StephenFord

No photos unfortunately, but I lived in a prefab at 11 Aslockton Drive from 1950 to 1954, and Saxby's famous chimney dominated the view up the street. It's hard to believe that's 58 years ago - it seems like yesterday that mum and dad set off for Long Eaton in the removals van, and my gran and I (a little lad of 5) followed by bus.

Ashley (post #101) - I wonder if it was going to Skeggy where you noticed that very sharp curve, which would likely have been the south link onto the Skegness branch just south of Firsby. In the 1950s MOST trains to Skeggy (and Mablethorpe) went from Victoria - but it was possible to go from Midland (usually excursion trains that had started elsewhere than Nottingham. I seem to remember reading that it was a bit of a performance, because they had to reverse over a link into London Road Low Level before heading off towards Netherfield etc. Trains to Skeg and Mabo went the same way - Grantham av

I think these utilities are a bit like seagulls, which wouldn't dream of dropping their load on a scruffy car - but as soon as it's washed...!

Well, he's not going to run out of ammo any time soon is he?

Yes, like Trevor I also remember a picnic in Sherwood Forest around 1953. Packing sandwiches, hard boiled eggs and flask of tea. Down to Huntingdon Street in great anticipation, and long trip on the Doncaster bus out to Edwinstowe. Went in Major Oak. I seem to remember it was a warm and humid day with lots of midges; a few dark clouds threatening thunder - but it never came to anything. And sitting in a clearing on raincoats eating picnic and drinking flask-flavoured tea!.

Or bankers? Don't get me started on them...

Ah, but in those days most of us had nothing to park (unless it was a bike) !

Started at Whitemoor infants in January 1954 - at that time you started in the term you turned 5, rather than the school year. I don't remember it being particularly traumatic, and can remember teacher (Miss Maltby) and a number of the kids - which is strange, because I was only there until July, after which we moved to Long Eaton. First day at Mikado Road, Sawley - headmistress Miss Cowgill, class teacher Miss Dobbs (later Mrs Birch). A lad who lived across the road from us hated school and would slip out after his mam had left him at the school gates. I was shy, but plucked up courage to as

....Oh - and car sales of course. I should have remembered that - we had a Citroen from their Grantham dealership (previously Southeringtons) - just over 11 years ago.

Think they made their profits by doing travel in a big way.

Back to pongs : the combined aroma of smoke, fish, mailbags and leather when you went onto the footbridge entrance at Victoria station. It was slightly but subtlely different from the smell at Midland but I'm not sure why.

Maybe they're shy!

That's the one - there was always a gang of lads sat on that stile trainspotting - mainly Jubilees on expresses, with a few Royal Scots and Britannias, lots of Black Fives and a sprinkling of Patriots and Crabs. Freights mainly 8Fs, also 4F 0-6-0s (traditionally known in the works as "Big Goods"). Locals before the introduction of DMUs in 1958 were a variety of 2P 4-4-0s, 2-6-4 tanks and Ivatt 2-6-0s. But there were lots of exceptions to the rule and non-Midland types appeared often - B1 4-6-0s and for a time Great Central A5 class 4-6-2 tanks. Well, you no longer have to suspect - you now kno

True. Seen at the end of the Nottingham-bound platform was a junction signal - for trains heading towards Loughborough/Leicester/London the two right hand pegs were pulled. For those going towards Trent and Nottingham it was the top peg on the right (the starter) and a distant on the middle arm. Anything going down the north curve to Trent had a separate starter peg on the extreme left (off the picture). Not much went round the curve during the day - although I think a train from Derby to London used it to call at Trent about 1 o'clock in the morning. There was also a local freight came that w

But it's more than a quarter of a year away yet???????

"When you come to the end of a lollipop..."

Do you remember the prints that used to be mounted above the seats in train compartments? I used to have a couple framed that were rescued from scrapped coaches at Derby works, One was "Bridge of Balgownie, Aberdeenshire" and the other "Loch Linnhe and the Morvern Hills". Sadly, they seem to have gone the way of all flesh.

50p ? Do you realise that's more than two weeks pension for some folks !!!

Well, yes, it does occasionally, and very reluctantly, approach the coast - mind you, it got more than it bargained for that time !

All that safety presentation for two minutes. :smile:

Thank goodness I'm not the only one! Mind you, Cleethorpes can be a bit severe in winter - I seem to remember the sea froze about 1957. In the so called Wonderland arcade just north of the railway station, there used to be a cafe that stayed open right through the winter. It always had a little coterie of locals who would drop in for a cuppa and a toasted teacake dripping with butter.

Nobody's mentioned Chapel St Leonards yet (or as an old travelling companion from deepest darkest Grantham used to pronounce it ,Chapelle San Le-nard).

Maybe someone should suggest that the next extension of the tram goes that way! That should start a good deal of clucking and sharp intakes of breath.

Cleethorpes was always Sheffield-by-the-sea. I'll put my neck on the line and say I liked it - and still like it, though I haven't been for a while. Had relatives who lived there - although fairly well back from the seafront. But then, I'm an awkward cus - and I was never a great fan of Skegness either! So I'll put my tin hat on and wait for the brickends and hand grenades to fly...

Got married in 1981 and started in a nice 3-bed semi, only a couple of years old, on the Bovis estate at Sandiacre. Contrast that with my mum and dad who were married during the war (dad then away in India for the duration). Their first house was a brand new detached house up Woodthorpe in 1946. Mum had scrimped and saved for the deposit as she lived with her mum, working in the offices at the Royal Ordance Factory. New it might have been, but the road was unmade, and postwar shortages meant that it left a lot to be desired in terms of comfort, badly fitting doors, unseasoned wood, and freezin