Going northeast

With the southern end of England's east coast mainline becoming steam-less in 1963, the North East tour organised by the Bournemouth Railway Club during Easter 1964 came at just the right time for me. There were still several existing loco classes I hadn’t seen and almost all were shedded on the NE Region. As it turned out, this three-day feast of steam was perhaps one of the most productive spotting ‘bashes’ I had ever been on.

During our northbound passage from Kings Cross, behind Deltic D9007 ‘Pinza’, the first point of interest was Peterborough where we were just able to note Black Five 44894, A3 60106 'Flying Fox' and WD 90723 on New England Shed. Steam was banned south of Peterborough.

No doubt the cry 'Philistines!' might go up from current traction enthusiasts who would give their right arms to travel behind a Deltic, but that was the way it was - steam was still king to enthusiasts in the mid sixties despite the 40s, 30s, 25s, 45s, 20s and 55s.

Our first official Shed visit, York, was a dramatic taster of things to come. There were 57 steam locos on shed consisting of 2 Ivatt Class 4 Moguls, 5 A1 Pacifics (see first pic), 13 V2s, 7 B1s, 5 B16s, 8 K1s, 4 WDs, 9 9Fs and single 4Fs, 8Fs, J27s, O4 and J94s. Most of the A1s were in good condition, but 60126 'Sir Vincent Raven' had definitely dropped its last fire. The B16s were also withdrawn but with all their gear in place.  

From York we sped north to Darlington behind another Deltic, and after spending the night at a rather seedy hotel in Stockton-on-Tees we made our intrepid way northward along the coast, stopping off at Seaham to view NCB industrial locomotives. The station was also fascinating with almost constant Q6 and J27 coal train activity. I have a funny shot of the fireman on one J27 (see pic) who decided to sling his arm and leg over the side (in Harry Worth style) when he saw my camera!

From Seaham we then travelled on to Sunderland in a DMU. As we alighted from the train A1 60143 'Sir Walter Scott' rolled into the opposite platform with a short parcels train. 

Sunderland shed gave us 2 B1s, 5 Q6s (see Q6 pic below), 2 J27s and a WD. Then, on our way to Jesmond for the night we stopped off at Tyne Dock which had 9 Q6s, 2 J72s and 8 9Fs on shed. The 9Fs were all fitted with Westinghouse air pumps for their work on the Consett iron ore trains. Percy Main (13 J27s and a V3) came next, then North Blyth (9 Q6s and 11 J27s) and, finally, Newcastle Central where we were almost too exhausted to note B1s 61014 ‘Oribi’ and 61257, and V3 67691.

On the third day we set out for Darlington and Doncaster (We were unable to visit Gateshead due to a permit not having been received in time. Disaster!).  

Darlington hosted 51 locos consisting of two beautifully turned out standby A3s 60036 ‘Colombo’ and 60045 ‘Lemberg’ (see pic), 4 Ivatt Class 4s, 3 Stanier & Fairburn 4Ts, 3 V2s, 7 B1s (one newly overhauled), 11 K1s, 2 J27s (one newly overhauled), 12 J94s, 1 J72, 1 Standard Class 5, 1 Standard Class 3, and 4 WDs. It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, but with a fast Kodak Tri-X film in my camera the photos turned out grainy with hard contrast.

Finally, our merry band of 'Hampshire hogs' arrived at Doncaster - the icing on the cake of our northeast trip. The total of 77 locos on shed was, perhaps, a little lightweight compared with Doncaster’s earlier years, but to us southerners it was number-crunching par excellence! The list consisted of 4 Ivatt Class 4s, a 4F, an 8F, 9 A1 Pacifics (see pic), 10 B1s, 9 K1s, 11 O4/O1s, a V2, 3 J50s, A BR Class 3, 22 WDs and 5 9Fs.

From Doncaster, due to engineering works, our homeward journey behind another Deltic (loaded to 14 bogies) was via Peterborough, March and Cambridge. We were a little disappointed because the Deltic had been batting along in the high nineties despite the load, and had hoped we would top a 'ton' from Peterborough onwards. Oh well, at least we had a rousing trip from Waterloo to Bournemouth Central - 35029 'Ellerman Lines' with a Nine Elms 1st link crew in charge.

If any of my blog visitors would like detail number lists from the sheds visited don't hesitate to get in touch. 

Day Returns

In the early sixties my train-spotting friend Eric and I spent a marvellous couple of years visiting different railway centres. Places such as Eastleigh, Weymouth, Swindon, Salisbury, Reading, London, all gave us unforgettable experiences with steam.  

Salisbury was particularly impressive on summer Saturdays. So many trains would be passing through that sometimes we would miss locos on the far side of the station. With Western Region locos on the north side and Southern on the south, a missed number would create communal apoplexy among the spotters! SR-based locos from all directions could turn up - Brighton, Eastleigh, Bournemouth, Basingstoke, Nine Elms, Exmouth Junction, Yeovil. Then, of course, locos from Western Region depots such as Swansea, Cardiff, Shewsbury, Westbury, Bath Road, Gloucester would drift in on inter-regional services including Saturday reliefs. 

(Below is a shot of Schools class 30911 'Dover' at Salisbury in August 1961).

My first GW Castle, 5052 'Earl of Radnor', was seen at Salisbury, along with my first County and Grange: 1024 'County of Pembroke' and 6834 'Dummer Grange'. I also remember being particularly proud of the pristine Bulleid Pacifics compared with the dingy Western locos. In those days, Southern Region steam was kept in beautiful condition.

As an example of Salisbury's delights here's a list of the locos seen on 26th July 1961.

SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		22XX	2200
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		22XX	3206
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		43XX	6350
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		43XX	6364
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		CASTLE	5052	EARL OF RADNOR
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		CASTLE	5092	TRESCO ABBEY
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		CASTLE	5097	SARUM CASTLE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		COUNTY	1024	COUNTY OF PEMBROKE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		GRANGE	6809	BURGHCLERE GRANGE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		GRANGE	6834	DUMMER GRANGE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		GRANGE	6842	NUNHOLD GRANGE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		GRANGE	6863	DOLHYWEL GRANGE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		HALL	4909	BLAKESLEY HALL
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		HALL	4915	CONDOVER HALL
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		HALL	4942	MAINDY HALL
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		HALL	4948	NORTHWICK HALL
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		HALL	6968	WOODCOCK HALL
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		HALL	7911	LADY MARGARET HALL
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		KING ARTHUR	30796	SIR DODINAS LE SAVAGE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		MN	35001	CHANNEL PACKET
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		MN	35003	ROYAL MAIL
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		MN	35006	PENINSULAR & ORIENT
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		MN	35010	BLUE STAR
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		MN	35016	ELDERS FYFFES
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		MN	35020	BIBBY LINE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		MN	35025	BROCKLEBANK LINE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		MN	35029	ELLERMAN LINES
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		M7	30674
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		N	31814
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		S15	30507
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		S15	30512
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		S15	30823
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		S15	30824
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		S15	30841
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		SCHOOLS	30917	ARDINGLY
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4	75068
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4 MOG	76010
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4 MOG	76015
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4 MOG	76017
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4 MOG	76019
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4 MOG	76026
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4 MOG	76054
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4 MOG	76055
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 4 MOG	76061
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 5	73072
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 5	73081	EXCALIBUR
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 5	73083	PENDRAGON
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 9F	92232
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		STD 9F	92248
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		U	31620
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		U	31626
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		U	31629
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		U	31636
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		U	31791
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		U	31801
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		U	31803
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34002	SALISBURY
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34008	PADSTOW
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34024	TAMAR VALLEY
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34033	CHARD
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34036	WESTWARD HO
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34048	CREDITON
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34051	WINSTON CHURCHILL
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34052	LORD DOWDING
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34055	FIGHTER PILOT
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34059	SIR ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34069	HAWKINGE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34078	222 SQUADRON
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34088	213 SQUADRON
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34096	TREVONE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34097	HOLSWORTHY
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34098	TEMPLECOMBE
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34099	LYNMOUTH
SALISBURY	22-Jul-61		WC	34108	WINCANTON

Reading was also one of those spotting locations that could be quite easily reached from New Milton, and so we were able to spend long days perched at the end of platform 3. A relatively short mid-winter visit, on 18th February 1962, still produced 21 steam locos among a mass of diesel hydraulics.  

On one Reading trip in 1962 I experienced one of those unforgettable occasions that all enthusiasts treasure. I was waiting for the Basingstoke DMU to arrive in platform 1. It was dark, very cold, and everyone seemed to have gone home for the night except me. Eventually, away in the distance, towards London, a GW whistle started up. It got louder and louder until, in a deafening cacophony of noise, 'Dartmouth Castle' blasted through the platform with a down express. I had a fleeting impression of an open firebox door, a stream of brightly lit carriages and a disappearing tail lamp as the final coach bucketed into the night. A page of the 'Reading Evening Post' gently fluttered onto the track, and the station was left in silence.

I have been a Castle fan ever since!

London was, of course, a magnet for for enthusiasts in the south of England, and I have always felt sympathy for northern railway buffs who would have to travel many miles to see such a variety. The list of steam sheds on offer in Central London included Bricklayers Arms (SR), Stewarts Lane (SR), Nine Elms (SR), Old Oak Common (WR), Willesden (LMR), Neasden (LMR), Camden (LMR), Cricklewood (LMR), Kentish Town (LMR), Kings Cross (ER), Hornsey (ER) and Stratford (ER).

On our first visit to London, on 15th October 1961, we set out from New Milton on the 6.20am local to Eastleigh. The Riddles Class 4 Mogul set a fine pace of 74mph near Beaulieu Road, the fastest I have ever been behind one of this class. At Eastleigh we connected with the 7.22am to Waterloo, headed by an Eastleigh West Country. This got us to Waterloo at 8.59am.

Photographically speaking, my first spotting ‘bash’ to London was a disaster. London was under a blanket of thick fog. Luckily my ‘pot shots’ of 60006 'Sir Ralph Wedgewood' and 60015 'Quicksilver' (pic opposite) in the murk at Kings Cross have turned out to be publishable, but the rest certainly weren’t! 

With permits to visit Bricklayers Arms, Kentish Town, Willesden, Camden, Finsbury Park and Old Oak Common our haul of steam numbers for the day reached 368. But mere numbers disguise the excitement experienced by our intrepid band of five ‘Hampshire hogs’. We had never seen locos from other regions before, apart from the daily GW Hall on the York-Bournemouth and other GWR classes at Salisbury. So with Stanier ‘Black Fives’ and 8Fs stirring the adrenalin the reader can imagine what effect A4s, Duchesses, Princesses, Britannias and Kings had on us; not to mention the Southern gems on shed at Bricklayers Arms: D1 and L1 4-4-0s, E4 tanks, C class 0-6-0s and a delightful cluster of nine Schools.

Our only disappointment that day was that our train home was hauled by a Lord Nelson, which we assumed wasn't going to give us any fireworks. It didn't, but we arrived home on time, and that's all you could ask of such a veteran.

It goes without saying that we used to return home from such trips absolutely filthy, but, let's face it, there can't be a better way to get dirty than chasing steam!