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Childhood Memories Of Trains

I was born within the sound of GWR engine sounds and whistles. I had the fortune from the age of five to fifteen to to have a GWR line at the bottom of the back garden. On arrival in Devon I found I was just two miles from the GWR once again.
My wife remembers being woken up by the hooter at the GWR engine works in Swindon when she was a child, living in old town, that would be about 1945 to 1950 then her dad moved to Tyseley yard as an electrician where he stayed until retirement around 1980
 
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Great article!
Thank you
Did you see the Eastern Region Garratt ??? we were off on a spotting day to Tamworth 1955 ish....and there in Saltley yard was 69999....they'd tried it again at Bromsgrove but told the crews there hated it as it was too long to hook up to the back of the trains.......it was said to us that the Bromsgrove men sabotaged it because they disliked working on it so much after Big Bertha......... then 92079 was the banker they decided on as a Big Bertha replacement and the crews were happy !!!
 
As a child in the late 40's and early 50's I went on lots of train trips, dad worked for British railway parcels and so we all had a free pass. We were always going on day excursions to Rhyl and New Brighton and probably other places I can't recall.

I vividly remember standing on New St platform eagerly watching for a first glimpse of the engine coming round the bend and seeing it come thundering past belching out an eggy smell, everyone taking a step back but pushing forward the moment the engine passed. Just like today there was always a stampede to get the best seats with doors being pulled open whilst the train hadn't completely stopped.
I went with dad sometimes in the late 50's school holidays where I helped him sort out and load up the van at Curzon St.
One day I was wondering around and there were gigantic 20ft rubber curtains hanging across the doorways where the wagons were shunted in. I peered through the gap and saw a row of presumably disused steam engines all fitted with cow scoops like you see in the wild west. I never forgot that and to this day have no idea where they were used. This was of course the end of the steam era and I guess those engines went for scrap.
 
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As a child in the late 40's and early 50's I went on lots of train trips, dad worked for British railway parcels and so we all had a free pass. We were always going on day excursions to Rhyl and New Brighton and probably other places I can't recall.

I vividly remember standing on New St platform eagerly watching for a first glimpse of the engine coming round the bend and seeing it come thundering past belching out an eggy smell, everyone taking a step back but pushing forward the moment the engine passed. Just like today there was always a stampede to get the best seats with doors being pulled open whilst the train hadn't completely stopped.
I went with dad sometimes in the late 50's school holidays where I helped him sort out and load up the van at Curzon St.
One day I was wondering around and there were gigantic 20ft rubber curtains hanging across the doorways where the wagons were shunted in. I peered through the gap and saw a row of disused engines all fitted with cow scoops like you see in the wild west. I never forgot that and to this day have no idea where they were used. This was of course the end of the steam era and I guess those engines went for scrap.
Great memories izzy!
 
Did you see the Eastern Region Garratt ??? we were off on a spotting day to Tamworth 1955 ish....and there in Saltley yard was 69999....they'd tried it again at Bromsgrove but told the crews there hated it as it was too long to hook up to the back of the trains.......it was said to us that the Bromsgrove men sabotaged it because they disliked working on it so much after Big Bertha......... then 92079 was the banker they decided on as a Big Bertha replacement and the crews were happy !!!

Hi Mike

Yes it was the only 2-8-8-2 ever used in the UK as far as I know.
I saw it at Bordesley in 1955. Originally built as a banker for Wath Bank (Yorkshire?)

Kind regards
Dave
 
Dave, do you know where the 2-8-8-2 was built?
Well...rumours of the time said it was built for Burma railways ..but it was a Gresley- Beyer Peacock design 1925 , my childhood neighbour that got me into spotting c1952 was quite into LNER spotter as his grandparents lived in Darlington and he would venture up there often in those old days.....he was quite on the ball at the time on LNER loco info....... he got me into going to the local Bournville shed and we used to spot together more often than not, he also got me into going to Tamworth....that was an real experience and the memories still last as vibrant excursions of the time...great memories
 
Well...rumours of the time said it was built for Burma railways ..but it was a Gresley- Beyer Peacock design 1925 , my childhood neighbour that got me into spotting c1952 was quite into LNER spotter as his grandparents lived in Darlington and he would venture up there often in those old days.....he was quite on the ball at the time on LNER loco info....... he got me into going to the local Bournville shed and we used to spot together more often than not, he also got me into going to Tamworth....that was an real experience and the memories still last as vibrant excursions of the time...great memories
Tamworth was alway great for me. Three or four of us would ride on our bikes up for a day of spotting, sometimes in the summer holidays we would take a sandwich for dinner. Problem was the sandwich never lasted past 1 o’clock! But wonderful times, we never knew what we did not have!
 
Tamworth was alway great for me. Three or four of us would ride on our bikes up for a day of spotting, sometimes in the summer holidays we would take a sandwich for dinner. Problem was the sandwich never lasted past 1 o’clock! But wonderful times, we never knew what we did not have!
Oh how right you are........it was a train journey for us...one shilling and fourpence ha'penny return to New St....what a shock that it went to that from one shilling and a penny ha'penny...it was almost a mini riot ha ha ..... fantastic days there in that field come rain or shine...and a bottle of Cheethams lemonade from the cafe...which we shared on buying and drinking....we even got hauled back one night by Galatea....often we would shout 'Scrap it' but being hauled back by it changed our minds...ha ha
 
Oh how right you are........it was a train journey for us...one shilling and fourpence ha'penny return to New St....what a shock that it went to that from one shilling and a penny ha'penny...it was almost a mini riot ha ha ..... fantastic days there in that field come rain or shine...and a bottle of Cheethams lemonade from the cafe...which we shared on buying and drinking....we even got hauled back one night by Galatea....often we would shout 'Scrap it' but being hauled back by it changed our minds...ha ha
Simpler uncomplicated days! We all seemed to receive so much pleasure by what we had around us! I have * grandchildren, all pretty go kids but show little or no interest in the kind of things we
 
Never went to Tamworth but many of my school friends did. I never recorded numbers but spent hours on both New Street and Snow Hill just watching. Was the odd one out as I bought the Railway Magazine whereas everyone else bought Trains Illustrated back in the late 1950s
 
Never went to Tamworth but many of my school friends did. I never recorded numbers but spent hours on both New Street and Snow Hill just watching. Was the odd one out as I bought the Railway Magazine whereas everyone else bought Trains Illustrated back in the late 1950s
David, sounds like you had the same fascination we all did!

A couple of months ago I got a link from Pete on steam trains. I thought I would take a quick look, 2 1/2 hours later I was still watching!
 
The pannier tanks came after Western Region took over the line from London Midland Region. I don't remember what date that was but I do remember reading that the GWR panniers were over gauge for the line and damaged the platform at Bromsgrove. The revised regional boundary was at Blackwell Summit
You are right that a GWR loco was tried out (and failed) for banking but it was a 2-8-0 tank engine with outside cylinders. The GWR loading gauge was more generous which is why its cylinders fouled the platform at Bromsgrove. The Western pannier tanks (94xx class) had inside cylinders which gave no problem with platform clearance and they were on duty on the Lickey for many years.
 
Don't know if anyone else had a similar memory, but when I was little living in Yardley Wood, my parents were keen cyclists and many of the Sunday runs into rural Warwickshire finished up at the tea rooms at Bentley Heath. Paradise for me, because the GW main line passed only a short distance away and after I had wolfed down my tea, I would go and stand by the lineside fence and watch the rail traffic on the way into or out of Snow Hill. The sight and sound of an express passenger train galloping by at 60 mph+ with the crew hanging onto the whistle was the most exciting thing I had ever seen and left me with a life-long love of the steam locomotive.
 
Don't know if anyone else had a similar memory, but when I was little living in Yardley Wood, my parents were keen cyclists and many of the Sunday runs into rural Warwickshire finished up at the tea rooms at Bentley Heath. Paradise for me, because the GW main line passed only a short distance away and after I had wolfed down my tea, I would go and stand by the lineside fence and watch the rail traffic on the way into or out of Snow Hill. The sight and sound of an express passenger train galloping by at 60 mph+ with the crew hanging onto the whistle was the most exciting thing I had ever seen and left me with a life-long love of the steam locomotive.
standing on the platform at wooten wawen watching the express coming from stratford.and the feel of the station shake (plus my rib cage) as it past me none stop to snowhill.....My brother worked at snow hill, So i got to know the drivers,no elf and safety then i had many a ride on the footplates:grinning:
:grinning::grinning:
 
standing on the platform at wooten wawen watching the express coming from stratford.and the feel of the station shake (plus my rib cage) as it past me none stop to snowhill.....My brother worked at snow hill, So i got to know the drivers,no elf and safety then i had many a ride on the footplates:grinning:
:grinning::grinning:
Such a joy watching trains passing by at speed. When I was little, circa 1950, on the back of my parents' tandem on Sunday afternoon jaunts, we came through Wootton Wawen quite often and I could never manage to pronounce the name properly!
 
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