TRAINS ‘N’ ME – MY INTRODUCTION TO RAILWAYS AT 9½

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As a nine year old living in the Manchester it was a Saturday morning in 1959 and my best friend Peter Haynes who lived nearby called for me on his bike to announce that he was off to the engine sheds and did I want to tag on.

I didn’t even know that he had started trainspotting and couldn’t really see any appeal  but with nothing else planned I thought ‘well why not?’ That simple decision shaped my life for many years and 65 years later I still hold a keen interest in railways even now at the ripe old age of 74.

 

Cycling from my house in Stretford to Trafford Park sheds took about 25 minutes using the back roads avoiding the main Chester Road as much as possible. Peter directed us to a cinder track off the aptly named Railway Road between rows of houses which led to a wooden planked footbridge supported by 2 large concrete plinths on each side that spanned the Manchester to Warrington Central CLC route.

 

Carrying our bikes over the bridge we remounted for the short distance to the engine sheds that could be seed ahead of us. To our left wagons clanked together in the long sidings shunted by 0-4-0 steam locos owned by the Manchester Ship Canal Authority. Peter observed that these should be ignored as they aren’t listed in the train books, though he didn’t know why.

 

We cycled across the foot crossing spanning the double track access and exit lines from Trafford Park Jn to the depot and soon arrived at the shed yard with the shed buildings to our right.  Bearing in mind that this was my first close up sight of locomotives other than casually when travelling with my parents I was awe struck by the sheers enormity of the beasts.

 

It was like chancing on an open field full of prehistoric monsters as they slowly shuffled around wheezing and snorting as they headed out for a drink of water at a water tower or to turn around to face the other way on some weird mechanical contraption.

 

Peter advised that it was now time to bunk the shed and despite there being lots of railway workers around nobody seemed to bat an eyelid. We walked down rows of gigantic steam locomotives. The wheels on some of them were taller than I was. Many of them had names which Peter said were most prized. ‘Arrow, Lightning, Iron Duke, Seahorse, Dreadnought, The Manchester Regiment – what amazing names. We jumped over the ashpits sometimes to save walking all the way to the end of the line which is something I couldn’t do now.

 

Occasionally one of these giants would make gurgling noises or hiss steam out from it’s innards which me caused a certain level of panic. Then it would slowly grind forward out of the shed with that rails beneath it creaking because of the immense weight. 

 

There were diesels loitering around the shed  too, though these weren’t half as interesting and just made a slow ticking noise when parked up. These I learnt later were Sulzer type 2s (Class 24/25), Peaks (later Class 45/46) and Metrovick Co-Bo diesls which were very strange looking objects.

 

Many un-named steam locos were scattered around the vicinity, both tank engines and tender engines. Two of which – Fowler tanks 40009 and 40018 would be on shed on almost every other visit and would soon therefore be designated as ‘stinkers’.

 

Walking amongst the lines of engines Peter suddenly became very excited and shouted picture cop, as he then proceeded to show me a picture of 46142 The York and Lancaster Regiment in his Ian Allan spotting book. He was almost underlining the photograph as we walked around and I soon learnt the skill of writing at the same time as walking is imperative for any professional train spotter.

 

Our visit over, it was only a matter of days before I purchased my own Ian Allan spotting book and pushed the boat out by going for the combined volume. Indeed I felt very pleased with myself having found what I thought were the MSC shunters I had seen at Trafford Park listed in the book though I was puzzled that I hadn’t noticed that names Ventnor, Cowes and Fishbourne on the ones seen. Having underlined them in my combined volume I very soon learnt how useful Tippex is in such situations!

 

As the years went by I spent many hours spotting at Trafford Park sheds, often spending much of the day sat on top of the large plinths on which the footbridge rested. From this position I could set out my sandwiches and pop for the day and see everything that came onto and off the shed, and also everything that passed by on the Chester and Warrington to Manchester Central locals, mostly Stannier tanks, which could produce an impressive burst of speed when required.

 

Britannias were my favourites at the time and Trafford Park had a good few on the books but diesels often produced the best cops and I vividly remember D6 Whernside coming on shed one day. The ‘one to tenners’ were most prized and D9 Snowdon was the only other one I ever saw in Manchester, passing light engine through Levenshulme one afternoon.

 

A few years later I was to attend Stretford Grammar School, within easy walking distance, and I often bunked the shed after school.

 

My new found hobby opened up all sorts of opportunities for me. My parents owned at holiday caravan at Conwy Morfa between Conwy and Penmaenmawr and we spent most weekends there during the summer. The campsite was adjacent the main railway route to Holyhead but frustratingly our caravan was just far enough away to be able to read loco numbers. Forthence less time was spent on the beach each summer weekend with the sand dunes overlooking Panmaenmawr tunnel proving far more interesting. Motive power seen was all London Midland of course ranging from small Ivatt tanks to Coronation Pacifics and Class 40s of course. 1961-1962 at Conwy Morfa were halcyon days indeed .

 

Summer holidays in Paignton had been a regular for the family for quite a few years but 1962 was to be a momentous year because my parents decided to sell the shop we had in Stretford and bought a gift shop in Goodrington. And so on 22nd November 1962 we all moved south to Devon. I had seen GWR steam and diesels on previous holidays but now I was permanently swapping Btitannias and Jubilees for Halls and Warships as the local engines.

I was moved from Stretford Grammar to Churston Grammar school and living a few miles from the school soon manage to bag a local authority travel pass with the choice or bus or train each way. Naturally I chose the latter and used the 0830 Paignton-Kingswear on the outward journey – usually a Warship, Hymek or NBL type 2 (Class 22) and the 1640 Kingswear-Taunton on the return – initially steam hauled until mid 1963 then usually a Class 22.

My pass covered the whole route from Paignton to Churston so I cycled down to Paignton each morning (heading away from my school) to catch the train to and from Churston.

Once I had got used to this routine I began to ask to cab the steam loco each afternoon at Churston and got to know the crews so well that in the end they let me stay in the cab to Paignton. This was either a Hall, Castle or Mogul 2-6-0, usually based at Taunton or St Phillips Marsh sheds and my cabrides only came to an end when my fellow school chums realised what was going on and all wanted to do the same!

 

Some photographs of these early experiences are shown below.