RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted June 4, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 4, 2020 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said: I second Clive's choice of decade. Railways at their most elegant, as illustrated by Hamilton Ellis. But just to be greedy, I'll pick a location as well. Birmingham New Street. All the best of the Midland, but the LNW runs it close for interest, especially with regard to carriages. I also see the Edwardian era as most attractive, but my BNS would simply be Clapham Junction, with the Brighton and the South Western strutting their stuff. EDIT Sadly I fear getting a tina Danish in multiple station platform buffets in those days might not have been so easy Edited June 4, 2020 by Oldddudders 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 The 1930s, mainly 1938. Location would be difficult, but if I can roam around a decade can I roam around between York, Doncaster and The Cross as well? St. Pancras and Euston would be worth a visit too, to show I'm not completely blinkered. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium thegreenhowards Posted June 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2020 There are so many Times and locations to choose from! As a massive fan of Portuguese railways, I’d love to see them in the ‘70s before many of the branch lines shut and with steam on the narrow gauge. I’d also love to go back to the ‘50s on the ECML to take all the pictures I wish I had now to help with modelling. But first choice would be ‘30s to see the streamliners in action somewhere on the ECML. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffP Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Went to pick up shopping from Melton. No problem. Get home, find that one of last week's bags fell off the rear seat on the way home, and cunningly camouflaged itself among some empty bags in the footwell. After a week, some things might still have been OK, tins, box of tissues, that sort of thing. But of course that bag contained fruit and vegetables, so today they are somewhat squishy. Why didn't I notice those things were missing? Dunno. Many years ago, a newly married friend, now sadly passed on, came out of the new Scunthorpe ASDA, placed his box of shopping on top of his Triumph Herald and unlocked the car. He then got in, forgot the shopping and drove home...nine miles of twisty road to Winterton, a village to the north of Scunthorpe. When he got home, the box was still there and all he had lost was one pack of bacon!!! 3 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarrMan Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 What a difficult choice today's poll is. i think it would have to be the 1950's at Cardiff Central Station. My early memories of annual summer holidays spent with my grandparents, with trips to Barry Island, etc.. Seeing all the movement around the station, with Canton shed not too far away, and everything steam. I remember seeing my first diesel (or was it the gas turbine?) and being so shocked. When I asked my father what it was, he told me that before long they would have replaced ALL the lovely steam engines. (It must have been after 1955.) I just could not believe him, but only a short time was to prove the truth of it, Next best would probably be 1900's or 1910's in the same location, to see the various railways that were later absorbed in their original variety, but that relies on a lot of imagination. Lloyd Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 G'Day Folks I'd like to go back to 1930, and Finsbury Park station to be precise, just to sit there and watch the cavalcade of loco's going past, so many to watch, including a ride up to Edgware, hopefully on one of the Sentinal steam railcars. manna 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarrMan Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Gilbert How are you getting on with your hair clippers? When you got them, I recommended that you always check that the comb is on before you try cutting your hair. I should have listened to my own advice - last Saturday it had cut all of the front half of my scalp when I realized it wasn't! I now have what was called a Yule Brinner, or a Kojak, depending on how ancient you are. And no, I do NOT intend to post a photograph for amusement. Lloyd 2 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieR4489 Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 I’d definitely go back to the 1930s and if we’re picking locations, I’d go to somewhere like Grantham or Retford, just so that I could see the streamliners and all those wonderful teak carriages. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, thegreenhowards said: As a massive fan of Portuguese railways, I’d love to see them in the ‘70s before many of the branch lines shut and with steam on the narrow gauge. We managed it - just - in 1981. The Tamega line by steam - end to end of the line. A beautiful 0-4-4-0T (E163 I think), and we travelled up in the brake third coach provided for the guard; I footplated all the way back down - incredible! Edited June 4, 2020 by cctransuk 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff west Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 How about the 1950's at Peterborough North. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Be a bit deja vu, that, wouldn't it? Although you could impress the locals with your knowledge of the timetable and regular engines. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium thegreenhowards Posted June 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2020 I’m very jealous of your Tamega shots John. I managed Amarante in a railcar, but no further. Barca D’Alva with a EE 1400 diesel is what I would have loved to do most....and it may still happen one day as there is often talk of reopening. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold A Murphy Posted June 4, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 4, 2020 London Rd (Piccadilly) Manchester, 1936, with Guide Bridge as the second choice (or both if I'm allowed). Alastair Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted June 4, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2020 2 hours ago, FarrMan said: Gilbert How are you getting on with your hair clippers? When you got them, I recommended that you always check that the comb is on before you try cutting your hair. I should have listened to my own advice - last Saturday it had cut all of the front half of my scalp when I realized it wasn't! I now have what was called a Yule Brinner, or a Kojak, depending on how ancient you are. And no, I do NOT intend to post a photograph for amusement. Lloyd I had a go five weeks ago LLoyd. Started very conservatively with a number 6, got bored, went down to 3, everything got rather lopsided, so down to 1 and the billiard ball look. Five weeks later my hair is so traumatised it has hardly started growing back at all. 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted June 4, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2020 Golf, silly game. Didn't hit the ball properly at all, threw shots away right left and centre, and played better than my handicap. Despite my restorative mug of tea when I got home, I am for some reason absolutely shattered. I've just had four goes at spelling that. No, not that, absolutely, I can spell that, as it only has four letters. 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted June 4, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2020 Belatedly, the poll result. A two horse race, basically, with the 37 beating the 47 by 12 votes to 9. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Metropolitan H Posted June 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2020 6 hours ago, great northern said: I'll count the poll later chaps, but so you have something to occupy your minds this morning, here is today's poll. If a time machine arrived at your door, and you could go to any decade in the 20th century to watch trains for a day, which decade would you choose? It would be interesting to know why as well. So long as it was only a day trip - despite all the horrible things that beset us, I like my modern creature comforts too much to live in the relatively poor conditions that the majority lived in throughout the steam age. For the short trip I think it would have to be the 1930s - preferably in the Central London area, so I could visit the major termini and watch trains at places like Clapham Junction, Ealing Broadway, Willesden Junction, West Hampstead and Finsbury Park etc., using the North London Line. The why is that it was when the steam railways were at their peak in terms of performance and innovation. But I would want to be back home in the present before spring 1939! Regards Chris H 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted June 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2020 Time travels. An interesting one but for sheer enthusiast interest there is but one choice. I would climb into my personal Tardis and set it for Whiteball signal box on 27 July 1957, the first day of the school holidays. The day is related in the classic volume 'Summer Saturdays in the West' and is said to be the peak of railway usage for family holidays in the West Country. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Pilotman Posted June 4, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 4, 2020 (edited) Swayfield on the ECML in the early 1970s. Deltics speeding past and the possibility of passing the time chatting to Dave F. (of this parish). Edited June 4, 2020 by Western Aviator 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted June 4, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted June 4, 2020 We don't see an 01 very often, so here is another look, before it goes out of sight. 22 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold john new Posted June 4, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 4, 2020 (edited) TARDIS trip back to circa 1960 near Allbrook on the SW mainline. Time again to watch the passing procession of trains on the mainline with my father, also to take more notice of the narrow gauge brickworks railway. It ran close to the house, was passed on our walks, but memories of it have faded in the ensuing years. Edited June 4, 2020 by john new Corrected Allbrook’s spelling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullie Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 I took a book out my local library called 'London Steam in the 50s' when I was about 13 and it had a massive impact on me, so much so that I found a copy on Ebay a few years ago and bought it. I also have the follow up expanded book. To see all those steam services working out of all the London Termini north and south of the river, the freights and the pioneering electric services would be fantastic. If I went back early enough I could catch the transitional liveries and the last of the London trams. Martyn 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
37Oban Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Has to be early 1960's for the mix of late steam and early diesels. A close second, for me, would be late 1920's at Perth with a chance to see Highland and Caledonian locos! Roja Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Fox 34F Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 North end of Bytham station in the early 1920’s. All the glory of the GNR/LNER transition and the Yellow Locomotives of the M&GN passing above. Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzer Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 This is difficult. It has to be late 1950’s or very early 60’s when steam was at its latest stage of development. Loads of possible choices but I narrowed it down to three. First is the magical Kings Cross, oozing all kinds of Gresleys from Pacific’s to shunters when I was at an age when even Peterborough seemed like the other end of the world. Second, Market Rasen on my Bank Holidays there. We could sit at the bottom of the embankment looking up to the trains. There was a constant stream of excursions from the Midlands to Cleethorpes, with anything the Motive Power Department could find on the front so there was this constant variety of locos I never normally saw down south. The great thing was being excursions they ran straight through Lincoln and stopped at Rasen to take water, then had to start against the gradient with 10 or 11 coaches on. Third choice is one I wish I had seen but didn’t- the sea wall at Teignmouth. Nothing to choose between them , but for the sake of the competition I’ll say Kings Cross but it will vet likely be one of the others tomorrow Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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