England, Isle of Man, and Wales



Family Holidays by Train, 1949-1957

Don Winter

Exeter, Easter 1949

This trip is a week long visit to the family with whom dad lodged during his RAF stint in Exeter in 1943-1945. It is the first time I have gone further from home than the 42 miles to Scarborough (where we routinely spend two week in August). For some reason, dad chooses to get from Hull to Exeter via London, rather than using a cross-country train via Sheffield and Birmingham. Our trip starts with a taxi ride to Paragon station.

In the years between 1949 and 1960, Hull (Paragon) station comprises nine main platforms, and one much shorter platform, under an overall multi-arched barrel vault roof of the same style as is used in a number of other stations built by the North Eastern Railway in the second half of the nineteenth century, notably at York, Newcastle, and Alnwick. Across the ends of the nine main platforms (at the east end of the station) is a set of buildings (lavatories, kiosks), interspersed with the ticket gates for each platform. An overall circulating concourse separates these from the enquiries office and booking hall, adjacent to the porte cochere that provides pedestrian and taxi access to and from Ferensway. Immediately adjacent to this, along the street, is the Royal Station Hotel, at the time one of the few class hotels in the city. Along the north side of the station are large doorways permitting (non-public) vehicular access to the station, and pedestrian interchange with the adjacent bus station. At the south side of the station, alongside Platform Nine, are the buildings of the original Hull & Selby station on this site which run at right angles to today’s station buildings. Beyond the old buildings (which are still in use for functions such as ‘left luggage’) is Platform Ten, much shorter than the main platforms, which forms the usual departure and arrival point for the three or four Pullman cars comprising the Hull portion of the Yorkshire Pullman.

We’re getting to Exeter by taking that Yorkshire Pullman to London (King’s Cross), and then a Western Region (former GWR) west of England service from Paddington to Exeter. We’re traveling third class, and our reserved space is in the leading Pullman Brake Third of the four cars making up the Hull portion. At this age, I’m very impressed by the inside of the car (and the subsequent meal), less impressed by steam engines and railway operations. The latter will arise later.

The interior of the Pullman cars in use on this train in 1949 is very ornate, with craved ceilings, fancily-curtained windows, tables between the groups of seats, and lamps on each table adjacent to the windows. The entirety is decorated in the Pullman Company color scheme, which seems to match the Brown and Cream used on the exterior of the cars. The train departs Hull at 10:30 am, and is added to the front of the portion from Leeds, during the stop in Doncaster. Luncheon is served after the train restarts from Doncaster. On departure from Hull, morning coffee is served. Naturally, all meals are at an additional charge, over and above the Pullman supplement charged simply for traveling.

In 1949, the economy is still in “austerity” mode, with even some foodstuffs still rationed. For this reason alone, the luncheon served on this train would have been the best meal I had yet tasted. However, I think the excellence of the Pullman catering staff also has something to do with it. We partake of the soup (Oxtail, I think, accompanied by a hard roll), main, and sweet/cheese courses. Luncheon service occupies much of the two and a half hour run between Doncaster and King’s Cross. Since we’re in the first car behind the engine, we’re almost at the buffer stops on arrival at King’s Cross, which results in my having almost no impression of the station on this trip.

Dad elects to get to Paddington using the Underground. (I think we must have sent the suitcases ahead using “Passengers’ Luggage in Advance”.) This means that we use the platforms on the original Metropolitan Railway line just below Euston Road, where the trains of the Circle Line and the Hammersmith & City Line run. These go to different stations at Paddington, which proves to be important to us. The first train that comes along is a Hammersmith train, which takes us to the original Metropolitan Railway station out by the end of the mainline platforms in Paddington Station. There is a large footbridge that connects from these platforms to the mainline platforms, with stairs down to each individual platform. I am impressed by the huge space under the several barrel roofs at Paddington, as we cross the footbridge.

This is a great vantage point for an overall impression of the station. However, we’re hurrying and there isn’t much time to savor that impression. As we reach the staircase with the sign announcing our train, the guard on the platform below whistles off, and our intended train leaves without us! Dad says that “if we had gone to Praed Street, we would have caught that train”. Praed Street is the station on the Circle Line at Paddington, and would have allowed us ground-level access to the platform end. However, since going to Praed Street would have meant waiting a couple of minutes for the Circle Line train, I don’t think it would have helped. Presumably, our previous train was late arriving at King’s Cross, and that was the real cause of our missing this train.

Dad gets the seat reservations folks to make us reservations on the next train to Exeter, and then we drop of our bags at “Left Luggage” and walk over to Hyde Park, just a few hundred yards south of Paddington Station. We have time to walk over to, and along the side of, The Serpentine (but not to cross to its south side), and walk over to the northeast corner of the park to see the Marble Arch (before it was isolated in a road island), before returning to Paddington and taking our train to Exeter. On this train, we have a third-class compartment in a former GWR carriage (probably of pre-war build). Somewhere between London and Exeter we must have eaten again, although since we’re used to taking High tea in the evening, its unlikely it was a full dinner. (We already had that at ‘luncheon’.) We get to Exeter after dark, meet dad’s former landlady and her children, go to their house on Heavitree Street, and we children go to bed.

I get to share the bedroom of the older daughter, who must be about nine. This has a dormer window (set into a sloping ceiling) on the street side of the house. In subsequent days, I notice that the street is on a hill, that adjacent buildings are stepped up or down from one another, and that there is an intensive bus service along this street.

I remember little of what we did during the week we were there, except for bus rides to Exmouth and to Paignton using the services of Devon General. One favorite anecdote is that on one of these rides, in the front seat upstairs, I read out the destination sign of another bus, that includes the word ‘via’. Another passenger asks if I know what ‘via’ means, and I proudly answer “by way of”, to his astonishment!

We return by the same route as we came. This time, we know in advance that we have time to wait in London for the 5:30 pm departure of the Yorkshire Pullman, so we again take the Underground (from Praed Street) to King’s cross, where we leave our bags at ‘Left Luggage’ and take a bus down to Aldwych and across the Strand to Trafalgar Square. We spend some time looking at the square, Whitehall, Admiralty Arch, and the park beyond it. However, we’re too far away from Buckingham Palace to see it usefully, and we never catch sight of the River Thames. We do, however, see Big Ben down at the end of Whitehall.

Returning by the same bus route to King’s Cross, we retrieve our bags, and board the train for home. Again, we’re on the carriage nearest to the buffer stop, so I again get no feel for King’s cross the way I had of Paddington. We eat dinner on the train (whatever we chose to call it), and it gets dark outside while we’re doing so. By the time we get home, it’s way past my bedtime.

Belper (Derby), early 1950s

My uncle (dad’s brother) is the hospital administrator, and my aunt the matron, at a hospital occupying the old workhouse in Belper, Derbyshire. As a result of my aunt’s position, they live in the facility itself, and get their meals from the kitchen and housekeeping services from the staff. This means they can easily accommodate a fairly large number of visitors. One spring in the early 1950s, we all go to spend a week with them.

Of the many train services from Hull to Sheffield each day, only one pair goes to/from Sheffield (Midland). This is timed to connect with one or more cross-country services from Leeds or York/Newcastle to Bristol and the west country. From Sheffield, there are no reasonable trains (the night postal service is probably the only one) that stop at Belper, even though it is on the route to Derby, so we must take a train to Derby and then backtrack to Belper.

We take the morning train to Sheffield Midland. This travels via Doncaster, and to that point is exactly the same as any other journey to or via Doncaster. Southwest of Doncaster, the former GCR route enters the South Yorkshire Coalfield in all its full glory, with many pits and lines servicing those pits, on either side of the track. At Mexborough, we take the line turning off south to Swinton, and the connecting track thence to the former Midland main line through Rotherham into Sheffield (Midland). Now, massive steel mills of all kinds, from basic blast furnaces and Bessemer Converters through to specialty rolling and finishing mills occupy both sides of the track, al the way into Sheffield.

Sheffield (Midland) is down at the bottom of a valley between opposing hills. The city centre is up on one of those hills, to the west. The land and hillsides on both sides of the track appear to have been cleared by the Luftwaffe, leaving (at this juncture) nothing but muddy derelict ground. Here, we change trains, with awhile to wait in this cold, draughty place for our second train to come. I’m still not into recording engines and carriages, so I don’t know the particulars of the train to Derby. Sheffield (Midland) station has one through platform adjacent to the booking office and entrance, an island with both through faces and bays at each end, and a further island with through faces. The whole station is so dark and dingy that I form no clear impression as to whether it has, in the early 50s, and overall roof. Perhaps the darkness and dinginess stem from being down in a valley in Sheffield, where the impact of the round-the-clock operation of the steel mills is that, so it is said, “people in Sheffield see the sun only on Sundays”.

South of Sheffield, the line climbs to Dore & Totley, with its long tunnel, after which the main line and the Hope Valley line to Manchester split. We take the main line, continuing through Chesterfield where we’re all instructed to pay close attention to the church with the tall twisted spire, which is on the west side of the line. Further south, there is another split between the Erewash Valley line heading directly for Trent, and thence to Leicester and London (St. Pancras), and the original North Midland line to Derby. We take the latter, through Clay cross and the southeast curve at Ambergate Junction, then through the Derwent River valley past Belper and Duffield and into Derby (Midland). Across from the station, to the east, are the facilities of the Midland, later LMS, Railway’s Derby Locomotive Works.

Derby (Midland) is a large through station, with a main platform adjacent to the booking office and waiting rooms, and several islands with main through faces, each of which has waiting rooms and refreshment facilities. There is an overall roof in the centre section, with individual platform canopies towards the ends

There is a train service from Derby to Belper and beyond, but it is infrequent and inconvenient for passengers with luggage. (When I take that service, in 1958 or 1959, it comprises noncorridor compartment stock, pulled by a 4F 0-6-0! It operates from a bay platform at the north end of the station.) Accordingly, my uncle comes to collect us in his car, which seems like a limousine to us carless “poor” folks.

Coming from the flatlands of East Yorkshire, the countryside in Belper, where the hills rise directly from the hospital grounds to altitudes of several hundred feet or more, is quite startling. I decide that I prefer this environment to the one we have at home, but mum and dad don’t agree.

At the end of our week, we return home by the same steps in reverse: car to Derby, cross-country express to Sheffield (Midland), connecting train from Sheffield (Midland) through Doncaster to Hull. Dad never even considers a schedule that would have required crossing from Midland to Victoria station, in Sheffield, even though there are many more services from Victoria to Hull.

Ilkley, August 1955

This year we’re venturing away from Scarborough for our August holiday, for the first time that I can remember. I think this has something to do with the fact that we children are getting older, and something to do with the changes that the owner has made, and is making, at the hotel we’ve stayed at for the past several years. So, we’re spending a week in Wharfedale, using a rented house in Ilkley as our base. We get there and back by train, another novelty since we’ve always taken a taxi for the 42 miles to and from Scarborough, at least for the last six years.

We take a morning train to Leeds (City), to connect there with an onward train to Ilkley. As our train leaves the station, it takes one of the many tracks along the station throat, curving gently to the north (but not to the point of facing north) and then back to a westerly direction, under the road bridge and past the Paragon signal box where my grandfather worked until his retirement in 1948. Passing under Argyle Street Bridge, we reach West Parade Junction and its associated signal box between the Hessle and Cottingham lines. The Doncaster-bound train takes the leftmost set of tracks, leaving the Beverley tracks in the centre and the Botanic Gardens tracks to the right. The latter will join the Victoria Dock Branch before reaching Botanic Gardens station. We pass Anlaby Road signal box, next to the cricket ground, and cross Anlaby Road on a level crossing that will be replaced by an overbridge in 1963.

Crossing diagonally through the housing and streets between Anlaby Road and Hessle Road, with two more level crossings of streets that do go through, we reach Hessle Road Junction, where the direct line from Cottingham to Hessle joins us from the right, cross Hessle Road level crossing, pass Hessle Road signal box and go under the bridge carrying the former Hull & Barnsley lines to the western docks. As we curve gently to the west, we pass Dairycoates locomotive shed on the left (with more covered turntables than any other in the country), and Dairycoates marshalling yard on the right (where the Inbound Yard was one of the first hump yards constructed in Britain). After passing under the ex-Hull & Barnsley lines on the bridge, the passenger lines rise up on an embankment, cross over access line from the eastern end of the marshaling yard to William Wright, Albert, and St. Andrews docks (the latter being the ‘Fish Dock’), and descend to ground level again as they head further west. At Hessle Haven, the west end of the yards, the line becomes four tracks (slow and fast in each direction), and Hessle station is reached (platforms on the slow lines only). Since our train is on the ‘up’ (towards London) fast line, it can only stop at stations with platforms on the fast lines.

The line remains four tracks until Staddlethorpe, junction of the Doncaster and Leeds lines, is reached. West of Hessle, the tracks run along the north foreshore of the River Humber, moving away to pass through Ferriby (platforms on the slow lines only) and the workmen’s halt at the Earl’s cement works. On the side of the line away from the river, the south end of the Yorkshire Wolds provides the only uplifted land along this route. Passing alongside the airfield at the Blackburn & General Aircraft factory, Brough station is reached. Brough has platforms on all four tracks, useful for coping with the daily arrival and departure of the workers at the aircraft factory.

West of Brough, the line embarks on the longest stretch of straight track in the British Isles (some 19 miles or so), although in truth only the tracks continuing towards Leeds from the fast lines are truly straight. This part of the route runs across extremely flat and level countryside, agricultural land that is just above the water table, in many places. At Staddlethorpe, the two Doncaster lines curve away to the south. West of Staddlethorpe, the line is now only double track, but we’re still on the long straight track. The train passes under the elevated H&B line to Cudworth, and then through one of the Howden stations (the other is on the H&B line). East of Selby, the line from Market Weighton and Bridlington trails in from the right. Then, at Barlby, the line we’re on joins the ECML tracks from York and the north, passes the BOCM plant alongside the Ouse on the right, and then crosses the Ouse on the infamous swing bridge with the gantlet track (point frogs on one side of the bridge, moveable points and controls on the other, and enters Selby station. There are four tracks through the station (which is why there are points straddling the bridge). Most ECML expresses do not stop at Selby, where there are no platforms on the center tracks, but all other trains do. In addition to platforms on the outer tracks of the main line, there is also a bay for the Goole branch trains, and perhaps others. (I have never actually been on the platform at Selby, only in a train, so my vantage point for description is a little restricted.) West/south of the station, the line splits again, with two tracks going south to Doncaster, and two going west to Leeds. This is now the route of the original Leeds & Selby Railway.

A few miles further west are the marshalling yards at Gascoigne Wood, followed by the connections to and from the original York & North Midland (which passes below, just north of Milford Junction). At Micklefield, the line from York via Church Fenton trails in from the right. West of Micklefield, the line is again four tracks. The next station west of Micklefield is Garforth, where a branch line from Castleford trails in from the left. This is followed by Cross Gates, where the line from Harrogate via Wetherby trails in from the right. Then, the line turns southwest for a stretch. Nearing Leeds, the line turns westnorthwestward and the tracks enter the deep Marsh Lane Cutting, at the top of which the surrounding land is choc-a-block with back-to-back houses where (among others) the coal miners from the adjacent Westfield Colliery live. West of the cutting, the line turns westsouthwestward, near the original Leeds and Selby Marsh Lane station (latterly used as a goods station) and the current Marsh Lane station, and proceeds on a brickwork viaduct to Leeds (City) station.

This part of the station is the former Leeds (New), jointly constructed by the North Eastern Railway and the London & North Western Railway to facilitate operation of the latter’s trans-Pennine trains on their continuing journeys to Hull, and to York and Newcastle. This station is a dark and gloomy affair, with an overall roof that is more in the LNWR-style than in any NER style, that is located alongside, and partially directly over, the River Aire. It has a long platform on the north side, with bays at both ends, a main centre island with bays at either end, and an additional island that is partially outside the overall roof. Adjacent to this station, at the western end, are the stub platforms of the former Midland Railway Leeds (Wellington), now also part of Leeds (City). The booking, waiting, and office facilities of the two former stations are adjacent to one another, and also adjacent to the large railway hotel that commands the street frontage. The Midland side has its own separate circulating area (an art deco style concourse from the 1930s) and ticket barriers.

We transfer to the Midland side and take a train of noncorridor stock headed by an ex-LMS 2-6-4T of fairly recent vintage. This train leaves Leeds via the north side of the Whitehall triangle, passing under the line into Leeds (City) at Holbeck, and heading north on the former Midland line towards Skipton and Carlisle. Along this stretch, this line has four tracks (two fast, two slow), and there is another pair on the east side comprising the former Leeds Northern (NER/LNER) line to Harrogate, past Wortley Junction, where trains from Leeds (City) for the Harrogate direction cross over, and as far as Armley Exchange Sidings Junction, where that line turns away. Along this stretch, we actually see back-to-back houses, both on the south side of the line, along Armley Road, and the north, along Kirkstall Road.

A few miles further west, the Ilkley line leaves the main line at Apperley Bridge, and curves away to the north. The train is now climbing in earnest, as it must cross the ridge between Airedale and Wharfedale. It climbs all the way to the stop at Guiseley, just after the line from Shipley trails in on the left, after which it descends until the River Wharfe is reached, near Burley-in-Wharfedale, where the line from Otley and Arthington trails in on the right. The last few miles into Ilkley are level. On the whole trip from Leeds, including crossing the watershed, the line never really left the built-up area and entered the countryside. However, by the time we reach Ilkley, open countryside (in the form of moorsides) is visible both to the north and to the south.

Ilkley station has one pair of platforms on the through tracks to Skipton, and another pair of stub end platforms serving trains that terminate here. We take a taxi to the house at the east end of town, down by the river, that we have rented for the week. My strongest memory of Ilkley itself, during this trip, is of eating Welsh Rarebit at a restaurant on The Parade, just west of the station.

Travel during the week uses the buses of the West Yorkshire Roadcar Company (and its Keighley-West Yorkshire affiliate), and of ‘the heirs of Samuel Ledgard’. We use the former to get to Bolton Abbey and the Strid, Keighley and Haworth (where we go to, but not into, the Bronte parsonage), Bradford and Otley, and the latter to visit the home of a woman in Guiseley whom we know from our several years of staying the same two weeks of August at the same North Bay hotel (the Paragon) in Scarborough. Locally, we walk along the Wharfe past the sewage plant (!), to the top of Ilkley Moor, and on the hills to the north.

Our return train to Leeds on Saturday is essentially identical to that on which we arrived, a week earlier. On the six-track section of line, west of Holbeck, we stop for awhile, evidently awaiting signal clearance to continue. While we’re stopped, one of the Scottish expresses passes us on the left, headed by a Jubilee 4-6-0, and enters the station first. We follow it in on our terminating train. I note that by the time we enter the station, the express already has its new engine on the other end, for the southward continuation of its journey.

There are several hours to spare before our train to Hull, so we leave the bags at “Left Luggage” and head off into Leeds. We walk east to Briggate, where we take a northbound tram to Roundhay Park, riding upstairs as always. Initially, the tram runs down the centre of the street and then main road, but further north, it has its own private right-of-way alongside the road all the way to the park. We spend some time exploring the park, then return to town on another tram and walk back to the station. We travel home on a local train to Hull, starting from one of the bay platforms on the north side of the east end of City station. As will later prove to be normal for these trains, until replaced by DMUs, the train steadily loses time on the journey to Hull.

North Wales, August 1956

This year we’re going to Criccieth, on Cardigan Bay in North Wales, for our two weeks holiday in August. Although Criccieth is on the former Cambrian (later GWR) line to Pwllheli, we get to it using the North Wales Coast line from Manchester and Chester, not via the Cambrian from Birmingham and Shrewsbury.

The first part of our journey, from Hull to Leeds, is the same as in 1955, using the 9:00 am train from Hull to Liverpool (Lime Street). However, on this trip we remain in the train at Leeds. The 9:00 am train is usually worked by a set of ex-LMS carriages based at the Liverpool end,. and is a Leeds (Neville Hill) engine turn, often filled by a former LNER 4-6-0. At one time, there were trains between Liverpool and Hull over three different routes: Lime Street via Diggle and Leeds, over the ex-LNWR line, Exchange via Wakefield and Goole, over the ex-L&YR line); and Central, via Woodhead and Sheffield, over the ex-GCR route. By this time, only the first and last of these are still running (as far as I know).

Trans-Pennine trains in the 1950s and early 1960s depart Leeds over the viaduct line that curves away to the southwest, just west of the station itself, that was built by the LNWR to permit its trains to avoid the busy Holbeck junctions. The viaduct line rejoins the original LNWR entry, that uses the lines on the north side of Whitehall triangle and a line diverging southwest near Holbeck (Low-level) station, at Farnley Junction, several miles to the west. This is also the location of the engine shed for this route. By this time, the line has already started its climb into the hills. As on the way to Ilkley, these hills are covered in houses and other urban buildings.

Nearing the end of the climb, the train enters the long Morley tunnel, from which it exits into Batley and then Dewsbury. Batley and Dewsbury are both West Riding woolen mill towns, full of the industrial and urban fabric of the nineteenth century industrial expansion, now starting to fade. Beyond Dewsbury, the ex-LNWR line joins the former L&YR Calder Valley line for a stretch of four tracks, from Thornhill Junction through Mirfield to Heaton Lodge Junction. This stretch of track caters not only to the passenger services from Leeds to Manchester (Exchange) and from York to Manchester (Victoria), but also to an endless process of coal trains clanking along on the way from Barnsley and Cudworth, and other places in the South Yorkshire coalfield, to destinations in the Todmorden area and all of industrial Lancashire. These trains comprise unfitted wagons (i.e. braked only by manual application at each wagon) that were once hauled by ex-LMS 4F 0-6-0s, but are latterly more likely to be hauled by WD 2-8-0s.

Turning left at Heaton Lodge Junction, the ex-LNWR line starts to climb into the Pennines once more. Before it gets too far into them, however, it encounters Huddersfield, where even express trains stop. Restarting from Huddersfield, the line enters a tunnel, then exist briefly for the junction with the line to Penistone at Springwood Junction, then enters another tunnel. After more climbing, the line reaches Marsden, then crosses over a Leeds trans-Pennine Canal that has its own tunnel through the mountains, and enters the long Standedge tunnel. It emerges from the tunnel at Diggle, where the Micklehurst Loop separates from the main line, two tracks following each side of the valley as far as Stalybridge. This being an express train, on a summer Saturday, we take the loop and pass down the left side of the valley.

Beyond Stalybridge, the line is onto the urban fabric of greater Manchester. Lines to the left go to Guide Bridge, on the former GCR, to Bellevue, on the former Midland, and eventually to Stockport, on the former LNWR line south from Manchester to Crewe. We continue on the line through Ashton-under-Lyne to Miles Platting, where we again join the ex-L&YR (original Manchester & Leeds) line from Rochdale and Todmorden, coming in from the right. There are now four lines and more down the steep Miles Platting Bank to the former L&YR station at Manchester (Victoria). Our train passes through Victoria on one of the center tracks, then cuts over to the left to stop at the main westbound platform in Manchester (Exchange). This platform is continuous with the main westbound platform at Victoria, forming the longest platform in the British Isles.

Manchester (Exchange) is a large station with a triple barrel overall roof. It comprises one main platform set on the south side (the westbound main) and an island platform set, including at least one through platform, used for eastbound trains. The main platform set has a number of stub-end platforms (they’re too long to be called ‘bays’) at the western end. The through platforms are used by the trans-Pennine expresses between Liverpool (Lime Street) and Leeds/Hull/York/Newcastle, while the terminal platforms are used for local services to Liverpool and the longer-distance services to Chester and North Wales.

We leave the train from Hull and walk over to one of the terminal platforms for our train to Bangor. This comprises older ex-LMS stock than we had on the train from Hull, with visibly-different window patterns. I later discover this stock dates from the 1930s, whereas the stock we had on the train from Hull is of post-war vintage. Our train is headed by a “Black Five”, ex-LMS 5P5F 4-6-0, but we see others on this line (on a summer Saturday) headed by ex-LMS “Crab” 2-6-0s. We find our reserved compartment (with the four of us and my aunt (mum’s sister), we have five of the seats in the compartment), and break out the picnic lunch fixings we’ve been carrying from home. As we eat, the train departs Exchange station. For the first couple of miles it parallels the ex-L&Y line to Bolton (which was there before Exchange was built). At Salford, there is a station on that line, but not on ours, even though the ex-LNWR tracks are adjacent to it. Before reaching Ordsall Lane, the L&Y tracks swing away to the north, and the line from Oxford Road comes in on the left. Down that line a little way is the original Liverpool & Manchester Railway station, now incorporated into the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry. We are now traveling on the original route of the Liverpool & Manchester railway, dating from 1830. We pass through Patricroft, cross the infamous Chat Moss that George Stephenson has so much trouble laying railway on, cross the West Coast Main Line (below us), and turn south at Earlestown.

We pass the huge Vulcan Foundry, where many steam locomotives have been built over the years, in the land between our track and the WCML, and join with the WCML.. We stay on the WCML for only a short distance, through Warrington (Bank Quay) station to the Walton Junctions complex, and no WCML expresses pass while we’re doing so. A few miles further on, we pass under the line from Weaver Junction to Liverpool (Lime Street), then through Frodsham and Helsby, and the junction with the line from Crewe, to Chester (General) station. This station is the northern terminus for ex-GWR trains to London (Paddington), with portions from Birkenhead, but we see no ex-GWR main line engines here. West of the station, the line to Birkenhead branches off to the right, and after crossing the River Dee, the former GWR line to Shrewsbury and London branches off to the left at Saltney Junction.

At Shotton, there is a large steelworks, and an overhead crossing by the former Wrexham, Mold, & Connah’s Quay line later owned by the Great Central. Shortly afterwards, we come alongside the wide Dee Estuary, which we follow to the Irish Sea. We pass through Flint, alongside the Dee, and then after turning the corner onto the North Wales coast, the seaside resorts of Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, and Colwyn Bay, before reaching Llandudno Junction. Much of this line, except for two short stretches, one just west of Shotton and one just east of Colwyn Bay, is four tracked to permit expresses to pass stopping trains and goods trains. As we pass all of these seaside resorts, I look at the lovely sandy beaches, and wonder why we’re going any further. It transpires that we haven’t come to North Wales to go to the seaside, but to visit Snowdonia. We’re staying by the sea just to palliate otherwise unruly children.

At Llandudno Junction, the short branch to Llandudno curves away to the north, and the longer branch to Bettws-y-Coed and Blaenau Ffestiniog, up the Conway Valley, turns away to the south. We go straight ahead, through the tubular bridge across the River Conway, through the station hard against the walls of Conway Castle, and back onto the sea front (as we had been to the east). This line is now only double track. We pass through Penmaenmawr and other resorts, then through a tunnel into the station at Bangor. Here, we leave this train to switch to a local service on the Caernarvon branch, going to the ex-Cambrian connection at Afonwen.

Bangor station and environs are quite interesting from a railway point-of-view, with a tunnel at each end of the station, and just enough space beside the two main platforms with their inset bays at the western end for a small goods yard and engine facility. Our next train is awaiting us in the bay platform adjacent to the train we’re leaving. It has non-vestibuled carriages, and is headed by an ex-LMS 2-6-4T. The Caernarvon branch curves away from the main line, soon after passing through the tunnel to the west of Bangor station. It then runs along the Menai Strait to Caernarvon, where the station is alongside the harbor just short of the famous castle. Here, to our surprise, we are all asked to leave the train and board buses. The weather has been overcast all day long, and the skies have been much darker hereabouts, but nonetheless we’re surprised to hear that a heavy rainstorm has flooded the tracks through the tunnel just ahead.

We board a bus and are driven to the next station, where we board another train, indistinguishable from the one we just left, that takes us the rest of the way to Afonwen. The station at the latter location exists only because it is at the junction of the ex-LNWR line from Bangor and the former Cambrian Railways line from Machynlleth (actually, Dovey Junction) to Pwllheli. We leave the train once again, and after a short wait (the emergency train service has disrupted all connections), we board a train headed by a former GWR tank engine that takes us on the one stop to Criccieth (and continues towards Dovey Junction after we leave). A short taxi ride takes us to our self-catering hotel on the seafront at the west end of the Criccieth waterfront.

The hotel looks like it used to be a full service (by-the-week) seafront hotel, like the one we used to patronize in Scarborough, but the suites of rooms have been remodeled to include simple cooking facilities. between the five of us, we have a complete floor of the hotel, with front windows that overlook the beach and Cardigan Bay, and rear windows that overlook some fields and then the railway line we have just come along. Along the beach to the east of our hotel, the seafront is punctuated by Criccieth Castle, with the main part of town to the east of that. Perhaps that’s why our hotel could not make it as a full-service weekly hotel, any more. After high tea (I have no idea where the food came from), we walk to the castle, and then into town.

Prior to coming to the Cambrian Coast, every engine number I’ve seen has had five digits, beginning with a ‘6’, a ‘9’ (the WD 2-8-0s), or a ‘4’. The engines on this line only have four digits. The first such engine I see, on our train from Afonwen to Criccieth, I record the number from the plate on the smokebox door, and don’t notice the side of the engine. At first, I think this is an ex-LMS engine that hasn’t been renumbered, yet (after eight years!). However, during times when the rest of the family is occupied in our rooms, I walk across the meadows at the rear of the hotel and watch trains pass along the line. I now notice that these engines have cast number plates on the sides of the engine, and are of a distinctly different type from those I’ve seen before. By Monday, I realize these are ex-Great Western engines, and that I need to get another ABC to record them in, to add to those I already have for the ex-LNER and ex-LMS engines. Fortunately, the newsagent in town has a current copy of the required ABC.

For local transport during our stay in Criccieth, we use the buses of Crosville Motor Services, which provides a well thought-out set of interlocked services permitting double the service frequency that would otherwise be available. Buses to/from the west to Portmadoc interchange with buses from/to the north at Tremadoc, rather than in Portmadoc. Buses between Portmadoc and Ffestiniog and buses between Portmadoc and Harlech interchange at Maentwrog. This latter place is the lowest public road crossing of an estuary that the railway crosses near its mouth. (Similar circumstances apply to the Mawddach estuary reaching Cardigan Bay at Barmouth, also.) Over the course of our two weeks in the area, we cover just about every road in Snowdonia south of Llanberis, west of Bettws-y-Coed, and north of Harlech, as well as reaching Caernarvon by the road to the west of the mountains, all using the scheduled bus services.

We have bookings on the first Tuesday morning, on the 10 am train on the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Llanberis. We’re concerned by the statement that the train will run only ‘weather permitting’, but Tuesday turns out to be a beautiful day on which we can see the IOM and the Irish coast from Snowdon’s summit. Regular visitors tell us this is the best visibility they’ve seen in over twenty years! Steam locomotion is used for propelling a single carriage at a time up the steeply-graded cog railway. We’re fascinated by the various waterfalls we see from the train, by the vistas across the mountainside, ever changing as the line climbs and turns, by the antics of the sheep as we pass (don’t they see this several times a day?), and especially by the vistas all around after we have walked from the summit station to the cairn at the summit. We also have our morning cups of tea at the snack bar at the summit, before returning to Llanberis.

On another day, we visit Beddgelert, after which we walk south across the Aberglaslyn Pass, along the trackbed of the old Welsh Highland Railway, now a walking trail, until it crosses the road traversed by the buses to Portmadoc. At this point, we leave the railway trackbed and catch the next bus back. The trackbed is halfway up the hillside on the west side of the valley, completely within the woods, in contrast to the road which is at the bottom of the valley, traversing open fields full of the inevitable sheep.

Blaenau Ffestiniog was built as the focal point of the slate mining activities that flourished in the later nineteenth century, and is surrounded by the spoil heaps and other mining appurtenances characteristics of that trade. Slate mining is still going on, in 1956, although at a much reduced level of activity compared to that sixty years earlier, or even twenty years earlier (before the war). Blaenau Ffestiniog, even more than the other towns in Snowdonia, is completely composed of dark stone buildings (houses as well as civic structures) with dark slate roofs. The effect on dark, rainy days is devastating, creating a perpetual air of gloom. Even on sunny days, such towns can hardly be said to ‘sparkle’ in the sunlight. Blaenau Ffestiniog is served by an ex-LNWR branch from Llandudno Junction, and an ex-GWR branch from Bala, with terminal stations a few hundred yards apart on the fringes of the town center.

Portmadoc is the local market town and the focal point for most journeys and economic activity in the area. It is a pleasant town, not so seemingly dark as those in the mountains. The town centre impinges directly on the estuary, which is crossed by an embankment called ‘The Cob’. We notice that this not only has a road across it, but from the top deck of the bus we can see a narrow gauge railway line running across it. It transpires that this is the line of the Ffestiniog railway, a line built in the middle of the nineteenth century for carrying slate from the quarries at Blaenau Ffestiniog to the harbor at Portmadoc for onward shipment by water.

The Ffestiniog Railway closed in 1946, but is being reopened as a preserved railway. We also ride it on our later visit to the area, by car, in 1959. It seems appropriate to cover that ride here, also.

In 1956, the railway has been reopened by the Preservation Society only as far as Minfordd. We all ride there and back, across The Cob, past the maintenance facilities at Boston Lodge, and over the standard gauge line right at Minfordd. Our train comprises a number of restored coaches with several compartments each, with no connecting corridors. The five of us fit comfortably in one of the compartments, but with no room to spare. The train is hauled by a Double-Fairlie articulated locomotive, of a type unique to this line. Like the coaches, it has been restored by members of the Preservation Society.

By 1959, the line has been extended past Penrhyndeudrath to Tan-y-Bwlch, well up on the hillside and about halfway to Blaenau Ffestiniog. This time only Jill and I ride the train, up and back. The scenery along the extension is much better than along the short trip available in 1956, except across The Cob itself. The run is still short enough, however, that there is usually only one train out on the line at a time. the stock and locomotive types are the same as in 1956. it’s going to take a long time for the line to be “re"opened all the way, since the Central Electricity Generating Board has built a pumped-storage facility that has blocked the line (by closing Moelwyn Tunnel), and is flooding a longer segment of it. A newly-constructed diversion will be required to bypass this section of the original line.

Along the road between Portmadoc and Criccieth is a nicely shaped stand-alone hillock named ‘Moel-y-Gest’, that is both accessible for hiking and climbing, and about the right size for us children to do so. We spend one afternoon doing just that, waving to the adults below as we stand on the summit. Although we are noticeable further above the sea to the south, we aren’t noticeably higher with respect to Snowdon to the north!

The Glaslyn estuary below Portmadoc has coves with lovely beaches, both along the estuary at Borth-y-Gest and around the corner on Cardigan Bay, at Morfa Bychan, that are quite different from the beach directly in front of our hotel in Criccieth. We delight in spending half a day at each.

It is interesting to visit and compare the various castles in this area. These were mostly, if not entirely, built in the mid 13th century as garrisons for the troops of the occupying English army, after the conquest of North Wales by King Edward I. Some of them (such as the one at Criccieth, or the one we see another time at Aberystwyth) are obviously only capable of holding a small garrison covering the town and the harbor. Others, particularly the large installation at Harlech cover both one or more major communications routes and a large area of countryside. yet others, such as that at Caernarvon where Edward I established a regional government centre, clearly provide for ceremonial and civic activities, as well as housing a military garrison.

Harlech Castle is built on a rocky outcrop halfway up the coastal hillside. It is below today’s road, but well above the railway (which is on the narrow coastal plain below). Harlech mainly comprises a large, dark, central keep with just enough of a surrounding bailey and curtain walls to permit the necessary defensive manouevres in the event of an attack. The vast majority of the living and storage space is in the central keep. The whole is built of stone that is, today, almost black in coloration.

Caernarvon Castle, located on the harbor at this regional market town and governmental centre, has two widely-spaced curtain walls surrounding relatively large inner and outer baileys. The outer one, at least, was clearly intended for civic functions, and is still used as such today. The inner one is also used for functions such as the installation of a Prince of Wales. The central keep is more spacious and much airier than Harlech, although defensive needs were still clearly paramount in its design. The whole effect is strikingly different from the impact of Harlech on the visitor.

On the return journey, we manage to ride all the way from Afonwen to Bangor. The route is the same as the outward journey, except that we use the main line between Stalybridge and Diggle. Surprisingly, there isn’t much of a wait in Manchester (Exchange) for a through train to Hull, since these run only every three hours or so. (I suppose it could be considered surprising that we had a relatively close connection in Manchester going the other way, too.) It’s dark by the time we reach the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Epilogue

My one later trip from Hull to North Wales is an interview trip to the University College of North Wales, Bangor, in November 1961. The major differences from 1956 are that the train from Hull to Manchester comprises one of the new Trans-Pennine Diesel Multiple Units (later Class 124), and that between Leeds and Huddersfield that train operates over the “New” Line avoiding Morley Tunnel, Batley, Dewsbury and Mirfield. In contrast to 1956, just about every local passenger service is now operated by more commonplace DMUs. In fact, local and branch services that have not converted to DMU can almost be assumed to be on the chopping block, even before Dr. Beeching has published his forthcoming report on “The Reshaping of Britain’s Railways."

West of Manchester is still steam-hauled, with Black Fives, although the carriages are now overall maroon BR Mark 1s, rather than the Carmine and Cream ex-LMS stock of five years previous.

The return journey is not at the right time for the Trans-Pennine DMUs, so I have to take a steam-hauled train from Manchester to Leeds and then a local DMU (Metro-Cammell, future Class 101) from Leeds to Hull. I just miss an earlier steam-hauled train in Manchester, mainly because I can’t find anything/anyone to tell me where it is going in the few seconds after I arrive on the eastbound through platform and before it leaves.

IOW, August 1957

This year we’re spending our two weeks in August on the east coast of the Isle of Wight. We’re getting there by train to London (King’s Cross), electric multiple unit from London (Waterloo) to Portsmouth (Harbour), ferry to Ryde (Pier), and train thence to Sandown. We take the 8:50 am London train from Hull (Paragon) to Doncaster, since this timing required no changes from our normal daily routine. The London train comprises BR Mark 1 standard carriages in overall lined Maroon. Interiors are mostly open saloons, and that is where we sit. The first part of our trip, as far as Doncaster, covers the same ground as our earlier trip to Belper

The carriages on our train are added to the front of a train arriving from York or Leeds, and go forward to London just after 10 am. It being a Saturday, this is not one of 60700’s turns. We sit on the right-hand side of the train. I spend much of the trip with my head up against the window, trying to read the smokebox numberplates of the engines going the other way. I succeed about half of the time. Leaving Doncaster, we pass Decoy Yard on the west, and the engine sheds on the west. Then we pass under a massive through truss bridge carrying the southern goods avoiding lines and through the junction where the GN & GE Joint Line to Lincoln and March splits off. The East Coast Main Line is now just a two-track railway, except in station areas, until we reach the London suburban area.

From Doncaster south, the ECML runs across the grain of the rivers, so that although no great elevations are reached, the line is constantly rising or falling. Low points are reached at the Trent and Great Ouse crossing, the high point at Stoke Summit, south of Grantham. The southbound descent from Stoke Summit is world famous due to the pre-war exploits of A4 4-6-2 Mallard. Heading south through this territory, our train passes through Bawtry. Just north of Retford, a sharply curved line joins from the west to permit trains on the former GCR-line from Sheffield (Victoria) to call at Retford station. South of the station, there is a two track (each way) flat crossing of the GCR goods lines, and a curve taking the passenger tracks away to the east.

At Tuxford, the former Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway crosses the ECML by means of Dukeries Junction. In Newark, the ECML crosses the River Trent, then immediately crosses the former Midland Railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln, on another flat crossing, then passes through Newark station. Junctions in the Barkston area bring in the ex-GN line from Nottingham and the ex-GN line from Lincoln, the latter a triangular junction. A number of ECML expresses change engines during a stop at Grantham, but although we stop there, we don’t change engines today. South of Grantham, the line climbs steadily to Stoke Summit, then descends sharply down Stoke Bank. This being a congested summer Saturday, not only are no speed records set today, but we don’t even seem to be going particularly fast on the descent. On the way down the bank, the former Midland railway line from Stamford to Peterborough comes alongside the ECML.

There is a junction with the former GN line to Spalding, and the connection to the Midland & Great Northern Joint passes overhead. The New England yards and engine shed appear on the east side of the line, heralding the approach to Peterborough (North) station, which is entered by means of sharp curves requiring a tight speed restriction. On the west side of Peterborough (North) station is a set of former Midland sidings. South of the station, there is a connection between the ECML and the former Midland connection to Peterborough (East) that drops down on the west, then crosses under the ECML to reach that station to the east. That line is alongside the River Nene, which the ECML crosses on a set of heavy through truss bridges.

The countryside has now changed completely from the agricultural land of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Rutland to the north. Now the land is very low-lying, fen country, very close to the water table. This land also provides good clay for brick making, with many brickworks on either side of the line. Many drainage waterways, as well as the Great Ouse, which doesn’t differ greatly from the widest of the artificial waterways, cross the fen country. Rising slightly at the southern end of the fen country, the line passes through Huntingdon and then the sharp reverse curves at Offord, with their severe speed restriction. At Sandy, the Bedford – Cambridge line passes overhead and then alongside the ECML, before turning east again for Cambridge.

At Hitchin, the former GN line from Cambridge comes in from the east, and the original Midland route from Bedford to London joins from the west. We pass through Stevenage, where the Hertford Loop splits off to the east, across the Welwyn Viaduct, and past the huge Shredded Wheat factory to the east at Welwyn Garden City. Although the line expands to four tracks at Hitchin, it is two tracks again through Welwyn North and across the viaduct. There is another two-track bottleneck through the Hadley Wood tunnels. Earthworks in this area show that the widening project, including the additional tunnels, is well along and there will soon be four tracks all the way from King’s Cross to Welwyn Garden City. As part of this process, a brand new station has been constructed at Potter’s Bar. Approaching London, the ability to observe the lineside gets lost in the rush among my parents and aunt to get us ready to leave the train (we’ve been eating our picnic lunch and have to clean up from it).

King’s Cross station has a large central section comprising ten terminal platforms under a double barrel overall roof. To the east there is a single suburban platform alongside the tunnel to the ‘Widened Lines’ parallel the Metropolitan Railway to Faringdon and Moorgate (and the one-time Snow Hill connection to the former London, Chatham, and Dover railway at Ludgate Hill, Holborn Viaduct, and Blackfriars). To the west is the King’s Cross Suburban station, including four more terminal platforms and a through platform alongside the return connection, on a steep grade, from the Widened Lines. Most of the facilities of King’s Cross are alongside main-line departure platform 10, although some are on the arrival side and some across the platform ends. Beyond the south wall of the station are is the taxi rank the entrance to the UndergrounD station (the system’s largest), and then Marylebone Road. From here, we take a taxi to the Southern Region’s former London & South Western Railway’s Waterloo station.

Waterloo mainline station is the largest station in the country. It has over twenty terminal platforms under a workshop-style sawtooth overall roof. There is a large circulating concourse across the ends of the platforms, with offices alongside on the wall away from the platforms, and various shops and kiosks along the platform side, along with the massive train destination indicator. Entrances to various parts of the UndergrounD station, including the Waterloo & City Line, are towards the north end of the concourse, as is the pedestrian connection to the former South Eastern Railway’s Waterloo (East), the first station out of Charing Cross. The taxi ramp is along the east wall of the station, for departing passengers, and in between a set of the platforms, for arriving passengers.

We’re in good time for our train down the Portsmouth Direct line to Portsmouth Harbor, station for the passenger ferry to Ryde, Isle of Wight. We find our train of green mainline carriages, find the carriage with our reserved seats (a compartment), and board. As we walk down the platform, I note that our train looks just like those on the adjacent platforms to the northwest (the express trains to and from Bournemouth and the West Country), except that it currently has no steam engine attached, and not at all like the suburban trains to the other side, with their many doors and no corridor connections. The only commonality is that all are overall green, not carmine and cream or overall maroon.

I know that the suburban trains are electric multiple-units (EMUs), but I think nothing about ours until we start to move without ever adding an engine! Since our carriages look just like those with Bulleid Pacifics, Lord Nelson’s, and King Arthurs, I simply assumed we would be getting one of those on the front! No such luck! The Portsmouth Direct line has been electrified for the past twenty years. This is my first experience of an EMU, other than those on the UndergrounD. Observing the other trains, especially the steam-hauled ones, this is my first sighting of Lord Nelson 4-6-0s, Merchant Navy, West Country and Battle of Britain 4-6-2s, and this trip provided my only sightings of King Arthur 4-6-0s.

All of the lines in and around Waterloo station are equipped for 600 volt DC, third-rail electrification. As the line leaves Waterloo, it swings away to the left, and then back again to the right to take up the general west-southwest alignment that the main line holds through Basingstoke. At this point, the line appears to be some nine or ten tracks wide, and continues that way through Vauxhall station, past Nine Elms shed and goods station, under the massive viaducts carrying both the Chatham lines and the Brighton lines out of Victoria, and all the way to Clapham Junction. At the latter, there is a general sorting out of tracks, with the tracks to Windsor splitting off to the far right, a number of tracks going to the loco-hauled carriage yards in the middle, and four tracks proceeding through the main part of the station on the mainline alignment. Through the station, there are also four more tracks, to the left, carrying the ex-London, Brighton, & South Coast Railway’s tracks from Victoria to Croydon and Brighton. On both the Windsor side and the Brighton side are connections to and from the West London line, which heads off to the north across the Thames

The ex-LSWR main line proceeds, four tracks wide, past the Durnsford Road power station that supplies the third-rail, various sets of sidings for BR and UndergrounD EMUs, to Wimbledon station, where there is a joint BR/UndergrounD (District Line) connection trailing in on the right. A line from Streatham trails in on the left before we reach the multi-platform station, and lines leave to the left after the station, one to Mitcham and one to Merton and Sutton. Of course, express trains don’t normally stop here.

The main line from Wimbledon to Woking remains third-rail electrified, four tracks. There are flyover junctions to the left at Raynes Park for the line to Epsom, to the right at New Malden for Kingston and, following Surbiton station, to the right again at Hampton Court Junction for the short Hampton Court branch. At Weybridge and Byfleet there are separate flat junctions forming a triangle with the line to Chertsey and Virginia Water. All of these lines support an intensive service of electrically-powered suburban trains.

After calling at Woking, our train passes through the extensive flat junction at which the electrified Portsmouth Direct line curves away to the left from the steam-worked southwest main line to Southampton and Bournemouth, and to Salisbury and Exeter. Before Guildford, the former SER line from Reading trails in. At Guildford, there is a multi-platform station, with an adjacent engine shed. After calling at Guildford, the train passes through the North Downs, following which it traverses a three-way junction with the ex-SER line to Redhill furthest left, a line to Horsham in the middle, and the line we take to the right. The countryside is now bucolic in nature, passing through market towns like Godalming and Petersfield, as well as the South Downs, as it curves its way over hill and dale to the south coast at Havant.

Just before reaching Havant, the line we’re on joins with the ex LB&SC line from Brighton (to our left), and the Hayling Island branch curves in from the left. A few miles further along, the line into Portsmouth curves away to the left from the line continuing along the foot of Portsdown Hill to Fratton (at the other end of a triangular junction). Passing through the urban area of Portsmouth, we soon reach Portsmouth and Southsea station, in the town center, and then Portsmouth Harbor station at the water’s edge.

Here, we leave the train and board the ferryboat for the short trip across the Solent to Ryde, Isle of Wight. Fortunately, the weather is bright and sunny, if a bit breezy, since there is not enough covered accommodation for the summer Saturday capacity load of passengers on the ferry. Traveling in a generally southwesterly direction, the crossing takes less than an hour (even at the slow speed of this ferry). Arriving at Ryde Pier, we disembark and look for our train to Sandown and beyond.

There are two trains at the station at pier’s end, one to Ventnor via Sandown and Shanklin, and one to Cowes via Newport. Both are relics from another era, in part due to the restricted loading gauge through the tunnel under the centre of Ryde, and in part due to the isolated, self-contained nature of the island’s railways. All carriages on the island are elderly non-corridor compartment stock or pre-grouping vintage, and all of the engines are small tank engines of similar vintage, mostly 0-4-4Ts of class O2, with a few ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0Ts thrown in for good measure. All are numbered in a separate ‘W’ series, and all have names related to their island home.

We board the Ventnor train for the short trip to Sandown. We pass along the pier, through the station at the Esplanade, through the tunnel under Ryde, past the engine shed at St. John’s and out into the countryside. The Bembridge branch curves off to the left at Brading, the Newport/Cowes line goes off to the right, and soon we’re in Sandown and arriving at our destination. Although we’re staying in Lake, which has a station of its own, we alight at Sandown because there are taxis available here. It’s just a short taxi ride to the lodgings we will be occupying for the next two weeks.

Our lodgings prove to be on the upper floor of a two-storey house, only a bit larger than the one we live in at home, with the landlady living downstairs. The upper floor is set up as a self-catering flat. Although we’re not supposed to have much contact with the landlady during our stay, she insists on baking bread (‘hot cakes’) on a number of afternoons, and supplying us with some. Because of the type of accommodations we’ve chosen, we have also rented a beach hut (something common on the south coast, but not found in Yorkshire), which is one of many down at the bottom of the hillside, adjacent to the beach, that provides shelter from the elements, a place to sit even while sunning ourselves, and rudimentary kitchen facilities (enough to make periodic pots of tea and picnic lunches, but not to cook hot meals). We alternate between days where we spend the day here at the east-facing beach, and days in which we explore the rest of the island.

For the latter, we use the services of the Southern Vectis bus company, which uses buses of the same make and style (Bristol chassis, Eastern Coach Works body) as the Crosville buses in North Wales, the West Yorkshire buses in Ilkley, and the United buses in Scarborough, but not those we normally see in Hull. Along the way, we see a lot of the railway facilities on the island, but don’t travel on any lines other than the one between Sandown and Ryde Pierhead.

At Cowes, we’re treated to a show while sitting on the beach shortly after lunch: First the Queen Mary comes up the Solent and makes a big turn right in front of us to go up Southampton Water to her destination. Even as the Queen Mary is turning, we can see another ocean liner coming down Southampton Water towards us. The two large ships pass, and the United States makes the big turn in front of us, in the opposite direction, to head off down the Solent to open water. This whole process takes the best part of an hour!

During our visit to Ventnor, and the south coast of the island, I take the opportunity to walk up the hillside to Ventnor station, on the end of the line from Sandown, which is located high above the town at the end of a tunnel through the hillside. I do not, however, go looking for the closed Ventnor West station, at the end of the closed branch down from Newport. The branch from Sandown to Newport has also closed, quite recently, and when we cross it (repeatedly) on our bus trips, it looks as it a train could be along any minute.

We also visit Yarmouth, Freshwater, Alum Chine (where the colored sands are arrayed along the cliffside and entrepreneurs sell test-tubes of layered colored sand), see the Seven Sisters at the west end of the island, travel along just about all of the coastline, and pass through the island’s capital, Newport, several times on the way to other places. We see, but do not go around, Osborne House, where Queen Victoria spent so much of her time in later years, and where she died. We also take walks, such as the one along the cliffs north from Sandown around the point to Bembridge, where we encounter the Bembridge branch and take a bus back to our lodgings. The towns and environment on the island are nowhere near as distinctive as those of North Wales, although some thatched-roofed cottages in Shanklin are famous across the country, and the cliffs, while interesting, are very similar to those of Flamborough Head and the coast towards Scarborough, which we can visit for a day’s outing, so while we’re glad to have seen them, no-one is attracted enough to consider returning to the island, or even the south coast, for later holidays.

By the middle of the second week, I have seen all of the ‘Terriers’, and most of the O2s. It seems that the ones I haven’t seen run on the Cowes line, not through our local station at Lake, so my aunt volunteers to accompany me on a day’s excursion to Newport to look for these other engines. Naturally, we take a bus to get there, but on arriving, we do go to the station, and then the engine shed. My aunt talks her way into a walk around the shed, where we see all but one of the engines I haven’t seen previously. I ask about the whereabouts of that last one, and am told that it is in pieces, undergoing overhaul, in the adjacent works, and no, we can’t go around the works to see it! So, I end my visit having seen all but one of the island’s engines.

At the end of our two week stay in Lake, IoW, it’s time to return home. Naturally, this means taking the same sequence of steps as two weeks previously, but in the reverse order. So, we take train to Ryde, ferry to Portsmouth, EMU to Waterloo, and steam train from King’s Cross down the ECML to Doncaster and then through carriages to Hull.

The climb out of King’s Cross, up Holloway Bank, is slow and labored, the steam locomotive struggling for every breath, through Gasworks Tunnel, past Belle Isle and the entrance to King’s Cross Top Shed, through Copenhagen Tunnel, a respite through Finsbury Park station (from which we can see the Highbury Stadium used by the Arsenal football team, then a resumption of the climb to the top of the ridges north of London, beyond Potter's Bar. Along here, we pass large number of carriage sidings to the east, including suburban trains at Finsbury Park itself and longer-distance trains just to the north at Bounds Green, along with various goods siding and another engine shed at Hornsey.

North of all the junctions at New England, the climb up Stoke Bank is again quite labored. The sounds of a steam engine working very hard are quite evident through the open ventilator above the (unopenable) window. Our through carriages are detached from the main train at Doncaster and go forward alone, after the main train has left. We reach home in early evening, before it has started to get dark.

In December, 1957, Dad buys a car and passes the Driving test (just before his 48th birthday!), thus ending the era in which the whole family goes on holiday by train.

Oxenholme, 1958

This is the first year our summer holiday trip is by car, now that we’ve had one for nine months or so. We’re only going for one week, perhaps as a result of the first cost of getting the car. We’re staying in a cottage to the west of Lake Windermere, above Ambleside and just below the beautiful Tarn Hows. The trip there has little railway interest except seeing the line above Skipton for the first time, and crossing the WCML just before reaching Kendal. However, I do take one day away from the family activities in the Lake District to visit an accessible location on the West Coast Main Line.

After breakfast, Dad drops me off at the station in Windermere, where I take a train along the branch to Oxenholme. The station in Windermere is oriented to arriving holidaymakers, not the needs of the local population, which could get by with only a simple branch platform, not this multi-platform station with an overall roof. I don’t think even the daily departure and arrival of the Windermere portions of the through service to London (Euston) justify this size of a station. The main intermediate town on the branch is Kendal, the local non-tourist population centre and market town. Kendal is only a mile or so from the WCML, and could thus, in the 1950s, be served better by trains stopping on the WCML at nearby Oxenholme than by a branch service connecting to those trains. The trip from Windermere to Oxenholme takes only 20 minutes or so, along the double track branch with the one intermediate stop. I alight at Oxenholme to spend the day there, not to connect to a main line train for somewhere else.

Oxenholme, the junction between the Windermere branch and the WCML, ex-Lancaster & Carlisle, is in an exposed location above and to the east of the village. The station comprises two windswept platforms, one an island with the branch platform on its outer side, and a passenger subway, with a road overbridge at the south end of the station. The road overbridge proves to be a more congenial place to spend the day than do either of the station platforms. The junction with the Windermere branch is north of the station, although the passenger line from the branch actually connects into the main line south of the station platforms.

During the time I spend at Oxenholme, I see a down morning train from London, both up and down Royal Scot, both up and down Mid-day Scot, and several Glasgow/Edinburgh to Manchester/Liverpool or Birmingham, and reverse direction, trains. The London-Glasgow (or reverse) trains are hauled by ‘Duchess’ Pacifics, the shorter-distance trains by ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0s, ‘Jubilee’ 4-6-0s, or ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0s. The several goods trains are hauled by Black Fives or 8F 2-8-0s. The local branch trains all comprise the same consist I used to get her, and will use to return.

A local spotter refers to a Duchess as a “semi”, which is a new nickname to me. When I ask, he says it means “semi-streamlined”, but can’t explain that. Years later I find out that it refers to the appearance (sloped down at top front) of the smokebox front of those Duchesses that had once been streamlined, after the streamlining had been removed. By the time I ever see one, all of the engines had been fitted with smokeboxes with fully-circular fronts, so nothing remains to explain the name to the newcomer.

In late afternoon (or perhaps early evening), I catch the pre-arranged train back to Windermere, where dad is waiting with the car. We get back to the cottage in time for our evening meal. After the family recounts its day, I’m glad I chose to watch trains instead.

Grimsby and Cleethorpes, April 1959

In all, I have used the Humber Ferry and continuing train from New Holland Pier three times, once with Dad going to a Junior Schoolboys match between Hull and Grimsby, once with the family for a day out at Cleethorpes, and this time with a schoolmate to look at railway operations in the Grimsby area.

All such trips start out at a railway station with no tracks, Hull (Corporation Pier)—Dartmouth isn’t the only one! This is a proper railway station with booking office, waiting rooms, etc., built by the Manchester, Sheffield, & Lincolnshire Railway (later Great Central) as its entry to Hull. The station is just across the street from the Humber waterfront and the road entrance to Victoria Pier itself. The latter is a floating pontoon landing stage with a flexible connection to the land side to accommodate the tides on the Humber, this ramp being usable by vehicles as well as pedestrians. The Humber Ferries berth at the river side of the pontoon.

There are three such ferries, all side paddlewheel steamers; the one we will take this morning is Tattershall Castle. We board on the pedestrian ramp, and take up positions on the pedestrian deck for the trip across the river. Although it is fine enough to be on deck today, my first crossing was in November, some years back, where it was very desirable to go down a couple of decks to the one where one can stand and look at the operations of the paddlewheels, in an area which is quite warm due to being adjacent to the boilers driving the steam cylinders that turn the paddlewheels.

The trip to New Holland Pier is only a mile-and-a-half, and takes between 20 minutes and a half-hour, depending on the tides and other river traffic. At New Holland Pier, there is another pontoon floating with the tide, at the end of a pier extending out from the south bank of the Humber. This pier has a roadway to accommodate the vehicles traveling on the ferry, as well as an ex-GCR station at the river end of the pier, New Holland (Pier), with tracks extending the length of the pier forming the northern end of a branch line. At the landward end of the pier is New Holland (Town) station and the junction with the Barton-on-Humber branch to the west, with junction facing Grimsby.

On earlier trips, the train awaiting the arrival of the ferry had been a set of non-corridor coaches headed by an ex-GC tank engine of some sort. Today, however, the train service is provided by a DMU. We board, and the train starts its journey to Grimsby and Cleethorpes. The line is double-track all the way from the Pier station, and continues so south of the Town station towards Grimsby. The train stops at all open stations along the line. At Goxhill, a line to Killingholme goes off to the east. At Ulceby, the main line west from Immingham trails in from the east, and then goes west to Brocklesby and Barnetby. At Habrough, another line from Brocklesby trails in from the west, forming a large triangle at this point. This line carries the passenger services from Doncaster, Retford and Lincoln. Along the way we see the huge Immingham Dock and its railway facilities off to the east, alongside the Humber Estuary. After Great Coates, a line from Immingham to Grimsby trails in from the east. Among other things, this line carries engines between Grimsby and the engine shed at Immingham.

We arrive at Grimsby (Town) station from the north, and leave the train. At the south end of Grimsby station, the ex-Great Northern line to Louth, Boston and, eventually, London (via Peterborough) goes off towards the right, while the line to Grimsby docks and Cleethorpes makes a hard left turn, passes under a road bridge and then across a level crossing of the main road to Cleethorpes. Grimsby’s two goods stations, one ex-GN, are between the line to Cleethorpes and the line to Louth. Immediately east of the level crossing, the Cleethorpes line makes a hard right turn, while lines into the various docks, including the fish dock, head in different directions, but all towards the shore. The Cleethorpes line continues a couple of miles further, along the coast to the southeast, passing carriage sidings between the line and the coastal promenade and then reaching the stub-end terminus at Cleethorpes. Beyond the latter is a pleasure garden that includes a passenger miniature railway, much like the one at Scarborough.

Grimsby (Town) station is fairly simple, with a main platform to the east, adjacent to the buildings containing the booking office, parcels office and main waiting rooms, with an island platform group to the west, including the platform on which we see a B1 4-6-0 and a set of recent Mark 1 coaches awaiting departure for London (King’s Cross). The platforms are provided with awnings incorporating the usual ornamental valances, but no overall roof. Just to the north of the station is another level crossing, with yet another immediately to the south along the line to Louth.

As usual in a strange town, before leaving the station we buy a street map at the bookstall. We use this to plot our day in the town, including finding places from which we can observe the operations and engines working in the town docks, including the large footbridge that crosses the docks entrance alongside the level crossing. We spend some considerable time making such observations, seeing many engine classes that are unfamiliar to us, being ex-GC types that we have not encountered elsewhere. However, at the end of the day we conclude that while this day has been interesting, Grimsby does not provide any good reason for a return visit.

In late afternoon, we board a train from Cleethorpes and retrace our steps to New Holland (Pier), where we once again board a Humber Ferry and travel back across the Humber to Corporation Pier. Back on terra firma, we walk north through the Old Town, past the statue of King William III and Holy Trinity Church to the Guildhall, where I board a bus for home and my schoolmate heads for Queen Victoria Square and his trolleybus home.

Belper, Spring 1959

Once again, we visit my uncle and aunt at their residence in the hospital’s administration wing in Belper, Derbyshire. This time, we travel by road. Because Dad seems not to want to drive anywhere, and because this is a break for me from studying for O-levels, I spend much of my time at the road bridge where the A6 crosses the Midland line between Derby and Ambergate.

There are four basic traffic flows along this line: local trains from Derby, north; cross-country trains from north of Sheffield to south of Birmingham, expresses from Manchester (Central) to London (St. Pancras), and goods trains. The former comprise 2P 4-4-0s and non-corridor stock, and the cross-country trains have Jubilees. This is the period with the enhanced service between Manchester and London via this route, during the WCML electrification. The London trains are usually hauled by Royal Scot 4-6-0s or Britannia Pacifics, drafted in especially to cover this heavier traffic. Goods trains have 4F 0-6-0s or 8F 2-8-0s. I spend most of the daylight hours of five days watching these trains.

One day, I walk up to Belper station and take a local into Derby. This has a 2P headed south, but a 4F headed north!

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Junior Schoolboy Football Internationals, 1955

Hillsborough

The Junior Schoolboy Football organizers in Hull have put on a trip to the Junior Schoolboy Football international match at Hillsborough, Sheffield. For this trip, a special train has been arranged. Leaving Hull ahead of the 8:50 am London train, our special takes the normal route to Doncaster until after we pass Stainforth Colliery. Here we diverge from the line into Doncaster onto the ex-GCR Doncaster avoiding line that crosses the ECML on a large truss bridge, then runs to the west of the Doncaster Locomotive and Carriage Works (the “Plant”), across the river Don, and rejoins the Mexborough line near Conisbrough.

From Swinton Junction, we travel on the ex-GCR route through Rotherham and into Sheffield. The coal mines and steel mills are as plentiful and as obtrusive along this route as they are along the ex-Midland line into Sheffield. At Darnall, west of the Darnall engine sheds, we reach the main ex-GCR line to/from the south, and turn west into Sheffield (Victoria). This is the line that has been electrified as part of the Woodhead Route electrification initiated by the LNER in 1938 and completed by BR in 1954, after the hiatus due to W.W.II.

Sheffield (Victoria) station is up on a stone embankment and/or viaduct, crossing over The Wicker (a street) below on the Wicker Arch. The station has two main island platforms with through tracks on each side of them, and a roof that extends over the outer tracks to a screen wall separating the goods bypass tracks and moderating the blast of the wind through the station. In between the two center platforms are additional through passenger tracks that are mainly used for holding engines for the required engine changes between electric and steam that occur here.

We stop on one of the through tracks for our required engine change, then continue in the direction of Penistone, starting the climb up into the Pennines, as far as Hillsborough (?) station on the northwestern edge of Sheffield. from this station it is just a short walk to Sheffield Wednesday’s football ground at Hillsborough Stadium, where today’s Junior Schoolboy International is to be played. Here we detrain and walk over to the stadium.

After the match, we return to our train(the electric locomotive has run around the train in the meantime), which takes us back into Sheffield and stops at Victoria station. Here we have a few hours to explore Sheffield. This is where dad went to University, so he takes me on an extended bus tour (on city bus services) of the places that were once important to him, including the main shopping area of the city centre, the University area, and the approaches to the moors on the western edge of the town.. We cut the time a bit tight, so we end up having to run up the inclined approach to Victoria station to catch our return excursion.

Our train now has the steam engine we came with on the front, and we return to Hull following the same route we took on the morning journey.

Wembley

The Junior Schoolboy Football organizers in Hull also put on a trip to the annual Junior Schoolboy Football international match at Wembley. This trip is intended for 11-year olds, so I go in 1955. The excursion comprises several additional carriages on the Saturday morning normal service train to King’s Cross and on the 11:55 pm return. The carriage my schoolmates and I ride in is an ex-LNER Tourist Second Open, accommodating us in groups of four with a table between each pair of double seats. I pay little attention to the trip, and lots of attention to my tablemates. At Peterborough, someone makes the comment that “we’re getting close now”, but in fact Peterborough is only half way between Doncaster and London. From King’s Cross we travel to Wembley Stadium on the UndergrounD (Circle and Bakerloo lines).

Since we don’t have one of the many special trains that go directly to Wembley Park on the ex-GCR route, the railway aspects of this trip are not especially memorable.

Thompson B1 4-6-0 61320 of Leeds (Copley Hill) leaves Platform 9 at Hull (Paragon) with the 9:24 am express train to Liverpool (Central) via Sheffield (Victoria), on Saturday February 20th, 1960. This atmospheric view is taken from Park Street Bridge and shows the Excursion Platforms in the foreground. Photograph Peter Brumby

Riddles ex-WD 8F 2-8-0 90427 on the line to the western docks just to the south of the ex-Hull & Barnsley Railway overbridge at Hessle Road, on Saturday, February 20th, 1960. The signal box at the level-crossing can be seen at left. Note the Hull Corporation AEC Regent bus on Hessle Road, just to the left of the WD’s tender. Photograph Peter Brumby

Roller-bearing equipped Peppercorn A1 60154 Bon Accord of 52A Gateshead brings an up express off the Selby swing bridge and onto the up through line at Selby station. Photograph Peter Brumby

Stanier Class 3 2-6-2T 40181 of 55D Royston wait in Leeds (Wellington) to take a local train of non-corridor stock out along the Midland main line, on Saturday April 16th 1960. Photograph Peter Brumby

Ivatt Class 4 2-6-0 43052 brings a local train of corridor stock into Leeds (Wellington) from the north, on Saturday April 16th 1960. Photograph Peter Brumby

Thompson B1 61080 of 50B Hull (Dairycoates) is on the engine release at the buffer stops after bringing a train from the west into Hull (Paragon), on Saturday February 20th 1960. V1 2-6-2T 67635, also of Dairycoates, is across the platform to the left, and beyond it is a Cravens DMU. Photograph Peter Brumby

The engine shed at 55A Leeds (Holbeck) is shown on a misty morning, in a view taken from a train departing Leeds (City) on the ex-L&NWR Viaduct Line. Photograph Peter Brumby

Stanier 'Black Five' 4-6-0 45039, an early member of the class from 8A Edge Hill, heads a Llandudno ‘Club’ train out of the west end of Manchester (Exchange). Photograph Peter Brumby

Jubilee 45626 Seychelles of 55A Leeds (Holbeck) waits to move out of the platform at the east end of Leeds (City) after uncoupling from a train it had hauled from Liverpool (Lime Street), on Saturday, October 3rd, 1964. Photograph Peter Brumby

Gresley A4 60006 Sir Ralph Wedgwood of 34A King's Cross, leads the down Anglo-Scottish Car Carrier through the down fast line at Doncaster station, on Saturday June 6th 1960. Photograph Peter Brumby

Peppercorn A1 60120 Kittiwake of 56C Leeds (Copley Hill) stands at the buffer stops of a King's Cross arrival platform after bringing in an express from the West Riding (perhaps with a portion from Hull attached at Doncaster). Photograph Peter Brumby

Maunsell Class U 2-6-0 31627 of 70C Guildford stands in Gildford station with a train for Redhill and Tonbridge, on Saturday October 12th 1963. A 2-BIL EMU stands in the adjacent platform to the right. Photograph Peter Brumby

Class O2 0-4-4-T W18 Ringwood of 70H Ryde (IOW) departing from Ventnor with a train for Ryde. Photograph Peter Brumby

"USA" 0-6-0T 30072 of 70C Guildford, built at Vulcan Foundry to a design of the US Transportation Corps, rests at Guildford shed, on Saturday October 12th 1963. Photograph Peter Brumby

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