BIGGER THINGS ON RAILS

 

 

           At a Nene valley Railway special event a few years ago

 

Whats this then - you thought this site was all about buses didn't you?

Although I was a young loco-spotter c.1955-59 and spent many a happy hour on platform ends at Waterloo, Paddington, Euston and Kings Cross ( alas no camera), and watching the comings and goings along the GC London extension, and those lovely Bo-Bo locos on the Metropolitan Line Aylesbury trains from my friends bedroom window near Willesden Green station, I somehow never did get to know much about railways.

I did manage the best of both worlds a couple of times at Mitre Bridge, Scrubbs Lane where a sharp eye and a rubber neck could cop trolleybus numbers on the 626/628/630 and still catch the names and numbers of speeding Castles, Kings, Halls, Manors and Granges etc on the Great Western main line below. As with coaches I did manage, in later years anyway, to snap the odd frame from time to time, including a few of London Underground and also later visited a lot of preserved lines, so what's on offer here is going to be a real mixture from home and abroad - I hope you find it interesting.

 

 

 

                                          At the North Yorkshire Moors (later of Heartbeat and Harry Potter fame) Railway - 1983

 

                                                                

 

Virgin Pendolino at Rugby 2005 - I wonder just how much of the British APTE technology is in these despite, their Italian/Swiss manufacture?

 

 

One of the latest privatised railway freight locos. All rather sad that they had to buy them from Canada!

 

 

British Rail offering to commuters on the Richmond -Broad Street line in the late 1970s. Very strange how these 'slam-door' trains served us admirably for decades but are now considered too unsafe for us to travel on

 

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The highlight of our secondary school year in the late fifties and also in 1960 was the annual visit to Swindon Works organised by railway enthusiast teacher Mr Johnson. This was early May of 1960, and whether by design or accident I don't know, soon after our train from Paddington arrived (hauled by an engine named Viscount Portal, which despite this moniker was a member of the post-war Castle Classs), this famous old puffer chugged into the other side of the station. It has since made many an appearance on preserved lines up and down the country. It dates from 1903 I think and is the first locomotive unofficially credited with breaking the 100mph barrier.

EUROPEAN VARIETY

 

All sorts from  the sixties, seventies eighties and nineties and (just) into the twenty-first century...

 

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              Photo taken to show the wonderful architecture of Gent St Pieters Station - the locomotive was just there to complete the view

 

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AUSTRIAN INTERLUDE - 1987

 

 

St. Wolfgang 1987 - Near the beginning of its hard slog to the summit of the Schaffberg this rack railway bears many similarities to our own Snowdon Mountain Railway but is somewhat longer

 

 

Getting ready to descend

 

 

Hallstatt

 

 

Bad Ischl

 

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                                                                                                                              Trains a Grande Vitesse (TGV) Paris 1984

 

 

 

At Chomonix - 2002

 

 

Typical (I suppose) SNCF commuter train that took me from Calais to Lille 1983

 

Seeing this was my main reason for going to Lille again, after nearly twenty years in 1983.This extensive automatic driverless system pre-dated London's Docklands Light Railway by some five years.

 

I know nowt about this one which I saw steaming up and down in a siding in Opporto.

 

 

Definitely no prizes for guessing this location! -  Yes it's Paris and this metro train is crossing the Seine in 1971. The centre (red) car was for first class passengers only - I'm not sure whether the system still has this option today

 

 

Here's a closer look at one of the 1920s Thomson-Houston-Sprague train sets variations of which ran most of the services at this time although a couple of lines then already had the rubber-tyred stock for which the system became famous

 

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SOMEWHERE IN SWITZERLAND - 1965

 

 

 

 

 

It's a Crocodile - I think?

 

 

typical Swissrail EMU in 1965

 

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...........and, over to Germany, this delightful little one and a bit mile long line with 19th century engine and coaches should perhaps more  accurately be described as a 'steam tramway'. In the pouring rain in 1965 it is seen running between Prien DB station and the lakeside at Chiemsee in Bavaria. It is, I understand, still fully operational although, as a backup now often uses a replica diesel powered tramway engine for motive power

 

 

 

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SPANISH MYSTERY LINE

 

Well, not that much of a a mystery really, insofar as it can be said that its line of route was from the Costa Dorada resort of Salou to the nearby town of Reus, a distance if I remember correctly, of about 7 miles (11kms). Reus at this time had a military airfield that was being used by some charter holiday flights. I took these photos on my one and only visit to Spain in July of 1971. I made a number of trips on the line - Reus was the starting point to catch an ex- London Q1 trolleybus to Tarragona!.  I'm sure that the line no longer exists and would be interested to hear from anyone who can supply further information. i.e closure date, details of the rolling stock, particulary those Bristish built trailers etc. I actually had contact a couple of years ago with a Spanish enthusiast, Alberto Gonzales who told me that a number of steam locos had in fact been saved from scrapping along with some original trailers, presumably those illustrated here, but  did he mean those working in 1971 or those even older ones then derelict. Alberto's e-mail seems no longer current so if he reads this hopefully he will be in contact.

 

 

The design of the station building harks back to 19th century Mexico or South America. Only the obvious European tourists give the game away here

 

 

 

 

The line ran at right angles away from the main line station platform at Salou

 

 

It was all in a pretty run down state in 1971 but clearly they did not like to throw anything away!. Around the back of the deserted depot/engine shed about halfway along the line were these (about six in all) obviously nineteenth century bellamy roofed horse tram style cars rotting away. Interestingly they were built by the Falcon Engine & Car Works of Loughborough UK. It would be a great pity if none of these have survived. Also, inside the locked and gated shed could be seen two or three, again obviously 1890-1900 period +/- ten years small steam engines that looked as if they had not run for a very long time. When was steam traction abandoned? 

 

 

 

 

Motive power was then with three of these French built railcars

 

 

 

 

.but the trailers were much older - again they were built by Falcon. In later days this company was better known as Brush. But were these supplied new I wonder or acquired second-hand?

 

 

The outskirts of Salou and of Reus were very much un-developed then. I guess you could not identify this spot today

 

 

 

Only a minor road maybe but no need was seen for any crossing warnings

 

 

Sundays was its busiest day, when the locals were out in force

 

STANDARD GAUGE PRESERVATION

 

 

North Yorkshire Moors Railway 1983

 

 

At Minehead - West Somerset Railway - 1998

WHY O' WHY

 

 

 

I spotted these (about seven altogether) ex BR Pullman coaches parked like this at Marazion on the Cornish coast a few years ago. What a criminal act to allow these beautiful luxury coaches to get into this state. Why was it allowed to happen? When I returned there more recently they had all gone - was that for scrap or are some brave railway preservation souls attempting what looks here to be impossible? Maybe the answers are common knowledge, but I don't read railway periodicals so would love to know.

 

 

The Brighton Belle at Clapham Junction in 1967 - I don't know whether the above were electric or steam stock. If the former I wonder if any of them are in this rake! Some of the coaches were numbered but many carried classical and mythological names. This famous train lasted until 1972 but for its last three years or so fell victim to Richard Marsh's corporate image game and the coaches were painted turquoise blue & grey -The classic dark brown & cream with gold lining and lettering was the very essence of this train and should have been retained, but as it became it was utterly horrible, it took away all the mystique and spoilt the exclusivity of this wonderful service.

 

 

See what I mean - yuk!

 

SOUTHERN STEAM  - THE FINAL GASPS - CLAPHAM JUNCTION IN 1967

 

 

Reduced to more mundane work

 

 

That's better - rebuilt version doing what it was meant to do

 

 

and again........

 

 

Presumably empty stock - there's nearly a dozen coaches on this one!

 

 

ISLE OF WIGHT RAILWAY - NOW AND THEN

 

 

When the old steam railway was decimated in the 1960s basically one line remained. This was converted to electric using redundant former LT Tube Stock adapted to the Southern Region three rail system, at first some 1927 series trains and later 1938 stock. This photo of the latter is of about 1994. This stock is nominally seventy years old in 2008 and I think one set has been restored to pre-war LT red/cream. At least one other however carries a garish scheme liking it to a childrens theme park railway.

 

But it wasn't always like this - Here's what I saw at Ryde in 1964...............

 

 

 

 

.........and this was still running then too

 

 

 

The Ryde Pier tramway opened originally as horse-drawn. It was converted to electric then petrol driven 1927-1959. Diesel engines were used from 1959 until closure in 1969. Most of the trackwork apparently still exists.

TYNE & WEAR METRO

 

Crossing the Tyne

 

Other views to follow, mostly from 35mm transparencies up to 1983

BRITISH RAILWAYS - AROUND & ABOUT

 

 

 

At Old Oak Common 1964

 

 

 

This will show up my lack of railway knowledge! The negative immediately before this is of a Hull Corporation AEC Regent while the one after is a Leicester City Leyland PD3 so this could be in either place. I suspect the latter - if so it might be the train I have arrived on from Marylebone but those in the know will be aware from the locomotive number 45267 and the various headcodes. I used the former GCR line to go to Nottingham, Leicester and Manchester in 1964/5.

 

 

Passing through Hitchin Station - 1964

 

 

Passing through Marks Tey c1964

 

 

Sudbury (Suffolk) 1964

 

 

.....and now for something a little faster! almost too fast for the camera shutter in this snatched shot - HST at Finsbury Park in the mid-1980s

LONDON UNDERGROUND ODDS & ENDS

 

I took surprisingly few photos of the Underground - I'll gradually build up a small selection here

 

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I could never quite understand why District Line trains were run like this, formed of a mish-mash of different stock that looked very untidy. I always had a wish that I could get them all on the sidings and sort them out . As far as I can see this train at Edgware Road station in 1964 has clerestory roof stock of 1923, 1927 and 1931 plus a  Q38 (basically same as CO/CP stock of 1938 but specially configured to run with earlier cars)

 

 

A somewhat tidier train headed by a Q23 driving motor and en-route to Ealing Broadway

 

 

Memory has deserted me and I can't place this at all

 

 

A train of A60/62 Metropolitan Line stock arrives at Croxley

 

 

Took this one just before this section of the Northern Line was withdrawn as part of the re-organisation for the coming Victoria Line.

Now it can be told, for I'm sure the motorman woukld have got a heap of trouble if found out, but on seeing me photograph his train he spoke to me, found out I was staff and took me for a cab ride on his next trip! This was a train of c1927 tube stock, although on this section the tunnels were big enough for larger trains. Back in 1960 I went to London Airport  by pre-1938 Piccadilly Line train with my friend, and we failed to hear the announcement when, on the way, the train terminated at Northfields and it went off to the depot with us on board. We had to be led through the train to exit via the drivers cab and my abiding memory was if the immense heat that almost burnt our ears as we went through the narrow gap between the motor units which were not underfloor as on later stock.

 

 

 

A train of 1959 stock at speed on the Piccadilly Line

SOME GREAT LITTLE TRAINS OF WALES

(AND A FEW OTHER PLACES TOO)

 

This paragraph and all its photos 'went missing' recently and I am taking the opportunity to re-instate  it with a few extras.

 

 

To get it started again here's three views at the Snowdon Mountain Railway I captured in 1969

 

SNOWDON MOUNTAIN RAILWAY

 

 

 

The summit is always in need of supplies so goods trains are occasionally run

 

 

This  train is descending to Llanberis. I wished I'd had the oppotunity to be actually here when an upward train passed

 

 

 

........but I did snap one here. The climb is beginning but there's a long way to go yet. Although I've been to this part of North Wales many times I have yet to sample this ride, but in 1987 did try out its Austrian counterpart to the summit of the Shaffberg

 

FFESTINIOG RAILWAY