No.3 March 2010 - Intercity Railway Society

Ramblings of a Rail Enthusiast
by David Spencer - 1963 Part 1
Sunday 13 th January and with two others I returned to London and did Kentish Town and Feltham
depots. I recorded no cops and only D1002 as outward haulage. The next Sunday I travelled to Eastleigh
where out of 112 on shed, I managed 3 cops, two Southern and one standard. Westerns again appeared
for haulage with D1035 to Reading, D1040 from Banbury and DMUs from Reading to Eastleigh and
return but the highlight was Castle 5093 from Reading to Oxford. On Sunday 27 th we went on a north
east midlands shed bash for the first time going from Birmingham via Derby to sheds at Lincoln, both GN
and GC at Retford returning via Doncaster and Sheffield. No haulage was recorded and I managed two
cops, an 04 and a B1. On Tuesday 29 th for the first and only time in my life I threw a 'sicky' at work as the
Chasewater to Newquay line was closing and it was my only chance to visit. Black 5 45290 hauled me to
Bristol and Warship D832 to Truro. Being the morning commute I well remember at Trewerry and Trerice
a couple were strolling towards the halt even though the train was in and waiting, the driver and guard
being quite happy to wait for their regulars, the other passengers all grumbled that they should hurry and
that the bus driver would not wait for them on a Monday ! The return DMU took me to Par where I came
across an STD telephone for the first time and telephoned the office direct to report in sick which cost me
one shilling (5p to the youngsters). St Blazey produced one cop, 4564 before Warship D817 whisked me
back to Bristol and an unrecorded Peak onto Birmingham. I also collected railway tickets and often spent
time searching stations and several half days were spent in that pursuit. On the 15 th I covered stations
from Hockley to Cradley Heath, on the 23 rd Shirley, Claverdon and Stratford and on the 2 nd February
Bewdley and Hartlebury.
February continued where January left off, when on the 3 rd three of us went northwest to Stafford behind
45079, then an electric to Crewe. Then behind Patriot 45529 to Manchester, diverted via Middlewich, a
rare treat even in those days. We did not anticipate a B1 61229 from Victoria to Bolton but it was very
welcome. There my haulage notes disappear but we did visit Horwich Works and Bolton shed. The next
Sunday, two of us covered the Great Central south with Black 5 haulage to Derby behind 44943 and
45444 from Nottingham Victoria to Woodford Halse, where we visited the shed. There were with 55
engines including 3 Western Cl.28xx and the rest an equal Midland and Eastern split. With steam
haulage still quite common we did not see the need to go with steam to Marylebone, so took the once
daily DMU slow train via Grendon Underwood and Ashenden Junctions to High Wycombe where
Western D1036 took us home.
Variety was the spice of life and on 16 th a small group of us visited Wolverhampton Gas Works and
Courtaulds to see the industrials on shed at both locations. The following day it was the turn of Great
Central north when a DMU took us to Manchester Piccadilly. EM2 27003 took us across the Woodhead
route and B1 61044 on to Nottingham Victoria from whence we returned to Birmingham via Derby with
unrecorded haulage. In the pre computer/mobile age there was no hot line news so if you saw anything
unusual it was by chance as happened on my half day on 20 th February….that’s how it should be, the joy
of not knowing what you might see, ed.
I got a train to Blackwell and proceeded to walk down the Lickey Bank to find suitable photo locations
when a voice asked me "when is it due ?” It turned out D1500, the first Brush type 4 (Cl.47) was on trial.
It came up with 19 coaches including a standing start with the usual 9F banker 92079 trailing some
hundred yards behind as insurance. For those readers who did not know the Lickey in steam days, every
northbound train had to stop at Bromsgrove to pick up a banker, which on this day consisted of a mixture
of Jinty’s and 94XX panniers plus the 9F. Big Bertha was for many years the big banker but that was
before my time. Up to four bankers could be used depending on the train. This system continued into the
diesel era with Cl.35 Hymeks and Cl.37s on freight trains in particular, but was soon dropped when it
was found the bankers could not keep up with the Peaks ! This together with the closure of the wagon
repair works signaled the closure of Bromsgrove depot although the stabling point for bankers remained.
February finished with another shed bash around Newcastle, travelling up to behind Peak D34 to York,
an A4 60018 thereafter. Sheds at Gateshead, Sunderland, Tyne Dock and Blyth North and South were
duly visited and we were treated to more rare track with a diversion over the Tyneside Riverside branch
which only had workmen’s services at start and close of each shift and almost impossible to fit in during
a normal day. Gateshead was mostly diesels, Cls.03, 08, 24, 25, 26, 40, 45 and 46. Steam consisted of
just four A4s and two A1s whilst elsewhere steam reigned supreme. Peak D102 returned us to York and
an unrecorded Peak onwards to Birmingham.
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