firbeck
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Posts posted by firbeck
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Nice tunnel vid, can we replace the music with something by Fynger on his banjo please.
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It's a massive list of numbers that are hard to take in, but I noticed that in 1964, Jubilee 45585 'Hyderabad', one of our pals, was listed as being on the scrapline, I presume it was shunted off to the scrapyard at Spondon and cut up, I remember seeing lines of our old pals waiting to be sent off into oblivion at that place.
I recall me and Fanny Hill going for a bike ride, as we did, 66/67, heading for Matlock and pausing at Ambergate one normal working day in the school holidays and seeing a Jubilee come hurtling past on the Shef/Derby line. We were quite astonished and headed for Derby instead, pausing on the way, some kid at Belper station told us that it was in fact a Jube, but couldn't remember which one it was, we never found out, even the staff at Derby station couldn't or wouldn't remember which one it was, it wasn't visible in the shed road that you could see from the bridge, we assumed it had carried on to Brum or even Bristol, lovely last run, I reckon that was the case, we just got lucky to see it, whichever one it was.
I always found the staff at Derby to be miserable gits, totaly unhelpful. Did you know it was the collecting centre for UK tickets. They were chucked all over the place at the west end of the station, particularly around one of the bay platforms.The powers that be were just 'carrying out procedures', until it got down to the station staff who jumped on you and went mental if you attempted to pick any up. I had a row with one of these 'Ticket Policemen' sad gits, what was the point, strange attitude.
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apart from the one poor kid in the shorts n t'shirt.
Nahh, it was nothing, can't you remember the Romany's who lived in a tent during the terrible winter of 62/63 alongside the Black Path railway bridge, they used to wear owt, warm themselves on 'The Moon' and take the horse in the tent everynight, it was a green canvas tent and had a chimney peeping through the top. I think they survived by picking coal off the railway embankment, the 12:30 4F crew used to chuck it at us, as we used to wind them up every day, and the Romaney's picked it up, as regular as clockwork, how they survived that winter, I don't know, but at least they looked after their horse by taking it in the tent, it probably acted as a great big radiator, it was a love that pulled their scrap cart and ended up eating the grass on the Wollaton Colliery Sports Field when the Romany's were given an ex colliery house, the locals weren't amused I recall, but the horse loved it.
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Rob
The interesting site is http://www.derbysulzers.com/derbyyearbook.html
Back to the Open Days.
This is City of Nottingham taken in 1963, so back to the drawing board, and after talking to my cousin in Morecambe, our missed day must have been 1962 when the old boys had a row with the spotters and all and sundry.
I reckon this one, unusually undated, may have been 64.
Judging by the lack of nutters crawling over the locos, this may have been taken during a school trip around the works we carried out in 64, looks wintry, they may still have been hanging about after the Derby Open Day event, I have another picture of 'Thundersley' taken at all places on the scrapline at Carnforth in 65, what the hell was it doing there.
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I thought I was the only one.
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Heres one bit of confirmation, Derby Open Day, August 30th 1964, City of London, the yellow warning stripes on the cab were added that year to denote that they were banned south of Crewe, funny how this class can now run under the wires. It's interesting to note that this banning order seems to have come in to operation on September 1st 1964, they must have applied the stripes at Derby when the loco arrived for the open day, though from what I can find out, the only Coronation still officially operating at that time was Sir William A Stanier, I can only assume that this loco was probably taken straight off to the scrapyard after the event, sad isn't it.
It's difficult to find info on the net about Derby Open Days, we must endeavour to fill the gaps, theres a fascinating web site about what went through Derby works, but not much info about the Open Day displays, interesting to see that the old generation of diesels languished in the scrapyard for 6 years, why wasn't one preserved.
I have more pics somewhere, I'll keep looking.
It must have been interesting to know what workings these Pacifics did to get to Derby Open Day, light engine or the local from Crewe.
Rob, I love cricket, this crap over only playing two test matches in India makes me puke, but how could you sacrifice Derby Open Day for listening to a test match, or were you playing in it, I recall a great conversation I had with Ray Illingworth.....................................................................
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Notts Lad
If you try and zoom in on the montage picture, there's a standard behind 71000 and what I suspect is a semi behind that, I reckon that it was City of London from memory, I've been a busy bee all day and haven't had chance to investigate my other pics, some in colour.
Unfortunately, some Derby Open Days clashed with our holidays, I recall the 63' event when we arrived back in Derby from Devon at the same time as everyone was going home, my uncle, who worked on the GCR, went ballistic, I remember trying to catch the train back to Nottingham and my uncle and dad struggling with luggage and chucking kids uncerimoniously out of the compartment, that's why we used to go home via Friargate, it was peace, light, empty and steam hauled.
Ube
I know, I'll wear me best frock, white high heels, and wander round a filthy engine shed with George Harrison, but he's worth it, anyway, I fancy a pressure gauge from 10203.
C'mon Rob, what do you know about it, I bet you were at every Derby Open Day.
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Believe it or not, I passed a Bond Bug coming the other way in Newport, Saffron Walden last saturday, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was immaculate as well, doubt whether I've seen one for 30 odd years.
Worst car for me, 1300 Marina, it was dreadful. My missus had the misfortune to be given one as her company car in 1975, it was brand new, but dodgy.
If you tried to drive it in more than a force 1 wind it was all over the road. We would drive back to Essex from Nottingham and be forced to pull off the A1 because it was dangerous.
She graduated to an 1800 Marina and it was completely different, quiet, smooth, powerful, no problem, how could the same model, but with a bigger engine, be so different in handling and performance, did anyone else suffer the same fate.
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Interesting pictures, a pity they aren't captioned.
Is picture 2 on the list the old Raleigh/Players Social Club/Centre on Radford Boulevard, whats it used for now, I remember going to a few do's there in times past with my pals parents, one worked at Raleigh and one at Players, I can't remember which company actually ran it.
Where is the tatty boarded up building with the green dome, presumably a certain denominations centre of worship and included for PC reasons, what was it originally used for, hopefully something to do with Pork Farms.
I was surprised to see that the works on the former Newton Building extended down to the old college on Shakespeare Street, what are they doing to this, nothing drastic I hope, it is a beautiful building inside.
Cheers.
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Well it wasn't 1960, this was a lashed up montage that year with Duke of Gloucester as the star.
I'll go through my photo box and see what I can find.
1960 was the final year when everyone was allowed round the running sheds, I remember it was mayhem and some kids drove a 4F off one of the roundhouse roads and nearly put it in the turntable pit. We all took over a loco each and had a whistling competition, it was deafening, I recall I was in a Stanier 2-6-4 tank with one of those deep sounding Stanier hooters. The authorities were asking for trouble allowing hordes of spotters around a working shed with locos in steam, I know H&S can be a pain this days, but if you think about it, it's a wonder no-one was killed that day.
Aha, found something, it was 25th August 1962, here's a few pictures that day, I have some more somewhere.
Heres a picture of the Brit, recognise anyone.
A picture taken in the works, amazing to think they were still repairing 4F's.
I remember the original mainline diesels 10000/1, 10201/2/3 were on the scrapline and people were in the cabs removing bits with spanners. They were also building 'Peaks' in the works and we were copping them by taking the numbers off such things as boxes of screws!!!
I'll see what else I can find.
Real rock and roll some of those people in the pictures.!!
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But does anyone care, it seems not.
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I have that very album
But when did you last listen to it.
A breakthrough in stereophonic sound, nice one, when did it come out, late 50's or early 60's, I wonder how many people who bought it actually had decent equipment to play it on, I have a scratchy old single of 'Stranger on the Shore', I'd be fascinated to hear it in 'Breakthrough Sound'.
Can anyone recall the release of 'Quadrophonic Sound' on to a gulliable public, did anyone actually buy the gear to play it on.
I remember a shop on Parliament Street, just past the Co-op on the left hand side, early Dixons?
They had a quadrophonic promo going and were set up in the shop and playing Lennons 'Imagine' album, not one of my favourites because of it's sad, unneccesary digs at Paul, prompted by that Japanese bitch and Allen Klein, but thats another story, and it sounded great and thats all that mattered at the time.
Did anyone actually buy quadrophonic equipment and the vinyls that went with it for a short period, has anyone got any of these, I seem to remember that the albums had particularly wide tracks, I never understood how it worked, has anyone got any experience of the system.
Incidentally, it was 20 years ago tomorrow that Roy Orbison died, not very prominent in my record collection, but nevertheless a rock legend who should be remembered with the respect he deserves.
He had a lot to do with the emergence of the Beatles, he helped them out on one of their early tours, and finished his career with George Harrison in the 'Travelling Wilbury's', good on you mate, you did a lot for the promotion of decent music, lets not forget him.
I hope that tributes are paid to him on the radio tomorrow, he deserves it.
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Thas well sad...you mean Fred dibnahs house was just left to rot after he died ??....thas crazy after all he collected there.....did no-one see the potential of his amassed collection....or did no-one care enuff ?
Fynger
Don't, it makes me weep, the famous Freds heritage has been destroyed due to family fueding and local lack of interest, we can still watch his programmes, good media stuff, but the media wants a kick up the backside to publish what has happened to all that wonderful life and history that was presented to us, it's all gone, vandalised, stolen, and what is left is up for sale to any one, but no-one, apart from his last wife, seems to give a toss,it really is a tragedy that most people aren't aware of, but no-one seems to care or want to publisize nationally what has happened to this great man's heritage, they've made advantage of the man when it suits them to do so, but now, he's confined to history, with very little left. Terrible isn't it.
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There's been talk of re-opening the GCR as a high speed route recently, the considerations were being made when the birdcage bridge was being removed, why they did it is beyond me, though I suspect it had something to do with the remodelling of Rugby Station and their intransigence in building around what could have been a useful link.
We went on a canal holiday a few years ago and went north from Braunston Junction up to Rugby, initially following the route of the GCR, it was very sad to see a timber GCR signal post still standing more or less intact in the middle of a field, it shouldn't be there, it should be at Loughborough, though it acts as a poignant reminder as to what once was.
Incidentally, theres a good article in last months Railway World about the Rugby testing station, opened 60 years ago, with some great photos of all the old railway company CME's lined up in front of the A4 Sir Nigel Gresley and Duchess Sir William A Stanier. I recall paying a visit in 1965, it was derelict and abandoned with, unusually a load of Metropolitan Railway electric locos dumped outside.
Not a good picture, but you can see the testing station behind as well as the then in use Birdcage Bridge.
Next weeks programme is all about the North West, a bit of a broad canvas, it could mean anywhere, I wonder who they'll have to introduce that, it's sad to think that it should have been the late lamented Fred Dibnah, whose house and collection are still vandalised and rotting away with an uncertain future.
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Saturday 7.10 pm BBC2 Timeshift , Between the Lines - Railways in Fiction and Film.
Monday BBC2 7.00 pm Timeshift , Last days of Steam,
The BBC are repeating what they have already shown in their truncated BBC4 railway series, forget the first one, it's naff and patronising.
I thought that last nights Beeching programme was pretty good, Edwina Currie was actually a good presenter, she had the attitude of being able to put it across for everyone, not just the anoraks, but with a fair bit of enthusiasm and a hint of knowing what she was talking about.
We were treated to a large chunk of the programme being concerned with the GCR as well, it was interesting to see that the director of Chiltern Railways is considering re-opening the line to Rugby, pity that the viaduct across the WCML has been recently dismantled preventing further bits of the GCR to be opened up.
I liked that man, his recreation of the Darjeeling Railway in his back garden was stunning, with people like that in charge, it gives you hope for the future of the railways, enthusiastic, keen type, hands on executives instead of financial institutions running the system is the best way forward.
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Beechings Tracks tonight, BBC4, 8:30. Introduced by the wonderful Edwina Currie, who I doubt has caught many trains in her life, but we'll see, she was having it off with John Major who is a bit of a railway enthusiast, so she might be able to tell the difference between a B1 and a Jubilee, not.
It's all about the effects of Beechings cuts on London and the South East. Sounds a waste of time to me, I don't think that the south east was decimated by rail closures like the rest of the country, well the powers that be wouldn't want their minions to have difficulty getting into their overpaid civil service power bases in London would they. I'm sure that Beeching drew a circle on a map of London and worked out a system whereby the number of closures increased outwards so that his Tory pals weren't affected.
Could be a real white knuckle ride this one, with lots of swearing, I'll probably be made to watch it upstairs.
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Don't knock all the weather girls, they ain't all bimbos. Clare on GMTV has a Masters Degree in Science and is fully qualified with the London Weather Centre, she knows her stuff, unfortunately we are taught to understand that certain people in the past, guilty of importuning with former Forest centre forwards, are the be all and end all of glam weather presenters.
Having said that, it was amusing to see the presenter on GMTV sent up to report on the state of play on the M1 in Derbyshire, claiming to have put his car in a ditch in the snow, but all we saw was rain and green fields.
Snow was something else when I was a kid, a bit of slush and the country comes to a stand still, can anyone remember when things were really bad, most people, including the media, must have forgotten when it last happened, I reckon it was about 30 years ago, can anyone confirm this and remember the fun days when winter was a real occasion.
Can anyone recall for instance when snow last fell on Christmas Day, I remember staying in a place near Camarthen, up in the hills about 15 years ago and the kids were sledging on Xmas morning, but we were high up, the nice shiny Xmas snowy adverts need to be re jigged, we live in different times, it's unlikely to happen, sad but true.
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Little Children ... Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas 6/8d :-)
I'm glad you remember how much they were around then, singles seemed to be 6/8d for years, though it was probably a short span during our teenage frenzy years. Weren't albums 32/6d at the same time, bloody expensive if you think about it, considering I started off earning £5 a week.
On the scale of things at the time, one album was equivalent to 15 pints of Shippoes, whereas today a CD probably relates to about 4 pints of urine if you are lucky.
So what has changed for the good, the price of beer or music.
Can you remember the 'PYE Golden Guinea' series of albums, a cheap range costing 21 shillings, but some of them were pretty good, I've still got a couple, the Kinks and Donovan, it would be interesting to know the copyright policies behind that brand.
Then in the late 60's/ early70's they brought out the 'Samplers', albums with selected tracks from bands they were trying to promote, 'This is Soul' and 'Gutbucket' spring to mind, they were really cheap, less than a pound I reckon.
As mentioned, I recall the first singles I bought, and yes the name Nequests does ring a bell, but do not remember buying my first album, they were so expensive to a kid, it may well have been 'The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, bought cheaply without purchase tax in Jersey and smuggled in at the bottom of a suitcase, it was a bit bent but still played.
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Thats got me thinking.
I reckon the first records I bought were 'Hoots Mon' by Lord Rockinghams 11 and 'Tom Hark' by Elias and his Zig Zag Jive Flutes, if I remember right, I bought them off a record stall in Central Market that was against the wall at the top end against Glasshouse Street, I also think that they were available as 78's as well as 45's.
My uncle had a very interesting collection of 78's complete with a radiogram to play them on, steel needles and one speed. I grew up listening to his mainly American stuff and one day found an EP of 'Spike Jones and his City Slickers' on the stall at Central Market. I thought it was hilarious but my mates weren't impressed at all, looking back, I can see why.
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I've just found a good one, try www.leytransport.i12.com/npaper.htm. You'll have to type it in, for some reason the direct link won't work from here, leave off the npaper bit and theres loads of interesting stuff on there.
Scroll down and theres a picture of Royal Scot being taken through the streets of Skeggy on a low loader. It seems it was towed by rail to Boston, had it's motion fitted then towed by two steam locos from Boston shed to Skegness.
Some other interesting Butlins and railway stuff in Lincs on there too.
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A few years ago the viaduct was classed as a site of special scientific interest and a conservation area because of all the rare plants growing on it.
It was reckoned that seeds from all over the place had dropped there off wagons over the years and taken root, these were able to grow to their full potential after the trains stopped running and the track was lifted.
I'd be interested to know what they did with these plants when the viaduct was demolished, were they simply destroyed or carefully taken away to the Arboretum.
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Royal Scot has always been kept at Bressingham since it's arrival from Butlins and ran under it's own power for a few years on a small section of track. Having obtained a large Lottery grant, it was dismantled, the boiler went to Chatham, the wheels off somewhere else and the remaining bits are being dealt with at Bressingham. It was supposed to be finished by the summer but I think that there's been a problem with the boiler repairs and a cracked frame.
I assume it will be taken to Loughborough for a bit of high speed running in on the GCR.
A famous loco that ran on the Paignton-Kingswear line for the summer was Flying Scotsman back in 1973, we were on holiday down there that year and had a trip behind it and were issued with a commemorative certificate, it was a bit wierd to see it clanking down a GWR branch at the time.
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You're right Beefsteak, Royal Scot arrived at Butlins, Skegness, on a Pickfords low loader from Crewe, 18th July 1963 and was met at the camp by the pipes and drums of the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots. It moved to Bressingham, Norfolk, 16th March 1971.
The first time I saw it was in Nottingham Shed, 1960? and the last time was when I had a cab ride at Bressingham 30 odd years ago.
The other loco at Skeggy was 30102 Granville a B4 from Southampton docks, now at Bressingham.
Princess Margaret Rose was at Pwhelli along with A1X 32640 Newport, now on the Isle of Wight.
Duchess of Hamilton, currently being re-streamlined, was at Minehead along with A1X 32678 Knowle, now on the KESR.
Duchess of Sutherland was at Ayr along with A1X 32662 Martello, now at Bressingham.
Butterley also has a couple of former Clacton based minature locos, Princess Elizabeth and Queen Elizabeth.
I don't recall the public taking much notice of Hamilton and Knowle when I worked at Minehead in 1969. They were tucked away from the main entrance sitting under the chair lift where people ( and seagulls ) took great delight dropping things on them. You could go up the steps and peer into the cab, but not go in, otherwise they probably would have been missing a few gauges. From memory they seemed to be kept pretty clean, probably by 'Bogger Bill' the insane Butlins toilet cleaner.
I'm surprised that being next door to Woodhams famous scrapyard that a loco wasn't obtained from there and put into the Barry Island camp, with several hundred stored across the road, they probably didn't think it was worth it. The other two camps that appeared to be engineless were Clacton and Bognor for some reason.
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Did you know that the boiler fitted to Princess Margaret Rose was the same one originally fitted to 46202 Princess Anne which was involved in the infamous Harrow disaster in 1952.
46202 was withdrawn after the accident, rather surprising since it was new, having just been converted from the Turbomotive. While the damage was bad, the boiler couldn't have been too badly mangled as it would have been scrapped along with the unfortunate other victim, Jubilee Windward Islands. Coincidentally, the original boiler from 'Rose' is now fitted to the other preserved Princess, Princes Elizabeth. It wasn't unusual to swap boilers around during a heavy overhaul, I think that Flying Scotsman, currently involved in a massive rebuild, may be having a spare boiler fitted which came from another A3.
Long Gone Railways
in Pete's Nottingham Transport Forum
Posted
Notts Lad
I've thought of one Derby Open Day visitor we haven't mentioned, 92220 Evening Star, I reckon it could have been 1961. The reason I'm thinking that is because my brother went on a cycle tour of Devon and Cornwall and took the camera with him, this scuppered any pics of our holiday in Weymouth and all the amazing trains we saw that year and also probably explains why I haven't got any pics of Derby Open Day '61.
It's interesting how hard it is to find out much info on the Net about the Derby Open Day attendances.
I thought you might be interested in this picture, I just took it in my shed.
About 12 years ago we went to stay with some friends in Sheffield and met up with my brother. We caught the train down to Derby and went for a 'few' pints in the Brunswick. After working our way down the list during a saturday afternoon, I went for a walk to sober up a bit and ended up in the old works. I was horrified what had happened to the place of memories, it was like a bomb site. Anyway, I spotted this on the wall of the old clocktower building and decided it needed rescueing from destruction. It fell off the wall quite easily, needless to say, everyone was horrified when I walked into the Brunswick with it. It was good fun catching the HST back to Shef and stashing the sign on a seat, the staff at Derby seemed impressed and looked the other way. The only problem was the taxi driver at Shef, we convinced him it would be OK to stick the end of it out the window.
Perhaps this is the only sign left that designated all those works roads, it's only a bit of painted ply, but a unique thing.
I've just found some pics of another rare local open day, Loughborough, Brush Works, I'll scan them and tell you another tale.