1960s - 1980s Notebooks

55 Years of Railway Interest, by Steve Marshall.Last update 28 Dec-2011

All text and image copyright owned by S.C.Marshall

70014 Iron Duke & me at Trafford Park around 1958.

My interest in trains started around 1957 in Manchester, when I was 7 years old. My local station of Stretford was a three minute walk away but saw little more than the M&SJR electric units running from Manchester Oxford Road to Altrincham. I do, however, rember seeing the odd 8F and 'Crab' 2-6-0 pass through with freights.

But Trafford Park shed (9E) was only a short bike ride away (see photo above) and this is where I spent much time before my family moved South to Paignton in 1962.

Spotting notes from 1957 to 1963 hardly existed. A simple underlining in my Ian Allan spotterd books was the order of the day.

Despite moving South to Devon in November 1962, I frequently travelled back to Manchester with Mum & Dad to vist visit my relatives and occasionally I would even travel alone on the train (even better!)

I am presently archiving these notes and even though the early ones are simply a list of numbers, they still hold some interest. As the years progress the records get better, don't worry!

Below are scans of these early notebooks and in time I hope to archive right through to the 1970s.

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Key to my 1960s notebook hyroglifics:

x = not copped: P or an engined in a frame (or both) means pulled by: Ph = photograph: s = for scrap (though I was less than methodical in noting an 's' all the time as by 1968 all steam were for scrap: ( ) Loco seen earlier on trip: 'B' or 'R' indicate blue or maroon livery. These were notable in the 1960s when most diesels wore green livery, and it's interesting to see how early some diesels gained BR blue livery. Finally, a tick followed by digit '2' would indicate needed for 2nd collection. Warships were, for example,  so common, that when I saw the last one I would start again as though I hadn't seen any. I think I completed 13 collections of Warships! It helped to make life more interesting! This certainly applied to Warships, Westerns, Peaks & Brush type 4s.

From 1975 onwards you will be pleased to learn that my notekeeping became more than just a list of numbers, especially when I started to concentrate on the haulage side of the hobby.

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In essence, I stopped spotting on 5th August 1972, when I copped my last engine - Class 25 No D7626 at Stonebridge Park, Wembley, (many of the last 20 were Class 08s, D3331 of Colchester getting almost to the end). There were of course lots of steam locos never seen - scrapped before I started - and just a small number of early diesel withdrawals that I never saw - D1734, D6983 come to mind, also 8 of the Clayton Class 17s and some of the Scottish NBL Class 21/29s.

The  period of hibernation didn't last long however (until 1975 to be exact) when I met Mike Rowe at work, who also turned out to be an enthusiast. Completing the whole fleet for sighting had left a feeling of 'what next' and the void was to be filled by haulage  - a hobby that turned out to be better even than the spotting, and luckily I had recorded my haulage from a very early date.This was prompted by a ferocious run from Doncaster to Leeds Central late one afternoon behind A4 60030 Golden Fleece. I still don't know the date of that but if anyone can help I would be grateful. What I can say is that 60005 was at the blocks at Leeds Central that teatime and that 60075 St Frusquin exchanged for Jubilee 45646 Napier at Leeds City on my train back to Manchester, probably a Newcastle-Liverpool train. My guess is 1961, but if anyone can put a date to that sequence of events I'd be most pleased to hear from them.

Similarly, if anyone can give me train details to match my 'P' in my notes please email me. Unfortunately I was a bit sparing with information I recorded in those early days.

Haulage continued around 2004, and I had spent thousands of hours on trains and stations, often in the dead of night.

Waiting at Carlisle in the dead of night for 1S06 to Stranraer, or at Kings Cross for 1S60, 1S72 overnights to Scotland with a 40 or a Deltic were maybe not everybody's cup of tea but I wish I could do it again. Indeed, some of the best trains were the overnights. Who remembers the 1N56 2314 Liverppol Street-Norwich via Cambridge, 1S25 the 2235 Euston-Perth which was always so empty it was like having a complimentary hotel for the night; 1S19 Plymouth-Glasgow, 1E62 0210 Manchester-Cleethorpes or the impossible to board (newspaper staff only) 1E66 0120 departure with a class 40, the 1W55 2252 Waterloo-Weymouth; 1C00 0114 Bristol-Milford Haven utilizing 3 different Class 37s; 1N12 0002 Kings Cross-Newcastle; and the famous 1E61 1808 Penzance-Sheffield, which I used frequently; and this is just a small numberof the overnight trains available in the 1970s!

  37185 at Milford Haven 14th Jan 1978;

the loco had run round to form the 0725 to Swansea. This was the return diagram of the 0114 from Bristol.

37188 had worked Bristol-Swansea leg and 37189 the Swansea to Carmarthen section.

Hopefully I will get round to scanning my haulage records soon but.........

Before we commence, I thought it fitting to give a roll call  of just some of the great friends I made along the way were (in no particular order)...... Mike Rowe, Derek Riley, Phil Bolton, Adrian Noel, Colin Moss, Tony Shore, Alan & Alistair Tait, Phil Gardner, Steve Crowther, Bernard Worrel, Jon Price, Roger Griffiths, Ian Ross. Mike Mercer, Dave Harlett, John Wilson (Vut), Reg Renshaw, Phil (Tree) Greenwood, Terry Hussey, Peter Watts, The Reverend, John (JT) Turner, Nick Perring, Steve Harvey, Lloyd Guppy, Andy Pearce, Graham Braund, Godfrey, Garry Pike, Robin Odlum, Ron Coulson, Brian Winter, Oakham, Paul Hoare, Stuart O'Dell, Andy from Slough, Barry Bastin, Matthew Burridge, Graham O'Donnel, Pete Bowyer, Roger Geach, Keith Gardner, Brian Jones, Doug & Chris Barrow, John Harvey, Bob Stone, Rob Lewis, Mike Rotheray, Steve Huddy, Pete Rolston, Dave (Welly) Rollason, Brian Godwin, Steve Philpott, Steve Woodbridge, Rob Fraser, Bob Burntisland, Rich Hargreaves, Brian York, Geoffery Hurst, Martin Walker, Andy Oliver, Peter Haynes, Trevor Davies, Neil Godber, Arthur Lamble, Tony Wardle, The Bradford Bender, Tufty, Maurice, Alex Grimes, Paul Micklethwaite, Dave Gray, Malc Cuzick, Martin Street, Maurice Broadhead, Paul Green, George Gittos, Paul Stanners, Bill Wise, Steve Awford, Richard Mee, Cliff from Sherborne, Dick Holland, Steve Squires. Paul Furtek, Nigel Fletcher, Wobble Winter, Dave Marshall, Rab Jacobs, Roger Griffiths, Paul Tucker, Roger Prideaux, Trevor Gamble, Tom Hayes, Paul Lang, Paul Stanners, Morven & Craig Munday, Mark Ellis, Dave Crook, Mel Thorley, Brian Tucker.

Apologies if I've left anyone out; just email me to jog my memory!

Anyway - after that long preamble - I intend to list extracts from my notebooks from the period 1963-1999.

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Scans from notebooks

Simply illustrating all 2280 individually scanned pages of my 19 notebooks , even with supporting photographs, could produce a mind-numbing sensation, so I've decided that only extracs should be shown of some books.

Having said that, my early 1960s-1970s notes are now nearly 40+ years old, so we'll start with complete records & see how it goes.

Book 1: (in full)

30 December 1963 - 16 April 1965

Highlights

*) 30-Dec-63 Visit to Crewe, including a guided trip around the Works. NB Class 47s & 52 under construction.

*) 31-Mar-64 The Paignton to Manchester journey with D827 to Bristol, D824 to Crewe, then E3100 to Piccadilly.

*) 11-Apr-64 The return trip home on the Manchester-Plymouth train starts with Patriot and AC electric double-heading to Crewe.

*) 25-Aug-64 Travelled from Manchester to Criccieth with 42282 out & back from Bangor to Afon Wen.

*) 13-Mar-65 School trip on the 0135 Paignton-Gatwick Airport has D822 throughout. I seem to have omitted the return journey but memory tells me it was the same Warship back 2 weeks later (coincidence or bad memory?)

Book 2: (in full)

20 April 1965 - 30 July 1966

Highlights

a) 22-Apr-65 Another trip from Manchester using the Manchester-Plymouth but with D600+D1003 double-heading from Bristol to Newton Abbot.

b) 31-July-65 A day trip to Eastleigh started very early at Paignton station to fine D54 on the Northbound service.   Peaks weretotally unknown at Paignton & this may well have been the first ever. The Exeter-Salisbury-Exeter stint was D803 both ways.

Book 3: (in full)

2 August 1966 - 9 August 1967

Book 4: (in full)

10 August 1967 - 10 February 1973

Football Led Zeppelin, (and girls) start to interfere with all my enjoyment! However following Torquay and Man Utd away from home gave me the opportunity to travel cheaply on supporters club outings. Hence many coach trips to football 'away' games when I would combine watching the game with shed bashing.

When I got my first car in Jan 1970 there was no stopping me and my Austin Mini 427 LOD and Morris 1100 TME958F both  toured the whole of England, Wales and Scotland several times.

Book 5: (in full)

6 December 1975 - 17 March 1977

1976 was really the period when I started to concentrate on locomotive haulage - ie boarding a train simply because of what was pulling it, as opposed to using it as a serivice to get from A to B. This was much more challenging because many diesels were nominally freight only, having no train heating equipment for passenger stock. However, in the summer months, or in emergencies, these freight locomotives could be acquired - if you were in the right place at the right time! This meant that having the 'gen' became more and more important.

My notekeeping also became much more comprehensive from this period and a new code of general abbreviations was adopted from 1975 onwards to indicate type of loco operation where the headcode is not shown:  A = Troop train; B = Breakdown train; C = Motorail; D = Depot or loco sidings; E = Empty stock train; F = Freight train; L = Light engine; M = Mail train; P = Passenger train; S = Station area; T = Permanent way train; V = Parcels;  X = Freightliner; Y = Yard; Z = Footex.

A black frame around a loco number means not new for haulage, a red frame indicates first time haulage.

It also coincided with a great improvement in my record keeping, in that ALL LOCOMOTIVES were now recorded.

Book 6: (in full)

20 March 1977 - 20 July 1977

With the last of the diesel-hydraulics withdrawn, it was time to concentrate on other favourite types, particularly the Class 40s which I had grown up with in Manchester, but had ridden behind on only a few occasions.

1977 started in great style with a drive from Torbay to Edinburgh for a Haymarkey based 7-day Freedom of Scotland Railrover.

Book 7:

21 July 1977 - 14 January 1978

July 1977 witnessed my first Midland Railtourer ticket accompanied by Mike Rowe. This produced the hoped for class 20 haulage, together with classes 44 & Class 56 on railtours. Most of the remainder of 1977 consisted of Summer Saturdays based at Exeter St Davids waiting for procession of holiday trains from the London, the North and the Midlands. The freight only Class 47s were always a big draw, but also of note are several pairs of Class 25s on services from the Birmingham & East Midlands area.

Book 8:

16 January 1978 - 7 July 1978