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Post by Pilch on Aug 11, 2024 18:46:34 GMT 1
(this thread explained ) various posts have been relocated here after a decent railway discussion started up off topic on a random thread Rooney would be a good bet. 4-0 down at Sheff Wed. Long journey home for the Plymouth fans to think about it, on a boiling hot day. I laughed at his interview, we've had a lot of fans travel down here today  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2024 20:09:31 GMT 1
Rooney would be a good bet. 4-0 down at Sheff Wed. Long journey home for the Plymouth fans to think about it, on a boiling hot day. I laughed at his interview, we've had a lot of fans travel down here today In railway speak he's correct 😳😳😳 There are some who are going to be mystified by that comment 😉 |
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Post by Pilch on Aug 11, 2024 20:26:06 GMT 1
I laughed at his interview, we've had a lot of fans travel down here today In railway speak he's correct 😳😳😳 There are some who are going to be mystified by that comment 😉 For those who don't know , the clue is London ( there are some exceptions ) |
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Post by johnno on Aug 11, 2024 20:47:16 GMT 1
In railway speak he's correct 😳😳😳 There are some who are going to be mystified by that comment 😉 For those who don't know , the clue is London ( there are some exceptions ) Oh this takes me back to being a trackman |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2024 21:56:20 GMT 1
For those who don't know , the clue is London ( there are some exceptions ) Oh this takes me bacpk to being a trackman OK so that's 3 of us with a railway background Any others? |
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Post by wookeywombat on Aug 11, 2024 22:49:29 GMT 1
Oh this takes me bacpk to being a trackman OK so that's 3 of us with a railway background Any others? Trainspotter back in the days of glorious steam. |
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Post by Exkeeper on Aug 11, 2024 23:08:23 GMT 1
As a railway enthusiast I assume the post refers to the trains to London travelling on the Up mainline and those in the opposite direction using the DOWN mailline.
Baffles me when Londoners ask when are you coming up to London when for most of us it’s dahn saath.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2024 23:17:32 GMT 1
As a railway enthusiast I assume the post refers to the trains to London travelling on the Up mainline and those in the opposite direction using the DOWN mailline. Baffles me when Londoners ask when are you coming up to London when for most of us it’s dahn sath. Yep that's it. Just a bit of silliness for a Sunday night |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2024 12:39:38 GMT 1
Oh this takes me bacpk to being a trackman OK so that's 3 of us with a railway background Any others? In my youth I was a holiday time volunteer on the Talyllyn Railway. |
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Post by simianbenzoate on Aug 12, 2024 12:57:43 GMT 1
Oh this takes me bacpk to being a trackman OK so that's 3 of us with a railway background Any others? I've seen the references to UP and DOWN in datasets i work on doing radar surveys of trackbeds, but didn't know (until now) that's what they meant! |
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Post by The Shropshire Tenor on Aug 12, 2024 13:06:27 GMT 1
Shrewsbury was an important railway town with 2 loco sheds, ex GWR and ex LMS, when I was train spotting, so it’s likely that many families in the town have railway connections. (No pun intended).
My Dad’s family came from Ireland in the 1840’s to work as navvies on the Shrewsbury to Birmingham line and continued as railwaymen for several generations. One rising to retire as a Royal train driver.
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Post by Exkeeper on Aug 12, 2024 13:32:31 GMT 1
My Great-uncle lived “back of the sheds” and was a driver on GWR.
He frequently drove the summer Saturdays holiday makers Express down to Newton Abbot and returned the following day. He later became the first Labour Mayor of Shrewsbury.
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Post by The Shropshire Tenor on Aug 12, 2024 14:02:26 GMT 1
My Great-uncle lived “back of the sheds” and was a driver on GWR. He frequently drove the summer Saturdays holiday makers Express down to Newton Abbot and returned the following day. He later became the first Labour Mayor of Shrewsbury. Was he Mr Ellis? |
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Post by essofsteel on Aug 12, 2024 14:16:38 GMT 1
When I left school I was employed as an apprentice fitter at Shrewsbury Sheds (1962)
Even then it was like going back in time by 50 years. How I wish I could go back with a modern phone and record all the sights and sounds of that wonderful place.
No health and safety but loads of great characters.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2024 14:46:53 GMT 1
This is going off topic!Atcham Jack would have loved it mind  My daughter has been researching our family tree and she found on my dad's side that a number of years ago one of the family members (Uncle I think?) used to walk the Cambrian Coast line from Llwyngwril to Barmouth each morning before the first train to check that the line was clear. That must have been in the 1920s/30s but we are not sure. |
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Post by Exkeeper on Aug 12, 2024 16:21:28 GMT 1
My Great-uncle lived “back of the sheds” and was a driver on GWR. He frequently drove the summer Saturdays holiday makers Express down to Newton Abbot and returned the following day. He later became the first Labour Mayor of Shrewsbury. Was he Mr Ellis? That’s him Frank Ellis known universally as Pete. When I was 8 my dad was on a week leave and Pete asked him to meet him to bring me to his house one morning at about 9am. We walked over to the shed and a tank loco was fired up and ready to go. He stationed me and dad out of the way of the fireman and gave us a footplate ride into the station where the tank was parked in Platform 1 or 2 ready to take a local train to Minsterley and Pete was then taking over a Castle for an Express run. Almost 70 years back but the memory has stayed with me. |
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Post by Exkeeper on Aug 12, 2024 16:26:53 GMT 1
When I left school I was employed as an apprentice fitter at Shrewsbury Sheds (1962) Even then it was like going back in time by 50 years. How I wish I could go back with a modern phone and record all the sights and sounds of that wonderful place. No health and safety but loads of great characters. I used to love standing near the turntable at the far end of the sheds and marvel at how they could manually turn an 80 ton loco and tender with so little effort. |
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Post by The Shropshire Tenor on Aug 12, 2024 18:19:38 GMT 1
That’s him Frank Ellis known universally as Pete. When I was 8 my dad was on a week leave and Pete asked him to meet him to bring me to his house one morning at about 9am. We walked over to the shed and a tank loco was fired up and ready to go. He stationed me and dad out of the way of the fireman and gave us a footplate ride into the station where the tank was parked in Platform 1 or 2 ready to take a local train to Minsterley and Pete was then taking over a Castle for an Express run. Almost 70 years back but the memory has stayed with me. That's the man. Back in the day express passenger train drivers were kings of the working class and highly respected men. Dad always called him Mr Ellis, never Frank. My Dad used to drink in The Swan on Frankwell and on my 18th birthday he took me there for my first legal drink. Seeing a comfy looking chair by the fire was empty I went to sit on it only for Dad to stop me saying I couldn't sit there because it's where Mr Ellis sits. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2024 19:57:18 GMT 1
Keep this going folks,its really interesting to hear of other peoples links to the railway.
Personally I joined Red Star as a Business Development Manager (MS 1 grade) in 1988 and left 10 years later as an MS4 and with the position of Retail & Sales Manager for Inter City Cross Country Trains based on Birmingham. This was during the privatisations period and we were sold off to Virgin,who already owned West Coast and where based a mile away at Stanier House.
Voluntary redundancy was offered and happily accepted 😃😃
Many years later I was chatting to another ex railwayman and the subject of grades came up,I mentioned that I left as an MS4 and he told me that to most on the railway I had reached god like status!!... personally I never gave it a thought, didn't mean a thing to me but apparently it did to others
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Post by Pilch on Aug 12, 2024 21:07:18 GMT 1
I started on the railway in 1990 as a shunter, that job didnt last long as inter city pulled out of shrewsbury and the old DMUs were swapped for new 158s & 153s and there was hardly any need for a shunter, I moved onto lampman, best job ever, took me less than an hour a day to complete my work , moved onto signalling, it was a bit like doing the knowledge as a taxi driver, hectic 7 week course and a day long grilling on the rules , worked at gobowen and lighmoor boxes, then last few years travelled to brum each day and planned the platforms for trains running in and out of Paddington & Reading , then took the money as our office was relocating to Milton Keynes having bought the land that the hockey stadium was on , the one MKD were playing at, could say Winkleman had a hand in ending my railway days, the good thing is I retain my free train travel for life
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Post by johnno on Aug 12, 2024 21:09:02 GMT 1
Having not lived in Town for some years now, is the term "the back of the sheds" still used?
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Post by Pilch on Aug 12, 2024 21:11:07 GMT 1
Having not lived in Town for some years now, is the term "the back of the sheds" still used? its used about as often here as the back on the net ;-) |
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Post by johnno on Aug 12, 2024 21:18:39 GMT 1
Having not lived in Town for some years now, is the term "the back of the sheds" still used? its used about as often here as the back on the net ;-)
not a lot then lol
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Post by Exkeeper on Aug 13, 2024 8:13:01 GMT 1
Having not lived in Town for some years now, is the term "the back of the sheds" still used? I still hear it used occasionally, mainly by Senior citizens who would remember the sheds being there. The streets with the terrace houses are still much the same but the properties are no longer getting blackened by some all day and every day. I loved standing on the Station on a Saturday morning observing the locos coming in from the sheds where the GWR and LMS would be trying to outdo each other with regard to polished brass and gleaming paintwork. |
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Post by DiglisShrew on Aug 13, 2024 9:49:14 GMT 1
My father was a footplate man in the days of steam often working on the shunters (sometimes taking me on trips when a young child ).
At the end of steam he was reduced to a Porter a job , I believe , he hated. I also used to go and visit him at the Coleham sheds and fascinated by what went on there.
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Post by Pilch on Aug 13, 2024 10:29:39 GMT 1
My father was a footplate man in the days of steam often working on the shunters (sometimes taking me on trips when a young child ). At the end of steam he was reduced to a Porter a job , I believe , he hated. I also used to go and visit him at the Coleham sheds and fascinated by what went on there. Only once as a shunter did I get to deal with a steam train , first it needed turning around which involved going 'around the triangle' that was from the station out to abbey Foregate box , ( underdale road ) onto the gairatory bridge and back into the station , and then it went out to Crewe bank to get filled up with water from the fire station , at the time I lived on primrose terrace , ( opposite fire station ) several of my neighbours came out to view the steam train ( as you do ) I felt like a celeb waving to them and them recognizing me 😝 , I mostly remember being on the hot plate was indeed hot 🔥 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2024 10:40:58 GMT 1
My father was a footplate man in the days of steam often working on the shunters (sometimes taking me on trips when a young child ). At the end of steam he was reduced to a Porter a job , I believe , he hated. I also used to go and visit him at the Coleham sheds and fascinated by what went on there. Only once as a shunter did I get to deal with a steam train , first it needed turning around which involved going 'around the triangle' that was from the station out to abbey Foregate box , ( underdale road ) onto the gairatory bridge and back into the station , and then it went out to Crewe bank to get filled up with water from the fire station , at the time I lived on primrose terrace , ( opposite fire station ) several of my neighbours came out to view the steam train ( as you do ) I felt like a celeb waving to them and them recognizing me 😝 , I mostly remember being on the hot plate was indeed hot 🔥 Imagine that a lot of people would have that on their bucket list. Indeed something that I would fancy providing I didn't have to work as the fireman !..that looks hard and hot work 😥 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2024 10:47:21 GMT 1
its used about as often here as the back on the net ;-)
not a lot then lol
I moved to Salop in 1982 and quite a few people still called the area that,one explained it to me. Back then the whole area was fenced off,tracks had been lifted and sheds demolished...just pure desolation from what has been. The only "railway" that still existed was the old Potts spur with the single oil tanker train which, I think,ran once a week. |
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Post by The Shropshire Tenor on Aug 13, 2024 10:51:37 GMT 1
When I was train spotting in the ‘50s the Shrewsbury station pilot engine (polite term for shunter?) was Fowler tank number 40008.
I believe these locos were unpopular with footplate men, does anyone remember it?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2024 10:57:26 GMT 1
I started on the railway in 1990 as a shunter, that job didnt last long as inter city pulled out of shrewsbury and the old DMUs were swapped for new 158s & 153s The old DMUs! I remember when they were first introduced on the Cambrian coast line. As a kid you would try and get the seat right in front behind the driver. We used to go on a day trip to Barmouth with my mum and the views from the front were great, unless the driver pulled the blind down! I remember the DMUs being revamped in the 80s but they were really showing their age by then, especially mechanically. The climb up Talerddig saw them slow to a snails pace at times. I do remember one of these journeys when smoke started coming into the carriage from the engine below, the train failed at the summit. |
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