Trainspotting: Crewe rainy weekends…
Crewe station. It felt slightly dangerous with it's hustle and bustle of high speed and frequent trains. A rainy weekend was often the catalyst for a plea by me to my parents to please drive me and my reluctant brothers across Cheshire...
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| Hmmmmmmm tick tick tick tick. The warm blow from extractor fans and the tick tick tick of god knows what inside. Stood on the platform next to one of these British designed and built thorough breds was an experience that today is sadly missing from the world of European designed and built trains without locomotives. Progress has certainly been anything but in my book. James Hilton photo. |
With damp coats from the walk from the car park we'd queue up in the ticket hall at road level to buy platform tickets that would gain us entry, and this for me was so exciting, such a variety of railway sights and smells from the dark and cold damp corners of the lesser used parts of the station to thehustle and bustle of near constant trains in the main area - and a glimpse across at the depot. The warm tick tick tick and hum of a Class 90 was a fascinating contrast to the Sulzer rumble of a cross country Class 47 or the Paxman raw of the High Speed Train. All of it in smartly matching InterCity swallow and executive paint, nothing incongruous yet the variety of other trains passing through the station, be it Dutch liveried infrastructure or Rail Express Systems parcel trains, it was never a quiet or dull visit.
Occasionally an announcement would come over the tannoy and we'd be warned of a through train. Standing behind the yellow line you'd be hit by a wall of wind and whistling as a colourful blur of InterCity hurtled past. This experience ignited the senses and made you feel alive.
This period of British Rail was fascinating for me - the books I poured over from the library showed only BR blue and grey and now the railway felt awash with colour - yet still uniform, smart. I accompanied my Dad on a few trips to London for work in the holidays, whizzing along sat comfortably in a Mk3 coach to the heart of the capital, and the trains I had seen and enjoyed from the platforms edge were every bit as glamorous and comfortable as I had imagined (oh so rose tinted I know).
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| The raw of the Paxman engine on a High Speed Train and the pure energy and brutal acceleration made the ground shake as they left the station. James Hilton photo. |
Back on the platform though, and it was however cold and windy and no matter where you stood you'd be blasted by the wind tunnel effect of long straight platforms on the middle of the Cheshire plain! Those sights and smells changed over the years and when I travelled more extensively at University, visiting friends across the country, the railway had changed and the timely uniformity was now a melting pot of ugly ill thought out bus liveries. Yuck. It is this period that I most fondly remember, train spotting at Crewe in the early 1990s.
This is the second, and probably the last of these 'Trainspotting' posts as my travels as a child, with a camera, didn't take me much further than Chester and Crewe. I'd love to hear your own stories and more importantly memories of early exposure to trains and how that shaped the hobby you enjoy today. Until then, more soon...
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Another excellent, nostalgic post James. It brought back a few memories for me. Being born and brought up on the south coast the local railway scene could get a little boring at times with the constant procession of Southern Region EMUs (although I'd welcome them back with open arms now, as CIGs, BIGS, VEPs, REPs and HAPs were far more characterful and interesting than the current fleets of Desiros and Electrostars) broken up by the occasional appearance of the indigenous Class 33 s and 73s and the exotic, to me, Class 47s on freight and inter-regionals or the mighty Class 50s working the Waterloo -Exeter services.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 80s and early 90s, when I was in my teens and early twenties, I had relations living in the West Midlands and annual visits to stay with them gave me the chance to extend my railway horizons. A regular feature was to get the train from Wolverhampton to Crewe and spend the day much as you have described. Back then the variety of locomotive hauled trains was amazing. WCML services were in the hands of 86s and and 87s and the 90s were making an appearance as well. There was plenty of variety on freight and the there was always the chance something might turn up on a test train from Crewe Works (I remember seeing 37 800 fresh out of the works in, I think, 1987, after its rebuild, resplendent in red stripe Railfreight livery). Sometimes the appearance of a Regional Railways Class 31 or 37 might prompt me to quickly purchase a return to Chester in order to get haulage from one of these locomotives that, at that time, were rarely seen in my part of the country. Even the trip to up the WCML and back could provide a surprise, such as the fast return run one afternoon on the one, and only time, I travelled behind one of the remaining class 81s (81 010 I think).
Happy days. I must dig out my pictures from those trips and post something on my own blog.
Pat wonderful comment! I think I remember seeing blue 85s on empty coaching stock working, but otherwise loads of 86s and 87s yes! By 1994 I had bagged all of the 87s, the only class I completed.
DeleteI think these nostalgic posts paint a picture of why we are in this wonderful hobby so I’d love to read your own version in time.