Loco sheds and other railway buildings...

[KateV8]

P5BNij said:

Four track section suggests Milford & Brockton - Stafford or onwards towards Crewe

Agreed, that's my stomping ground and it does look like that to me

[shed driver]

KateV8 said:

Reminds me of a summer in the late 70's when me and two mates (we were about 15) befriended the staff at our local station, a small one between Liverpool and Manchester. We did everything except despatch trains, including brewing up, brushing up, printing and selling tickets and carrying parcels. I suppose we became unpaid labour by we didn't care, we loved it. One time we had to ride our bikes as fast as we could to get the porter out of the local bookmakers, we'd been left in charge of the station and we got a tip off that an inspector was due a visit. The highlight was seeing the 'Brickliner', two 25's hauling open wagons loaded with bricks. P5B may remember this as it originated somewhere in London and split at Trafford Park in Manchester. The portion we used to see was heading for Garston Docks in Liverpool. Happy, simple times that most kids these days wouldn't be interested in.

Katev8, which station was this? I had the same experience at Flixton, the station master lived on my street as a child.

I remember being given cab rides up to Irlam and back, the station master asking the dmu driver to give me a ride up to the next station and see that I got back in the next passing train.

And I too remember the fletliner brick train, passed Flixton about 8pm was always double headed 25s based at Cricklewood.

Happy days

SD.

[mfmman]

Dad was a steam/rail enthusiast so some of the things on this thread bring back memories for me. Old Oak Common open day one year, can't remember exactly when but probably 70s. Think we drove from Bristol though, possibly train fare would have been too expensive. We also went to an open day at Swindon Works, I think it was just as a particular class (Westerns or Hymeks maybe) was being scrapped and we 'acquired' a inlet or exhaust valve that was lying around. It's still around somewhere at Mum's I expect. From memory it was about a foot long, but I was primary school age so this might be 'Wagon Wheel Syndrome'

We also managed to get a trundle round Bath Road Shed in a preserved Castle (sorry, don't remember which) which was stabled there for a few days whilst doing charter tours. Probably about 1987/8 maybe.

Family holidays were always in the UK in those days, oddly enough every one seemed to be in a location with a preserved railway nearby or with a rail connection e.g. city break to York, North Wales/Snowdonia etc and countless preserved lines.

[KateV8]

shed driver said:

Katev8, which station was this? I had the same experience at Flixton, the station master lived on my street as a child.

I remember being given cab rides up to Irlam and back, the station master asking the dmu driver to give me a ride up to the next station and see that I got back in the next passing train.

And I too remember the fletliner brick train, passed Flixton about 8pm was always double headed 25s based at Cricklewood.

Happy days

SD.

It was Widnes North or as it's now known Farnworth (it reverted back to its old name when Widnes South and Widnes Central closed). The station still serves the local population except it's now manned in the modem style, IE mostly unmanned which is a bit depressing when I think back to the happy times I had there with the staff. The railway used to be such a relaxed place with the attitudes and values of the old railwaymen and management, I've cabbed so many locos as most of us did then. Nowadays I'd have to think carefully about where the cameras are looking before I let a youngster in my cab

[KateV8]

I've just remembered an episode which seems to come from a time early in the last century yet it was the mid 70's. Me and my mate were on our bikes and were stood at the bottom of the steps of a (now) long-gone box on the Cheshire Lines road. The door opened and the lady signaller invited us up. She sat in a rocking chair chatting to us and knitting. Occasionally she would get out of her chair, deal with the block bells and instruments, throw a few levers then sit and resume her knitting while a dmu went past. It's a lovely time warp memory that has stayed with me ever since.

[P5BNij]

KateV8 said:

I've just remembered an episode which seems to come from a time early in the last century yet it was the mid 70's. Me and my mate were on our bikes and were stood at the bottom of the steps of a (now) long-gone box on the Cheshire Lines road. The door opened and the lady signaller invited us up. She sat in a rocking chair chatting to us and knitting. Occasionally she would get out of her chair, deal with the block bells and instruments, throw a few levers then sit and resume her knitting while a dmu went past. It's a lovely time warp memory that has stayed with me ever since.

There are stories just like this on railway forums and in many, many books. Adrian Vaughan started his railway career in exactly the same way, being invited into the box at Challow, between Didcot and Swindon. Before I started on BR I used to can locos as much as possible chatting to the train crews asking about vacancies at various depots.

Found some more shots taken at Old Oak on my last visit when it was still a working depot, although most of the locos present were in store at the time....







A slightly earlier pic inside the Factory with 50 035 during its restoration, some of the staff there tried to get listed building status for it but sadly it wasn't to be....



My younger brother outside the Factory (he's a driver based at Bristol with Cross Country) for a while he was chairman of the Class 37 Loco Group....

[KateV8]

The Adrian Vaughan that P5B refers too has published two books on his signalling career, Signalman's Morning and Signalman's Twilight. They are both excellent and can be recommended to anyone with an interest in what the old railway was like to work on. Usually available on Amazon.

[Yertis]

P5BNij said:

They named that one after me

[P5BNij]

Yes I ought to have mentioned the books, both well worth a look, he's also a good and quite prolific photographer. Another signalman turned photographer is David Canning who lived and worked in the Newbury area over the same period that Adrian was active, he has done several books on signalling with some funny stories and a couple on the Diesel-Hydraulics.

More bits 'n' bobs -

Bobbies and motorbikes often go together..... the pic isn't wonky, the box has always had a lean to it....



Railtour time at Brum new St in 1975, the short arse kid in the middle of the pic with the green parker and purple flares is yours truly....



Cold English Electric start ups at Bodmin General with 37 142 and 50 042 being cranked up....



A mate and I went up to the East Lancs for a diesel gala some years ago, it rained all day but we got one or two atmospheric photos despite the weather....



West Somerset diesel gala back in 2012....



Severn Valley diesel gala back in 2012....



Perhaps I should have titled the thread 'railway nostalgia'

[mfmman]

KateV8 said:

The Adrian Vaughan that P5B refers too has published two books on his signalling career, Signalman's Morning and Signalman's Twilight. They are both excellent and can be recommended to anyone with an interest in what the old railway was like to work on. Usually available on Amazon.

There is a third “Signalman’s Nightmare “ inherited all of them from my dad, and read them. I’m not as much of an enthusiast as he was but they are a great read. He had loads of those ‘memories of’ style books which are now mine and I will have to collect up one day

[KateV8]

A 25 hauling vans up the old Widnes-St Helens line. This line closed in the early 80's and was made into the Widnes bypass trunk road. Photo courtesy of Paul Wright, local rail historian and major contributor to the excellent Disused Stations website.

[Pinkie15]

P5BNij said:

Regarding Stacker Steadman’s little faux pah, the story goes that he was approaching the stop block too fast, applied the brakes but the weight of the tank wagons overcame the braking power and he went through the block, the weight of those tanks also forcing the lighter box vans up into the air, landing on top of each other.

The Hymek was already withdrawn from service before the damage was done to it, it was used as by the depot’s breakdown crane gang for a retailing excercise using inflatable air bags.

Edited by P5BNij on Saturday 13th March 14:50

Thanks for the reply

So I presume that's the Hymek that was in previous post


BTW to all contributors, excellent thread Thx for sharing the photos & stories/memories

[Tim O]

Love this thread, thanks to all contributors. I spent many a happy hour bunking round Saltley and Bescot in the mid 60’s. Hard to believe we just walked in and helped ourselves.

Question for the west Londoners, is the the huge Car Giant site railway related? Part of Old Oak Common? The buildings have all the hallmarks of old railway buildings but I understand 81A buildings were demolished?

[P5BNij]

Tim O said:

Love this thread, thanks to all contributors. I spent many a happy hour bunking round Saltley and Bescot in the mid 60’s. Hard to believe we just walked in and helped ourselves.

Question for the west Londoners, is the the huge Car Giant site railway related? Part of Old Oak Common? The buildings have all the hallmarks of old railway buildings but I understand 81A buildings were demolished?

Car Giant's premises is up above Old Oak behind the canal, close to Mitre Bridge Junction where the West London line goes over the top of the Great Western mainline. There are some scrap yard sidings nearby but they're no longer in use

[Tim O]

P5BNij said:

Car Giant's premises is up above Old Oak behind the canal, close to Mitre Bridge Junction where the West London line goes over the top of the Great Western mainline. There are some scrap yard sidings nearby but they're no longer in use

Any idea what the buildings were used for before they became Car Giant?

[Yertis]

P5BNij said:

Car Giant's premises is up above Old Oak behind the canal, close to Mitre Bridge Junction where the West London line goes over the top of the Great Western mainline. There are some scrap yard sidings nearby but they're no longer in use

If that's the place I'm thinking of it's been a giant car 'showroom' for decades, I think I went along there with a mate looking for Mark V Cortinas in about 1984. Thinking about that trip, stone chips were a thing in those days weren't they? I've put in hundreds of thousands of miles on the motorway over the last 15 years and you just don't seem to get stone chips nowadays, at least not to the same extent.

[KateV8]

I'm not sure if it's the roads that are different or the paint on cars being harder and more chip resistant. You certainly still notice them on a fibreglass car (Kate V8 herself).

[Quhet]

Fantastic thread, I've been loving the nostalgia on offer here even though I was born the late 80s and only have hazy memories of the railways pre-privitisation....

Has anyone got any pictures of the old Bath Road shed in Bristol? I live just up the road from Temple Meads in Totterdown and didn't even know there had been anything on that site before i chanced across a few old photos on Flickr.

[Yertis]

Quhet said:

Fantastic thread, I've been loving the nostalgia on offer here even though I was born the late 80s and only have hazy memories of the railways pre-privitisation....

Has anyone got any pictures of the old Bath Road shed in Bristol? I live just up the road from Temple Meads in Totterdown and didn't even know there had been anything on that site before i chanced across a few old photos on Flickr.

just for you

[Scoobman]

A few of Bath Road for you.



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