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Travelling Alone at a Young Age


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my first solo trip was in about 1987 aged 12 when i was staying with my grandad in prestatyn when i wanted to travel to rhyl and back which was 30p, he gave me £1.50 which let me go to Llandudno Jn, i distinctively remeber it was a ‘new’ 150 along the coast, i then had about an hours wait at the junction where there was a 31 on shed before thr next train home 

 

that came in from the bangor direction out of the tubular bridge at conwy and it was the crewe works test train with a large logo 47 and 37905 leading, it was certainly exciting and i remember it being compartment stock and the front coach was just full of bashers in the compartments and window hanging!

 

the next time was from uttoxeter to flint on my way back from a holiday in derbyshire, again with that one i remember being stood on uttoxeter station and a light engine cavalcade came through lead by 97561 in midland railway maroon pulling the RTC livery 31 and a couple of other 47s, the next thing i vividly remember was at radway green all the railfreight grey and red 4 wheel vans in the MOD sidings

 

happy days 

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A really interesting and thought-provoking thread which shows how much times have changed and a lot of the freedoms we had as children have gone.  Coincidentally my 16y.o daughter has just travelled on her own by train this weekend - never needed to before - from South Wales to here, without problems; two years ago I went on the train to bring her back.  My wife was a bit anxious about it, I was keen she got to do the grown-up thing.  Lone travel is different for girls though.

 

My first solo train journeys in the mid-1980s would have been at about age 12, but I had a lot of train travel experience with my family by then.  Certainly by age 14/15 I was doing Day Rovers (or local 3-day Rovers) on my own.  By 16, I travelled over 200 miles to Cornwall to cycle round alone watching trains and staying in Youth Hostels.  My school friends (such as they were) couldn't understand it at all.

 

In one of Stephen Fry's autobiographies he opens by describing getting the train at Paddington to go off to his private school, travelling with a new boy (amongst several) who was quite upset.  Although clearly in reserved compartments and chaperoned by one or two school staff, they were doing this at age 6.

 

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8 hours ago, Jeremy C said:

Pocketing my school dinner money and doing without was my source of funds.


That was another of my tricks.

 

IIRC, it was possible to buy three mars bars with a days school dinner money, or rather one to survive on, leaving money for the ticket kitty (and really bad dental problems that had to be fixed in my early twenties, then re-done at huge expense and discomfort about three years ago!).

 

Bad news was that I grew a proto-moustache aged c12 or 13 (my son the same), which caused masses of “You’re way too old to buy a half-fare ticket arguments” at booking offices, which was particularly galling because one of my pals was fair-haired, tacheless, and still travelling on halves at 16!

 

 

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I was put on a train at Manchester to visit my grandmother who would have met me in Watford, but I must have had strict instructions to get myself off the train there as we knew the stop was really short and she wouldn't have had time to get on and find me.  I was worried about bombings so it would have been about 1974 and I would have been 8 or 9.  I don't remember being under the care of the guard, but may parents may have "had a word".  

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3 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Coincidentally my 16y.o daughter has just travelled on her own by train this weekend - never needed to before - from South Wales to here, without problems; two years ago I went on the train to bring her back.  My wife was a bit anxious about it, I was keen she got to do the grown-up thing.  Lone travel is different for girls though.

 

When I was a student it was commonplace for girls to hitch-hike. 

That was way more of a potential problem, even then.

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I think I was about 11 when I started travelling alone from Flitwick to St. Pancras in school holidays.  Previously Dad would have a day off (he worked in London) for a day out, but if I travelled alone he only needed a half day off. The train was one of the new class 127s; I don't recollect travelling alone on the steam trains they replaced, but I may have done once or twice.  I would get a bus from the Euston Road to Millbank, go to his office building and ask Reception to call him, then we'd go for lunch at a Lyons corner house.  The afternoon would be a museum (usually the IWM) or a station visit for a short spotting session, followed by the cinema and a quick visit to see what was at KX before the train home.  Within about a year I was also going solo or with a school friend for spotting, doing Liverpool St., or taking a return to Vauxhall rather than staying at Waterloo, but Paddington was favourite.  Once a random group of spotters with an older lad who knew the way bunked Old Oak.  Bletchley and Sandy were other destinations but I never had enough pocket money to go further afield.

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I started by travelling from Penryn to Truro, the 'big' station to train spot, when I was about 8. By the time I was 12 I knew quite a bit about railways and travelled on my own from Truro to Blackpool, which reversed direction at either Newport or Cardiff, including changing trains at Crewe. However travelling home, the ticket being bought at Blackpool, I changed at Crewe onto a train which took me back to Truro via Bristol. 

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On 29/08/2021 at 03:57, xPrime586 said:

Oxford - Wakefield Westgate. Aged ten, sometime in 1978. I was put on the train by my Grandparents in the wrong portion for Wakefield - iirc the train split at Birmingham New Street. All got sorted, but my Grandmother apparently was in a state of great panic until I turned up at Westgate … the trip was a year before trainspotting became my thing, so no idea about haulage. I did though take an immediate dislike to Birmingham New Street. 
 

Perhaps someone will know where I might have ended up? At a guess, the train originated from Poole.

I have the May 1977 to May 1978 public timetable.

You might have been on the 11.39 from Poole (Oxford 14.17) which reversed at Birmingham New Street, and divided at Sheffield. One portion going forward to Rotherham and Leeds (arr 18.27) although not showing a Wakefield Westgate call. The other portion went to York, Darlington, Durham, and Newcastle (arr 20.10),

 

cheers  

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Not me personally - I can remember in the mid to late '80s, I flew regularly from London to Glasgow & back.  Being young and fit, I was either given a seat at the emergency exit or the front row, both more leg room.  There was obviously a note on the computer that I had been spoken to about how to manage the exit & also, if I was not required for that seat, would I "escort" a lone child.  Said children were brought onto the plane by the stewardess, often having been escorted by them through the airport from a different flight.  My job was to keep an eye on them, keep them busy if nervous etc.  Never needed to do anything except chat, as they had often come long haul solo & were now on the home leg, having more flying hours than me.  I think it was also to keep them from pestering the stewardesses on a short flight, not that they did.  Most were in the 10 to 14 age range.

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On 29/08/2021 at 23:31, Tankerman said:

Truro, the 'big' station to train spot

 

Ah, Truro - scene of my worst spotting experience*

As a lad from Wirral, to find myself on holiday in Cornwall was a chance of a lifetime to spot the exotic - Warships, NBL 22's, Hymeks - that sort of thing. However, this was July 1972, and unbeknown to me, all the Warships had gone just a few months before.

 

Anyway, while my parents and sisters walked round Truro, I said I would wait on the platform at the station. Two and a half hours I was there, and nothing.

No trains what-so-ever. Zilch.

Couldn't believe it. Still bemused to this day - I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Sunday.

 

*Except perhaps persuading my Dad to take me to Newton-le-Willows Motorail terminal, expecting some massive hub of locomotives and cartics. Erm, no...

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I was at boarding school between 8 and 13. Very much the norm for us all to travel home alone and back by train for the various school holidays. Only problem that I recall is the school matron buying me a ticket to Hayes and Harlington rather than Hayes (Kent).

 

My first "big" railway adventure alone in 1970 aged 13, was London to Lannion (Brittany) via Paris with the Night Ferry.

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4 hours ago, billy_anorak59 said:

As a lad from Wirral, to find myself on holiday in Cornwall was a chance of a lifetime to spot the exotic - Warships, NBL 22's, Hymeks - that sort of thing. However, this was July 1972, and unbeknown to me, all the Warships had gone just a few months before.

 

Sorry to be pernickety but there were still a few Warships in service in 1972; The only one I ever saw working was 807 Caradoc (hence my user name) on our summer holiday that year in Weston-Super-Mare. You were obviously very unlucky ! 

 

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41 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Sorry to be pernickety but there were still a few Warships in service in 1972; The only one I ever saw working was 807 Caradoc (hence my user name) on our summer holiday that year in Weston-Super-Mare. You were obviously very unlucky !

 I thought I'd read that the last ones went around March 72 - a few months before the July I was there, so thanks for that. Yes, I was very unlucky that day...

St Blazey was nearly as bad - two 08s I think. I came away from the the holiday very disappointed with the Western Region! To add insult to injury, on the trip home, a Western kept pace with our car for a mile or so somewhere near Taunton (Whiteball?) - just too far away to get the number!!

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5 hours ago, billy_anorak59 said:

 

Ah, Truro - scene of my worst spotting experience*

As a lad from Wirral, to find myself on holiday in Cornwall was a chance of a lifetime to spot the exotic - Warships, NBL 22's, Hymeks - that sort of thing. However, this was July 1972, and unbeknown to me, all the Warships had gone just a few months before.

 

Anyway, while my parents and sisters walked round Truro, I said I would wait on the platform at the station. Two and a half hours I was there, and nothing.

No trains what-so-ever. Zilch.

Couldn't believe it. Still bemused to this day - I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Sunday.

 

*Except perhaps persuading my Dad to take me to Newton-le-Willows Motorail terminal, expecting some massive hub of locomotives and cartics. Erm, no...

 

If it was mid afternoon, particularly on a Saturday, it was always like that. IIRC one of the up milk trains used to arrive at platform 3 about 2.30/3.00 o'clock and sit there for at least half an hour. There was certainly around a two hour gap in the passenger service at Penryn about that time.

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