TRIVIA - Things you saw travelling on BR that you don't see today

[Clarence Yard]

There was one at Penzance marked 'not to be moved from Bristol Temple Meads'

Furthest a Kings Cross one got was Sydney airport. Quantas rang up the AM office and asked if they wanted them back! There was a free mutual return service for airport trolleys that operated between airlines back in those days (late 1970's) so they said yes.

There was a regular van trip between all the BR London termini to get the self help trolleys back to their proper stations or lines but they didn't want to do a run to Heathrow so the AMO rang us (the AME) up and we sent the KXFT C&W van (FDN 92S - a long CF) off to Heathrow to pick up 8 BR trolleys, only 3 being for the Cross! We used to go a few times a year after that.

There was a bloke who used to come round the stations to "do" those trolleys. We always had to give the AMO the numbers of the latest batch to be delivered so, when he rolled up, he knew what he had to spot. I couldn't believe it at first until I actually saw him "in action".

 

[Cowley]

Furthest a Kings Cross one got was Sydney airport. Quantas rang up the AM office and asked if they wanted them back! There was a free mutual return service for airport trolleys that operated between airlines back in those days (late 1970's) so they said yes.

There was a regular van trip between all the BR London termini to get the self help trolleys back to their proper stations or lines but they didn't want to do a run to Heathrow so the AMO rang us (the AME) up and we sent the KXFT C&W van (FDN 92S - a long CF) off to Heathrow to pick up 8 BR trolleys, only 3 being for the Cross! We used to go a few times a year after that.

There was a bloke who used to come round the stations to "do" those trolleys. We always had to give the AMO the numbers of the latest batch to be delivered so, when he rolled up, he knew what he had to spot. I couldn't believe it at first until I actually saw him "in action".

Sydney airport!? That's impressive.

 

[farleigh]

Soap in the sink - you wouldn't use it.

 

[Taunton]

BR uniforms from the 1970s that included a red and black striped waistcoat; a round hat with a peak and BR logo on the front, and something I covet now a crewman's bag -- black with a strap, and wide enough and high enough to take a sandwich box and a thermos flask.

This uniform style, most notably the red/black striped sleeves, came with the 1965 BR Corporate Identity, photos of some chaps from a London modelling agency, elegantly showing the new uniforms off (and looking a world away from Old Bert, the longstanding, all-knowing, and spotter-friendly Down Side porter at Taunton), were a key part of the various press presentations.

Soap in the sink - you wouldn't use it.

Ah, now that rings a bell. Was it BR Mk 1 stock, or only the Hawksworth ex-GWR vehicles? The spherical-shaped glass liquid soap dispenser on pivots over the sink, weighted at the bottom so the nozzle pointed upwards, you had to turn it upside-down so the very viscous soap eventually began to dribble slowly out onto your hand. Let go and it swung upwards again. Must have been ingeniously designed by some longstanding mechanical engineer in the C&W section.

 

[30740]

Cabins on station platforms where they kept the red tail lamps and refilled them with paraffin (thinking of 4-SUBs at west croydon)

Steam locomotives in blue livery with double arrow logo

Being able to 'phone your local station

Moderate chance of being able to blag a cab ride (best was 55022 Selby to KX)

Watching the token being exchanged at Mitcham Junction

 

[30740]

Moderate chance of getting into a depot just by turning up and asking. One time at Stewarts Lane in the 1980s they even shunted some stock for me so I could get a better photo.

Another time at Toton as I was waking across the yard a 47 went past slowly, the driver popped his head out of the window and said "do you want a drive?"


....wouldn't happen nowadays!


Have we already had class 20 hauled LHCS to Skeggy on summer saturdays?

 

[30740]

Indeed, and the occasionally spectacular instant acceleration of a 'SUB' or 'EPB' from 0 - 2mph when the gearing was such that applying the power produced a huge jerk forwards!

I think that was because the bogies were so clapped out, there was a lot of slop between the bogie and the chassis. So when the EMU started, initially the power bogies would be travelling on its own and would accelerate massively over a fraction of an inch. Then it would hit the end of its travel with an almighty thump...... I loved it

 

[30740]

Pullman coaches


Sensory overload, bucking and swaying on a clapped-out 4-SUB rattling into Victoria on clapped-out track. It would have been impossible to stand, but the pax were so rammed in, that you couldn't possible move or fall over.


Travelling in EMUs that were built before nationalisation (well I'm cheating a bit, in my era there were just 4-EPBs built on salvaged SR underframes)


1.5kV DC overhead


Paper destination labels pasted into the vestibule windows of Inter-City LHCS. I liked to collect these. I managed to restrain my urge to replace a current one with one from my collection just to confuse pax.


Complete absence of steam on the main line (That's one thing that has improved!)


And then later.... "Evening Star" on the main line


Ferry wagons.


I think there might have been *more* through freight to the continent before the Chunnel. Anyone know for sure?


Seeing "SR" on the canopy at Charing Cross with, I think the "EC" of "SECR" being hidden behind the SR crest in the middle.


Remains of the LBSCR "Rooter Roundhouse" which you could see below you on the left just before you crossed the river on the approach to London Victoria. (A "Rooter" was a nickname for one of the 0-6-0 kettles used on suburban trains before electrification. Would have been 4w and 6w carriages in those days!) I thought that it was sad that it wasn't preserved, it looked nice, and a 19th century loco roundhouse in London would have been a good historical artefact to have kept. I don't think that many people noticed it or were aware if it, you never see / saw it mentioned.


Remains of Longhedge loco works at Stewarts Lane. Where else did they build locos in London apart from Longhedge and Nine Elms?


Talking to people who remembered pre-grouping railway companies!


Off topic, as a kid, on LU, editing the signs "Obstructing the doors causes delay and can be dangerous" to read "Obstruct the doors, cause delay, and be dangerous. 13 year old me thought that was hilarious.

 

[AndyHA]

Toilet leavings in the track. I think retention tanks put an end to that grimness.

We still see "toilet droppings " at Bishops Stortford . Although I thought the 317s had retention tanks , and presumably the newer 379s

 

[Bletchleyite]

Off topic, as a kid, on LU, editing the signs "Obstructing the doors causes delay and can be dangerous" to read "Obstruct the doors, cause delay, and be dangerous. 13 year old me thought that was hilarious.

On Merseyrail the usual was to edit:

PLEASE MIND YOUR HEAD

to

FLEAS IN YOUR HEAD

 

[QueensCurve]

Getting cluttered with trivia i thought we should have a new thread about memories of travelling with BR and things we saw then that we don't see now.

BRUTES!

.

Oh, and buffers.

 

[Taunton]

Remains of Longhedge loco works at Stewarts Lane. Where else did they build locos in London apart from Longhedge and Nine Elms?.

Stratford.

 

[Darandio]

Oh, and buffers.

We don't see buffers today?

 

[brettb]

I miss the wooden departure boards the Southern Region had before TV monitors and scrolling displays. I used to go to school from Chichester and there was a 8 am (ish) departure for Victoria that called at pretty much every single station - no idea how they fitted all the stops on there.

Also lightbulbs in first class compartments (that could be thrown out of the windows by school boys) and curtains in both first and standard class.

Platform staff would regularly cross the tracks - even with 3rd rails.

And I miss the NSE red digital clocks that every single station seemed to acquire in the late 80's. There are occasional remnants of these (maybe they need their own thread).

 

[theageofthetra]

Stratford.

George England & Co.

 

[yorksrob]

BRUTES!

.

Oh, and buffers.

Not to mention Motor Luggage Vans (given the picture).

 

[70014IronDuke]

We still see "toilet droppings " at Bishops Stortford . ...

There's no limit to what some people will do to make a mark.

 

[RPM]

Not sure if it's been mentioned (& CBA to trawl through 24+ pages), but I nominate Rail Riders vouchers, etc.

 

[tsr]

• Mutiple liveries in the same train
• Bostwick gates being closed ready for the train to depart
• Those ugly plastic shelters for the person manning the ticket barrier

I believe Sutton station has the finest remaining selection of hideous shelters anywhere in Britain.

Sydney airport!? That's impressive.

I know a guard who once fixed a toilet module on an Airbus flying from Sydney...

Remains of the LBSCR "Rooter Roundhouse" which you could see below you on the left just before you crossed the river on the approach to London Victoria. (A "Rooter" was a nickname for one of the 0-6-0 kettles used on suburban trains before electrification. Would have been 4w and 6w carriages in those days!) I thought that it was sad that it wasn't preserved, it looked nice, and a 19th century loco roundhouse in London would have been a good historical artefact to have kept. I don't think that many people noticed it or were aware if it, you never see / saw it mentioned.

Don't worry, a few of us know where it was, even if it's 99.999% redeveloped now! There are still "temporary looking" wooden gates and hoardings underneath Battersea Pier Sidings, and a handful of remnants of old bits and bobs, if you look exceedingly carefully. Very little, though.

Remains of Longhedge loco works at Stewarts Lane.

Longhedge lives on, but only in the name of a junction. I wonder what the original "long hedge" was!

Talking to people who remembered pre-grouping railway companies!

We still see "toilet droppings " at Bishops Stortford . Although I thought the 317s had retention tanks , and presumably the newer 379s

379s definitely do.

Not to mention Motor Luggage Vans (given the picture).

Various Bombardier stock, some of it relatively recently built, still has parcels lockers. No MLVs though! Would be useful to have an equivalent at times. I've long fantasised about having some 377/3s converted to luggage carriers, for use on trains via Gatwick et al, with 9 passenger coaches in the rest of the formation, throughout which you might be able to actually move. You could also use them for bikes which are otherwise banned when there is a long-distance one-way bike ride going on. Unfortunately I have a nagging suspicion that this won't be done...

 

[PR1Berske]

Something came to mind the other day. Regional railways with the four language sticker, infamously badly translated I believe. As a youngster I would try to learn "Im Notfall glas zerbrecken...."

 

[Taunton]

INo MLVs though! Would be useful to have an equivalent at times. I've long fantasised about having some 377/3s converted to luggage carriers, for use on trains via Gatwick et al, with 9 passenger coaches in the rest of the formation, throughout which you might be able to actually move.

Unfortunately a further change nowadays has been passenger reluctance to place their luggage anywhere out of their sight, and for the more paranoid anywhere where they cannot keep their hands on it.

Given the TOCs attitude of "not my problem mate" regarding any luggage stolen from official luggage areas, this is not surprising.

 

[greyman42]

Specials on the ECML that served the Edinburgh Military Tattoo so that you did not have to get ripped off with an overnight hotel stay. Or were these just standard overnight services ?

 

[neonison]

Apple pies in Boxes in the Buffet

Strawberry pies in boxes...

 

[yorksrob]

Unfortunately I have a nagging suspicion that this won't be done...

I fear you may be correct in that suspicion !

 

[Bletchleyite]

Unfortunately a further change nowadays has been passenger reluctance to place their luggage anywhere out of their sight, and for the more paranoid anywhere where they cannot keep their hands on it.

Unfortunately the same passengers can't be bothered putting it in the overheads (or if necessary asking someone else to) even if it will fit, and prefer to block doors and seats with it.

 

[30907]

I miss the wooden departure boards the Southern Region had before TV monitors and scrolling displays.

As well as the green finger boards (I think some other railways/regions used them?) I recall the wooden departure indicators at Waterloo and Victoria (BTW, is there anything online about how exactly they worked?) - did Brighton and London Bridge have them too?
Glasgow Central's was different but lasted years longer. And various others (eg roller-blind type) whose location I forget.

 

[Whistler40145]

Scottish sleeper trains working on Saturday nights.

 

[Mag_seven]

Lots of spotters and the end of platforms. You can go through previous spotting hotspots such as Crewe and not see a single soul at the end of any of the platforms.

 

[Taunton]

I recall the wooden departure indicators at Waterloo and Victoria (BTW, is there anything online about how exactly they worked?) -

I can fill in a bit of detail on those.

Waterloo :

It must have been replaced in the mid-1970s. The construction contractor (Wickens?), who I later had contacts with, advertised the old board for sale in the Railway Magazine. Would anyone buy it ?

A few years later I was in Los Angeles, California, and was taken to a restaurant called Victoria Station. I believe there were several across the USA, but this was the principal one. They had several BR Mk 1 carriages ranged around as dining accommodation. Entering it, there was the old Waterloo big wooden describer, taking up one whole wall. The original station inserts were still in it, but were inevitably set to nonsense combinations. There was a lot of other rail memorabilia around, some USA, some British.

Themed restaurants come and go very rapidly in California. It was probably all cleared away, the MK 1s going for scrap and the indicator for firewood.

Glasgow Central (and a similar one at Aberdeen) had large display boards about 6 feet high which were pre-prepared with destinations, and separately departure times. They were in a large glass-walled elevated structure, one window per platform, over the concourse, and there were a couple of very visible, always elderly, operators who carried the boards slowly to and fro as required. The whole installation looked like something that had been there for a very long time. Given the one at Aberdeen as well, did it date from Caledonian Railway days? Here it is.

http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/23503/the-old-departure-boards-at-glasgow-central/

 

[shredder1]

Stale cheese and tomato sandwiches with the ends curled up, yummy