Prometheus Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 You ain't old enough, Mister! Ah, but I can dream.....! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 How about in the 1970's Charing Cross being closed at evening rush hour because of a bomb being 60 yards away, and the evacuation resulting in the huge crowd standing on the south side of the Strand, all waiting there outside the now empty station............. admiring the package laying outside a shop on the north side of the Strand? The Bomb disposal Officers said it was a new experience for them to have a audience forced on them! Thank goodness it was an abandoned food parcel........ Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BROADTRAIN1979 Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Strange how easily things can be forgotten - like those Irish fellahs who were going round in the 1970s blowing-up things and people on a far wider scale than more recent events - I think at one stage we used to see more of the Army Bomb Disposal squad at our station than we did of the Divisional Chief Inspector although fortunately every package we called them out to was either a hoax (just once) or a result of passenger carelessness with their luggage or packages (several). We were a little bit special as we handled a lot of explosives traffic, and the Bomb Disposal lads were based not too far away (and liked out tea plus the trip out). Oh yes i remember the terroists then but, today it just happens! at least they told you of where the location was and what they did .Anyhow this thread is about what we miss, 501's deeply. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted July 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 9, 2011 Slightly before my time TSE but am very much with you in sentiment.... if only I'd been born ten years earlier! View from the Relief Cabin door on a wet day in 1962. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium zarniwhoop Posted July 9, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 9, 2011 Tide. Never come across anything as good as a degreasing agent. Clement Criterium silk tubulars. (Ask a racing cyclist if this means nothing to you) Bernard I'll see you, and raise you Alécy Criterium Tergals for time-trialling in the wet. Somehow, I think that Soyo 45s (for the front in the dry) belong in the contra thread (punctured one once on the Lewes bypass 10 course, it was shredded by the time I stopped). Actually, I still miss riding my bike. :sob: ĸen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted July 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 9, 2011 BFKs on Sleeper services, great for a bit of kip on long overnight trips. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Downendian Posted July 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 10, 2011 A few that I don't think have been mentioned Buddlea bushes crawling with butterflies and bumble bees John Peel Locomotive hauled trains The sound of Maybachs roaring on a hot summer night The Somerset and Dorset Decent sized chocolate bars not the miniature varieties of today And last but not least, a small little known organisation called BRITISH RAILWAYS Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 10, 2011 BFKs on Sleeper services, great for a bit of kip on long overnight trips. That reminds me of BR breakfasts, which, even in my junior days in the industry, so travelling steerage second class on a day off, meant you sat in first class, with a magnificent fry-up, followed by endless toast and coffee. You didn't need lunch! Having said that, I do recall travelling Euston to Liverpool, enjoying the breakfast immensely, then setting off to find a curry restaurant for lunch! Given that I was about 6', and weighed 9 stone - where the hell did I put it all? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BROADTRAIN1979 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 A few that I don't think have been mentioned Buddlea bushes crawling with butterflies and bumble bees John Peel Locomotive hauled trains The sound of Maybachs roaring on a hot summer night The Somerset and Dorset Decent sized chocolate bars not the miniature varieties of today And last but not least, a small little known organisation called BRITISH RAILWAYS Neil Amen to BRITISH RAILWAYS. I used to remember the BR gangs maintaining the tracks and tightening the bolt nuts on the railjoins,you could hear them discussing everyday life as they were walking down the track. fantastic memories! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I used to like Nutty Bars. Texans were nice too, of course. Meccano sets were an absolute must. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted July 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 10, 2011 That reminds me of BR breakfasts, which, even in my junior days in the industry, so travelling steerage second class on a day off, meant you sat in first class, with a magnificent fry-up, followed by endless toast and coffee. You didn't need lunch! Having said that, I do recall travelling Euston to Liverpool, enjoying the breakfast immensely, then setting off to find a curry restaurant for lunch! Given that I was about 6', and weighed 9 stone - where the hell did I put it all? Ah, the BR breakfast - without a doubt the best one was that served on the car attached at Glasgow Queen Street to the Fort William sleeper - up for breakfast at the earliest opportunity and then good solid eats all the way to Fort William with an apparently never ending supply of toast once the frequently replenished (if you so required) fry-up had been finished. The crew on the car worked alternate days due to their extremely long hours and by odd coincidence I later knew one of the former Chief Stewards on the route after he became Restaurant Car Manager at Paddington - he left the railway to takeover a hotel in Cornwall but I never got there to sample the breakfasts and hospitality (alas). And yes - Mk1 compartment coaches on overnight trains where - if you were lucky - you could stretch out for a nice comfy kip, in that special kind of enveloping damp heat that you only got with steam heating. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted July 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 10, 2011 The newspaper train after midnight dep. from Waterloo to Pompey & Soton, dividing at Woking. They accepted the previous day's day returns and again a kip in Mk 1 compartments. With class 71 locos the point to point timings and max speeds were the fastest on the line, but unloading time at stations made for a 3 hour + journey time. The guard came through the Soton portion before Woking to wake all the matelots kipping in the wrong coaches. Came back on this several times in the 70s after gigs in London. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 BR's makeshift refreshment cars.....Usually a compartment with a railman, a plank and crates of ale for sale! Trains of newly painted blood & custard coaches passing through the landscape. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisf Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 The 01.40 Waterloo - Yeovil Junction with a 50 on the front. Big L and DJs Tony Windsor, Dave Dennis, Paul Kaye, Earl Richmond and so many more ... Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 About 1960ish my Mother, me and Brother did the Glasgow - Euston run in suburban stock (Why? I have no idea). My Brother and I were OK (pull down windows) but my poor Mum was bursting by Carlisle....... It was, of course, another good family story, nowadays there'd be a class action lawsuit against Virgin (or whoever). Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 My Brother and I were OK (pull down windows) but my poor Mum was bursting by Carlisle....... Dangling the kids out the window was easy . The only way for adults was to prop oneself up on a seat and lean at an angle. Oh I do miss non-corridor coaches....like heck I do.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Bedding Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 A few more for the motorist: No MOT A working secondhand car for £5. (Less sometimes). Re-cut tyres for 7s/6d from a dealer in Exchange and Mart. Farmers' cars that left a cloud of smoke, smelling vaguely of paraffin. Also: The freedom to roam across open country. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 10, 2011 Buddlea bushes crawling with butterflies and bumble bees Neil You must live in the wrong part of the country. We still get plenty of butterflies and bees around here (worcestershire). My garden is well provided. Last year I even had a Bumble Bee nest in the garden. Plus every derelict site in Birmingham is covered in buddleja/buddleia bushes as they are a serious coloniser (weed!) of abandoned ground and are suitably covered in insects. Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 10, 2011 Big L and DJs Tony Windsor, Dave Dennis, Paul Kaye, Earl Richmond and so many more ... Chris Kenny and Cash on London (the pirate that is!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Kenny and Cash on London (the pirate that is!) That was my favourite too. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Riding my motorbike and waving at the bike coming the other way. Riding my 'sickle' down the deserted A5 near Rugby in the hot summer of '76, with all the idiots nose ta tail on the nearby M1, and seeing the rats scurrying across the road with surprise that some one was actually on it. My denim jacket sleeves rolled up, and getting a sun tan on my arms. Big L and DJs Tony Windsor, Dave Dennis, Paul Kaye, Earl Richmond and so many more ... Chris Listening to the late great dj's such as Kenny Everett, who can forget the 66 Beatles tour of the US, and Tommy Vance, my radio was permenantly tuned in to Radio London right up to the last day - remember it well. But of all the the things I missed most, being able to spend hours at a time in those dirty, filthy, but wonderful cathedrals of steam such as Stratford, Willesden, Old Oak Common, and Nine Elms. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Pannier Tank Posted July 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 10, 2011 Cab rides on the Local Station Shunting Engine Jinty (47500 / 47521) or 350hp D3795 / D3796 and of course George the Driver! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashcombe Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Cheap petrol ! easy women Desirable men! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashcombe Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 International were bought by Gateway, which then relaunched as Somerfield in the early '90s. Got swept up & stuffed in the supermarket wars of the late 90s, now owned by Co-op late this decade. Our local Gateway/Somerfield in Cranbrook, Kent, became a Co-op about 2000, and plenty of Volvo-driving locals, who couldn't bear the thought of shopping at the Co-op, switched allegiance to Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Group, who were already at Tenterden, and were now taking over the Somerfield at Paddock Wood. Co-op products suited us, thanks. Up here in the backwater (to some!) of the Midlands, Somerfield survived until a couple of years ago. If anyone's interested, the Co-p are great for funerals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 10, 2011 Listening to the late great dj's such as Kenny Everett, who can forget the 66 Beatles tour of the US, and Tommy Vance, my radio was permenantly tuned in to Radio London right up to the last day - remember it well. Closed at 3 o'clock in the afternoon the day the Marine Offences Bill came into law if I remember correctly , but Caroline carried on . How about listening to American AM rock stations after the European stations closed down? (no all night broadcasting then) No crappy British cover jobs on there! AFRTS in Europe (same again) Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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