, by 1967, when the Bradford-Penistone and Bradford-Goole services had ceased, and Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford-Leeds services were diverted to City station via new curve at Holbeck, the writing was on the wall for Hammerton St.

 

[317666]

1967 Stock on the Victoria line. Visiting London with my family as a kid, we nearly always took the Victoria line from Kings Cross. At the time I didn't really think anything of the type of train as I didn't know as much about railways then as I do now, but they were a part of my childhood and now they're gone!

Well, I've always liked the sound of d.c. motors. I've been known to reject a 365 and wait half an hour for a 317 if I know it's due. Not sure why, but I just think it's a much smoother sound.

Maybe, you just never appreciate what you have until it's gone.

It's like me with 379s then, I always took for granted being able to jump on any train up to London, provided it was a Liverpool Street service, and it always being a 317. If it was 4 cars and became very crowded, I could just alight at Bishops Stortford and wait for the following Stansted Express which was a pair of 317s and much emptier! Nowadays on a Saturday there's hardly any 317s on Cambridge diagrams, the ones that are are during the middle of the day so are useless for a day out, and on a weekday it tends to be a half/half mix of 317s and 379s, so it's down to knowing when a 317 is due.

 

[scarby]

In Scarborough in the 1970s the most common traction - particularly in the barren winter months - was Metro-Cammell class 101 DMUs. Just a regular fixture.

As I was too young to remember mainline steam, that was what I grew up with. Much as I really enjoy steam, as I said to the guard when riding the NYMR's DMU of the same class this summer: "For me, this is nostalgia."

 

[flymo]

For me, the simple mundane task of changing locos at New St is something I do get quite nostalgic about.

Being at the end of the platform in the early/mid 80's, watching an 81/5/6/7 coming off and a Hoover/Duff going on for the trip to Penzance with a cup of Traveller's Fare strength 4 tea at 03:20 on a Summer Saturday morning feels like a whole different life ago....

Oh my....:cry:...did I really do that.....??

 

[Buttsy]

In Scarborough in the 1970s the most common traction - particularly in the barren winter months - was Metro-Cammell class 101 DMUs. Just a regular fixture.

I had a similar Proustian rush when I turned up at Wymondham Abbey on the MNR and it was a NSE 3-car 101. FAB!!!!!

 

[eastwestdivide]

I had a similar Proustian rush when I turned up at Wymondham Abbey on the MNR and it was a NSE 3-car 101. FAB!!!!!

Proustian rush? You should have got to the station earlier, then you could have just walked. And probably had time to visit the buffet for a madeleine.

 

[12CSVT]

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s when I was extensively 'bashing' new track, out of habit I would photograph any new location I visited by rail, as well as photograph the train I had travelled on or about to travel on. Over the years I built up an extensive collection of photos of first generation DMUs and slam door EMUs. They might have been regarded as 'boring' to many enthusiasts at the time but I'm glad I did. A few people who said at the time that I was wasting film have since swallowed their words !

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Slightly younger than most, child of the 80s, but still things have changed so much. Commuting to school on the Airedale Line aboard a 308, spotting at Crewe with 86, 87, 90s on WCML trains and 47s on XC and barely paying them a glance.

Oh to have taken more photos. Now i make a point to shoot commuter trains and the every day whenever I can.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

London is not London without SR 4 EPB units ......

 

[yorksrob]

London is not London without SR 4 EPB units ......

I'll second that !

For myself, I would say those rakes of Mk 2's on cross country trains with a loco at one end and a buffet at the other.

They did get very crowded and were falling to bits, but it was so much easier to get a table seat !

 

[Zerothebrake!]

Standing on Cheltenham Spa in the early eighties and thinking 'oh no,not another Peak!'

 

[Techniquest]

Talking of 4-EPBs, that was something I took for granted in London. All those slam-door units, all a long time ago now too. One day it'll happen to the 377s and such like too, although not for a long time!

 

[desmo]

Going into Sheffield from Lincoln in the 70's and seeing the 76's parked up at Darnall and the smell of the coke plants.
Also in the 80's/90's i used to work overlooking the Lincoln-Newark line at Hykeham.
Seeing the Deltics cascade onto the KX-Cleethorpes then disappear. The final HST on the direct to KX. 31's on the Cleethorpes - Newark shuttles disappear and be replaced by units. The introduction of 60's on tanks from Immingham (almost seemed to come thru in number order).

 

[Buttsy]

56s and 58s on coal trains through Oxford from the north on their way to Didcot. I'll have to look out some pics I may still have somewhere.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Going into Sheffield from Lincoln in the 70's and seeing the 76's parked up at Darnall and the smell of the coke plants.

I'd add the Avenue coking plant to that with its industrial shunters. Although I'm sure the good folk of Chesterfield don't miss the place!

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Optare MetroRiders. No questions asked

 

[RichmondCommu]

Optare MetroRiders. No questions asked

What's one of those?

 

[b0b]

Has to be being able to watch the driver and look out of the front of a 303 prior to refurbishment.

 

[Tulyar]

56s and 58s on coal trains through Oxford from the north on their way to Didcot. I'll have to look out some pics I may still have somewhere.

Drove to Oxford today and saw Didcot in the distance and it did bring back memories of travelling to Didcot to get a glimpse of a grid or two

 

[theblackwatch]

I'd add the Avenue coking plant to that with its industrial shunters. Although I'm sure the good folk of Chesterfield don't miss the place!

That is one place that sticks in my mind from my childhood. We would pass it when doing trips to the midlands, such as Birmingham for a day's spotting or Derby Works Open Day which used to take place each year. I used to find the 'big chimney with fire coming out of it' fascinating. Plus, I remember there was always that smell when we went past! Along the same route, nearby, the leaning spire at Chesterfield was something I always used to look out for as well.