Corridor Trains

[Ruthio]

Love this thread  fabulous photos.
Still searching for mine of the Jacobite, it was a long time ago!

[GrannyMac]

Can’t claim this one of the Tay Bridge, but I like it.

[Raven]

In the 50s we went from Dundee to Forres (Morayshire) by train every summer.  Through Kingussie, Aviemore, Boat of Garten, placenames that have stuck for almost 70 years.

For years I’d travel back home to see my mum from Doncaster, usually via Waverley. Of course Doncaster is a railway town, famous for the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard. We often used to go to London by train, I love St Pancras. I use local trains frequently, and OH and I went to Dundee by train for a wedding last year.  OH finds the drive a chore these days.  I went to York a few weeks ago for a day out with my daughter and granddaughter.  I love train travel, except for a few selfish and noisy passengers that impact on the rest of us.

A photo I took from the train on the Tay Bridge, entering Dundee.

Traveled on that line often as a child, it used to give me the creeps when we crossed that bridge as you could see the stumps of the pillars from the original bridge sticking up out of the water. Mum told me a pretty hair-raising story about that awful night back on that stormy Sunday 28 December 1879, when the bridge collapsed and the train went into the water........Still get the shudders today if I drive along riverside and see them. It must have been awful.

[xetog]

Older still were the old suburban (London) SE Electric trains with compartments right across the carriage but no corridors.  They could also be found on some local steam services (great for courting at a quiet time).  In my apprentice days we used to lower the windows both sides on their leather straps and savour the smell of the smoke as the train went through a tunnel.


Mike.X

[Bruce]

Older still were the old suburban (London) SE Electric trains with compartments right across the carriage but no corridors. 

The night train from Sydney to Brisbane (1000km) in the 1960s was such a train. It had no toilets anyway. If you needed the loo you did so at a station after informing the guard so they didn't leave without you.

When I travelled on it it was winter. At about 8 or 9pm the train stopped for a long while while the station staff went the length of the train with these big trolleys, at each compartment they off loaded a massive metal container of hot water (took four of them) that stretched the width of the compartment. That was your heating for the night, it was shaped so you could rest your feet on it..

[Muddy]

Sounds lovely I could do with one right now .

[Scrumpy]

Bruce.. Love your description Sydney to Brisbane train in the 60s..


We travelled midwinter on the St Petersburg to Moscow..
At every stop a peddler boarded with wares .. which included pure Vodka.. They would jump off as the train drew away from the station..
Each compartment had fire for warmth.. The scenery was beautiful.. house lights sparkling in the ice and snow..
We sat drinking Vodka ...

[prestbury]

Around 30 or so years ago, approx 4 miles from where I lived, the Stockport rail viaduct underwent renovation.  I knew one of the labourers employed who told me about how they had been told that there was a solid gold brick somewhere among all the others and that if anyone found it, they would be allowed to keep it.  I found it curious that he actually believed the yarn.

At the time when it was built (1839 to 1840) it was the worlds largest viaduct and still remains one of the worlds largest brick built structures. At its highest point is 111 feet and 1792 foot long. Restored and the brickwork cleaned in 1989 at a cost of £3 million.

Shame that these days the viaduct is probably the best part of the town.

[Bruce]

At the time when it was built (1839 to 1840) it was the worlds largest viaduct and still remains one of the worlds largest brick built structures. At its highest point is 111 feet and 1792 foot long. Restored and the brickwork cleaned in 1989 at a cost of £3 million.

Shame that these days the viaduct is probably the best part of the town.

Beaten by Folkestone Viaduct which was built in 1843 and remains the world's largest brick viaduct. The pit where the clay for the bricks was dug became Kingsnorth Gardens

[xetog]

Really?  I never realised that.  I used to live in Canterbury and did lots of business in the Folkestone/Dover area.  I must have driven under the viaduct hundreds of times never giving it a second though,(never went over it though).  If we still lived that way I would go and take a more careful look, but it's too far to drive on a whim from where we live now.  It just goes to show that we should all pay more attention as we move around, there is marvellous history all around us.


Mike.X

[Bruce]

I think one of the biggest shocks of my life was returning to Folkestone in 1988 for my old man's funeral after about a decade and a half away. Folkestone was not the thriving seaside town I grew up in, it was a dump.

I think the UK was at its lowest ebb, the whole place was filthy and drab. The train from Charing Cross to Folkestone was expensive (four times the cost of the same distance in Australia) and absolutely disgusting, drink cans rolling up and down the aisle. To be fair British Rail was being prepared for sale by that awful woman Thatcher and I was used to trains that are cleaned at the end of every trip.

On the tube from Heathrow everybody seemed glum and grey, the stations again were dirty and half the advertising poster placess were empty which didn't help, Charing Cross Station had newspapers blowing about and rubbish lying everywhere. With in days of my arrival there was a train crash in London and when I was driving up to Glasgow the Lockerby air crash a few hours before meant a diversion. One of my abiding memories of that visit is the smell of urine in just about every public stairwell (car parks etc) it was as if cleaning anything had been totally abandoned.


Honestly, I thought the UK was completely stuffed and thought I would never return to such a depressing place, my visit to Glasgow was the only bright spot of the trip. I am glad I did return a few years ago. The whole country seemed to have got over the awful years of Thatcher tearing society apart (whether it will ever fully recover is a moot point), Folkestone seemed to be slowly recovering and was finding its place as an art centre. The trains were still ridiculously expensive but at least they were clean (and much faster than Aussie trains). In short the country seemed to be on the up and up.

That will be my memory of Britain not the 1988 visit. Mind you I still don't understand how anybody there can afford to travel by train.

[Raven]

That will be my memory of Britain not the 1988 visit. Mind you I still don't understand how anybody there can afford to travel by train.

It's been over 20 years since I was priced off trains, I simply couldn't afford to pay that amount. AND, even if I could have afforded it, I wouldn't have paid that much.

[xetog]

In 1988 I was travelling backwards and forwards from Canterbury (Sturry) to London via Ashford, mostly Charing Cross.  True the country was on its knees, not because of Thatcher, but the work of the unions who were then as now attempting to bring the UK into the sphere of the Soviets.  They had their hands on the throat of the nation, determined to keep squeezing the life out until we gave in and became a state of mother Russia.


The way I remember things, everything was at rock bottom and every scrap of pride in Britain had been expunged by the constant strikes and the power of the unions. The era of Wilson and Callahan giving in to union demands allowed everything to rot.  Not just trains, but everything from cars to coal was ruined by constant strikes over trivial issues.  The Tory government that followed under Heath was weak and had no more backbone than the previous two.  Thatcher was a breath of fresh air, had a plan and set about implementing it.  It was not easy, particularly at first, but then along came Cargill and his over inflated ego giving her the opportunity she needed, the victims were the miners.  Having won that battle, along came the Falklands and her legacy was set.  She gave us back some pride and confidence.  Sure she got some things wrong, but the left constantly play on those issues because if she had not held firm we would now be backing Russia instead of Ukraine.


Who have we had leading us since Thatcher? Dishwater Major, whose only legacy was sha**ing the egg lady, Blair - Multiculturism & free immigration, Brown - calling a voter a hypocrite & bankrupting the country, May- wrecking the Tory party, Johnson- Agreeing a faulty Brexit & partying, Truss- nothing, Sunak- the first foreign PM, intent on driving all companies abroad.  Which modern politician has the spunk or ability to equal Thatcher and who would want to since success in this country only engenders hate?


Mike.X

[Michael Rolls]

only used a train twice since we came up here - in both cases the overnight sleeper from Perth to London. First time to visit my dying sister in hospital, second to attend her funeral. Four years ago and the return tickets were about £250 each - and more now. It was, however, very convenient as she was 500 miles away.

[Michael Rolls]

In 1988 I was travelling backwards and forwards from Canterbury (Sturry) to London via Ashford, mostly Charing Cross.  True the country was on its knees, not because of Thatcher, but the work of the unions who were then as now attempting to bring the UK into the sphere of the Soviets.  They had their hands on the throat of the nation, determined to keep squeezing the life out until we gave in and became a state of mother Russia.


The way I remember things, everything was at rock bottom and every scrap of pride in Britain had been expunged by the constant strikes and the power of the unions. The era of Wilson and Callahan giving in to union demands allowed everything to rot.  Not just trains, but everything from cars to coal was ruined by constant strikes over trivial issues.  The Tory government that followed under Heath was weak and had no more backbone than the previous two.  Thatcher was a breath of fresh air, had a plan and set about implementing it.  It was not easy, particularly at first, but then along came Cargill and his over inflated ego giving her the opportunity she needed, the victims were the miners.  Having won that battle, along came the Falklands and her legacy was set.  She gave us back some pride and confidence.  Sure she got some things wrong, but the left constantly play on those issues because if she had not held firm we would now be backing Russia instead of Ukraine.


Who have we had leading us since Thatcher? Dishwater Major, whose only legacy was sha**ing the egg lady, Blair - Multiculturism & free immigration, Brown - calling a voter a hypocrite & bankrupting the country, May- wrecking the Tory party, Johnson- Agreeing a faulty Brexit & partying, Truss- nothing, Sunak- the first foreign PM, intent on driving all companies abroad.  Which modern politician has the spunk or ability to equal Thatcher and who would want to since success in this country only engenders hate?


Mike.X

Couldn't have put it better!