Graham Barlow

Peter. You can ignore above message. I have found your PM now. It was just me not knowing how the site worked. I'll email you directly when I have chance to read your attachment. Apologies for the confusion!

Peter, can you send me that PM again please? I've only today looked at the site for the first time since my March post and seen yours in April. Maybe it went to Junk in which case it'll have auto-deleted long ago. I'll keep an eye out for it now though. It'd be good if you'd kindly attach that social evening pic too. I doubt I'd be on it as I was a bit too young but I may recognise some faces.

​I was a member of BWRE from about 1968 and a committee member (Assistant, then Treasurer proper) of NCTS from around 1971/2 until its demise in the early 80's. I probably never met you, because I stopped going on trips around 1976. I have a vague recollection of a Salford club, but I am pretty sure that any merger with BWRE took place prior to BWRE and EastCRE's marriage, which was one of convenience, as BWRE had lots of members but little money, whereas ECRE was the other way around. I cannot recall knowing anything about STRS or LMRS's existence, though I know NCTS had an increasing strong South Yorkshire following, resulting eventually in all trips having a Sheffield pick-up in addition to those West of the Pennines. NCTS was promoted as having both a railway and bus division, though, in reality, nothing much happened, as far as I am aware, regards the latter. There was indeed a rivalry between NCTS and Dalescroft, run by one Dale Fickes of Bradford. He believed that one national enthusiasts' organisation would be better placed to negotiate shed access with BR than disparate regional ones. All his coach trips stuck rigidly to the rules, whereas NCTS got permits when they could, but thought nothing of visiting these in the middle of the night rather than the stated time, or 'blagging' their way around other depots for which it was unable to obtain permits at all. The demise of the club was brought about by two situations. First, a lack of members willing to serve as committee members resulted in too many functions being performed by one person. These included having charge of almost all of the club's income, a responsibilty for which that person was, sadly, not well equipped. The final straw came when that same person was caught leading a 'bunking' (going around without either permit or verbal permission) of Cardiff Canton, which resulted in a BR-wide ban on the club. They were happy times and I often find myself singing songs we sang long into the night on overnight trips after the obligatory pub stop! Many of the people I knew would have pre-dated your involvement, however, Peter, but please let me know if I can help on any specifics.