Childhood travel memories

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

I rather think grahame's might, as I suspect he is a Time Lord - based on his previous incredibly detailed historic posts. 

[bobm]

I have three clear memories from my childhood.

The earliest is seeing a steam train skirting the park near where we lived on its way between Reading and Earley on the Southern line.

My first recollection of a train journey was going from Reading to Swansea to see my grandparents.  I can remember seeing the station signs at Cardiff Central with the name spelt out at the top of a lighting pole in a long case backlit by a fluorescent tube.

My other memory is travelling to South London to see a football match with my Dad at Charlton Athletic.  We were in a compartment with four other people and they together with my Dad were all smoking cigarettes or pipes.  I also remember the game ended a 1-1 draw!

[ellendune]

I dimly recall going on a steam train from Ryde to Shanklin - must have been about 1963 or 4.  Don't remember much but the engine was black and the coaches green so must have been like this:



Edited to fix link

[grahame]

I dimly recall going on a steam train from Ryde to Shanklin - must have been about 1963 or 4.  Don't remember much but the engine was black and the coaches green so must have been like this:

Ah yes - 4 tracks down the pier (reduced to just one in use about 10 years ago), and coaches in a uniform livery not too far from GW^▸ (Great Western) green.   Mind, I though at the time that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) colours were chocolate and cream ...

[ellendune]

Coaches were of course Southern Green, This being Southern Railway territory.

[John R]

I have three clear memories from my childhood.

The earliest is seeing a steam train skirting the park near where we lived on its way between Reading and Earley on the Southern line.

My first recollection of a train journey was going from Reading to Swansea to see my grandparents.  I can remember seeing the station signs at Cardiff Central with the name spelt out at the top of a lighting pole in a long case backlit by a fluorescent tube.

My other memory is travelling to South London to see a football match with my Dad at Charlton Athletic.  We were in a compartment with four other people and they together with my Dad were all smoking cigarettes or pipes.  I also remember the game ended a 1-1 draw!

I expect it was Cardiff General where you saw the illuminated signs.

[eightf48544]

Watching the trains at my grandmother's  garden in Woolston. The line was in a cutting from Woolston to Sholing and also quite a steep bank so the engines were coughing a bit Portsmouth bound. The headhunt for Woolston yard was there so you could watch the afternoon pick up goods shunting and taking the wagons off at tea time. The highlight of the day was the Brighton Plymouth coating down teh bank usually wth a WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority))/BB (unrebuilt of course)  although I did once see the last Brighton Atlantic on the train. The WC/Bb on the return didn't cough but huffed up the bank.

Then we moved to Slough and sitting with my Mother on the Down relief platform late afternoon and seeing a Didcot Saint on a Down Semi Fast.

Coping 5092 as my last Castle at Slough on one of the Swindon running in turns as it was mostly shedded West of  Swansea in the late 50s.

[PhilWakely]

I dimly recall going on a steam train from Ryde to Shanklin - must have been about 1963 or 4.  Don't remember much but the engine was black and the coaches green so must have been like this:

Ah yes - 4 tracks down the pier (reduced to just one in use about 10 years ago), and coaches in a uniform livery not too far from GW^▸ (Great Western) green................

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) two tracks were for the trains to Ventnor etc whilst the other two tracks were for a tram shuttle up and down the pier

[paul7575]

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) two tracks were for the trains to Ventnor etc whilst the other two tracks were for a tram shuttle up and down the pier

As I understand things, there are effectively 3 separate piers side by side (although connected to each other).  When the last major repairs were needed to the road pier, there was a temporary pedestrian deck built on the tram pier.

Paul

[bobm]

I expect it was Cardiff General where you saw the illuminated signs.

Should never post after a long day at work - of course it was Cardiff General - and we travelled from Reading General...   

[CyclingSid]

Happy memories of childhood. For a Great Western Coffee Shop there appear to be a lot of members who come from Southern Region!

I grew up on Hayling Island, home of Stroudly Terriers(?). I cycled up the old railway line on Saturday, nothingmuch left at Hayling Island (the terminus) and remembered the wind at North Hayling (Halt). We lived the "wrong" side of the island so didn't use the Hayling Billy that much. I used to be sent with a bucket to get cockles and winkles from the old oyster beds, which would be combined with train watching. Also memories of the old wooden Hayling Bridge, with its railway toll collector. The weight limit on the bridge meant everybody on the single-decker bus walked across, except mothers with babes in arms, which was a bit breezy in winter! Interestingly another part of my youth was spent near Shoreham (Sussex) also a wooden bridge with a railway toll collector.

Train spotting from Hayling was mainly done at Havant, the main memory was being able to say all the stops on the Waterloo slow train, the semi-fast was obviously easier.

Trunks being sent separately; PLA (Passenger Luggage in Advance). The start of Saturday's cycle ride was Portsmouth Harbour, then round to The Still and West. Down the cobbled lane from there used to be the British Road Services quay for the Isle of Wight. All these peripheral functions went at about the same as Beeching I imagine.

[John R]

Trunks being sent separately; PLA (Passenger Luggage in Advance). The start of Saturday's cycle ride was Portsmouth Harbour, then round to The Still and West. Down the cobbled lane from there used to be the British Road Services quay for the Isle of Wight. All these peripheral functions went at about the same as Beeching I imagine.

PLA lasted until around 1981, as I too used it at the start of my spell at uni to get a trunk there and back, but could not by the end. I remember then thinking that it was a remarkably cheap way to get a trunk from A to B - they could have doubled the price and it would still have been worth it. It might not have been withdrawn as being uneconomic if they had.

I suspect the market for trunks rapidly dwindled thereafter. 

[patch38]

I'm a Southern boy too. In around 1965 my dad would take me to Surbiton to buy a Platform Ticket and watch the trains go through. The excitement of a steam-hauled service coming into earshot stays with me to today. At age 11, my birthday present was a trip on the Brighton Belle in its final weeks of service. Pullman lunch and all! It was a come-down to head home on a prosaic 4EPB. <sigh>

[CyclingSid]

Another memory, and a question.

We used to visit relatives in Mid-Wales. After a trip from London via Shrewsbury, we used to change at Moat Lane Junction. I seem to remember that they used to bring steps to the carriage doors. Did part of the Cambrian Railway (?) have lower platforms, or is age playing tricks on the memory?

Moat Lane Junction was a station with no road access, I believe there was at one other like it somewhere in the north of England.

[grahame]

Did part of the Cambrian Railway (?) have lower platforms, or is age playing tricks on the memory?

I think some still do ... you have Harrington humps at places like Aberdovey, don't you?