50 Years since the end of BR Steam!

[Old Gringo]

On 18/04/2018 at 13:39, Trev52A said:

@John(OldGringo)

 

Wow! - they say a picture is worth a thousand words but you have captured the occasion at Speke Junction brilliantly. I checked out the Gifford photo (I have several of his super books) to give it context. Sadly I never made it to that shed, so thanks for posting.

 

Regarding your time in the cab of 44806 - did you see my earlier upload of 18th February (post #414)? It shows this loco in the early morning of 29th July presumably on the same duty you saw - it was steam heating some coaches at Preston (sleeping cars if I remember correctly).

 

 

Here's a page from my notebook of 2nd August 1968 when I went to Lostock Hall shed (10D) for the first time. I started to write down the numbers then changed my mind and made a plan of the shed, showing all the locos in context. It includes all the dead locos round the back. It might be of interest to readers. (The record of 45305 on the track nearest the bottom is wrong - it was definitely in the same row as 44888 on the next track up).

 

(DSC_0053a) LostockHallShed 2-8-68.jpg

 

I've already shown a couple of pics from that occasion, but here's a third. 45260 was in steam (one of only four, as per my plan) with 45110 beyond

 

(616cS) 45110+45260 Lostock Hall MPD 02-08-68 (Trevor Ermel) .jpg

 

Regards

Trevor

 

Hi Trevor,

 

I wish I had made a few shed sketches like yours of Lostock Hall shed all those years ago - a very good idea.  And, yes I saw the earlier post of 44806.  How good that it survived and I had the chance to relive the experience, on a cold and wet day a couple of years ago, at Llangollen!

 

Springtime in Speke!

 

Now, another turn up for the books, I knew I had a box of old photos somewhere, shot on a Brownie 127 during the last days.  Nowhere near the quality of the super photographs appearing on this topic, but records nevertheless that somebody besides me might get something from.  Three from Speke Junction were worth scanning and I've attached them below:

 

The first was shot from half-way up the coaling-plant on our 9th April visit, 45292 heads west across the north side of the Speke triangle.

 

Then a view from the coaling-plant, with the ex-LNWR combined coal-stage and water tank in the foreground, 9th April 1968.  The Garston Dock to Liverpool curve runs from roughly centre of the picture towards the right, passing the neck of the shed roads.  The boarded crossing, where we experienced the epic struggle of 44906 in foggy February was to the right of centre behind the plume of steam from the Class 5MT.  Looks like they could do with some more water in that tank!

 

Finally, a Class 9F, 92094 stands beneath the coaling tower at Speke Junction shed on 17th April 1968.  Edit: I'm fairly sure that the engine behind the 9F might be the Britannia, 70024, 'Vulcan', which is the engine that I'm sitting in the cab of in my avatar on that sunny April day back in 1968.

 

I'll see if I can get my missus to scan a few more - as I've not looked in this box for several decades.

 

Apologies for the quality.

 

All the very best,

John.

 

[LNER4479]

 

 

Speke Loco Depot 9.4.68.jpg

 

Shot from the coaling-plant, with the ex-LNWR combined coal-stage and water tank in the foreground, 9th April 1968. 

Looks like they could do with some more water in that tank!

Great shot for someone modelling a water tank as part of  depot layout!

[Chris Turnbull]

What a fantastic shot of the inside of a water tank!  I've always wondered what it looked like.

 

Chris Turnbull

[jamie92208]

What a fantastic shot of the inside of a water tank!  I've always wondered what it looked like.

 

Chris Turnbull

 

There is actually quite a bit of gubbins inside a tank.  I'm friends with Mark Rand who has converted the tank at Settle into a house.   I was amazed at all the things that there are in the tank, overflow's inlet and outlet valves and a lot of bracing that went in several directions.   I have yet to add the detail to my tank on Lancaster but did do some etches for some of the brackets.

 

Jamie

Edited April 24, 2018 by jamie92208

[Trev52A]

@ Old Gringo

 

What a super set of photos, John. No need to apologise for anything!

I'll echo Chris Turnbull's comment about the water tank. Very unusual view.

 

More please!

 

Cheers

Trevor

Edited April 24, 2018 by Trev52A

[Enterprisingwestern]

Hi Trevor,

 

I wish I had made a few shed sketches like yours of Lostock Hall shed all those years ago - a very good idea.  And, yes I saw the earlier post of 44806.  How good that it survived and I had the chance to relive the experience, on a cold and wet day a couple of years ago, at Llangollen!

 

Now, another turn up for the books, I knew I had a box of old photos somewhere, shot on a Brownie 127 during the last days.  Nowhere near the quality of the super photographs appearing on this topic, but records nevertheless that somebody besides me might get something from.  Three from Speke Junction were worth scanning and I've attached them below:

 

45292 at Speke 9.4.68.jpg

 

Shot from half-way up the coaling-plant on our 9th April visit, 45292 heads west across the north side of the Speke triangle.

 

Speke Loco Depot 9.4.68.jpg

 

A view from the coaling-plant, with the ex-LNWR combined coal-stage and water tank in the foreground, 9th April 1968.  The Garston Dock to Liverpool curve runs from roughly centre of the picture towards the right, passing the neck of the shed roads.  The boarded crossing, where we experienced the epic struggle of 44906 in foggy February was to the right of centre behind the plume of steam from the Class 5MT.  Looks like they could do with some more water in that tank!

 

92094 at Speke Depot 17.4.68.jpg

 

Class 9F, 92094 stands beneath the coaling tower at Speke Junction shed on 17th April 1968.

Edit: I think the engine behind the 9F might be the Britannia, 70024, 'Vulcan'.

 

I'll see if I can get my missus to scan a few more - not looked in this box for several decades.

 

Apologies for the quality.

 

All the very best,

John.

 

Not that I'm denigrating the other "better" photo's hereabouts, but yours capture the ambience of the period, imperfections and all, very atmospheric. Jumpers for goalposts etc!

 

Mike.

[Fat Controller]

I remember going to Liverpool on a 'Mystex' only a short time after those photos of Speke were taken- we went to Speke, where all that was to be seen were a few of the early, jack-shaft drive diesel shunters.

[Old Gringo]

Hi Trevor and the followers of the 50 years since the End of Steam topic.  By the 30th April in the Spring of 1968, my two local sheds, Stockport (Edgeley) coded 9B and Heaton Mersey, coded 9F had less than a week to go before closure to steam locomotives.

 

As a kid brought up in those far off mucky days and looking now at all these pictures, it's almost like looking at another World.  A landscape where the age of steam met the space age, all set to the soundtrack of the Swinging Sixties! 

 

The seven year itch of train-spotting and watching had almost run its course.  Together, we had travelled from that 'Wonderful Land' with 'Telstar' and bought a 'Ticket to Ride' to follow our 'Everlasting Love'.  But by 1967, 'Hello, Goodbye' the steam railway was ending and just like 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' we chased the 'Fire' and steam to the very end in Sixty-eight.  Romantic melodrama, maybe, but 50 years on and I'm still fascinated with the damned things!

 

Back then, we were part of a generation of school-boys intoxicated by the smell of hot oil, sulphur and steam and had been following the friendly 'iron horse' whenever we could.  Some of those who had been watching the steam railway slide to this sad demise - from eleven-year old to reckless teenager - had been as adept at bunking off school as we were at bunking sheds!

 

Spurred on by that music, which just got better and better, as the girl's skirts got shorter . . . . the bike wheels were spinning again as there was only a few days left to get my fix, in my second homes - Edgeley and Heaton Mersey sheds.

 

That 'wonderful world' of Stockport in April 1968

 

As we approach that last curtain call at Stockport, here's a couple of colour photos from earlier in 1968:  The first is a colour view of ex-LMS, Jubilee, No. 5596, 'Bahamas' just back from overhaul at Hunslet, Leeds and on display on the morning of 16th March.  Trevor's pictures earlier in the topic show the crowds which appeared later in the day to look at Edgeley's 'pet engine' resplendent in its new red paint and the other two visitors, Britannia 70013 and Scotsman, 4472.

 

 

A couple of weeks later and I made my weekly pilgrimage on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th April.

 

On the Saturday around lunchtime, my last picture was of Stanier Class Five, 45269 over the ashpit, by the mechanised coaling belt and with a string of 16 tonners in position on the right to take away the ash.

 

 

 

Whilst on the Sunday morning, armed with a fresh colour film, I took this photograph of Edgeley's Standby engine - another Stanier Five, 45312 in almost the same place, but luckily the ash wagons had been moved.

 

Four weeks later, as Louis Armstrong's 'Wonderful World' hit Number One - and all would be dead.

 

All the very best,

John.

 

[pH]

Mr. Gringo - have you read this book - https://www.amazon.com/Shed-Bashing-Beatles-Phil-Mathison-ebook/dp/B008VIJFF4 (or did you actually write it?)

[Trev52A]

@John(OldGringo)

 

Another great post (yesterday)! And linked to the music of the era (as alluded to by pH's next post).

For some reason, when I think of steam in the 'sixties, my mind goes back to 'I'm Into Something Good' by Herman's Hermits!

 

Nice atmospheric shots of Black Fives beside the coaling plant - I can't say I even noticed that when I made my one and only visit to Edgeley on 16th April 1968.

 

And speaking of sheds, here's a copy of an official permit to visit the last three steam depots (which has been seen on a different thread.)

On 1st August 1968 I was at Preston and thought it might be a good idea to summon up the courage to visit BR's Divisional HQ (a short walk from the station) and chance my luck with just asking for a permit! As a 17-year old schoolboy I was half expecting to be thrown out of the building, but instead I came away with the required piece of paper!

(As they say in these parts 'Shy bairns get nowt!')

 

 

This meant I could now legally visit Carnforth again (having unofficially already done so several times) plus Lostock Hall and Rose Grove would hold no fears. Judging by the number of enthusiasts I would see at the latter two depots they must all have had permits too (haha!)

 

Trevor

 

 

[Old Gringo]

Mr. Gringo - have you read this book - https://www.amazon.com/Shed-Bashing-Beatles-Phil-Mathison-ebook/dp/B008VIJFF4 (or did you actually write it?)

 

Hi pH, thanks for reminding me about Phil Mathison's book, 'Shed Bashing with the Beatles' first published in 2006.

 

Always a handy reference to those steamy days, but lacking detail from the very last year of steam ops., as Phil was concentrating on O-Level studies and his guitar.  Whereas, I have to admit it - I just wasted my life 'sniffing steam', when I too should have been studying French, English Language, English Literature, Geography, Geology, History and Mathematics! Plus it probably wouldn't have hurt to have applied myself properly to Art, rather than spending time sketching steam engines!

 

But, Pop music, and the products of Crewe, Darlington, Derby, Doncaster, Eastleigh, Horwich and Swindon by Francis and Sir William, the brothers Worsdell and Sir Vincent, Samuel and Sir Henry, Harry and Sir Nigel, Richard and Oliver, Sir John Audley Frederick and George Jackson Churchward were much more captivating! (Other works and engineers are of course both available and applicable!).

 

Steamy Stories of spotting trips

 

In fact, I was writing short stories of train-spotting trips, interspersed with musical and topical references, from at least ten years prior to the publication of Phil Mathison's super paperback, whilst I was a contributor and later 'editor' (1997-2007) of the Stafford Railway Circle's monthly newsletter, 'Linesider'.  One of my first forays was a 30 year anniversary 'celebration' of a seven day Scottish trip in 1966, made with my school-mate, Frank and entitled somewhat unimaginatively, 'Chasing Iron Dinosaurs'.  The fact that the piece began with watching England playing football on the telly (with 30 million friends) gives you some idea of this 1996 contribution.

 

I had been inspired to write some of these notes by my (late) friend, Peter Hands and his book, 'Chasing Steam on Shed', a paperback published by Barbryn Press in 1982 ISBN 0-906160-030. Peter and I shared carriage vestibules many times on Past-Time Rail's steam tours, through the 1990s/2000s; swapping spotting stories and football tragedies!  Another book that tapped into the culture surrounding the late Sixties and also carrying on into the Seventies is 'Platform Souls', by Nicholas Whittaker, 1996, published by Victor Gollancz.

 

So, as Trevor had taken the trouble to start this topic with some super pictures of those last 32 weeks of the steam-powered railway, I thought I'd chip in with some notes and since I've discovered a box of some old snaps, a few of those too.

 

Hope they bring back happy memories for those of us old enough to remember 1968 and also let the youngsters know what it was like - for this steam-obsessed teenager!

 

All the very best,

John.

 

PS: I like that permit, Trevor.  I only ever wrote for two passes in August 1964 and the one for Upperby came in the post the day before we set off for Carlisle!

[woodenhead]

1968 was such a long time ago, nearly as old as me.

 

Here is the view from above of where Bahamas was stood today

 

[The Johnster]

Having turned up unofficially at Stourton, Leeds, in 1966 I was shown around by a friendly locoman and given a ride back to Leeds City station on 43106.  Holbeck was, um, different.

 

As a guard at Canton in the 70s, I was more than happy to conduct a group around the depot on a Sunday spare duty which was pretty boring otherwise.

 

Spotting expeditions from South Wales post 1965 involved ever further distances and, for the last 2 years, were based on a 48 hour trip on the 00.05 Cardiff-Crewe Saturday morning and the 23.35 arrival from that place on Sunday evening.  We were 14 and 15 at the time and it is unimaginable that kids that age would nowadays be allowed to fend for themselves away from home in this way.  Our parents were concerned the first time, but once we had proved ourselves capable of reliably turning up on the 23.35 on Sunday nights, filthy, hungry, a bit tired, but in fine fettle otherwise, mothers learned to have a hot bath on hand and plenty of food available.  We ate in factory and bus depot canteens, whose location and availability we'd gleaned from fellow traveller spotters, slept in the empty stock at Neville Hill or Trafford Park, and somebody's dad would pick us up at Cardiff General, with newspapers over the seats as befitted passengers who had spent a couple of days in close proximity to steam locos.

 

We were treated, always and without exception, with immense kindness and tolerance by the bemused railwaymen and the ordinary folk of 'Oop North' that we encountered.  Not always cheerfully; there are some miserable sods up there, but never with anything other than the kindness mentioned; I have never forgotten this and will not hear a word against the inhabitants of Northern England.

 

The life lessons were considerable; how to solve problems on the fly, how to plan, and execute the plan or adapt if it goes tits up, how to deal with people, how to factor in food and sleep in an intense timetable, and I reckon any of us could have walked away with a University Degree in what was then called Sociology before it became Social Studies; we'd visited some of the most deprived areas in the country, in complete safety and with never an anxious moment.  We learned how to 'live off the land', and how to look after ourselves and each other.

 

And we had the time or our lives!

Edited May 1, 2018 by The Johnster

[luckymucklebackit]

I read Platform Souls', by Nicholas Whittaker quite recently, a bit of a bittersweet read.  It was on sale in "the works" for a bargain £1.50 for a while but it is out of stock now.

 

Edit to say - I also started my travels from the outskirts of Glasgow down to Crewe, Carlisle and York at the tender age of 14, my parents were OK with it as long as there were at least two of us and that we stayed together, I can also report that I never encountered any anxiety about nipping around the back streets of towns we had never been in before.

 

Jim 

Edited May 1, 2018 by luckymucklebackit

[LNER4479]

Hi Trevor and the followers of the 50 years since the End of Steam topic.  By the 30th April in the Spring of 1968, my two local sheds, Stockport (Edgeley) coded 9B and Heaton Mersey, coded 9F had less than a week to go before closure to steam locomotives.

 

Spurred on by that music, which just got better and better, as the girl's skirts got shorter . . . . the bike wheels were spinning again as there was only a few days left to get my fix, in my second homes - Edgeley and Heaton Mersey sheds.

 

As we approach that last curtain call at Stockport, here's a couple of colour photos from earlier in 1968:  The first is a colour view of ex-LMS, Jubilee, No. 5596, 'Bahamas' just back from overhaul at Hunslet, Leeds and on display on the morning of 17th March.  Trevor's pictures earlier in the topic show the crowds which appeared later in the day to look at Edgeley's 'pet engine' resplendent in its new red paint and the other two visitors, Britannia 70013 and Scotsman, 4472.

5596 at 9B Sat. 16-3-1968.jpg

 

A couple of weeks later and I made my weekly pilgrimage on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th April.

On the Saturday around lunchtime, my last picture was of Stanier Class Five, 45269 over the ashpit, by the mechanised coaling belt and with a string of 16 tonners in position on the right to take away the ash.

45269 at 9B Sat. 6-4-1968.jpg

 

Whilst on the Sunday morning, armed with a fresh colour film, I took this photograph of Edgeley's Standby engine - another Stanier Five, 45312 in almost the same place, but luckily the ash wagons had been moved.

45312 at 9B Sun. 7-4-1968.jpg

 

Four weeks later as Louis Armstrong's 'Wonderful World' hit Number One and all would be dead.

 

All the best,

John.

Lawks a-mercy!!

 

I might not have anything photographically to contribute to this thread but you've hit a nerve there with Bahamas and Stockport Edgeley shed. 'I was there!' (as Max Boyce used to say)

 

I can just about remember being taken to Edgeley shed to see the line up of 5596, 70013 & 4472 - I would have just been a few weeks shy of my 4th birthday and already well on the way to being nurtured on all things steam (diesels were badddddd!). My father was one of the founder members of the Stockport (Bahamas) Locomotive Society and it wouldn't be too much longer before weekends revolved around being at the Dinting Railway Centre. Many a happy hour spent tucked away in the corner of Bahamas's cab as she slowly trundled up and down the yard at Dinting giving footplate rides, Dad 'on the shovel'. The preservation story of that locomotive has been intertwined with that of the family ever since...

 

Good that she'll be back in action again soon

[coachmann]

Someone was taking pictures and I ended up with four here and there, so its coachmann in 1960 on Black Five 45409. I remember it being a Saturday morning and we used the loco on the Ashton Oldham Road shunt (to hide it on behalf of the boss seeing as it wasn't ours!)  Certainly there were no clues at the time that this life was about to change so rapidly, in fact I gave up a decent paying job with a local rock group to join BR, as I wanted a proper job!

 

But as others have said, I wouldn't like to go back to those days if it meant re-living my young life all over.....War, no toys, rationing, lousy schooling, and poverty. By the end of 1964, I had given up looking at BR and so the end of steam was only occasionally witnessed along with the camera-swingers who, to me, had simply joined a craze.

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by coachmann

[david.hill64]

Spotting expeditions from South Wales post 1965 involved ever further distances and, for the last 2 years, were based on a 48 hour trip on the 00.05 Cardiff-Crewe Saturday morning and the 23.35 arrival from that place on Sunday evening.  We were 14 and 15 at the time and it is unimaginable that kids that age would nowadays be allowed to fend for themselves away from home in this way.  Our parents were concerned the first time

 

 Brings back memories for me. I was 14 when steam finished, but certainly at the age of 12/13 I was making trips up North from Gloucester. Initially to the midlands (Birmingham, Derby, Crewe) but in 67 and 68 to Liverpool and Manchester. I had never experienced anything like Liverpool before. I am sure parents were unsure, but we came to no harm. I just wish that I had been able to get to the northeast or Scotland for the A4s.........

 

Roll on a few years and there was no way that I would have allowed my 12 year old to go off with a bunch of mates. Are the risks greater now or were we not aware of them back then? (Rhetorical question).

 

The pursuit of steam gave me an appreciation of the country that growing up in the relative affluence of Gloucester would otherwise have eluded me. Happy days!

[Fat Controller]

 Brings back memories for me. I was 14 when steam finished, but certainly at the age of 12/13 I was making trips up North from Gloucester. Initially to the midlands (Birmingham, Derby, Crewe) but in 67 and 68 to Liverpool and Manchester. I had never experienced anything like Liverpool before. I am sure parents were unsure, but we came to no harm. I just wish that I had been able to get to the northeast or Scotland for the A4s.........

 

Roll on a few years and there was no way that I would have allowed my 12 year old to go off with a bunch of mates. Are the risks greater now or were we not aware of them back then? (Rhetorical question).

 

The pursuit of steam gave me an appreciation of the country that growing up in the relative affluence of Gloucester would otherwise have eluded me. Happy days!

I'd have been about the same age as you when I did Liverpool. For all the trendiness of the 'Mersey Sound', the city still looked as though the Heinkels had just been over. As for the risks...the number of murders of children by adults to whom they they were not related has remained constant for over half a century. When we were going around the less salubrious parts of the North in the late 1960s, the Moors Murderers were active relatively near-by

[Old Gringo]

Following on from post 516 by Larry (Coachman) hanging out of one of Sir William Stanier's finest:

Yesterday [1], I was standing beside one of my favourite engines, the 'Flying Piggy' No. 43106, at Kidderminster - sniffing steam in the sunshine along with my friend, Trevor B, (a railway modeller and volunteer at the Museum and also born during WW2).  Trevor was a fireman at Stafford Road shed, Wolverhampton from 1957 until 1964 and still loves to tell of "doing the ton on a Castle hauling a six coach special and blowing the whistle to his girlfriend, as they flashed by the platform of her local country station!"

 

However Larry says, "By the end of 1964, I had given up looking at BR and so the end of steam was only occasionally witnessed along with the camera-swingers who, to me, had simply joined a craze."

 

From Cuddly toy to King's Cross

 

From my perspective and in complete contrast; by the end of 1964, I was completely hooked on the steam locomotive and as I've said previously, skool and proper education took a back seat as the freedoms allowed by the 'Sixties' were exploited to the full.  Of course, my obsession was assisted by an energetic School Railway Society, run by Mr. Clarke (who arranged trips and shed visits and even convinced the school to build a model railway! [2]). 

 

Then there was my Dad, (despatch-rider with 46145 and steam nut, cabinet maker and carpenter with a short fuse!) who was instrumental in starting this addiction with all things railway, by hoisting me into the cab of a 'Royal Scot' at a tender age, whilst clutching my 'Robertson's brand' cuddly toy! [3] 

 

Employed on long-distance lorry work in the early-60s, occasionally Dad would take me with him to strange places hard to find on the map and just once to the Smoke in early June 1963, where I finished up in the cab of 'Sir Ralph Wedgewood' around midnight, at the bufferstops of KX [4].  Later in 1963 and the late summer of 1964, we did some shed-bashing around the West Midlands in the inevitable Ford 103E Popular!

 

And so, around two decades after the end of steam, this once upon a time bike-riding, camera-swinger was still obsessed with the steam-powered railway and had been lucky enough to be able to buy a couple of rakes of Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway coaches painted by Larry.  Although, they were in LMS pre-1928 livery, not the 'dumbed-down' liveries following the economic crises of the 1920s and 'hungry Thirties'.  So perhaps the crazy addiction has proved profitable in different ways for many of us!

 

Back to the Spring of 1968 and . . . .

 

Was it really Half a Century ago since Louis Armstrong sang, "And I think to myself, it's a Wonderful World" as Napalm was dropped onto the jungles in Vietnam?!  [single released 7th February and hit the Number One Spot, on 24th April - to be replaced only two weeks later by Gary (pick it, lick it, roll it, flick it - no, no, no!) Puckett and the Union Gap with the sugarry 'Young Girl', which stayed at Number One for four weeks in the Spring of 1968.

 

I'd better get on and type up some notes on the last day of steam operations at Stockport, which took place exactly 50 years ago today!

 

All the best,

John.

 

Notes:

[1] Yesterday - Beatles tune which made highest Chart position of number 8, by Matt Monro, released on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1965, and also made number 36 with Marianne Faithful's November release.

[2] I'm around a decade younger than both Trevor and Larry and therefore lucky to have been able to take full advantage of the more settled period following WW2 and Korea, plus all the radical reforms regarding social and educational issues introduced by the post-war governments.

[3] Starts with Go and ends with og.  Edit: 46145 was a Royal Scot Class named "The Duke of Wellington's Regiment".

[4] The week before steam was banned from Kings Cross.  We 'cabbed' four different engines that night between 10pm and 01:00; 60046, 61250, 60124 and 60006 - all for the cost of a few Senior Service (other brands of fags were of course available and just as easily stuck to your lip!).

[Northmoor]

I'd have been about the same age as you when I did Liverpool. For all the trendiness of the 'Mersey Sound', the city still looked as though the Heinkels had just been over. As for the risks...the number of murders of children by adults to whom they they were not related has remained constant for over half a century. When we were going around the less salubrious parts of the North in the late 1960s, the Moors Murderers were active relatively near-by

In 1989 I went cycling in Cornwall (a five hour train ride away) for a week, on my own, mostly to photograph trains.  I was 16 at the time and normally cycled alone, but within range of home.  

 

Now having my own kids of a similar age, I can't imagine letting them do similar, but my worries would be more to do with traffic levels than anything more sinister.  I am very glad to have grown up where and when I did, and with parents who trusted me to take care of myself.

[jamie92208]

In 1966 I was 13 and was allowed to go off on my own on a North West Rover which cost £1.2s 6d (£1.12.5p) I had the freedom of the area bounded by Skipton, Southport, and Gretna. I set off each morning, ususally from Giggleswick which had more trains than Settle.  I had a night at my aunt's in Keswick and a night with a friend of my Mum's in Carlisle who also arranged fro a drive of their company's fireless loco at Carr's Biscuit works, and a tour of Kingmoor Shed as my host knew the shedmaster.  Apart from that I used to cycle to the station with some sandwiches and then cycle back quite late on an evening.   I had not problems and no one commented on a 13 year old being out on his own.   However I wouldn't have let my kids do that at 13 in the early 90's.

 

Jamie

[The Stationmaster]

Hmm, agaed 13 I was regularly travelling up to London and bunking various sheds, getting thrown out of some and escaping notice in others.  Come 1968 I think I was so busy making a bit of overtime the end of steam in the north west passed me by but in any case by then it had turned into a linesider's circus and the magic had gone.  My last trip in the area was, purely by accident, over the S&C in a dmu on the final day of booking steam working over that route at the end of 1967 and that was bad enough to convince I needn't bother to go back that way, the real steam railway I'd known up there but a few years earlier was already dead.

[Clive Mortimore]

1968, I was eleven, living in Bedford. I had started to go trainspotting with my mates to the local station, or in the summer holidays a cycle ride to St Neots  or Sandy to do some spotting. Never really saw the "steam railway" apart form Bullied Pacifics on the LSWR line, the passing of steam had already happened where I lived so the events of the 11th August were something I read in my mate's Railway World 2 months later.

[coachmann]

We came into the world knowing nothing and we took everything for granted because everything had always been that way. So when things changed, we noticed!  The first 'bummer' for me was the DC electrification of the Woodhead in 1954 when I was 12 and the scrapping of Oldham's English Electric bodied pre-war Leyland buses. The next was the loss of the push-pull to Greenfield and Delph in 1955, the LNWR coaches still in LMS maroon. In 1956, the old GCR push-pull coaches in LNER teak disappeared from Guide Bridge services and then the Oldham Loop fell victim to DMU's in 1958-9. In 1959, the services to Stockport and Guide Bridge ended. 

 

Yet, I could still go to North Wales and step back in time because nothing had changed and wouldn't until 1962.  I rode the Amlwch Branch push-pull and the line via Carnarvon to Afon Wen just before the Beeching axe fell in 1964. A 'Manor' passing through Portmadoc on a freight was in a disgusting external state that year. Wrexham had lost much of its GWR motive power and charm and I watched 'Duchesses' on the North Wales coast for the last time in 1964.

 

But nostalgia works in mysterious ways and I found myself riding Crosville Bristol L and K type buses in 1965, Bradford trolleybuses just before their demise, chasing Class 24 diesels in 1977 and photing the Woodhead electric locos in 1980!

Edited May 4, 2018 by coachmann

[Old Gringo]

As 'promised' in post 475, some notes about the last weekend of steam at Stockport sheds.

Just lately it seems, I'm always a day late and this time is no different.  Yesterday, there was a celebration on Stockport Edgeley station of 175 years of the railway opening and 50 years since the end of steam.  Unfortunately, I missed it, but I was there fifty years ago, honest!

 

Last Rites at Stockport on May 4th and May 5th - part one:

 

Until the first weekend of May 1968, it had still been that 'wonderful world of steam' in parts of the North West of England, where a plume of smoke and a rousing exhaust could be seen and heard between places like Stockport and Speke and Bolton and Barrow (and many other alliterations may well be just as pertinent to this melancholy occasion). Earlier Trevor mentioned Herman's Hermits debut and only number one chart topper, "Something Good" from September 1964, however on May 4th 1968, the Rolling Stones hit of July 1965 was more appropriate, as it really was going to be "The Last Time".  

 

Sometimes I wonder just how many times between 1963 and 1968, I had walked down that crunchy cinder path, from the 'hole in the wall' off Booth Street? Normally in '67 and '68, after reaching the bottom of the path, I would lean my bicycle against the solid sleeper built fence, which separated the siding along the west side of the shed from Edgeley Park, the home of Stockport County Football Club.

 

But on the last Saturday, I travelled by train to Stockport to meet up with my railway enthusiast school-pals and as the EMU passed the shed, I considered the fact that this probably would be the last time that I could inhale the smell of hot oil and steam, with a dash of added sulphur and a sprinkling of that fine ash and dust blowing in the wind, whilst only a few yards away, the crowd roared epithets at the local football team? (Although by 1968, County had begun playing on Friday nights).

 

Anyway, there was certainly not much to shout about on the railway side of the fence on this particular Saturday, as it was effectively the last working day of steam operations at Stockport and also the last weekend for steam at the Liverpool sheds of Edge Hill (8A) and Speke Junction (8C).

 

On shed at Edgeley (9B) were Seven 'live' Stanier Fives and one visiting Eight, 48546 (9F) all bound for further service at Bolton, Newton Heath and Rose Grove sheds.  Around the back on the scrap roads were another seven Fives and three Eights.  Three of Edgeley's allocation had already left and 48170 was lurking somewhere near Stockport. That particular engine would return later to be bag-piped off-shed by fireman, Tommy Baker, on the Sunday morning.  RIP Edgeley 24 May 1883 - 6 May 1968.

 

 

 

I took a few photographs (including the two attached above),however as not much was happening, we all set off for the other Stockport shed, Heaton Mersey (9F). The trek down the hill into the valley ended on Gorsey Bank Road, from where one walked over the creaky foot-bridge spanning the swirling, foamy brown waters of the River Mersey to access H. M. (9F) shed.

 

Amongst the dirty collection of eight serviceable Stanier Class 8F, 2-8-0s and 19 derelict examples (plus 10 withdrawn Black Fives), there was a solitary B.R. Standard 9F, 2-10-0, No. 92118, from Carnforth (10A) shed.  This engine left heading North-west in a threesome, coupled up to 48319 and 48356, which were later discovered at Bolton (9K) and Newton Heath (9D) respectively.  One of the withdrawn Class Eights was still branded in chalk 'The Mighty Quinn', Manfred Mann's number one from February!  Fifty years later and I wonder, was it a really good engine (because "You'll not see nothin' like the Mighty Quinn!"), or was it due to the reputation of one of the shed staff, perhaps?  

 

More later of the last weekend of steam at Stockport . . . .

 

All the very best,

John.