Carry ya case sir!


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Just a bit of daft! Does anyone out there of a certain age, remember when you went to Skeggy or Mablethorpe with your Pa and Ma way back in the fifties early sixties, when you were met at the railway station by a hoard of lads with homemade carts asking if they could take your cases to your guest house, caravan site etc. Real enterprise that would be unheard of today unfortunately. They probably expected about a shilling for their efforts and many were pleased to pay, not knowing where their Guesthouse was located etc. Oh how the World has changed! and not for the better I must say. !tanning! !tanning!

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  • 1 year later...
While we are on the subject of skeggie can you remember the dolphins that used to be there?

Speaking of dolphins, I swam with them the other week at atlantis - absolutely fantastic..... really reccommend it.... once in a lifetime experience!!!!

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yes remember the "barrow boys" at mablethorpe, first time would have been 1954, just a year after the floods, recall the crowded beach emptying one day that year when a siren at the fire station went off calling in the retained firemen, also about that era I remember what I think was part of a horsa glider converted into a caravan on golden sands, esp when all the glass or perspex fell in during a storm! Our own caravan rented at 6 pounds a week was about 12ft long, gas lit with I think 2 rings for cooking, no toilet or drains and no water, you fetched that from a tap! the pub/club on the site was a corrugated nissan type hut, still some of best holidays we ever had! Also recall the WW2 pill boxes on the beach and the old wooden bombing target just up past north end caravan park, you could see the bomb flashs when the red flag was flying! Going again this year, so if you see an oap frantically digging a defence against the incoming tide or trying to dam one of the "ponds" left when the tide turned say hello, it'll probably be me. One thing I never thought of at the time was where did they park all the excursion trains on bank holidays?

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One thing I never thought of at the time was where did they park all the excursion trains on bank holidays?

We used to spend our holidays in caravans at Mablethorpe in the early 50's, trouble is, I can't remember any of it, only the later day excursions.

I recall the red and blue streamlined diesel 'train' that used to go hurtling up and down the beach at low tide. I have a few family pics of Mablethorpe ranging from the 30's to the 60's, when I've time, I'll publish some.

As to the excursion trains, there is a great website that deals with railway holiday traffic in Lincs back in the 50's, but I can't find the damn thing, yes, where did they park those trains and how did the single track cope with them, Easter Sunday and it must have been busier than Clapham Junction in the rush hour.

Incidentally, my memory of the kids with their home made luggage trolleys was our holiday at Blue Anchor Bay in Somerset in 1956. We were on a small chalet and caravan park and were surrounded by these kids when we got off the old GWR branch train from Taunton. Amazingly, everything still survives, a few years ago, we caught the West Somerset Railway train from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead, headed by one of Pete Watermains GWR tanks, and on arriving at Blue Anchor bay, well it was surreal, nothing had changed, the small caravan park was still there, the perfectly formed station, the signal box, the level crossing, even the old GWR camping coaches, no development at all, it was like going back 50 years, very strange experience. Only one thing, no kids with their trolleys. I bet if they finally get the agreement with Network Rail to run excursions through from Taunton, that they will be back though.

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  • 7 years later...

My brothers and myself were some of those 'Barrow boys' Being the youngest, probably about 6 years old, I could sneak under the barrier on the platform and ask first! As for all the trains, being single track they would shunt them up the sidings, we would often be taken for rides in the sidings,  as they had a turntable which they could turn the engines  around!

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