Living in the past...

[BOARD OF TRADE]

"Prithee Sir,arte thou spaking of the likes of my goodselfe?

Which I suppose nowadays translates as,"Oi,is u lukin a' me ale!"

Plus ca change.

P.S.I have a Ford Focus myself,brilliant car but when/if it goes wrong it will cost me a fortune whereas 30 yrs. ago a decent set of spanners,feeler gauges etc. and a service manual could get it done for free,parts and skinned knuckles aside.

[Steve B]

Yeah, guess I'm another not much interested in today. The early 60's were a great time, music expanding and still steam to spot. The 70's were not so bad, and some really great music, Tull, ELP, and Floyd. Cars? Mostly I remember Dad's Morris 1000 van. Traveled all over England squeezed into the back of that with my sister.

 

Now, I listen to CDs of old music, watch DVDs of Brit TV (what I can get here in the States) and try to rebuild the times on the 00 layout.

 

The latest sign of the times and how far they are past is from last week. Christmas Eve, one of the great musicians died. Tim Hart, one of the founders of Steeleye Span died of lung cancer. One more link to the past gone.

 

Steve

[Robert]

P.S.I have a Ford Focus myself,brilliant car but when/if it goes wrong it will cost me a fortune whereas 30 yrs. ago a decent set of spanners,feeler gauges etc. and a service manual could get it done for free,parts and skinned knuckles aside.

 

Know what you mean! My everyday car is a Zafira and while I will attack the radius arm on the Mini myself, there's no way I would touch the Zafira. Even with a Haynes Manual.

 

 

The latest sign of the times and how far they are past is from last week. Christmas Eve, one of the great musicians died. Tim Hart, one of the founders of Steeleye Span died of lung cancer. One more link to the past gone.

 

Steeleye Span - Now there's a blast from the past...

 

[Rugd1022]

My Fiesta daily runaround is the same, if something goes wrong I daren't touch it

 

Sad about Tim Hart, as you say Steve that's another one gone. I can't believe it's been nearly ten years since George Harrison passed on.

 

Another blast from the 'rose tinted' past...

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x38/rugd1022/WCW375M17.jpg

 

Good job I'm going back to work tonight, it'll give me something else to think about!

 

Nidge

[45156]

Steeleye Span - Now there's a blast from the past...

 

When I last checked they were still going - they were on in Lancaster last summer. And what a shame that Tim Hart's no longer with us - we seem to lose musicians that I admire at a rate of knots now - the last that I was gutted about was Chris Fyfe with whom I was in a band for some time, and Tim Hart was at his funeral. Regrettably, I wasn't.

 

Getting on to cheerier matters now, nostalgia is a wonderful thing, with memories of things we will not be able to do again like:

 

Travelling from Glasgow to London on the Thames Clyde "express" - 9.5 hours via GSW, S&C and Midland Main Line, behind two separate Peaks, with a loco change at Leeds (reverse as well) and an arrival mid evening at St Pancras.

 

Having a car that you can work on (agreed on that one) - I had a Mini Cooper S 1275 and was able to do almost anything with it, short of a regrind. Wonderful machine, long since gone to the big scrapyard.

 

The summer of 1967 will never be replicated either - both from the point of view of music (summer of love), and also for the demise of BR steam in Scotland.

 

I am sure that life was a tad slower then, and nobody was harmed at all by the lesser pace of life. I remember my dad applying for a phone line, and not raising any comment over the three month lead time, and then having a "party" line where you shared your service with a neighbour - I can't imagine today's youngsters waiting at all.

 

But I could go on, and on, and on....

 

But hey, I'm 58 so I'm entitled to a bit of a dwell in the past!

[coachmann]

.....and then having a "party" line where you shared your service with a neighbour - I can't imagine today's youngsters waiting at all.

 

Not as bad as a "party" lavatory that you shared with a neighbour down at bottom of 'ginnel. I can't imagine today's youngsters stepping out of a freezing house at dead of night to shovel their way through snowrifts to reach an ice covered bog and frozen newsprint for a lav roll. It wasn't called the steam era for nothing....

[45156]

Not as bad as a "party" lavatory that you shared with a neighbour down at bottom of 'ginnel. I can't imagine today's youngsters stepping out of a freezing house at dead of night to shovel their way through snowrifts to reach an ice covered bog and frozen newsprint for a lav roll. It wasn't called the steam era for nothing....

 

Indeed - I had one of these as a kid, and was most pleased when I was not forced out there, but was "allowed" to use a chamber pot instead. That is certainly one area where I would NOT hanker for the bygone years.

 

Indeed, with the thought of going to the dunny in the cold, until this winter, I was just thinking that blizzard ain't what the used to be - I used to go sledging every winter, and was speaking to someone in the same part of Scotland, who said that there had not been any decent snow for some years.

[Rugd1022]

Quite right Coach, you haven't lived unless you've experienced an outside lav..... my parents house had one in the 70s which we used now and then, it was always freezing! We've only just recently demolished the one which was attached to our current house but we've never had to use it though, thankfully.

 

45156 - it's difficult to imagine going from Glasgow to Pancras now, but that Peak hauled journey of old sounds pretty dreamlike to me...... steam heated Mk1 stock, a hot meal and tea served in real cups.... with a fair portion of the journey taken over jointed track..... bliss. Nearest thing to it now is a full English breakfast on the GC behind D123, but it doesn't last quite as long......

 

Some recently uploaded 'oldies' here... http://www.flckr.com...s/21403537@N00/

 

Nidge

[45156]

 

45156 - it's difficult to imagine going from Glasgow to Pancras now, but that Peak hauled journey of old sounds pretty dreamlike to me...... steam heated Mk1 stock, a hot meal and tea served in real cups.... with a fair portion of the journey taken over jointed track..... bliss. Nearest thing to it now is a full English breakfast on the GC behind D123, but it doesn't last quite as long......

 

Nidge

 

It was a most enjoyable trip, and the early lunch sitting started just on leaving Carlisle, so you had lunch during the scenic part of the run over the S&C. In winter, it got dark somwhere before Nottingham, and normally the last three hours down the Midland Main Line was a tad boring as there was not a lot to see then - but the nice part of the run was in daylight, and it was quite delightful - I often chose the Thames Clyde over the WCML because of the more interesting traction, rolling stock and route, and the time taken was well spent.

 

However, one dire winter, I did the journey that way, and there was delay after delay, and we finally pulled into St Pancras somewhere on the wrong side of 22.30 behind a Cardiff 47 - problem was that the Southern were on industrial action, so my onward journey from Waterloo was cancelled, and I wound up getting the tube, then a bus from Wimbledon, and finally finished by taxi - getting in at about 02.00!

[Rugd1022]

That link should have read http://www.flickr.com/photos/21403537@N00/

 

Couldn't edit that last post for some reason

[Rugd1022]

It was a most enjoyable trip, and the early lunch sitting started just on leaving Carlisle, so you had lunch during the scenic part of the run over the S&C. In winter, it got dark somwhere before the Midlands, and normally the last three hours down the Midland Main Line was a tad boring as there was not a lot to see then - but the nice part of the run was in daylight, and it was quite delightful - I often chose the Thames Clyde over the WCML because of the more interesting traction, rolling stock and route, and the time taken was well spent.

 

Sounds rather ace that..... can you remember how much it cost back then?

 

Nidge

[45156]

Sounds rather ace that..... can you remember how much it cost back then?

 

Nidge

 

I think a 2nd class return London - Glasgow was about 25 quid - valid by WCML or S&C. We are talking early 1970s here.

 

I did the same trip by first class sleeper at about the same time when I was due to fly and London was fogged in and that too was about 30 quid single (similar to the plane fare) - and was very boring indeed.

[cb900f]

the only modern invention id be interested in would be a time machine

 

While at work a railway enthusiast colleague and I were discusing the advantages of a time machine and which would i choose if I could go back in time ?

1

My first time making love or

2

Crewe station platform 1955 ?

 

you choose.

 

Pete

[Guest Max Stafford]

It must be that when you reach a certain age, your brain gets full and you can't absorb much new stuff. I feel the same, although I'll admit to keeping an eye on new bands etc. In terms of other stuff, like Nidge, I'd rather watch an old episode of The Sweeney or The Professionals and my last DVD purchase was a couple of BTF compilations ('Snowdrift', since you ask!) and though I turn 46 this year, I've long had the feeling that (in my world at least after 1982), the best was past.

Certainly in cultural and railway terms, and I focus on the 1964-79 period and to a lesser extent, the previous ten years..

 

Dave.

[Ron Ron Ron]

While at work a railway enthusiast colleague and I were discusing the advantages of a time machine and which would i choose if I could go back in time ?

1

My first time making love or

2

Crewe station platform 1955 ?

 

you choose.

 

Pete

No.1 - It wouldn't be the first time, but there are quite a number of "occasions" I'd love to re-run and re-run and re-run.....

 

No.2 - I'd take the time machine though. It'd get quite a lot of mileage on the clock in my hands.

 

.

[Guest Max Stafford]

Well, my first time was spent with one ear open, frantically listening for her brother coming home, so I probably didn't enjoy the experience as much as I might have. He was pretty handy with boxing gloves, so you can understand my concern...!

 

Dave.

[coachmann]

While at work a railway enthusiast colleague and I were discusing the advantages of a time machine and which would i choose if I could go back in time ?

1

My first time making love or

2

Crewe station platform 1955

It'd have to be Crewe........I'd go for the attack by a lonely housewife but my pacemaker would run a bearing...

 

 

 

[Penlan]

This "... I remember when...." reminds of a time I worked in a Surveyors office in the late 50's, most if not all the staff seemed to have had some connection with Arnhem during WW2 (all British and most had ended up POW's), anyway a great office as a young trainee to listen to tales etc, but they also got onto "I remember when we were so poor....".

 

It had to stop when one of the lads said "Our special treat on a Sunday, for dinner, was to sit on the fence and when the neighbours put out the crumbs for the birds, and then to be allowed to go into their garden and feast ourselves..." - Nobody could top that

 

Party dunnies, yes we had those in Inverkeilor too - the field next door had the best crops ever in the corner near our houses, and, there was only one water supply tap at the top end of the village, about 400yds down the hill by the Kirk from our place - carrying the bucket strengthened your character, so I'm told, it hurt my arms.

 

But happy times when we moved to London in '49, I was a Kings X spotter. The family travelled a lot up and down to Scotland, and that's me looking out the window - 1952 I think, we got caught later on the way back in the terrific flooding of the ECML.

 

Penlan

[coachmann]

I like the shot of Penlan travelling in style in a Hornby Gresley....and in teak too!

[jeff alvey]

Being old enough to be an official "grumpy old git"I love nostalgia.

 

Grew up with steam engines on the line near our house - Southern Railways - wonderful memories - including watching, with my mates, a motorist having an very vocal argument with the "signal box man" (as we called him) who was refusing to open the gates to let him through. In our little minds, from that day on, we considered the SBM to be a really nasty man to be avoided at all costs.

Thinking back - I can only remember those gates being opened twice. The first time I was so excited about it, I ran across the "traffic" part myself. [Traffic in those days I hasten to add was about four cars a week.]

 

I remember the bread, milk and coal coming on horse drawn carts.

 

Used to go to work on a train (apprentice engineer) Southern Region and from time to time and express would make an unscheduled stop and could jump on that for a fast ride home. On one occasion it didn't stop at my home station, so I ended up at Waterloo. But it was a great ride!

 

My first car was a second hand mini-cooper It cost me 300 quid. - it was in fact a standard mini, which the previous owner had, had the engine changed to a cooper one and a black leather racing seat fitted for the driver and a fancy gear lever modification. Needless to say it was love at first sight.

 

Insurance for "youngsters" wasn't such an issue back then. My mates put me on to an "Insurance Broker" who worked out of his house. I went to see him - told him my situation - his main concern was "Does it say "Mini Cooper" anywhere on it, which it didn't, and it of course didn't have the different coloured roof - so it did look just like a regular mini. So that was it - I got my cheap insurance.

I stayed with that broker for years, and always got a good deal from him, and on the one occasion that I did have a "prang" he was quick in coming across with the "readies".

He eventually became a large Insurance company in the end.

 

I too loved Rovers - I had two of the sloped back ones (can't remember the model anymore). One was white and had to do a lot of trips up north, it was also in the early days of CB radio so I had a dirty big antenna on the roof [purely in order to get local street directions] but other road users would very often mistake me for an unmarked police car - and the CB traffic would go mad warning everyone of my location. Lot's of laughs that was.

 

And as a final bonus for me - I just found out that the Sweeny is coming over here now (USA) in my area, from episode one!!

[Penlan]

Hornby !!!!!

 

BTW, note the door handles are NOT horizontal.

 

Looking at the photo reminds me that as far as I was concerned the tunnels were always black holes in the early/mid 50's, that was until the mid 70's when I went to a 'Lines Societies' meeting at Keen House (Model Railway Club HQ), I was the Hon Sec and Editor of the LNWRSoc in those days, and took the opportunity to visit Kings X again - My family had moved to the countryside in 1957.

 

I stood at the end of the main departure platform (was it No. 8?) and I could see daylight through the tunnels, I was so surprised I turned to some spotters there to express my views and, the first person was German and didn't understand what I said , the second was from the far east (so was a group of them) , no joy there, in fact I didn't talk to anybody in those first few 'surprised' moments that was indigenous ... the wind was truly taken out of my sails. The meeting was a bit better.

 

Penlan

[Welly]

 

 

Looking at the photo reminds me that as far as I was concerned the tunnels were always black holes in the early/mid 50's, that was until the mid 70's....

 

I stood at the end of the main departure platform (was it No. 8?) and I could see daylight through the tunnels, I was so surprised...

Clearly there had not been any Deltic departures for the prior 2 hours!

[Rugd1022]

I think a 2nd class return London - Glasgow was about 25 quid - valid by WCML or S&C. We are talking early 1970s here.

 

I did the same trip by first class sleeper at about the same time when I was due to fly and London was fogged in and that too was about 30 quid single (similar to the plane fare) - and was very boring indeed.

 

Blimey.... ? ??25! Must have been something akin to a weeks wages back then surely?

 

I had a brief moment of 'living in the past' at work last night - I had to conduct a railgrinder from Watford to Brum, I hadn't been in Watford Yard for ages and my mind went back to when I first started on the job in '82, when we used to shunt the yard with a 25 on a daily basis....

 

Penlan - lovely pic at KX there, very nice

 

Nidge

[62613]

Certainly in cultural and railway terms, and I focus on the 1964-79 period and to a lesser extent, the previous ten years..

Dave.

And winning the Football League and FA Cup was a bit more open, too.

[28XX]

The thread above leads me to pose a question. Is nostalgia a comparatively modern phenomenon? My grandparents died in their 90's between 1978 and 1982. They never seemed to have a love of their 'good old days', certainly not to the extent that 50-somethings have today, and I include myself in that. And if I'm right, why?