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20 Jun 05 - 05:12 PM (#1505424) Subject: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: jpk my on favorite loco is the old geared shay's |
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20 Jun 05 - 06:23 PM (#1505482) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: number 6 my favourite railway line in history is the Old Grand Trunk Railway Company. sIx |
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20 Jun 05 - 06:58 PM (#1505508) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Skipjack K8 My favourite is the Crab & Winkle Line |
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20 Jun 05 - 07:03 PM (#1505512) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Nigel Parsons The GWR, God's Wonderful Railway! (or the Great Western Region) Nigel |
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20 Jun 05 - 07:20 PM (#1505532) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Eric the Viking Nothing wonderful about the Gone without regret since they went to standard guage. Give me a spam can anyday or a Q1 or an M1 chugging along the quiet country lines of the LSWR. |
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20 Jun 05 - 07:29 PM (#1505546) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Leadfingers Oh How Well I remember the cry "Theres a Double on the Main" when we were filling in our Ian Allen books just down the line from Small Heath Station , back of the Labour Exchange , And the hope that it just MIGHT be a 'King' !! |
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20 Jun 05 - 07:36 PM (#1505553) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Troll East Tenessee, Western North Carolina Rail Road. AKA. Eat Trash Wear No Clothes and Run Rabbits. troll |
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20 Jun 05 - 09:48 PM (#1505601) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: rich-joy I am SO glad that I was born long enough ago (only 1951!) that I can remember travelling on steam trains, on the suburban track opposite my home (West Aussie) - and there's nothing quite like that smell either (what chemical combination caused that?) of being on a bridge when the engine puffed under!!! OK, so everything in the carriages was covered in a dusty grit - including yer clothes and face - but only ya Mother cared about that!!! Cheers! R-J |
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20 Jun 05 - 09:50 PM (#1505602) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Hen Harrier The old Leighton Buzzard - Dunstable line with its old London & North Western Railway "Duck 8's" (0-8-0) loco's slogging up the 1/80 incline to Leighton Buzzard Station with 600 tons of chalk from Totternhoe Quarries. They had a very distinctive wheezing, asthmatic, groaning sound from their cylinders which gave them great character (although I understand from a fitter who used to maintain them that they were absolute pigs to work on, with access to the inside cylinders being very difficult!) |
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21 Jun 05 - 01:21 AM (#1505703) Subject: Lyr Add: LAST OF THE STEAM POWERED TRAINS From: Le Scaramouche As it's Ray Davies's birthday today I thought I'd post this: Like the last of the good ol' puffer trains, I'm the last of the blood and sweat brigade, And I don't know where I'm going, or why I came. I'm the last of the good old fashioned steam-powered trains. I'm the last of the good old renegades. All my friends are all middle class and grey, But I live in a museum, so I'm okay. I'm the last of the good old fashioned steam-powered trains. Like the last of the good ol' choo-choo trains, Huff and puff 'till I blow this world away, And I'm gonna keep on rollin' till my dying day. I'm the last of the good old fashioned steam-powered trains. Like the last of the good ol' puffer trains, I'm the last of the soot and scum brigade, And all this peaceful living is drivin' me insane. I'm the last of the good old fashioned steam-powered trains. I'm the last of the good old fashioned steam-powered trains Chords can be found here |
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21 Jun 05 - 02:15 AM (#1505715) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Fidjit Steam trains. Yes. We were evaquated to Chelmsford from London Non-stop on a train with no corridor. We had all the food in our carraige, so the other kids got none. Got some soot in my eye though. I rather like Dave Gaulder's, "Requiem" for memories of the trains. |
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21 Jun 05 - 03:51 AM (#1505757) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Paul Burke Steam: the Isle of Man about 1960. Preserved as a mere shadow today, but still worth seeing: http://www.locoperformance.co.uk/images20ch/279iom2004.jpg And not only steam: the electrics are worth seeing too: Interurbans anyone? |
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21 Jun 05 - 04:12 AM (#1505772) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Liz the Squeak I'm too young to remember steam.... and shouldn't this be below line? LTS |
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21 Jun 05 - 04:35 AM (#1505788) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Kaleea My Irish Grandad worked on the Frisco line in Eastern Oklahoma. The train track was about 40 yards from their "little clapboard shanty on the plains." (Actually, there were hills with rivers & lots of trees) He also farmed his tiny few acres, just enough to keep the family--10 kids--fed. It sure made a ruckus when it went thundering through the tiny town of Dustin, Oklahoma. (yes, really) We little kids would count the cars, of course! |
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21 Jun 05 - 05:34 AM (#1505816) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Dead Horse Liz, the correct termination is Up Line or Down Line, not Below! Fond memory of browsing the museum at the Corris terminus. Dear old lady curator spoke to me, asking if I wanted to see the steam train go by. Thinking she was a little daft and that she was referring to another Corris train pulling into the station, I slowly ambled out on to the platform, just in time to miss a Castle headed excursion passing on the main line! Bugger! |
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21 Jun 05 - 08:38 AM (#1505910) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Fred (Beetle) Bailey Did 'ja hear my daddy was an engineer Down the Eastern Sea-Board Line? Smoke 'n steam 'n a Georgia dream 'n a baby got left behind When he went through 'n the whistle blew. |
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21 Jun 05 - 10:33 AM (#1505996) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Dave Bryant Although the London SE suburban lines were electrified when I was a kid, if you went further into Kent it had to be by steam train, and I remember many day trips to the Kent coast. Our regular holiday trip to the Isle of Wight would be steam hauled from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour where we would embark on a Paddle Steamer to Ryde Pierhead. At the pierhead there would be up to 3 trains (hauled by 02s or Terriers) waiting to take people to Sandown, Ventnor, or Cowes. Our destination was the latter and part of the route passed through the Haven Street section which is now the only surviving part of the I-O-W steam railway. OK the line to Sandown is still there, but now it's worked by ex-LT tube trains not much newer than the steam trains they replaced. |
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21 Jun 05 - 10:39 AM (#1506001) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: jacqui.c When I was a kid we lived in a house that backed onto the railway embankment just outside Silver Street station in Edmonton. We got so used to the steam trains that when they electrified the line my brother and I found it hard to get to sleep at night because it was too quiet! |
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21 Jun 05 - 10:44 AM (#1506006) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Art Thieme A favorite old railroad line of mine has always been the Strange Absence Of Desire Railroad----the S.O.D.R.-------otherwise and affectionately known as The Erie Lackawanna!! Love, Art Thieme |
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21 Jun 05 - 10:59 AM (#1506021) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Inero How many of you did what my brother and I did: place an old style (Brit) penny on the track to be flattened by the steam engine and carriages. I think I still have a couple somewhere in my archive of junk. My favorite lines were the LNER branch line from Morpeth, Northumberland to Scots Gap. Tank engines mostly, and they ran past the the farm lived on (1951), that and the GWR line from Builth Wells to Builth Road, it ran alongside the River Wye for part of the way. Michael |
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21 Jun 05 - 11:56 AM (#1506055) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Mark Ross The BUTTE, ANACONDA, & PACIFIC, better known as the BACK UP & PUSH! Mark Ross |
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21 Jun 05 - 12:05 PM (#1506063) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: RobbieWilson Bridgenorth Folk Festival has a steam train excusion to Bewdley or Kidderminster every year. Always v enjoyable |
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21 Jun 05 - 01:31 PM (#1506107) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Noreen anyone else remember the "clanger" at Tamworth Stuart |
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21 Jun 05 - 01:35 PM (#1506110) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Noreen Went all over the country armed with my ABC. Favorite places were Tamworth (as above), Basingstoke, the sight of the MM's BB's and WC's in full flight was amazing and Newark on east coast line to see the A4's A3'3 etc. I still have my spotters books, what a sad Ba---rd i must be Stuart |
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21 Jun 05 - 01:47 PM (#1506117) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Noreen Please note that the "sad Ba---rd " above is not me, but trainspotter Stuart using my login! (I do like steam trains though, honest- living with an enthusiast, do I have a choice????) |
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21 Jun 05 - 04:24 PM (#1506229) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: sapper82 Remember them? I'm a part owner in one! LMS 4F, 44123. |
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21 Jun 05 - 05:44 PM (#1506305) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,EtV on lap top In a past life, I have worked on the Bluebell, RH&DR,S&KDLR and many hundred hours on the NYMR as a guard and p-way worker.I've visited just about all the preserved railways in the UK. Some in France, Italy, Holland. Still in love with steam and could spend hours train chasing and watching. Alas time no longer exists for these pleasures.Growing up with the line from West Norwood to Gypsy hill and beyond, I remember the nights that I was woken up in the middle of the night by slipping goods trains on the steep gradient. My uncle worked at Balham and I spent hours down there with him. I got friendly with the station pilot at Gypsy Hill and was often allowed on the footplate of the Q1 on duty there, shunting into the huge woodyard etc. I would go fishing early in the morning, getting a van ride on the slow goods before the electrics woke and started running. You couldn't do that now. |
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21 Jun 05 - 06:01 PM (#1506325) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Bat Goddess Soo Line -- I, too, was born early enough (1949) to remember when diesel engines were rare. I used to sit on the rock pile out behind my grandparents' house in Stetsonville, Wisconsin and wave at the engineers and the guys in the caboose. I've got a lot of friends who are rail fans (I just have an historical interest . . .) an we all have our particular areas of interest (and favorite lines, of course). And the Seashore Trolley Museum is reasonably closeby. (My ex-husband did most of the work in the '70s on the old Chicago Red Rattler they've got there -- and I finally got to ride it a couple years ago.) I'm fond of the old Milwaukee streetcars, too, because the end of the line was less than a block from where I lived when I was 6 and 7. I'm not particularly interested in trackless trolleys, but I have friends who are. (Boring old gits.) There was a time you could ride Interurbans from New York or Boston all the way to Chicago. But back to steam, I really loved watching the old steam trains -- and ride them now whenever I get a chance. Last rode the the Mount Washington Cog Railway when Tom and I were on our honeymoon. Linn |
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21 Jun 05 - 06:13 PM (#1506332) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Phot When I win the Lottery, there are 4 unrestored 9F's that need a lot of TLC! Too much horsepower is never enough! I have heard a rumour though, that a group is going to restore a UP Big Boy to working order. Imagine that double headed with a Challenger, but for sheer grace, it has to be a Castle, 13 on, in full flight on the old racing ground heading for London or Bristol. Oh for a time machine! Wassail!! Chris |
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21 Jun 05 - 06:35 PM (#1506355) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Dave (the ancient mariner) My mum and I used to collect coal from the tracks in metal buckets to heat the house. Dad was laid off from the foundry he worked at and our house was heated by open coal fires; even our hot water came from a tank heated by the fire in the living room. The fireman/ stoker would accidentally drop a big lump of coal on the track as he passed by us. Kids from my school used to put nails on the rails and make little knives out of the flattened nails. There was a trestle bridge that we all called "The Monkey Bridge" because we would climb and play on it. It was fun to run through the steam clouds as the trains passed below. I remember going to Brighton a couple of times on the Brighton Belle. On one trip from Brighton to Portsmouth one coach we were in had repair patches in the roof and sides, the holes were made during the war by strafing from Stuka dive bombers. |
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21 Jun 05 - 07:13 PM (#1506393) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: jpk the u.p. still has a working big-boy,they still run it alittle for show |
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21 Jun 05 - 10:54 PM (#1506545) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Tcrier There's an operating steam train in Tottenham Ontario Canada The hours of operation are Sunday to Wednesday If you google "South Simcoe Railway" or "Tottenham Chamber of Commerce" you will find their web site |
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22 Jun 05 - 07:33 AM (#1506780) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts As a teenage student at Winchester Art school in the late 1950s I used to travel 20 miles by rail each day. Frequently the engine that pulled us was the immortal 'City of Truro', built for the Great Western in 1901 and the first steam engine to top 100 m.p.h. in 1904. She had been taken from York Railway Museum and put back into service and so was still in the old GWR livery. Wonderful! |
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22 Jun 05 - 10:29 AM (#1506949) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Doktor Doktor ahh the Romance of Steam ... back on the old bridge on Victoria Road, with a four of chips in my hands ( & possibly a scrumped bun from the CoOp bakery ;0) ), getting covered in soot as the "Black Prince" braked for the bend into Oulton Broad South ..... PS - nice ride for steam buffs with a head for heights & recently travelled by the Beerfordbury Mummers to boot ... |
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22 Jun 05 - 04:43 PM (#1507273) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: jpk still have afew coggers still doing tourist duty here in the states.theres a cog rr in the north east and one in the west . a while to think on it and i might recall exactly where. |
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22 Jun 05 - 08:21 PM (#1507525) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Hen Harrier Something doesn't quite gel here! The National Railway Museum at York didn't open until the 70's, before then, the National Rail Collection was mainly at Clapham Transport Museum with various other items scattered at places like Preston Park Carriage Sidings(Brighton). Also, I'm a bit puzzled what a Western Region loco was doing on the Southern Region at Winchester! |
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22 Jun 05 - 08:41 PM (#1507541) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: nutty My father, having started his working life as a messenger boy on Darlington Station, rose to the heady heights of Station Master. He worked on the railway for 51 years. Railways ran in the family ... my great uncle (on my mother's side) was Inspector of Locomotives at Darlington, he had ,during his career driven The Flying Scotsman and he was one of the first people in the North-East Region to be taught to drive a diesel engine. When I was little, the house we lived in was built into the station platform and although we only had two stopping trains a day, because it was on the main line, we had a train (either goods or express) going through every seven minutes night and day. The noise the expresses made was amazing and the whole house used to shake. I still love steam trains ....particularly that damp sooty smell of the steam. |
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22 Jun 05 - 08:44 PM (#1507548) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Snuffy In the late 1950s BR returned to service several preserved locos:, Caledonian 123, Midland compound 1000, Highland goods 103, GNS 49 Gordon Highlander and NBR 256 Glen Douglas are all listed as "Preserved Locos In Working Order" as at August 1961 in my Ian Allan Combined Volume. Western and Southern Regions apparently had none in working order. City of Truro is shown as preserved in store at Swindon, while GNR Nos 1, 990, 251, 66, 910, 1463 and 1631 were in store at "York Museum", and No 490 at "Clapham Museum" So it looks like York had a railway museum for some time before it was designated "National", but that City of Truro was probably not running in the late 50s. |
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22 Jun 05 - 08:51 PM (#1507556) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Hen Harrier Yes, sorry, I forgot about the old York railway museum. |
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23 Jun 05 - 01:29 PM (#1508142) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Train Guard >The GWR, >God's Wonderful Railway! >(or the Great Western Region) Well.....when they have taken the G.W.R. loco off, and decided to replace it with a B.R. Standard or L.M.S. design, you often find that the new crew can't get the brakes off the train (it's happened to me at a major steam event). Then you have to lie prone on the platform pulling the drawstring of the bloody ball release valve (two per bloody carriage). And then you have a few choice words to say about God's bloody wonderful railway....like why they have to use twenty four bloody inches of vacuum...... A little tongue in cheek, but many a true word...... |
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23 Jun 05 - 09:30 PM (#1508498) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: HuwG I recall going to the Railway Museum in York in the 1960's. In those days it was adjacent to York Railway Station itself, and was reached via a narrow entrance alongside the rather forbidding-looking Railway Institute building. When it became the National Railway Museum, it moved to its present location near the Clifton Marshalling Yards. A fond memory of mine; when five or six years old, I used to play on the sand dunes at Mawdlam Common, south of Port Talbot. The enormous marsalling yards for the Port Talbot steel works stretched this far. Trains used to wait in the yards for anything up to two days before loading or unloading. I remember chatting to guards in the brake vans at the end of long trains, which were inching forward at slow walking pace. All sorts of grimy nondescript locomotives could be seen in this part of the world. One day I saw one of the BR Class 9F locomotives (same class as "Evening Star") travelling light through the yard. It had recently been cleaned, and the effect was like watching the "Queen Mary" steam past a collection of dredgers. |
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24 Jun 05 - 07:50 AM (#1508763) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts With the greatest possible respect, the City of Truro DID pull trains on the Didcot, Newbury and Sothampton Dock line after she was exhumed from York Rail Museum. One of our lecturers at Wincherster Art School used to take out sketching parties --always to somewhere near the railway. When the City was due he would have his students line the fence to witness a real 'artistic experience'. He was quite right. I am stirred to ask, whatever happened to former Brummie engine driver/folksinger Don Bilston, who recorded an album for Transatlantic in the late 1960s called 'Farewell to Steam'? |
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24 Jun 05 - 09:31 AM (#1508824) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Snuffy Looks like we were both right, Barrie. Heritage Railway Magazine says:
So she was only running from 1957 to 1961, again in 1985 and 2004 |
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24 Jun 05 - 04:39 PM (#1508962) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: jpk some nice feed back and i learned a thing or two and remebered others i'd forgot thanks and don't stop. |
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24 Jun 05 - 09:30 PM (#1509142) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Inero There's an interesting vintage steam train called The Prairie Dog Central that runs excursions out onto the open prairie from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The locomotive is a restored American Standard type 4-4-0 with a big a big smoke stack, built in April 1882 by Dubs & Co., Glasgow, Scotland, originally for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Perhaps the weirdest steam train I ever rode was in 1988 in Nepal. The Janakpur Railway is a narrow guage that runs from the town of the same name to Jaynagar just over the Indian border. Because there's no highway link, the line is an important access route for Hindu pilgrims traveling to the important shrines in Janakpur. Because of Janakpur's importance, one would imagine the rail line would be in good shape, but it's got to be the most dilapidated railroad in the world! The trains are now pulled by antiquated diesels, but when I visited they were still using steam: some German-built 2-6-0 tank locomotives from the 1930s and a few newer British "Hunslet" 0-6-0 engines. The track, locomotives and rolling stock were falling apart from lack of maintenance. There was more humanity on the roofs than inside the packed cars. The nice thing was, when the crowd got too much, one could always jump off and walk a while, then jump back on. It took over two hours to cover the 29km. For some interesting pics: http://www.farrail.net/pages/touren-engl/nepal_nov-2005.html |
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24 Jun 05 - 09:42 PM (#1509151) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Clint Keller And there's no other instrument that sounds like an old steam whistle. And people still say "choo choo train" to their kid,s though it's been a half century since trains all said "choo choo." clint |
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24 Jun 05 - 10:03 PM (#1509171) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: akenaton When I was an apprentice, I had as a labourer, an old boy who had worked all his life on the railways, finishing as fireman on the flying scotsman. He told some wonderful stories of the characters he had encountered especially cantankerous old drivers. I remember him talking of covering the windows of the locomotive with wet sacking when entering tunnels, to keep out the ash, and always having to remember to close the firebox door, as the back pressure blew burning coals all over the footplate....what a life...Ake |
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24 Jun 05 - 10:45 PM (#1509195) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Hen Harrier Thanks, Barry, for putting me right. I'd forgotten all about (how could I?) the old Didcot, Newbury & Southampton line, a very useful cross-country link. Thanks a lot, Dr. Beeching, you did the country a great service with many roads now rapidly reaching total grid-lock; but then you were working for Ernest Marples, the then Minister for Transport (Marples-Ridgeway Construction building motorways all over the place!) Could they get away with something like that today, I wonder? |
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25 Jun 05 - 10:10 AM (#1509429) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: asirovedout You asked about Don Bilston, Barrie... In a former life I was involved in railway preservation, which explains why I was there when Pete Coe performed Don's 'Fireman's Song' on a platform of the National Railway Museum about 8 years ago. He drew attention to Don, who was sitting in the small but appreciative audience. I believe that even then Don had given up performing, owing to increasing hearing loss. I haven't seen or heard about him since. Another singer/songwriter with railway connections was on the same bill (thanks to Pete) - Dave Goulder. Anybody else remember that concert? @ |
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25 Jun 05 - 10:40 AM (#1509464) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: catspaw49 One of my better experiences over the past few years has been riding on the steam excursions. Around the country there are a number of interesting steamers restored to operation and hauling those like me who remember those sounds and sights back through time to an ealier age, a different place, a different world. The Ohio Central has a beautifully restored Berkshire and the joy of standing next to it is enough to flood the senses. A steamer is truly a living, breathing, thing. Those of you travelling through Ohio on I-77 have to stop in Dover and go to the Warther Museum......an entire history of steam under one roof, carved by a genius witha story all his own. There is no way to describe this place except to say I have never taken anyone there who has not come away virtually speechless, I grew up nearby when Warther was still alive and kids just loved going there and listening to his tales, playing in his yard, and staring in amazement at his work. The following I have posted before but it fits well here. I came from a railroad town and a railroad family. A strike in the 20's all but completely closed the huge yards that were there but as a kid I went over to the roundhouse and turntable often just to watch what little action was left. We moved to Columbus in '59 to make it easier on my Dad who ran between Columbus and Pittsburgh on the PanHandle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. My Dad was an engineman on the Pennsylvania for the whole of his adult working life. He started out of high school on the section gang and went into engine service a couple of years later. He was in a Railway Batallion during WWII and came back to the Pennsy as soon as it was over. The PRR was early in converting to Diesels but Dad fired the last of the steamers. Advancement on the roads was based on seniority and although he had qualified as an engineer he stayed as a fireman for many years until he could hold a regular slot on the board. So when the last of M1's and K4's made their final runs on the PanHandle Division, Dad fired those engines. I remember years later in about 1962 when the last of the steamers were cut up for scrap in the Columbus Yards, it was about as close as I ever came to seeing him cry at that point in my life. He was an engineer for the rest of his life and even with the Diesels, an engineer still had a reputation of some sort and the Ol' Man was known as a "smooth rider"....a term used by those in the caboose to describe a good engineer who could stop and start, take in or run out slack as needed, without disturbing their rest or their pinochle game. Railroaders back then were still a special breed who loved what they did. 30 years later, one of the most poignant memories I have of my Dad is from a time when he was quite ill within only a few weeks of his death. He had me take him to the Yards so he could pick up some things out of his locker. We cleaned it out and packed up his "Grip" for the final time. But on the way out we sort of had to "detour" through an engine shop and though I protested, he went that way. Walking through the shops, we stopped at an idling GP9 and he slowly started to climb to the cab. Again, I protested that this was way too much effort that he shouldn't be wasting, but he looked down at me and said, "Just one last time." So we climbed up and sat in the cab for awhile as his hands touched the throttle, air brakes,dynamic brake, and all of those things that had been his world for so many years..........and if I was ever closer to him, I don't know when it would have been. The rails were close at hand for people to see and hear and feel and as the country grew, they grew with us. For those who long for older and simpler times, the sound, feel, and the smell of a great steamer are all that is needed to trigger visions of a different life in a different world, far removed from this current time and place. And today as on many other days, I miss my Dad......W.J. "Unk" Patterson, Engineman, Pennsylvania Railroad. I'm sorry too he never knew my kids and sorrier still that they will never know him. |
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25 Jun 05 - 05:33 PM (#1509702) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,JP2 Is that Barrie Roberts from Coventry that used to sing with Lee Solomons in the 60's? |
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25 Jun 05 - 06:00 PM (#1509718) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: akenaton We havn't had much to say to each other since I joined Mudcat Catspaw, but that was one of the nicest posts I'v read on this forum ...Ake |
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25 Jun 05 - 09:45 PM (#1509891) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Big Al Whittle One of my relations lived in Canada and drove a train or worked on the trains there and he was known a The Poet of the Prairies. I think he was a Kelly - related to the man my Mum's sister married. |
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26 Jun 05 - 02:23 AM (#1510003) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Terry K Last weekend during the beautiful weather I was lucky enough to be enjoying a certain outdoor pursuit (not popular with folkies) on the clifftop at Sheringham on the north Norfolk coast. The thrashing about and cursing, that this particular pursuit gives rise to, was mollified not only by the pleasant 5 mile walk with stunning views of the sea along the cliffs and the beach, but on the other side by the beautifully restored steam train which puffed up and down along the coast. I don't know how far it goes - maybe to Cromer - you listening Jon? I did notice that its number started with a 6 which I think from my days trainspotting at Darlington means it was a fugitive from the old LNER (London North Eastern Railway). cheers, Terry |
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26 Jun 05 - 05:20 AM (#1510065) Subject: Lyr Add: MOUNTAIN SHAY (John Warner) From: jack halyard G'day folks, I'm a train fanatic from way back, Garratts, shays, Orrenstein and Koeppel, Heisler or Krauss, apart from the Hunslets and Kerr Stewarts, I remember them very fondly. For all you Shay worshippers, here's a children's song I wrote that fits the standard 12 bar blues. Feel free to fit it as you will. The song celebrates the Wolgan Valley line that worked through the blue mountains near Sydney in the 1909- 1950's period. The line moved shale-oil and kerosene that was produced at Newnes. Still magnificent country, there's a tunnel that's become a glow-worm cave. An extinct line well worth exploring. Mountain Shay. John Warner. 1996 Listen a while, 'cause I've things to say, About a steam locomotive they call the shay, Shay's coming round the bend, Shay's coming round the bend, She's a slow old loco, Shay's coming round the bend. Gleaming pistons thrust and pound, But the wheels on the track grind slowly round, Shay's coming round the bend etc. Logs from the forest, coal from the mine, She drags them slow round the mountain line, Shay's coming round the bend etc. It's a heavy old train she hauls behind, The bogies grumble creak and grind. Shay's coming round the bend. Cliffs glow red as the day turns pale, She's far away, hear the whistle wail, Shay's comin round the bend. The last verse refers to the towering, vertical cliff faces above Newnes which take on dramatic colour changes late in the day. Australia has a mighty railway history in a magificent landscape. Your good health folks, Jack Halyard |
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27 Jun 05 - 03:20 PM (#1511123) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts No, this aiont Barrie Roberts from Coventry who used to sing with Lee Solomons. This is Barrie Roberts from Walsall, who used to sing with Mike James, Steve Parkes, Ernie Nield etc, etc. |
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27 Jun 05 - 09:13 PM (#1511309) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Auggie You said it so well, Catspaw. Thank You |
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28 Jun 05 - 07:04 AM (#1511515) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Fidjit My first guitar case was made out of a dark green, British Railways carriage window blind (That fell off a lorry). It had BR embossed on it. I used to say that ment, Barrie Roberts! |
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28 Jun 05 - 09:00 AM (#1511586) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts I used to have a guitar case with a crack in the neck, caused by British Rail when an enthusiastic porter closed a door too quickly and caught the end! Glad to hear news oif Don Bilston, but sorry he's affected by deafness. Must be all those evenings spent in folk clubs! Incidentally, the railway line I referred to above was the principal freight line in 1943/4 for the run up to D-Day, supplying all the depots in southern England. In the Great War there was a US camp on the Berkshire Downs, served by what was then called a 'halt'. In the wake of the War, numbers of the lads waiting for demob there died in the great 'flu epidemic. I have seen a grim photo of waggon-loads of coffins waiting at Blewbury Halt to be loaded for shipment home. |
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28 Jun 05 - 11:22 AM (#1511682) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: Dave Bryant One of the fond memories which I always had of the old I-O-W steam trains was the sound of the Westinghouse brake cylinder on the side of the O2 and Terrier locos. You could nearly always tell when there was one waiting in the station by the CLINK - CLANK - CLINK - CLANK as it pumped up the brake vacuum. Many of the carriages were still emblazoned with V.R. - Victoria Regina - going back to the days when a special royal train would take her from Ryde to Whippingham station as part of her journey to Osbourne House. |
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28 Jun 05 - 08:01 PM (#1512083) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Hen Harrier Sorry Dave, the Westinghouse pump was for air brakes, not the usual vacuum. IOW Rly was one of the few pre 60's services to have them. They had the one-pipe system, BR eventually opted for the 2-pipe system which was faster acting on longer trains (usually freight) but even so, the 1-pipe system was a lot more efficient than vacuum. Continental rlys had air braking for yonks before BR decided they had better spend some money on improving things. |
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29 Jun 05 - 02:05 PM (#1512627) Subject: RE: remeber the old steam trains,fondly ok From: GUEST,Russ Grew up next to the N & W. Remember riding the Powhatan Arrow. Still awed by its beauty. |
