RMweb Premium rab Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 22, 2021 4 hours ago, Rugd1022 said: I'm not sure if I've posted this one before, quite possibly but anyway, my brother posted it elsewhere and tagged me in and made me realise it was taken seventeen years ago - we'd just applied the new BR Tips style numbers, data panel and shed sticker on 37 003 at Leeming Bar back in October 2004 and posed for a quick snapshot before taking on a test run to Redmire and back.... I dug out one of my old BR secondman's jacket for the occasion.... Didn't realise a test run was necessary after applying numbers 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted September 22, 2021 Author Share Posted September 22, 2021 1 hour ago, rab said: Didn't realise a test run was necessary after applying numbers It's the extra weight see, it affects the brake force available! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium rab Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 22, 2021 43 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said: It's the extra weight see, it affects the brake force available! Ah, I see. I thought perhaps it was to make sure the signalman could see them as the loco passed him! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach bogie Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 ' Bloomin Yorkshire coal. This never happens with best Welsh steam coal!!!!" Mike Wiltshire 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denbridge Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 52 minutes ago, Coach bogie said: ' Bloomin Yorkshire coal. This never happens with best Welsh steam coal!!!!" Mike Wiltshire Is there a Yorkshire in Russia then? 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo675 Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 22 hours ago, Denbridge said: Is there a Yorkshire in Russia then? Hi Denbrige, Unlike Swindon, both Doncaster and Voronezh are situated on Река Дон. Gibbo. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Rugd1022 Posted October 2, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 2, 2021 These are all from the 'Saltley Seagulls' facebook group, photos by John Morris, Alan Willets, Ben Darby, Jason Pountney, Nev Sloper and Gordon Hopkinson.... 21 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo675 Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 6 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said: Hi Rugd, Roy Chubby Brown doesn't seem to be wearing his trademark jacket in the above photograph. Gibbo. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Cheese Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 Seeing the above I recall seeing photos online of a driver in the Kent area dressed in wellington boots & a bowler hat on a class 71/HA.. bit of a local character? Back in the 80's there was a Woking/Guildford based driver who had inherited a large country house and whose parents had always dissaproved of his career choice but he simply loved the job...he was jokingly referred to as "Lord Snooty" but was in fact very down to earth (Phil ?)...pointed out to me one day on a 80's cab ride by my Dad (a Basingstoke driver) 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted October 3, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 3, 2021 Traincrew are people - just like the rest of us. Some are bland, some characters, some miserable, some positively charismatic. There was a Grove Park driver nicknamed 'packamac' because he seemingly always wore one - years before HVV were mandatory, of course. He lived in smart Chislehurst, drove an Audi 90, a pretty smart car. Then there was the Sevenoaks guard who always had sticking plasters on his fingers, covering the pads. All sorts of stories about why, but none of us ever asked. Then there was driver George. He was very decent, but a big, loud bloke - an RSM in the Territorial Army, too. He eventually got a Depot Manager's job, and was on one occasion chairing an LDC (Local Departmental Committee - formal discussion group with local drivers' reps) meeting when his delivery was so OTT that the staff side had to call the meeting to order! He had a lot of interesting tales to tell of days on the shovel, and I urged him to write them down. No longer with us, of course.... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 3, 2021 Author Share Posted October 3, 2021 There were definitely some great characters around in those days - at Old Oak we had Derek 'Fangs' Dyer, a jovial Welshman with very few teeth to his name, always good for a wind up and he gave as good as he got. He was one of those who came across as a bit intimidating at first but once you got to know him he was a real charmer, very generous and he was one of the first to put me in the chair when I arrived at 81A. Old Oak was full of blokes like that, most have gone to the great mess room in the sky now and are much missed. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
73c Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 @Oldddudders Do you remember the rather round, Scottish MOM based ( I think ) at London Bridge, covered down to Charlton - Blackheath - Hither Green. There's another 'character' 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted October 4, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 4, 2021 12 hours ago, 73c said: @Oldddudders Do you remember the rather round, Scottish MOM based ( I think ) at London Bridge, covered down to Charlton - Blackheath - Hither Green. There's another 'character' Sadly no. MOMs rather post-date my immersion in the real railway, although I think two of my most able staff at Dartford (I was SM '79-80) subsequently took such roles, at which I imagine they excelled. I lost touch with day-to-day when Divisions closed in 1984, and I moved to RHQ Waterloo. No 'On-call' was nice after a decade, but I missed some of the other life, too. It didn't mean the phone never rang at home, though. A number of us were quite rightly mobilised in the wake of the Stoats Nest accident, and on at least one Sunday night Chris Green rang, probably about something in the papers for Network Investment Panel the next day, for which I was secretary. All a long time ago now! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 18, 2021 Author Share Posted October 18, 2021 (edited) Dartford station, early 1962.... Shortly after the above photo was taken the two likely lads depicted answered an advert in 'Jazz News', placed by a chap from Cheltenham called Brian Jones who was forming a new R&B group.... Edited October 18, 2021 by Rugd1022 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted October 18, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 18, 2021 I know this is sort of the wrong way around, but I recently had a fantastic phone conversation with a chap who phoned up to place an order for a book. His name is Gordon Carter and he was a second man at Old Oak in the days of the hydraulics, finishing up driving out of Stonebridge Park. He was so funny, full of anecdotes, a wicked sense of humour, and I have the distinct feeling that he would have been a memorable work colleague to say the least. I wondered, given the wealth of experience on here, whether anyone had any memories or pictures of Gordon? I'm sure they would be worth sharing. One of his comments to me, on the NBL Class 22 locos - "I loved those little locos...good for sleeping" Priceless! As these posts ought to include a picture, here's the late Peter Barnfield's lovely shot of D6315 at Truro on the "Cornishman" on Thursday 18th August 1960. Simon 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 18, 2021 Author Share Posted October 18, 2021 I think I remember Gordon at Stonebridge Park, sadly no photos of him though. I was only there for a few months before moving over to Old Oak. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted October 18, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 18, 2021 Thanks for that Nidge. Going through some photographs I recently acquired, this is labelled "last steam at Old Oak Common 21st Mar 1965" and has some good characters in it: 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted October 18, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 18, 2021 It is my distinct impression that steam was almost dead on the South Eastern by 1962, so those two chaps may have been there a little earlier? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 18, 2021 Author Share Posted October 18, 2021 22 minutes ago, bude_branch said: Not by much apparently : See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-15333771 for more details. Slight misnomer - Mick and Keith didn't form the Stones, they joined Brian Jones existing outfit which became the Stones, and the name was chosen by Brian. The line up shifted around a bit in those early days, but Brian took on Bill Wyman because he was the only one who owned his own bass amp! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
33C Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Oldddudders said: It is my distinct impression that steam was almost dead on the South Eastern by 1962, so those two chaps may have been there a little earlier? Go on Youtube and check out David Bowie's impersonation of Mick Jagger! David was a guest on "Parkinson" 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welchester Posted October 18, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Rugd1022 said: Slight misnomer - Mick and Keith didn't form the Stones, they joined Brian Jones existing outfit which became the Stones, and the name was chosen by Brian. The line up shifted around a bit in those early days, but Brian took on Bill Wyman because he was the only one who owned his own bass amp! Thank you for that. Brian Jones had been at my school (some years before my time) and was still spoken of with a mixture of awe and mystification by those who had taught him. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted October 18, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 18, 2021 3 hours ago, Oldddudders said: It is my distinct impression that steam was almost dead on the South Eastern by 1962, so those two chaps may have been there a little earlier? The last pannier tanks, other than some stored ones, left OOC in March 1965. Passenger steam working out of Paddington had ended in 1964. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
62613 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 14 hours ago, Oldddudders said: It is my distinct impression that steam was almost dead on the South Eastern by 1962, so those two chaps may have been there a little earlier? Living in Erith, I would say that it was totally finished for passengers by then. I can remember going on holiday to Birchington steam - hauled in 1958 or 1959 (change at Dartford), but after that, not. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
73c Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 The photo looks a bit 'iffy' to me. Something not quite right around the edges of the lads. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted October 19, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 19, 2021 53 minutes ago, 62613 said: Living in Erith, I would say that it was totally finished for passengers by then. I can remember going on holiday to Birchington steam - hauled in 1958 or 1959 (change at Dartford), but after that, not. I think that fits. Kent Coast Electrification Phase 1 was done by mid-1960, so nothing via the Dartford group of lines needed steam any more. I thought the boast was that the SE was the first BR Division to abolish steam, by end-1961, Phase 2 going live from 12th June. I had watched steam on No 1 Boat Train Route at Tonbridge in early 1961, but the juice was already on and CEPs were doing trial trips and crew training. Tonbridge itself will have had steam incursions from Central after 1961, both from Three Bridges and Redhill, the latter not being converted to diesel until 3.1.1965. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now