Prototype Random collection of BR in the 80's photos

[mickoo]

Just a random selection of 35mm photos take back in my youth, when things like exposure and shutter speed were of little interest LOL as was dates and loco numbers.

Not sure of the best way to lay these out so for this initial run I'll go with region, which means photos might span several years.

Eastern region
Class 03, taken in the Ipswich lower yard down near where Cardinal Park is these days, back then it was waste land and weed ridden sidings. The church and warehouse still stand.


Class 31's by night, a pair of 31's tick over at the exit from Ipswich loco yard.


Train ferry at Harwich being unloaded by a class 31, fairly sure that's the MV Cambridge Ferry


Another pair of 31's at Ipswich, these have come off a Freightliner train from Felixstowe and are using the Felixstowe Platform 1 bay to either run round the train or cross over to the left ready for reversal back into the loco yard.


Moving forward in time, a brace of 37's attack the bottom of Clickett hill on their crawl up to Trimley station.


Another pair of 37's at the top of the hill, just to the left is the DMU shuttle heading off toward Felixstowe town, it's single section behind me and the path is clear, the driver has the token and with 1200t hanging off the end on a 1:40 hill it's an eruption of sound that only 37's can do as they drag the train up hill and on to Ipswich.


March depot, probably 79 or 80 with a quite rare class 25 for company.


Back to London and a pair of 37's are on the up fast through Stratford, they will have either crossed over from the up electric from Felixstowe at Forest Gate or joined from the Barking branch at the same junction, none the less they are now going to cross the down fast and other lines to take the North London line round to Willesden I suspect.


Baylham, about half way between Ipswich and Stowmarket. An unidentified 37 has got a real strop on and is storming south at full speed, with this many coaches on I'm going to guess this is one of the boat trains to Harwich or at least a cross country service as Norwich trains by now were all MkII aircon stock and 47 hauled.


Finally, class 40 heads through Ipswich with a Whitemoor to Parkeston freight train, given some of the stock it's a good bet a lot of this is bound for the train ferry seen above.


Finally, a very poor shot inside the Speedlink Vanguard on boxing day, nobody around so availed myself with at least one shot inside a train ferry, no tripod so hand held, can't run very fast with a tripod banging around your legs!


MV Speedlink Vanguard was the vessel that veered off course and rammed the European Gateway just off Felixstowe which then rolled onto her side with the terrible loss of six lives.

http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/f...ropean_gateway_disaster_30_years_on_1_1747316

 

[ZiderHead]

Train ferry at Harwich being unloaded by a class 31, fairly sure that's the MV Cambridge Ferry
View attachment 37618

Thats quite an incline!

 

[mickoo]

Part two and still on the Eastern region.

A night shot of a Royal Mail train, security of HM mail was always pretty tight and I had to get permission of the station night manager and the resident Police officer to take this photo and only from this side of the train. It did help that I worked on the PO at the time and knew the guys on the platform, but even then it was take a few shots and then bugga off sharpish


Further south, I suspect this is one of my Sunday early arrival jaunts to the digs, this was the only time I went over to these platforms, can't remember where the services went to now, but there weren't that many. Just to the right of that mid ground pylon is the branch off to the North London line that all freights took.


Heading north slightly, a pacing shot of a 315 on the up electric between Forest Gate and Maryland, this is certainly a Sunday afternoon trip to my digs. I'm on the up fast doing about 80 and braking hard for the Stratford junctions, the EMU has just crossed the crossovers for fast and electric lines and to the rear of it just under the far bridge is the branch off to Barking and Tilbury on the right.


Moving further north to Colchester a 'Clacton' set is running up the main and will stop just behind me, the lead set is a three car set, originally two car sets, these had the same power as a four car set but when working solo had so much excess power they could wheel spin up Brentwood bank if you were a little heavy handed


Next up is Ipswich and moving on many years,a brace of DBSO's stand at the end of their respective trains, to the left is the trailing end of a London bound train, to the right the leading end of a Norwich bound train, motive power will be class 86's


Moving east, now to Lowestoft, never visited here often and only by car, usually to Hannats warehouse where you could wander around and pick models off the shelves, most of them quite rare and many never got to the shop shelves, usually very pricey too, it was a real Aladdin's cave. First up a service to Ipswich.


Wandering over to the yard to the south of the station finds this stable DMU and in the far distance the departing Ipswich service, the bobby has dropped the signal really fast as it's down before the whole train has passed.


Finally back to Ipswich and it's Xmas day in Ipswich yard 1984, when trains were real trains.


Moving over to the ECML we're at Woolmers Green just near the north portal of Welwyn North tunnel as a 312 heads away to the north.


A little further north finds a UID class 47 drags an ailing 312 away from Hitchin.


Northward even further we arrive at Fletton were the Flyash trains deposited their cargo, in this case a Class 58 rumbles through the discharge station, it'll stop shortly and they will discharge the first 10-15 wagons, then it'll crawl forward and do the next batch and so on and so on until all are empty. This area is now a housing estate, I wonder home many residents know their houses are built on thousands of tons of waste power station ash?


Finally just north of Peterborough we capture a pan shot of an HST as it heads north, actually it's not a pan shot as I'm on the Manchester boat train and were running down the Stamford line, once the HST clears the section we'll cross over onto the down fast for a quick sprint to Grantham where we turn off cross country toward Nottingham.

 

[mickoo]

OK change of region, over to the wetter side of the country

Once I'd passed out form my apprenticeship I took up extra training in PO mechanised sorting equipment, we had two training schools where you lived on campus, one was at Stony Stratford (Wolverton) the other at Stone (just north of Norton Bridge) fatal for train spotters, Sunday was always spent spotting before signing onto campus and in the summer lessons finished early enough for a couple of hours photographing trains on the WCML.

Starting in the Wolverton area, first up is a location called Knowlhill, it's abut halfway between Milton Keynes and Bletchley, back then there was ample countryside between the two!

First up, a pair of 31's head south with a sand train, this probably originated at Wolverton which had a sand depot and sidings there.


A few moments later a UID 47 heads north with a fly ash train.


Trains come through here quick and fast, so next up some electrics, a UID class 86 hammers south at 100mph, always impressive to see fast trains, although the shot looks like I'm trespassing I'm not, there's and old LNWR footbridge here(see above) and by leaning over the parapet you can just get a shot inside the OHLE.


Same location but different date, weather not so good. A class 310 heads north at Ampthill, this was a Sunday and a temporary fence had been added due to engineering works which was well inside the normal public one, I took two shots and scarpered, though in those days there wasn't the concern there is these days, so long as you were sensible about things.


Second shot, a UID class 85 roars north. I may have lent over the fence a little more than normal for this shot


Next up Wolverton, lovely place to take photos on the reverse curves to the north and south of the station.

First shot is from the old station car park looking north, we see a southbound class 87 sweeping through the reverse curves between the station and the viaduct toward the rear of the train.


Next a change of location to roughly where the rear of the above train would be. Facing south we find a van train heading north and just about to pass on to Wolverton viaduct.


Same location, there was a nice niche in the fence between the viaduct buttress and fence for taking photos, probably blocked in by a 20' high palisade fence now! A UID class 86 heads north with a Freightliner train, looks like Ford containers so expect it's a parts train from Dagenham to I think Washwood Heath....or was that Rover? Anyway it's almost certainly from Dagenham and heading north.

The reverse curves were caused when the LNWR slewed the main line around Wolverton works and built the new station, originally the main line ran dead straight from this point, right through the middle of the works and out the other side. The old formation would have gone right through the middle of that ground relay box with the speaker on top to the right of the train.


Shortly after a solo clas 85 ambles south, probably one of my personal favourite shots this one.


Just north of Wolverton viaduct we come to Castlethorpe troughs, much of the infrastructure was still there if you knew where to look, the water tower was the most obvious but the overflow drainage culverts were still there too, again a nice LNWR bridge allowed some good shots from both sides of the line with ease.

A 312 heads north and is just about to enter the once water trough site, in the background can be seen the mass of Wolverton carriage works.


Next couple of shots were from on top of the water tower, I'm not sure why I went up here, bloody stupid if you ask me but at twenty you think your invincible, I do remember most of the wooden treads being rotten through and going up the stairs with feet jammed in the metal support railings each side and then not standing on any floor grating up there, but I'm glad I took the risk, there was no fence around it, no warnings nothing, just left to rot.

I only managed a couple of shots before common sense took over! An UID class 85 heads north and you can clearly see the overflow trough alongside the loco where the troughs once were, this still had water trickling through all these years later, probably drainage from the surrounding area.

Further north, a quick visit to Coventry finds a class 25 on what looks like a weed killer train.


And a class 310 on a stopping service to Birmingham no doubt.


And finally for this evening a nice shot of an AM4 arriving at Macclesfield, probably a Birmingham - Manchester service, it would of come up through Stafford, then turn off the WCML at Norton Bridge and across to Stone then up through Stoke to Macc and onto Manchester, used to catch these when I stayed with my Grandparents, either to Manchester or south to Kidsgrove to change trains and pick up the Derby - Crewe services.

 

[ceejaydee]

Some great shots of BLUE there Mick but is there really an Ampthill between MK and Bletchley or is a local term for a location rather than an actual town/village?
I know the Ampthill on MML between Bedford and Flitwick.

 

[mickoo]

Hmm good point, it's what I've labeled all my photos as but a quick look on Bing and Google shows Knowlhill to be the closest. I know when I did the original scans I used Bing to get the local names but that was back in 2011 and even in those three years (I've just rechecked) the location has changed considerably, could be an old name that has been changed for something more recently.

Anyway, Knowlhill is the now correct name so I'll a mend all my photos

 

[ceejaydee]

I've done a little watching from the A5 in that area in the twilight years of class 87 loco hauled trains around 2003/04 /05, also plenty around Rugby at the same time.

 

[Devonbelle]

Mickoo - Superb - can we have some more please, the quality of your shots is excellent - can almost hear the class 37s in your photos!

Paul

 

[oldravendale]

Mickoo - Superb - can we have some more please, the quality of your shots is excellent - can almost hear the class 37s in your photos!

Paul

I couldn't agree more, Paul. In fact I now very much regret putting the camera away in August 1968 when shots of tis quality were available.

Ho hum!

Brian

 

[richard carr]

Mick

There are some great pictures there, not bad at all for someone who didn't pay much attention to shutter speeds and exposure !

I do like the pictures of the DMUs, its a shame there isn't a quaity kit of those available from anyone.

Richard

 

[mickoo]

Ok another random selection of images from the past from all over the UK this time and some probably into the 90's

We'll start with the western region and Landore depot

Up first is an inside view with an 03 being serviced, I don't know how I got up here for this vantage point, I suspect I shouldn't of anyway.


Next at the other end of the shed I got down low for this 47 shot


And outside this was parked in the lines of locos present


Moving on to somewhere I have no idea where, could be out the back of Landore or come other Welsh location, but I don't recall visiting anywhere that rural, I only ever did Landore STJ and Margam.

Strangely I have another shot of 08 592 freshly painted and that is I'm sure at Landore, which means I visited this area at least twice, of which I have no memory or even less photos.

Moving East to the next stop we find an HST awaiting the right away at Bristol Parkway.


On to Old Oak Common for this class 50 roster shot


and a class 47 in the fuel shed, I'm fairly sure this is OOC but it may be Landore, they both have similar fuel sheds.


And finally a brace of HST's at Paddington


A quick hop across London to the Southern region.

First up a thumper leaves London Bridge


Then it was over to Victoria for some class 73 action on the Gatwick express trains




Before heading over to Waterloo





This last one would have been a winter Sunday evening I guess before heading back to the east side of London and my digs.

Finally a jaunt to Clapham finds a west of England service headed by now by class 50's

 

[Steph Dale]

BPW is still a grotty station, but at least it's now a lot more sheltered than your photo shows!
Interesting to see, as I think it's the only photo I've seen of Parkway before I came down here to Bristol.
Steph

 

[West Junction]

I think you need to get a book published.

 

[mickoo]

OK Midland region now, some already familiar locations and some new ones.

The familiar locations first, Wolverton

A freshly painted class 31 heads north with a van train.


Followed shortly afterwards by an 86 heading south through the station.


Moving to the south of the station we find the sand terminal that adjoins the Grand Union canal as a southbound 86 passes a pair of 31's in the sand siding. To the left is Wolverton carriage works.


A quick move to the canal side finds a north bound 86 crossing the Grand Union canal.


Next up a move to the north and we find an 85 heading south with a varied stock train across the viaduct, this could be stock arriving for attention at Wolverton works or just a stock balance to places further south, given the varied nature, I'd say it was stock bound for Wolverton for works.


and a change of location finds an 86 heading north across the viaduct. Of note here is the new high speed pantograph fitted which was cleared for 110mph, but only on class 87 at that time or in the very near future. It wasn't common for 86s to have the high speed panto' at that time.


Finally we move to Castlethorpe and catch an evening class 87 heading north.


Before leaving the area we have a quick visit to Bletchley and find a UID 86 racing south.


Moving north we pass through Crewe and find a Glasgow Shields Road class 81 waiting for her next train north, note leaping Salmon motif that was a signature of that depot on some locos.


A quick visit to the works finds 26 013 ready for inspection, I don't think Crewe actually did class 26 work, this one was here as an investigation to see what was needed is my understanding.


Then it's onto Manchester Victoria where 25 324 is shunting parcels stock.


and out to Reddish for some class 76 action, still active at this point but not for long.


Outside a different story presents it's self with lines of stored class 76 awaiting their fate. The class 40 would live a little longer, I haven't ID this 40 yet but it should be quite easy from the Flickr group given that distinctive paintwork on the #1 end nose.


Finally back to Euston, 82 005 has just arrived with ECS stock for a north bound service, at their time only two existed, both working out their days running coaching stock to and from Euston to Wembley.


At the other end of the station we see a class 85 on a north bound service

 

[mickoo]

Right, back to the Eastern Region plus some odds n sods that didn't get into the two posts above for limit reasons.

Kings X first, a 313 unit loads at Kings x, the difference here is that we're loading parcels, the 313 and 315 stock was designed to have clear ways that would allow brutes to be loaded in the seat isles and gangways, a special metal tray was used to bridge between platform and coach, most of these services ran later in the evening, again, working for the PO helped as HM mail is quite sensitive. Once most of the brutes were in the rest went in as loose sacks onto the seats, it's amazing how many bags you can get into a three car commuter train


Next a brace of 312 idle away waiting for their next services.


Moving north to Welwyn North we find a stopping 312 waiting to depart the station, note driver leaning out of cab window looking back for the all clear.


Further north again to Knebworth and a UID HST screams south


Moving north further we now find a UID class 31 struggling south on the up fast for goodness sake
This is almost certainly a Parkeston bound train with those cartics behind but I'm surprised it wasn't crossed over to the up Stamford line in the back ground at Tallington and then Helpston I don't know. If it is going to Parkeston it will need to be over there shortly.

Finally on the ECML a UID class 20 at York, it looks quite clean but what a solo class 20 is doing at York is anyone's guess, as far as I recall they were never common there anyway let alone solo.


Next a move up to Scotland a quick shot at Inverness


Followed by a couple at Mallaig, overall view


Close up of the loco


Now the odds and sods

Western region and a class 56 lays over at Bristol Bath Road


Southern region, scrapped class 74 at Eastleigh awaiting disposal


Midland region, brand new class 58 at Toton


A UID at Wolverton catches the last of the summers light


Macclesfield as a AM4 heads south with a Birmingham train.

 

[mth]

Mickoo,
Good photo's. Quick note on a typo, the last photo is a AM4 (my first traction as a Driver)

 

[Heather Kay]

The second shot of Wolverton, with the Class 86, shows the pile of timber that used to be the LNWR platform buildings.

 

[mickoo]

Right, last two parts for this evening, both from the GE.

These are in loco number order so flit around the division a bit

First an 03 on station pilot duties at Ipswich, again parcels stock.


A 08 trundles south with a liner for Ipswich docks, the train will travel through the tunnel before setting back down to the docks at Halifax Junction. This served the West Bank terminal which at that time had a daily sailing for CAST lines and a Ro-Ro terminal.


The other side of Ipswich docks was routed through the lower yard and wet docks, across the swing bridge at the lock gates and onto the East side terminals, this was mainly small feeder vessels of break bulk and grain/silage. Here we see o8 869 heading back toward Ipswich yards and across Stoke Bridge, in front of the loco is the remains of the Lower yard. The first 03 picture at the top of the thread is stood just the other side of the road near that gate.


Another 08, this time stabled at Yarmouth.


Onto class 31's

31 106 waits the right away from Ipswich stabling point.


31 126 lays over at Liverpool street, not a great shot this, could do with rescanning and cleaning up.


31 161 in the bleak winter of....I haven't a clue.


Next up is 31 271 as it clatters over Haughley Jct, to the right the main GE to Norwich, to the left the cross country route to Bury St Edmunds - Cambridge or Ely and points north.


Further south we find a UID 31 giving assistance to a failed DMU at Baylham, no idea of the serives but a good guess is Ipswich to Cambridge


And finally a stabled 31 at Yarmouth


Onto the class 37's now, a pair wait for release from Ipswich stabling point


Whilst a clean 37 308 waits for a driver change on Platform 2


Class 47 now, a steam heat London bound service at Ipswich


and a south bound sand train, almost certainly going to back down to Griffin Wharf on the West Bank at Halifax Jct.

Finally a shot from the London Road bridge to the north of Ipswich station, this shows the yards as they were back then, not a lot of traffic so I'm guessing a weekend or bank holiday shot, mind there wasn't as many Freightliner trains back then. The SEAWHEEL container train is almost certainly bound for Ipswich West Bank and I'm going to guess the tarped wagons are going to the sand terminal at Griffin Wharf on the West Bank. The tankers will be empties, or even loaded ones for Ipswich stabling point fuel rack.

 

[mickoo]

The second shot of Wolverton, with the Class 86, shows the pile of timber that used to be the LNWR platform buildings.

Yes it does, quite a hoo har when they pulled it down apparently!

 

[Dog Star]

Next up a move to the north and we find an 81 heading south with a varied stock train across the viaduct, this could be new stock arriving for attention at Wolverton works or just a stock balance to places further south, given the varied nature, I'd say it was stock bound for Wolverton for works.

Hopefully Bob Reid can tell us more about the first carriage.... the one with the roof extension.