Chapter 1: 1939-1950
Early Steam Trains!
Aberdeen
In 1948 all Britain's Railways were Nationalised. The four main companies were all amalgamated to form British Railways. The confusing bit, for a train spotter, was that many of the numbers were changed to avoid two or more locos bearing the same number.
Although I faithfully recorded all the numbers of the trains I saw, it was some time before I managed to find a book that helped you decipher its new number.
That book was the “Bible” of trainspotters and was called “Ian Allen's Guide”. In this book you underlined the numbers and names of all locos that you spotted. This book was never far out of my sight for the next 5 or 6 years.
It was around the age of 11 that I visited Aberdeen with Grandma Hartley. We stayed with a friend of her son Hughie.​
Most of my days were spent spellbound on Aberdeen Railway Station. Most of the locomotives were very old and you could see under the boiler and the smoke belching from the very tall funnels. ​
Chapter 3.3:
More Early Steam Trains!
Itching Hurts & Being Reported Missing
One of my early friends at School was Barry Myerscough. He, like myself, had become a trainspotter. Blackpool had two Engine Sheds, one by Bloomfield Rd Football Ground.
We also had direct services to London. Barry had an Aunt and Uncle who lived at Hitchen, Hertfordshire (Itching Hurts as we called it).
They had invited him to stay in the holidays of the summer of 1951, and in turn he managed to get me invited, so, with my parents approval, I had my very first venture away from home without parents or grandparents.
​
Quite naturally the main theme of the holiday was Train Spotting, and virtually ever day saw us at a vantage point close to Hitchen Railway Station, where four main line tracks took locomotives thundering to and from London's Kings Cross.
​
Whereas virtually all the locomotives that came through Blackpool and Preston were LMS (London Midland and Scottish) locomotives, here in Hitchen all locomotives were LNER (London and North Eastern Railways) locomotives.
Despite recent Nationalisation the railway regions still retained their original identity so far as operation, rolling stock etc were concerned.
This was like Xmas for spotters who had never before seen LNER stock.
We were blessed with Express trains that included the famous A4 Pacifics, including world speed breaker “Mallard” and of course “Flying Scotsman”.
​
Barry's Uncle was manager of a confectionery manufacturing company and we were given a tour of the factory adjacent to the house.
We also received strict instructions that, if we decided to break in to the premises in any way then on no account must we touch any full, sealed jars. We must only touch partially filled jars.
Needless to say we did gain entry and duly respected the instructions, including the bit about touching partially filled jars.
In the house, the record player was constantly on, and although I am far from musical I do remember being impressed by “The sun shines in the morning on Mocking Bird Hill,” sang I think by Burl Ives.
I was also stunned by Ronnie Ronald, the whistling King. Perhaps there was hope for my Music yet!
It was around my 12th birthday when Barry and I decided to spend a whole day in London, with the main aim being to visit the Festival of Britain, a spectacular exhibition boasting of Britain's achievements in Engineering, Arts, Sport, Film etc.
We were but two of the 8 million people to visit. It certainly was impressive with its cigar shaped centrepiece, The Skylon, and the brand new Royal Festival Hall.
To us, of course, the highlight was to climb into the boiler of Britain's partly constructed Steam Locomotive, which was to be the express train of the future. It was appropriately a “Britannia” Class No 70004 named William Wordsworth.
Apart from the Exhibition we naturally planned to visit as many of London's Main Line Railway Terminals as possible, to include Paddington, Waterloo, St Pancras, Marylebone, Victoria, and Liverpool St.
​
There was much dashing from tube to tube. We were of course somewhat hampered by the fact that we had both recently started two new collections: London Transport Bus Numbers, who warranted a whole published book of its own, and BRS (British Road Services) Lorry Numbers that had resulted from the Nationalisation of all Britain's Delivery Wagons.
Trying to run round Trafalgar Square. and other busy roads. to get to the next main rail terminal, whilst a constant circle of London Transport Buses and BRS Lorries distracted our attention, was brought to a fine art.
​
Needless to say by early evening we had note books full of numbers and notes. Today we spotted our first SR (Southern Railway) and GWR (Great Western Railway), Locos!! YEEHAR!!!
​
A whole new world for 12 year olds!
Having caught the early morning train to London we naturally caught the late train back to Hitchen.
​
Settling down in the carriage it was our first relaxation of the day....ZZZZZZZ.
Our next recollection was of the guard walking down a platform shouting “All change please, end of line”.
We came to, only to find that we had overshot Hitchen and that the train had, fortunately, terminated at Baldock, which was, fortunately, only about 5 miles further down the line.
The Station Master collared us and questioned us. We confessed our predicament and he advised us that we had been reported missing and that we were in deep DOO DOO back in Hitchen.
Our problem (and his) was that there were no further trains or buses back to Hitchen that night, so he asked if it would be OK if we rode back on the footplate of the engine that had brought us from London.
This engine was based at Hitchen and was due to run back there any moment to spend the night in Hitchen Shed.
WOULD WE LIKE TO RIDE BACK ON THE FOOTPLATE!!!??? YEEHAR.
We were a little more subdued when we were met at Hitchen Station by a Police Car to escort us back to our accommodation, and felt quite small when Barry's Aunt and Uncle vented their relief on us.
Bed with no supper. But wow, what a day!
Extract from Chapter 3: Our Lives Book
Yet More Early Steam Trains!
A Coincidence and High Risk Train Games
​​They used Ribble Bus Route 88 via Poulton and the villages, or the X42 Express to Garstang and Lancaster. Sometimes, so did I, when I took Donald with me.
​​
I had originally come across this mainline location when walking with my father to Nicky Nook Reservoir.
​​
We used to put a penny on the line and watch it get flattened by the loco wheels. One Penny got a record of 24 hits before it was lost by being flung too far or carried along by the engine.
​
Another ploy was to hide in a hole in the track where it crossed the small stream. If you laid flat and slightly raised your head you could watch the Express approaching at full speed, then duck your head down as it thundered over your head.
​
Dangling chains on the coaches, and hot ashes from the fireplace were the two main hazards. Donald got arrested here whilst train spotting years later but that's another story.
​​
My bike was used around town quite a bit as I would visit Blackpool's two Engine Sheds regularly.
​
On a typical summer weekend as many as 100 special excursion trains would arrive from all over the Country. We even had LNER engines with such names at “Wildebeest” and “William Henton Carver”.
​​
There will be more train adventures that will be published on this website over time.
One of many strange coincidences - see 'Coincidences Blog' for more on these- was one of several times that I came so close to meeting my wife Marjorie before we actually did meet.
​I used to go trainspotting on the LMS London-Glasgow line near Garstang, ​
About the same time, Marjorie was doing likewise within half a mile of my own location, where she regularly took her brother Les trainspotting.
