There is an aspect of the hobby, over which I sometimes wonder whether I am vague to the point of becoming an object of deserved ridicule. I rate myself as a line-basher, in that when travelling over new-to-me stretches of a rail system, I am very interested to see what I am travelling through, and mentally tick-off that line in the "done / collected" category. (Personal foible -- stretches of line in big conurbations, thrill me less than do more rural scenes.)
However; in the course of sixty-odd years of this pursuit (discounting childhood, which brought me some valued rail journeys, but in which part of one's life one is "at the mercy of" one's elders re where travelled to) -- done with varying degrees of ardour at different periods -- it has come about that there are a number of lines in Great Britain, over which I am less than totally certain whether I have travelled, or not. In life's ups and downs, I have parted company beyond recall with maps on which I once meticulously recorded my new-line travelling: often, memory has to serve, which it sometimes does with less accuracy than desired.
A few instances: I am over 95% sure that I have travelled over the route Settle Junction -- Wennington -- Carnforth, but cannot for the life of me remember when or in what circumstances; at all events, it must have been more than thirty years ago. Am not totally certain that I have covered the Yarmouth -- Berney Arms stretch. Made a special pilgrimage to Berney Arms from the Norwich end, a couple of years ago; had long taken it for granted that I had, in the 1960s or 70s, travelled by both routes between Norwich and Yarmouth -- know for certain that that is so, re that via Acle; but via Reedham / Berney Arms: could conceivably be wishful thinking. I really do not know whether I have done Colwich -- Stone, or not. And; reconstructing the events of a 1967 trip, am convinced that I must have travelled Cardiff -- Rhymney, though I have no actual memories of the journey. As to whether I have done anything else "west of Newport and east of Swansea", other than the GWR main line: I suspect not, but am not totally sure.
Until the mid-1970s, I was keen to travel over as much as possible of Britain's rail system, that survived -- including for freight only: did a considerable number of trips in the brake van of freights, and organised railtours via DMU, over freight-only lines. As of about the middle of the '70s, my enthusiasm for this mission rather waned, and things dwindled to keen targeting only of lines which particularly attracted me; before then, though, I went on a goodly number of railtours, some of the details of which have gone into vagueness or oblivion. For example: I strongly suspect that I did Northallerton -- Redmire on a railtour in the early '70s, but wouldn't stake my life on it.
Would be interested, and potentially somewhat reassured, to learn whether anyone else who places at least some value on lines travelled over and their intrinsic interest; is in any respect, in similar case to me -- or whether in this, I class as a special and unique species of twit...?
However; in the course of sixty-odd years of this pursuit (discounting childhood, which brought me some valued rail journeys, but in which part of one's life one is "at the mercy of" one's elders re where travelled to) -- done with varying degrees of ardour at different periods -- it has come about that there are a number of lines in Great Britain, over which I am less than totally certain whether I have travelled, or not. In life's ups and downs, I have parted company beyond recall with maps on which I once meticulously recorded my new-line travelling: often, memory has to serve, which it sometimes does with less accuracy than desired.
A few instances: I am over 95% sure that I have travelled over the route Settle Junction -- Wennington -- Carnforth, but cannot for the life of me remember when or in what circumstances; at all events, it must have been more than thirty years ago. Am not totally certain that I have covered the Yarmouth -- Berney Arms stretch. Made a special pilgrimage to Berney Arms from the Norwich end, a couple of years ago; had long taken it for granted that I had, in the 1960s or 70s, travelled by both routes between Norwich and Yarmouth -- know for certain that that is so, re that via Acle; but via Reedham / Berney Arms: could conceivably be wishful thinking. I really do not know whether I have done Colwich -- Stone, or not. And; reconstructing the events of a 1967 trip, am convinced that I must have travelled Cardiff -- Rhymney, though I have no actual memories of the journey. As to whether I have done anything else "west of Newport and east of Swansea", other than the GWR main line: I suspect not, but am not totally sure.
Until the mid-1970s, I was keen to travel over as much as possible of Britain's rail system, that survived -- including for freight only: did a considerable number of trips in the brake van of freights, and organised railtours via DMU, over freight-only lines. As of about the middle of the '70s, my enthusiasm for this mission rather waned, and things dwindled to keen targeting only of lines which particularly attracted me; before then, though, I went on a goodly number of railtours, some of the details of which have gone into vagueness or oblivion. For example: I strongly suspect that I did Northallerton -- Redmire on a railtour in the early '70s, but wouldn't stake my life on it.
Would be interested, and potentially somewhat reassured, to learn whether anyone else who places at least some value on lines travelled over and their intrinsic interest; is in any respect, in similar case to me -- or whether in this, I class as a special and unique species of twit...?