The sands of time wait for no man....

[45156]

Ah yes school and Sunday school specials - I'd forgotten about them. They were just about the only excursion traffic our branch handled. There was one other, which was the annual Co-op "Gala Day". I was allowed on the Sunday school trips, but my mother thought that the Co-op Gala Day was too common, and not uplifting enough, so I never got to go on that one - though I did go to the station to watch it depart (one year it was so busy that they needed two trains).

 

The train was always about six non corridor coaches (great with so many kids on board - not) headed by one of Hurlford's ubiquitous Black 5s.

 

These specials were chartered by the organisations sponsoring the trips and in our town there were three churches and also a couple of fringe religious bodies, all with their own Sunday shools, so there were normally enough kids attending to justify the charter, and went to one of the Ayrshire coast resorts, such as Troon, Ayr, Ardossan, or Saltcoats. I went on several Sunday school trips, and these were regarded as an opportunity for a grand day out - most of the kids took a packet of paper streamers, and once the train got up speed they were unfurled from the window (which was a leather strap droplight) and streamed out in the slipstream, so that the train had a few additional decorations as the journey progressed. On arrival the whole trainload made its collective way to the grassy areas near the seafront, and the "fun" began. With the train ticket, Sunday school members also got a "bread ticket" which was exchanged for a packed lunch (sandwich, boiled egg, piece of dry cake and a cup of tea - not fizzy pop) which was dispensed by the Sunday School superintendents once the destination was reached. Sports and games were compulsory (and yes people came last unlike today where everybody has to win) and included the old favourites like the sack race, egg and spoon, three legged race, and an odd game where a boy teamed up with a girl, the boy had to thread a needle then the girl had to sew up a piece of material, with the prize going to the fastest to finish accurately - ie the stitches didn't come out when tugged. Of course, being the Sunday school, there was a collective act of worship led by one of the ministers, and a few hymns were sung in an unenthusiastic manner, as the worship had to happen first before the jollity. This was, of course, in the days when the whole Calvanistic attitude of the church was more predominant, and this was just about as far as they would go with collective enjoyment.

 

For many in the 1950s and early 60s, this trip was one of the high spots of the year - I wonder how many of our current generation of kids would look forward to a twenty mile train trip with a naff lunch, and some games in the way that we did back then?

[The Stationmaster]

A different angle on 'school trips and excursions' is what you could see sometimes from the lineside. My cheapest Mainline spotting haunt was Twyford on the GWML as it was accessible by pushbike and the station staff were a nice friendly bunch. Summer meant Windsor excursions (no, they didn't all go over the Wycombe branch via Bourne End) and although these had usually gained a western engine somewhere enroute there were occasionally visitors from foreign parts.

 

I saw a couple of 'Crabs' on such trains but the most amazing sight of them all was a none too mucky 4F bashing westwards down the Main Line with 10 on and with a Driver clearly out to see what this strange loco could do. Not a whiff of a hot box when it passed me at a good 50 mph but I often wondered if it did make it all the way home without anything melting.

[coachmann]

Aside from railways, my other interest was buses. They were more accessible. I was fortunate to travel on the little red Stockport tram from Gee Cross down to Hyde market and being spellbound by the red glass windows above the main windows. The tram was very bright inside one day and I can only assume at this stage that the wartime blackout restrictions had been lifted. While the family talked of 'the LNER', only Uncle Harry was the modelling enthusiast. I saw the frames for a large steam loco (probably 7mm scale) and he wanted some parts from Bassett-Lowke's shop in Manchester. My allegiance to buses did a temporary switch that Saturday morning when I saw a large Manchester bogie tram by Hyde Market. It was a long exciting journey for me, as I had only watched them previously clogging the roads around Manchester Piccadilly. Harry was clearly not going to repeat this ride on the return trip, and so we caught a prewar SHMD Daimler COG6 home. These Joint Board buses were characterised by pre-selector gearboxes that made a winnying sound when idling and a bell in the cab that was worked by a cord running the length of the lower deck ceiling to the rear platform. The conductor would give this a quick snap and the bell would give a muted clunk. I discovered why when I bought a SHMD but to restore in 1972....... Drivers used to stuff a cigarette packet behind the bell to muffle its tendency to clang!

 

Trips into Ashton were often on that corporations wartime red, white and dark blue Guy Arabs. These utility bodied buses had the engine bolted to the chassis. This would send 'orrible vibrations through the wooden seats and jar ones teeth to the roots when climbing through Dukinfield. I was but 3 or 4 year old when one of my mums aunties took me to stay in Oldham for a few days. We caught a Stockport tram from Gee Cross and a Manchester tram from Hyde. What I wasn't prepared for was the little 'brown' tram that turned up to take us to Oldham. It was an Oldham corporation car with upholstered seats upstairs. To my eyes it was very drab inside and I was mesmerised by the movement of the woodwork as the bodywork flexed over the bumpy rails.

 

In 1947 we left Hyde to live in Oldham. From the age of eight I was riding on Oldham's prewar Leyland Titans to School and noting the various styles of bodywork and route indicator boxes. I'm sure Oldham saved money by accepting outdated 6-bay 'V' front bodies from English Electric. They looked positively ancient by the early 1950s and I spent my pocket money on penny rides whenever possible. In time some of the conductors got to know me and this led to free rides. In fact I reached many of the surrounding towns by bus and made the most of my childhood while the buses I liked existed.

 

Below, an Oldham Corporation Leyland TD5 with ancient looking English Electric body circa 1950.

Copyright colour conversion by coachmann

[jonny777]

Unfortunately for me, our school and Sunday school excursions were never by train. I think train fares were too expensive. We had to make do with the 'luxury' coach (I'm sure that is what it said on the back) which was similar to one of these:-

 

http://www.flickr.co...ool-796993@N25/

 

It was, nevertheless, great fun to get away from the classroom, and the bus transmission made a wonderful whining sound. Steep hills were avoided at all costs, and only once do I remember us kids having to get out and walk while the bus attempted the hill empty, and then stopped to pick us up at the top.

[PhilJ W]

I remember going on a School trip from Hornchurch to Stratford-upon-Avon about 1960/61. We arrived at the London terminus (I can't remember whether it was Paddington or St. Pancras only to find that our train had been cancelled! After the teacher in charge had a discussion with some officials it was decided that we would use a regular service, that service turned out to be the Blue Pullman! What the Pullman staff and regulars thought about a load of 11 and 12 year olds suddenly descending on them I cannot imagine.

[geoffers]

"......You'll be pleased to know another book is due out from Geoffrey, later this year, eta September -ish....."

 

That's great news Paul. Thanks for that. Some more photos from Dave Cash hopefully?

 

Geoff

[Old Gringo]

A different slant on today’s operation and yesterday’s railways.

 

This weekend we’re taking “Diesels in the Duchyâ€, our model of St. Blazey depot, to Melksham exhibition and to keep our costs down to a minimum, the three of us will be travelling down on Friday afternoon in a Transit van. As Damian, Chris and grumpy Gringo are now scattered across the north midlands, I’ll be catching a train to Birmingham International, where it’s most convenient for me to be collected from. So, this morning I went onto Stafford station to sort out my ticket and as I stood in the concourse, I got to thinking about how different this was to “my yoof†and that wonderful land I was harping on about in the last post.

 

Stafford station was one of the first on the WCML to be modernised by British Railways. The simple, actually rather elegant, London & North Western Railway brick buildings were designed in 1860 by William Baker the company architect and swept away exactly 100 years later in the modernising zeal of the worshippers of concrete and plastic. The angular and austere replacement structure was opened on 31 December 1962, by the Mayor of Stafford, Councillor Rees Tyler (the signalman at Stafford No.5 box) and for two years this bright new building stood alongside the smoky, super smelly engine shed, home to ex-LMSR, parallel-boilered 2-6-4 tanks and ubiquitous Black Fives. On the other side of the station, the frontage looked across to the North Western Railway Hotel, but soon after this building too was swept away and the site is currently occupied by a Mercedes dealership.

 

I walked across the gaunt station concourse to the information counter and booking office, in which hangs a fifty year old artist’s impression of what the station looked like immediately after modernisation. (If it ever comes up at auction, I might be tempted). A bright blue AL series electric locomotive takes centre stage amidst a sea of concrete and a diesel multiple unit in green livery also pokes its nose into the picture. This was our modern railway, but less than 12 months after this brand new station was opened the network would be subjected to savage cuts, to appease the short-sighted politicians who were “planning†the oil-based transport system we live with today on our mucky little island.

 

On the positive side, I enquired about my train to Birmingham International and within seconds I had the answer, as just a few taps of a keyboard confirmed my train on Friday and the return journey on Sunday night: two more taps and the printer was whirring away producing a hard copy of my trip. Fifty years ago and I would have waited whilst the voluminous timetable was consulted and then no doubt I would have scribbled the times down with my new biro! However, I don’t think there would have been that much difference in time, as in the old days the railway staff were like lightning with the books and almost knew all the common services off by heart.

 

But, here’s a major change from my youth, the payment. I took a plastic card from my wallet and placed it into a little machine on the counter. This time it was my turn to tap a few numbers and then I was handed the tickets. No money changed hands and I remembered that in my family, I was actually the first to have one of these new-fangled credit cards!

 

I turned to leave the counter and caught sight of a security camera above the doorway and considered how many times I’d already been monitored today and wondered how we managed in 1962 without them?

 

Don’t forget RMwebbers, big brother is watching us! More sights, sounds and smells next time.

 

All the best, John.

[bike2steam]

Yes, when ever I stayed for the occasional week at one of my aunts who (then) lived in Brereton, during school holidays, I'd go to Stafford on the bus, or walk to Rugeley Trent Valley station ( and watch 8F's shunting in Lea Hall sidings), and get the train from there, and remember the Fowler 2-6-4T's at 5C well.

[skipepsi]

I took a long time to think about this then settled on this point in time it was 1963 we had just moved into council house with hot water a bath and an inside toilet and at the bottom of the street was a small council depot (two blokes and a hand cart who made their way around the estate doing minor repairs) behind the depot was a low embankment carrying the ex midland line to Dewsbury not that I knew that at the time. The fence at the back of the depot was broken down and rusty and the gate was always open so it was posible to stand feet from the line while the coal trains came through I think now probably 8F's but I was 6 at the time. My head would have been level with the railhead at best and the vibration and noise was tremendous. The pit was being run down ready for closure but each day as we walked to school little tank engines crossed the road (no gates, barriers or any other warning system) taking spoil to the pit heap. I think the pit closed in 1966 and of course there was the rumour that the little engines had gone down the shaft to block it up, which we believed then.

[Rugd1022]

Browsing in the station shop at Toddington yesterday I picked up a copy of Kevin Roberton's book 'Western Region Signalling In Colour', the photos it contains and the wonderful info in the captions brought home to me just how much has changed since I last worked in some of the locations it covers. As a secondman at Old Oak in the early 80s Summer Saturdays often meant the lucrative 'mileage jobs' to Exeter and back were up for grabs, the regular turns for us were the Paddington - Paigntons / Newquays / Penzances and their various extra reliefs which meant the chance to thrash our 47s and 50s down the Berks & Hants route, at the time it was still mostly semaphores from Westbury onwards. Looking at the photos in Kevin's book brings it all back so vividly, particularly the old GWR signalboxes themselves and the visits I made to some of them while waiting for the road ahead to clear as the route was so busy at the time... Heywood Road Junction, Westbury North, Fairwood Junction, Clink Road Junction, Blatchbridge Junction and the very impressive Taunton West Station. I remember a lengthy stop at Clink Road one Saturday day in 1983, stopping outside the box with the bobby shouting across asking if me and my driver fancied a brew, despite us running late with a train full of passengers - what they all thought of it I can only imagine! Even though this was 1983, the signalmen looked like he'd been in a time warp since 1953 with his rolled up shirt sleeves, tie and waistcoat, not to mention his trusty Triumph motorbike parked at the top of the bank.

 

I think on all but two occasions I was put in the chair on these jobs, this was road learning by the seat of your pants and most of our drivers were very encouraging in that respect. It did have it's drawbacks though, as on one particular job no sooner had we arrived at Exeter St Davids than my jolly driver made a sharp dash across the road to the pub opposite for his liquid lunch, leaving me to get the chips in and meet him back on the station for our return run. With an ailing 50 042 and me in the hot seat, he'd nodded off by Wellington but thankfully I knew where all the distant signals were and how many stop signals each box controlled. All was going well until we approached Taunton when 50 042 started spluttering alarmingly. The Exeter driver we'd relieved earlier had told us it had given him some trouble attacking Dainton bank earlier but had been ok since then. As I saw the distant for Taunton West was off I thought I may as well give it the beans so we could at least nurse it into the station should we need assistance, but just as the speed was starting to build up the stop signal ahead reverted to danger, I caught it just in time and managed to pull up safely about seven or eight feet the right side of the signal post. With the screeching of the brakes my driver woke up, looked across at my no doubt ashen face and said 'well done boyo'! With that he made his way up to the box to see what was going on, he never did tell me, probably thinking I'd had a shock too many already but the run up the Berks & Hants to Reading thankfully went ok. Poor old 50 042 shut down on us at Westbourne Park though so we limped into Paddington, more or less on time.

 

It's nearly thirty years ago now and a similar job on a FGW HST today would probably be very uneventful!

[beast66606]

A variation on the theme, everybody is telling of loco tales so I thought I'd vary it.

 

My mate was a signalman in Port Sunlight Siding signalbox, I visited him occasionally but didn't pay too much attention to the signals or the blocks, one day he let me pull the down (at one time the slow) starter lever, this was an ex LNWR wooden post signal with upper quadrant arm, a redundant lamp where Bebingtons down (slow) distant had been removed a few years previously. It was fun, but little thought were given to what it was all about.

A few weeks later he mentioned that the signal was to be replaced with a tubular steel one, and to make it a bit more interesting this signal was a second hand one, it was to be unplugged from Canning Street North (another local box, and I knew the signal in it's dockland location, sadly never photographed though) and planted (a ready to plant signal back in the 1970s!), at the end of the down platform (the arm was left on the side of the track), another week or two passed and my mate told me that the old wooden signal was to be cut down on the following Sunday and the "new" one brought into use. "How dare they chop down a signal that I've pulled off" I thought, so I got up early on the Sunday morning and walked the few miles (no trains and no buses on a Sunday in those days) to Port Sunlight, I spent the next few hours photographing the old signal having it's arm lowered for the last time, unfortunately I had to give up before the replacement was fully commissioned however my interest in signalling had started - from then on I started to photograph as many as I could.

 

The next time I was in the box I was pestering him for a go of the other signals, which he duly obliged, but soon my eyes turned to the blocks (instruments) ... "Not until you know the basic rules" he replied handing me a green signalmans instructions book. Off I went and read it, trying to learn it all in a day or two, back to the box "Failed" he said as I got a question wrong, more revision and back again "Ok, you've passed" he duly announced.

My hand headed for the "penguin" as Rock Ferry rattled out a 3 and all the 2s (3-2-2-2) (that's a romantic view, it was probably a 3-1 for a Chester train) for the local T18 trip,I repeated the code and pegged up a line clear, giving the release to Rock Ferrys up starter, I moved to the corner of the box and in the far distance (my eye sight was a lot better in those days) I could see the tiny* signal clear and a yellow front appeared on the main line, on receiving (train entering) section I pegged my instrument to Train on Line and then offered it to Bromborough, who duly (and rightly so, this was MY train) accepted it and gave me a line clear, I pulled off my signals, 6,7 and back to 4, the distant, 1199 yards from the home) eventually the train trundled past, probably with a rat at the head, running under my clear signals, I sent train entering section to Bromborough, and replaced the signals behind the train, once the tail was clear of the starter I knocked out of section to Rock Ferry, dropping the needle to normal, after a few minutes Bromborough cleared out and dropped his needle too, I had signalled my first train, completely, blocks and all, many, many more were to come over the years.

 

Thus began a live long interest in signalling and operation - so you can blame a certain signalman on here for that.

 

 

* in reality it was far away Father.

[Poggy1165]

Pigeon traffic? Anyone remember that? I well remember going to visit a girlfriend who lived at Crumpsall, circa 1973, and there were crates and crates of pigeons stacked right along the (covered) footbridge, waiting to be loaded into the guards van of one of the Bury-Manchester electrics. This was quite a major traffic, but eventually BR got fed up of dealing with it and it got transferred to the roads. Now Crumpsall is just a tram stop. But there were (at one time) vans and even trains dedicated to nothing else but pigeons. Even modellers of the early blue period could still have pigeon crates on the platform though.

 

(As an aside, I once heard a story of a GC stationmaster at Penistone who got sacked because of pigeons. He used to get the porter to release them, then take pots shots at the birds with a shotgun. Eventually Authority found out, and he was down the road.)

 

Larry's lovely picture of the Oldham bus reminds me of the ancient Manchester Corporation Crossleys we used to have to take us to the baths. I think some must have been pre-war jobs, or very early post-war. Nowadays kids round here go to the baths on the most beautiful air-conditioned Yelloway coaches you could wish to see. Not that I am jealous - I loved those Crossleys and only wish I could hear their engine roar again. It was a roar too!

[Peter Bedding]

Well, we all have our railway moments. Some of mine would be loco-spotting O2s, and A1x's from the island platform at Newport. (I was too small then to see over the side panels on the footbridge, which rather hosed me off.)

 

Likewise an occasion when, from Arreton Down, I watched a plume of steam progress towards Horringford.

 

But there are other treasured events in the memory baggage. Sunday mornings (in NW Kent) watching Biggin Hill's Auxiliary Squadron's Meteor F8s returning on the approach from the weekend training event. The quite unique sound of a Hornet ovehead.

 

Harvards and DC3s were also unmistakeable, without seeing them.

 

PB

[Trevellan]

Like Larry, I have always had a parallel interest in buses. Living in the London Transport Country Area (as was) I had the delights of GS class Guys, AEC Regal IVs (the superb RFs) and the double-deck RTs running past the house. When visiting family in Tottenham I would sometimes escape for an hour or two and walk round to South Tottenham station. It was possible to stand in a spot where I could look up at the rail overbridge and see an exotic procession of locos on cross-London freights while observing buses at street level. In those days the XA class Atlanteans were around on the 76 and the green XF class Fleetlines could be seen on the 67. On other occasions I'd hop on a Routemaster up to Manor House and spot there for a while, including seeing RTWs on the 41.

 

In 1968 I stayed with my paternal grandparents for a week which coincided with the opening of the first section of the Victoria Line from Walthamstow to Highbury & Islington. My grandmother reckoned I paid for the construction because I spent so much time travelling on it! Seven Sisters station was a short walk from their house and it was great for me since I was now able to get to Finsbury Park in a matter of minutes for spotting sessions. Later I had direct access to Kings Cross, St Pancras and Euston which was fantastic. The 1967 stock was different from other tube stock at the time. It looked different and made different noises. Little did I know that 40 years later I'd be using these trains almost daily as a commuter and see them phased out and replaced by their successors.

 

A brief anecdote worth noting here is that one of my impromptu spotting trips to Euston while staying with my grandparents yielded an unexpected cab ride. With my younger brother in tow, we were standing at the end of a platform and a kindly driver asked if we'd like to have a ride with him while he switched platforms. I must have looked worried, for he assured me that we would end up back in the same place. We did - on the adjacent road! Okay, not a big event, but it seemed to involve a fair distance out past the station throat to accomplish the reversal and it meant a lot to two young boys. To this day I can still remember the loco: E3118.

 

The family presence in Tottenham finished in 1977, but in 2010 I discovered, purely by chance, that a colleague in the Department for Transport was (and still is) living in my grandparents old house. How spooky is that?!

[flyingsignalman]

A variation on the theme, everybody is telling of loco tales so I thought I'd vary it.

 

My mate was a signalman in Port Sunlight Siding signalbox,

 

(snip)

 

Thus began a live long interest in signalling and operation - so you can blame a certain signalman on here for that.

 

I couldn't possibly comment.....................

[The Stationmaster]

Pigeon traffic? Anyone remember that? I well remember going to visit a girlfriend who lived at Crumpsall, circa 1973, and there were crates and crates of pigeons stacked right along the (covered) footbridge, waiting to be loaded into the guards van of one of the Bury-Manchester electrics. This was quite a major traffic, but eventually BR got fed up of dealing with it and it got transferred to the roads.

 

It used to be great fun helping to release them at a station where you were known as a regular 'spotter' but i think the staff got even more occasional fun out of putting the wrong times on the release cards as I saw happen occasionally.

[coachmann]

Poggy1165 :

Larry's lovely picture of the Oldham bus reminds me of the ancient Manchester Corporation Crossleys we used to have to take us to the baths. I think some must have been pre-war jobs,

One of the prewar Manchester Crossley Mancunians beside an Oldham Tram at Hollinwood just after the war....

 

 

Colour picture by Larry Goddard.

[Poggy1165]

Thank you, Sir! Drool, drool, drool. Did I say I like trams too? A book of these, even an e-book, is something I'd pay good money for!

[62613]

Aside from railways, my other interest was buses. They were more accessible. I was fortunate to travel on the little red Stockport tram from Gee Cross down to Hyde market and being spellbound by the red glass windows above the main windows. The tram was very bright inside one day and I can only assume at this stage that the wartime blackout restrictions had been lifted. While the family talked of 'the LNER', only Uncle Harry was the modelling enthusiast. I saw the frames for a large steam loco (probably 7mm scale) and he wanted some parts from Bassett-Lowke's shop in Manchester. My allegiance to buses did a temporary switch that Saturday morning when I saw a large Manchester bogie tram by Hyde Market. It was a long exciting journey for me, as I had only watched them previously clogging the roads around Manchester Piccadilly. Harry was clearly not going to repeat this ride on the return trip, and so we caught a prewar SHMD Daimler COG6 home. These Joint Board buses were characterised by pre-selector gearboxes that made a winnying sound when idling and a bell in the cab that was worked by a cord running the length of the lower deck ceiling to the rear platform. The conductor would give this a quick snap and the bell would give a muted clunk. I discovered why when I bought a SHMD but to restore in 1972....... Drivers used to stuff a cigarette packet behind the bell to muffle its tendency to clang!

 

Trips into Ashton were often on that corporations wartime red, white and dark blue Guy Arabs. These utility bodied buses had the engine bolted to the chassis. This would send 'orrible vibrations through the wooden seats and jar ones teeth to the roots when climbing through Dukinfield. I was but 3 or 4 year old when one of my mums aunties took me to stay in Oldham for a few days. We caught a Stockport tram from Gee Cross and a Manchester tram from Hyde. What I wasn't prepared for was the little 'brown' tram that turned up to take us to Oldham. It was an Oldham corporation car with upholstered seats upstairs. To my eyes it was very drab inside and I was mesmerised by the movement of the woodwork as the bodywork flexed over the bumpy rails.

 

In 1947 we left Hyde to live in Oldham. From the age of eight I was riding on Oldham's prewar Leyland Titans to School and noting the various styles of bodywork and route indicator boxes. I'm sure Oldham saved money by accepting outdated 6-bay 'V' front bodies from English Electric. They looked positively ancient by the early 1950s and I spent my pocket money on penny rides whenever possible. In time some of the conductors got to know me and this led to free rides. In fact I reached many of the surrounding towns by bus and made the most of my childhood while the buses I liked existed.

 

Below, an Oldham Corporation Leyland TD5 with ancient looking English Electric body circa 1950.

Copyright colour conversion by coachmann

 

On Lees Road, Clarksfield? That view has hardly changed, except that Stotts Tours (behind you more or less, is now derelict). The area of Hollinwood in the second phot. is now a bombsite; The Roxy has gone, the last cinema in Oldham; a few weeks ago AVRO's at Chadderton closed for the last time.

[coachmann]

62613, you know your Oldham! The Lees Road shot is at the bottom of Balfour Street, the bus stop before Clarksfield Road. As for Hollinwood, I passed it without realizing it! AVRO's, a good place to see buses at kicking out time once.