The day I was bitten

When was i first bitten, not sure, but i had an elder brother you was a spotter in the 60's who would tell me what this engine, that engine was when i showed him pictures in a magazine, so it was thanks to him i guess
my first interest in steam was on a family holiday in 1965 i was about 9 , we went from Woking to Portsmouth, my brother i remember wasnt very happy because we had a nelson, but on getting off the boat we walked onto the pier head and there was a black tank engine, i was in awe of this panting monster, and had to be dragged off by Dad, because we were catching the tram and bus to Shanklin, Bad Parents !!
Anyway our Nan lived in Gloucester and at the bottom of her garden was the GW line, and at the bottom of the road across a crossing was the Midland line, so you can guess what us boys were doing, either at the bottom of the garden watching westerns, hymacs and warships going past, or strictly against nans instructions down at the crossing, with the local lads, who she told us were rough, it helped that 1 or 2 were cousins , we used to wind them up because we still had the odd MN and WC around and as you can guess the banter was my engines better than yours

I used to train spot in my teen years, by now steam had finished , i used to visit local lines such as bluebell and Kesr, both in their early days, then the Mid hants started, it was only half an hour away, so it became my local line, later i became a voluenteer there and things sort of came full circle when one day my brother and his family went there for a visit, i happened to be firing that day , and was able to get my brother a footplate ride from Alresford to alton, whilst i was on the shovel, the engine was 30506, an engine that Dave my brother remembered seing several times on Feltham to Southampton frieghts

 

yes i do mean a 4-COR actually it was a 4-COR/ 4 BUFF/ 4 COR If it had been a Nelson, i think my brother would have wet himself in excitement because i remember him at Woking station with our dad seeing an A4 come through with a special to weymouth of course at the time to me it was just an engine

Thinking about it, whilst we were at Shanklin, i remembered by Brother having a right row with mum, he didnt want to go to the beach one day, in later years i found our why, Dad had prommissed him that he could go of to ryde st johns to book the O2's if he spent a day with the family , he did get to go to st johns, and my mum refused to let me go with him!! i never got to see any more 02's until i saw Calbourne after she had been withdrawn and stored at ryde , that was on a school trip , strangely, we went via lymington on the way out, and back through ryde , i can remember it even now, we had a couple of 4tc,s with a crompton pushing and on the island we got off the coach at St johns and just over the fence was 24, i couldnt see 31, so i guess she must have been cut up by then ,i think this was in may- june 67 it was the first time i had seen tube stock on the island , it was only a couple of years since our holiday at Shanklin i know one of my teachers took some shots of both 24 and the tube train i can remember she looked very shabby and you could only make out her number im not sure if the engine shed had been removed by then, but i cant remember seeing it

 

I myself aren't personally interested in signals but I do remember my Grandad taking me to the NRM and he taught me how to set signals (because as I previously mentioned he was a signalman) on one of the displays they had there (not sure if its still there as it was in 1998). It was part of a holiday in Yorkshire with my Nan, Mum and Dad where we stayed in Pickering and me and my Grandad used to go down to the station every evening to see one of the trains come in (normally the S160 which kept making me jump).

Me and my Grandad did quite a lot of railway stuff during that holiday. We travelled a few times on the NYMR, visited the NRM and York Station, visited Ais Gill (sadly we only saw a Sprinter), visited Hawes Station and saw the Tank loco and coaches, popped into the Ravenglass and Eskdale as well as the Lakeside and Haverthwaite and calling in to Loughborough on the way back home and even called in on the Nene Valley on the way up (including seeing 34081 which had just returned to steam).

Again it was after leaving Yorkshire we called into Levisham and saw 60007 in BR Blue which I still think is responsible for my love of A4's (although its mostly Gresley locos in general despite being born and living in deep Southern territory.)

 

I can't really put it down to a single day, but my grandfather was a retired railwayman (Great Central - he never spoke of the LNER still less BR) and I was often left with him and my grandmother when my parents were in work. His idea of entertaining me was to take a short walk down Chapman Street to some railings (much later I discovered this point was the access to the old Gorton station) which gave a fine view of the four track Manchester-Sheffield main line and even more importantly, a headshunt on which a saddle tank would usually be standing in between shunting Gorton Works. (Again, much later I figured it was a J94.) If his bad leg was up to it we would often proceed over the 'birdcage' that crossed the line further towards Manchester and passed though the heart of the works buildings themselves. There was always a delicious smell of steam at this point, and then the path sloped down to give a marvellous view of Gorton shed, as well as loads of scrap engines marked with 'X'.

He also took me various little rides from Gorton and Openshaw Station - then a magnificent construction of corrugated iron with four platforms - I remember going to Hadfield, Glossop, Hayfield, Marple and Brooklands on the line the Altrincham, and quite often to Guide Bridge, either by train or trolleybus. Is it any wonder I loved trains, especially steam ones? Of course he had lots of stories too - the sad thing is I have forgotten most and the details of all. He really should have written a book, but such a thing would never occurred to the gentle, modest man that I loved so much and still miss.

Our Sundays (and odd weekdays) were spent on the allotments - by chance this was right near Hyde Road Station on the Fairfield-Manchester Central line, the place where most goods trains changed from steam to electric power. Needless to say, I spent more time watching trains than I ever did digging or watering!