My grandfather worked 50 years for BR and most of those years were spent at Lostock Hall shed,his name was Joe Hunt,I think he retired three years before this fateful day.He was an engine driver,having come through his apprenticeship commencing at age 15.I spent many an hour spotting trains around the area,at Bee Lane,Flag Lane and Todd Lane,but mainly at Lostock Hall,I loved every minute of it,these magnificent beasts got in my blood,the locos may have disappeared,but the memories remain,of a bygone era when steam was king; thank God so many were preserved and that we can see so many of them in action today,long live steam!
Thank you for sharing your memories, it's surprising what people remember when they watch archive films like this. Once again, thank you for your comment and hope you enjoyed reliving your days at Lostock Hall....and remembering your grandfather.
I was a regular visitor to Todd Lane and remember the sheds at Lostock Hall - also the black engines lined up nose to tail in the yards at the end of steam.
Superb footage. Thanks for sharing. I was only 8 years old the time but I can still remember all the scenes. I spent many a summer's weekend sneaking round the shed in its closed days.
I was just a week away from my 13th birthday in early August '68.We often took the Fishwick bus from Preston and rode to Lostock Hall and climbed all over the engines on the scrap lines.Wow,can it really be 46 years ago.I can still fondly remember the smells of steam,oil,grease coal and smoke in that shed.Oh the fun we had spending all day on Preston station all for the price of a platform ticket (3d),what a deal...
I am very pleased my video has brought memories back for you, fond memories as well by the sound of it. Lostock Hall was a great shed, and I always enjoyed visiting there.
I lived in Preston until 1971 and remember Lostock Hall very fondly. I suppose it was inevitable, but the end of steam was very sad - those magnificent beasts. Thank goodness some are preserved. And isn't it wonderful to see the lack of Elf&Safety - we were brought up with so much more plain common sense.
I was ten years old when this was filmed. I wasn't there on 3rd August but I did persuade my family to detour from a trip to Blackpool from our home in Stockport to see the last of steam in June that year. It was a wet day, pouring with rain, and the shedmaster let us go round, my gran and granddad included! It was very moving seeing all the withdrawn locos and even my mum was reduced to tears. 45 years later I'm a driver at the East Lancs and have driven 70013. Priceless footage, thank you.
I'm from the Midlands, but back in 1964-5 I used to spend school holidays at my aunt's in Blackpool and almost every day I was out and about train spotting. Preston station became a regular haunt and I met a local lad there who took me to Lostock Hall shed. I revisited on a number of occasions, but had forgotten all about it until I saw your video....50 years on!! Great memories, but I can still vividly remember the sadness of those last days of steam in the summer of 1968. Even now it brings a lump to my throat when I realise that those days are gone forever. I'm afraid I find seeing preserved locos a bit like seeing animals in zoos....it's all a bit unnatural!
I didn't realise when I uploaded this film, I would bring so many memories back to people. So pleased that watching my film made you write this little essay, and sharing with us your experience "in the good old day's". Thank you for your comment, really appreciated.
Three years after first viewing your UA-cam footage of Lostock Hall Shed I'm back here again still loving your piece of history. Thanks again for capturing and sharing this gem of local nostalgia. I especially appreciate the glimpses of both the Anchor Pub and the Signal Box in the distance on Croston Road. .
I am very pleased you are still enjoying this video, when I have time I will try and enhance this footage. Since this was done, I have better video editing software.
this is brilliant! I live on Moss Lane in Lostock Hall and have always wondered how the old sidings and sheds looked, this gives me some idea. We get loco's coming through at least once a week during the summer :)
great video, my dad took me to see the engines at lostock hall sheds just before it closed. We got permission to watch from just outside the shed. Also remember the rows of black and silent engines head to tail in the sidings waiting to be disposed off after it closed. As a boy used to play around todd lane junction (aka preston junction) before it closed to passenger traffic. health and safety would a fit today !
This was my first and only visit to Lostock Hall, what an impressive sheds. There were crowds of us there that day, the police came and cleared us off, but we just went straight back in again. As you say....NO chance of that in this day and age. Thank you for your comment.
Vaguely remember walking past and seeing all the locos lined up, rotting. I am too young to remember it all working, I went to Avondale dr school and walked home past the sheds, the sheds were still going but only diesels. I later found out my uncle was a fireman there after finding a slide of him in some of my grandad's stuff. They were demolished about 89ish only after did I find out their significance. Thanks for the memories!!
Thank you for sharing this with me, Lostock Hall was a very busy and interesting depot. So pleased that my little film rekindled some memories for you.
You havn't anything with Todd Ln on have you? I lived on Glendale ave which was new at the time, vaguely remember being lifted up by my aunty and seeing a DMU passing underneath. The folley of it all, Todd ln was a quiet country rd back then, a reasonable excuse to close but now it's surrounded by housing a 5minute train ride to Preston or hundreds of cars blocking London rd in a morning.
I visited Lostock hall many times in 1966/67 before I moved away from the area, I have many fond memories of the locos My friend Eric & I saw there. Just as a point 3rd of August is my birth date :-)
Great footage it took me back I spent many days at Lostock Hall in 1967 and 1968.I was 16 at the time and took many photos with my still camera.I am sure I must have been there at the same time as you.I am still following steam and will never forget the last days of steam. Davec
hi, i remember all this we did lostock hall and many more sheds in the north west, i lived in timperley and we had steam right until the end, skelton junction timperley, was the local place for us spotters in them days. thanks for the memories.
+David330ify : It was teaming with people paying their "last respects". Loads of locos in steam, and a great atmosphere. Thank you for your comment, and pleased it brought some memories back for you.
I sent many happy days there as one of my friends father was a driver. I think we were there on that day. Very sad to see all those engines ready for the scrap heap. Good to see the number of private rail lines running these beautiful beasts still in steam. I was a volunteer at the Howarth & Worth Valley til i moved to U.S.A. 6 years ago. I am now looking round at some of the giants that make British engines look like toys.
You know, I watch a lot of USA railway videos on you tube, and I envy you. I would love to film some of these magnificent beasts. It is possible then we may have have met at Lostock Hall that day. Thank you for your comment, and pleased you enjoyed the video.
Some incredible footage there Dave. The last days of steam captured for ever. WOW. It's amazing to see people wondering the depot like that. Not just blokes but whole families it seems and having cab rides as well. If H&S saw this they would have to go and lie down in a dark room for a long while me thinks.
+Dave Gower : It was a truly amazing (and sad) day. As I had the cine camera, drivers were inviting me on the cab....it was brilliant. Just a shame the quality couldn't have been better, but something is better than nothing. I could have it professionally enhanced, but the cost is too much for me. I am pleased you enjoyed the video, and thank you very much for the comment.
Hi Dave. HAPPY CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR. I was ther that day in August. I think that is me at the side of the turntable as the engine goes across(right side) I had loads of photos of Lostock till i moved over here, they got lost in the clear out prior to the move. So you can imagine i could not bring about 20 large SCRAP BOOKS due the price of EXCESS BAGGAGE. It cost me more for baggage than my air fare I flew from HEATHROW with VIRGIN as a friend of mind is a pilot & got me redutions for everything. Got 1st class on a 747 Jumbo to Boston Logan. All the best food & service. Will chat again later Pete.
+Peter Wilding : Firstly, may I also wish you all the very best for Christmas & the New Year. Shame about your scrap books, today you could put them all on to a portable hard drive, or a USB stick or a CD. I knew it would be a matter of time before someone saw themselves on my videos, you are the first one so far. Thank you for your comment, and have a great festive holiday.
What a great piece of film, I visited the shed on numerous occasion's the final one being before it was flattened to take some B&W photo's of it for posterity. They were happy days tinged with sadness that it was ending and like most folk have said H&S would have gone apoplectic but we never came to grief and by the way i still have some of the broken cab glass from 43027,,,,sad git that I am lol. Thanks for the memories.
It is hard to believe it is all gone now, I shall always remember this day....it was a hive of steam and activity. Of course I manages a couple of footplate rides as well. If the broken glass brings back memories, then I suggest you hang on to it. Thank you for your comment....appreciated.
Great film Dave - I regularly visited Lostock shed in 1965 through to 68 - still recall the buzz as we approached it and the smell and noise of steam. They were exciting days - we never knew what would be on shed and I never had any problems moving about in there. The foreman and the shed guys were so tolerant of us teenagers hovering about the place. We would then walk across the fields past the main line signal box to Fowler Lane Bridge and spend the day there returning late afternoon to check if there had been any more arrivals before we went back to Darwen. Wonderful times
I was 2 years old in 1968 & so obviously can not remember the shed operating. However having lived in Ward Street then Moss lane I was brought up with the railways & today in 2014 I live in Crewe!! I spent many happy early years in and about Lostock Hall, Todd Lane South , Farrington Curve crossing the triangle foot bridge from Queen Street. I can just about remember catching trains from the original station @ Lostock Hall ( booking office I think on top of the bridge? ) My father spent 50+ years as a controller @ Preston, Carlisle then Preston & finally Swindon. We had a 3 year spell living on the Settle to Carlisle @ Armathwaite where I spent many an hour watching trains class 40, 45 & 46 passing. Also the start of the Cumbrian Mountain Express working when Armathwaite Signal Box & station was open for the service.Happy days...
Well....you have been surrounded by railways all your life it seems, you must either love or hate the railway scene, but thank goodness it is the former. Oh to have lived (or even live) on the S&C, a photographers dream. Thank you for letting us in to you life growing up, it sounds very interesting.
Dave.. Just watched.. amazing. Always looking to see if I can see my dad.. Bob "Jock" Cumming.. based at this shed at this time.. My dad is no longer with us but was 33 years on the railway, fireman then driver.. went in the cab with him all over.. thanks for this.. Gareth.
+deborah cumming : What a shame, wouldn't it have been nice if your Dad was featured in the film. Very kind of you to comment, so thank you for that....and pleased you enjoyed the video.
Great bit of footage. Incredible to see people wandering around the sheds which is exactly as I remember it on my trips to Crewe North, Edge Hill and Aston sheds. No health and safety in those days. We just walked off Crewe platform and starting copping and cabbing. I suppose it was trespassing but nobody ever stopped us!
+NJH Video : Thank you for that comment. It was a great day, and the drivers were inviting people on the footplate for rides around the depot....it was brilliant. We all got chased off once, but quickly returned....and we were then left to it.
Yes the walk to Crewe South past the diesel shed and across the mail line to the steam shed - wonderful and exciting - never a problem there - wandering about all those great engines. If only I could travel back 50 years just for one hour of that!
If ever you find how to travel back 50 years, please let me know, as I would love to come with you. Just the magic and smell of there wonderful beasts for one more day.........
I used to visit Lostock hall lots of times between June 66/June 67 when i lived in Farrington with a friend called Eric Baker the date of the film was my 13th Birthday and at that time i was living in Bristol
I am so pleased the video brought back memories for you, although it seems...sad ones. Congratulations on passing your drivers test, and have actually got to drive the "big ones". Thank you for your comment, and maybe see you sometime at Bury.
+David Wake Thank you very much indeed for this information, may I include it in my summery. Would Andy and Ian mind if I gave them a mention. The footplate ride on 45318 was very memorable, and I thank them for the experience (especially on the turntable, that was brilliant).
@PNEKarl It is worth all the effort when I get a comment like yours PNEKarl, so pleased it brought back memories for you, and you enjoyed watching. Thank you.
Hi Dave. I was there that day with 3 friends. John Duckworth, Peter Howarth & John Dutton. We were all from Burnley. There are many U.S.A videos on U TUBE. I am now a volunteer on the BOSTON # MAINE private Railroad. Did you know that there is U.S.A engine in steam at Howarth & Worth Valley, still in its natural color scheme. Hope can keep in touch. peter wilding
Are you on the video? So you are a volunteer for a private railroad, I should think that is a very rewarding pastime. Do you take any film yourself of the locos? I was a member of the K&WVR in the early 70's, and able to take loads of lineside pictures, including the U.S.A. engine. I have watched quite a lot of U.S.A. videos on you tube, and am drooling each time as every one is fantastic. All the best, take care.
@percomotion No H&S at all that day, it was a wonder no one was injured (inc. me I suppose). I was on and off the footplate of a few loco's that day......what a great, but sad, day.
Half a century ago now. Of all the machines ever built these were the best. Moving works of art that appealed to all the senses - sight, sound, smell and touch. I was a boy at the time but even then I was painfully aware that people in general were blinkered and prejudiced against the incredible industrial beauty and romance right under their noses. My relatives would never be seen dead at somewhere like this shed. There was so much propaganda about steam being inefficient and dirty - I believed it myself right up to the recent revelations about the health dangers of spending prolonged periods near a high voltage wire. Then came the biggest bombshell - diesel engines are now known to be 200 times more deadly than petrol engines or ones that release coal smoke. Deep down I knew it all along. They made a huge, catastrophic and expensive mistake in the name of fasion. Railways now are sterile, ugly, uncomfortable and very expensive, Above all they are soulless. All you are likely to see from a train window is an ugly plastic wilderness. A reminder of what was once so tidy and perfect. Progress?
I think we must have crossed paths at sometime. I will be over in the UK later this year & hope we can arrange to meet in the Preston area. All the best Pete.
This sounds a very nice "invitation" Peter, not sure if I will be able to manage it though. Preston is quite difficult to get to from Yorkshire (Doncaster), and with commitments at home !!!! But never say never, by all means send me details nearer your visit, and I will see what the situation for me is at that time.
amazing footage! I'm relatively sure that the driver of 70013 at around 9:09 on the video is my grandad- have some old photographs of him driving that train at lostock hall on that day
Very poingnant. My Grandad used to work in the nearby signal box and I spent a couple of shifts with him in 1964. You never forget the sound and the smell of the steam era.
I should imagine been in the signal box was a great experience. As you say, if you lived in the steam era, it stays with you forever. Thank you for your comment.
Sorry for the late reply, as this is a lovely comment. Have you (or are you able to) confirm the driver was your grandad? All the drivers were brilliant that day, allowing me to climb up on to the footplate, and then ride up and down the depot.
What a difference a few years make. When young I cycled to trainspot , and would never have thought of mis-behaving. Nowadays , children have to be driven to school ( take that two ways!) , and they think it fine to sit at a computer game for hours on end , frying their brains and playing at killing people . |What a sad world we live in . PLEASE DON'T tell me we've progressed.
If only we had governments back then,that were really interested in steam traction. We entered a period of absolute destruction,not only of our beloved steam locomotives,but more importantly,the heart of B.R. morale...which has never recovered from the shock? R.I.P all those beautiful machines.
And worse, my Dad said that because it was a nationalised industry, I and everybody else owned all the stock.... yet nobody asked me if I minded that (say) 7823 was scrapped. I did mind. I minded a lot!
My grandfather worked 50 years for BR and most of those years were spent at Lostock Hall shed,his name was Joe Hunt,I think he retired three years before this fateful day.He was an engine driver,having come through his apprenticeship commencing at age 15.I spent many an hour spotting trains around the area,at Bee Lane,Flag Lane and Todd Lane,but mainly at Lostock Hall,I loved every minute of it,these magnificent beasts got in my blood,the locos may have disappeared,but the memories remain,of a bygone era when steam was king; thank God so many were preserved and that we can see so many of them in action today,long live steam!
Thank you for sharing your memories, it's surprising what people remember when they watch archive films like this.
Once again, thank you for your comment and hope you enjoyed reliving your days at Lostock Hall....and remembering your grandfather.
Bee Lane, Flag Lag Lane and Fowler Lane were were my haunts in them days too. The sheds at Lostock Hall being my favourite.
I was a regular visitor to Todd Lane and remember the sheds at Lostock Hall - also the black engines lined up nose to tail in the yards at the end of steam.
The freedom of youth 1968, and nobody got run over !!
Absolutely not.....there were no accidents at all.
Superb footage. Thanks for sharing. I was only 8 years old the time but I can still remember all the scenes. I spent many a summer's weekend sneaking round the shed in its closed days.
What gorgeous machines may they live on and be remembered forever steam is king and better not forget it .
I agree....good old steam. I know I shall never forget them.
I was just a week away from my 13th birthday in early August '68.We often took the Fishwick bus from Preston and rode to Lostock Hall and climbed all over the engines on the scrap lines.Wow,can it really be 46 years ago.I can still fondly remember the smells of steam,oil,grease coal and smoke in that shed.Oh the fun we had spending all day on Preston station all for the price of a platform ticket (3d),what a deal...
I am very pleased my video has brought memories back for you, fond memories as well by the sound of it.
Lostock Hall was a great shed, and I always enjoyed visiting there.
I lived in Preston until 1971 and remember Lostock Hall very fondly. I suppose it was inevitable, but the end of steam was very sad - those magnificent beasts. Thank goodness some are preserved. And isn't it wonderful to see the lack of Elf&Safety - we were brought up with so much more plain common sense.
I was ten years old when this was filmed. I wasn't there on 3rd August but I did persuade my family to detour from a trip to Blackpool from our home in Stockport to see the last of steam in June that year. It was a wet day, pouring with rain, and the shedmaster let us go round, my gran and granddad included! It was very moving seeing all the withdrawn locos and even my mum was reduced to tears. 45 years later I'm a driver at the East Lancs and have driven 70013. Priceless footage, thank you.
I'm from the Midlands, but back in 1964-5 I used to spend school holidays at my aunt's in Blackpool and almost every day I was out and about train spotting. Preston station became a regular haunt and I met a local lad there who took me to Lostock Hall shed. I revisited on a number of occasions, but had forgotten all about it until I saw your video....50 years on!! Great memories, but I can still vividly remember the sadness of those last days of steam in the summer of 1968. Even now it brings a lump to my throat when I realise that those days are gone forever. I'm afraid I find seeing preserved locos a bit like seeing animals in zoos....it's all a bit unnatural!
I didn't realise when I uploaded this film, I would bring so many memories back to people. So pleased that watching my film made you write this little essay, and sharing with us your experience "in the good old day's".
Thank you for your comment, really appreciated.
Three years after first viewing your UA-cam footage of Lostock Hall Shed I'm back here again still loving your piece of history.
Thanks again for capturing and sharing this gem of local nostalgia.
I especially appreciate the glimpses of both the Anchor Pub and the Signal Box in the distance on Croston Road.
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I am very pleased you are still enjoying this video, when I have time I will try and enhance this footage. Since this was done, I have better video editing software.
this is brilliant! I live on Moss Lane in Lostock Hall and have always wondered how the old sidings and sheds looked, this gives me some idea. We get loco's coming through at least once a week during the summer :)
So did I I lived in no 46 moss lane until 81 then moved to Wales as my dad worked for ROF Chorley and got transferred when they shut it down.
great video, my dad took me to see the engines at lostock hall sheds just before it closed. We got permission to watch from just outside the shed. Also remember the rows of black and silent engines head to tail in the sidings waiting to be disposed off after it closed. As a boy used to play around todd lane junction (aka preston junction) before it closed to passenger traffic. health and safety would a fit today !
This was my first and only visit to Lostock Hall, what an impressive sheds. There were crowds of us there that day, the police came and cleared us off, but we just went straight back in again. As you say....NO chance of that in this day and age. Thank you for your comment.
Excellent film. I was there on the 1st August 1968 and this brings it back very vividly. Thanks for posting
LG99
Vaguely remember walking past and seeing all the locos lined up, rotting. I am too young to remember it all working, I went to Avondale dr school and walked home past the sheds, the sheds were still going but only diesels. I later found out my uncle was a fireman there after finding a slide of him in some of my grandad's stuff. They were demolished about 89ish only after did I find out their significance. Thanks for the memories!!
Thank you for sharing this with me, Lostock Hall was a very busy and interesting depot. So pleased that my little film rekindled some memories for you.
You havn't anything with Todd Ln on have you? I lived on Glendale ave which was new at the time, vaguely remember being lifted up by my aunty and seeing a DMU passing underneath. The folley of it all, Todd ln was a quiet country rd back then, a reasonable excuse to close but now it's surrounded by housing a 5minute train ride to Preston or hundreds of cars blocking London rd in a morning.
Used to get off at Todd Lane from Blackburn and walk to the shed - great days
I visited Lostock hall many times in 1966/67 before I moved away from the area,
I have many fond memories of the locos My friend Eric & I saw there.
Just as a point 3rd of August is my birth date :-)
That wasn’t Eric Johnson by any chance?
Great footage it took me back I spent many days at Lostock Hall in 1967 and 1968.I was 16 at the time and took many photos with my still camera.I am sure I must have been there at the same time as you.I am still following steam and will never forget the last days of steam.
Davec
hi, i remember all this we did lostock hall and many more sheds in the north west, i lived in timperley and we had steam right until the end, skelton junction timperley, was the local place for us spotters in them days. thanks for the memories.
I am very pleased if my video brought back some nice memories.....and I appreciate the comment, thank you.
Dave , brilliant footage. I live in Merseyside and visited Lostock Hall many times. Brings back good memories.
+David330ify : It was teaming with people paying their "last respects". Loads of locos in steam, and a great atmosphere. Thank you for your comment, and pleased it brought some memories back for you.
I sent many happy days there as one of my friends father was a driver. I think we were there on that day. Very sad to see all those engines ready for the scrap heap. Good to see the number of private rail lines running these beautiful beasts still in steam. I was a volunteer at the Howarth & Worth Valley til i moved to U.S.A. 6 years ago. I am now looking round at some of the giants that make British engines look like toys.
You know, I watch a lot of USA railway videos on you tube, and I envy you. I would love to film some of these magnificent beasts. It is possible then we may have have met at Lostock Hall that day. Thank you for your comment, and pleased you enjoyed the video.
Peter Wilding We should have scrapped more steam engines quicker, and preserved less. All the Barry ones should have been cut, for starters!
Some incredible footage there Dave. The last days of steam captured for ever. WOW.
It's amazing to see people wondering the depot like that. Not just blokes but whole families it seems and having cab rides as well. If H&S saw this they would have to go and lie down in a dark room for a long while me thinks.
+Dave Gower : It was a truly amazing (and sad) day. As I had the cine camera, drivers were inviting me on the cab....it was brilliant. Just a shame the quality couldn't have been better, but something is better than nothing. I could have it professionally enhanced, but the cost is too much for me. I am pleased you enjoyed the video, and thank you very much for the comment.
Hi Dave. HAPPY CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR. I was ther that day in August. I think that is me at the side of the turntable as the engine goes across(right side) I had loads of photos of Lostock till i moved over here, they got lost in the clear out prior to the move. So you can imagine i could not bring about 20 large SCRAP BOOKS due the price of EXCESS BAGGAGE. It cost me more for baggage than my air fare I flew from HEATHROW with VIRGIN as a friend of mind is a pilot & got me redutions for everything. Got 1st class on a 747 Jumbo to Boston Logan. All the best food & service. Will chat again later Pete.
+Peter Wilding : Firstly, may I also wish you all the very best for Christmas & the New Year. Shame about your scrap books, today you could put them all on to a portable hard drive, or a USB stick or a CD. I knew it would be a matter of time before someone saw themselves on my videos, you are the first one so far.
Thank you for your comment, and have a great festive holiday.
What a great piece of film, I visited the shed on numerous occasion's the final one being before it was flattened to take some B&W photo's of it for posterity. They were happy days tinged with sadness that it was ending and like most folk have said H&S would have gone apoplectic but we never came to grief and by the way i still have some of the broken cab glass from 43027,,,,sad git that I am lol. Thanks for the memories.
You should have broken it all out, it helps keep contamination out of the steel when they chop it for scrap.
It is hard to believe it is all gone now, I shall always remember this day....it was a hive of steam and activity. Of course I manages a couple of footplate rides as well. If the broken glass brings back memories, then I suggest you hang on to it. Thank you for your comment....appreciated.
Great film Dave - I regularly visited Lostock shed in 1965 through to 68 - still recall the buzz as we approached it and the smell and noise of steam. They were exciting days - we never knew what would be on shed and I never had any problems moving about in there. The foreman and the shed guys were so tolerant of us teenagers hovering about the place. We would then walk across the fields past the main line signal box to Fowler Lane Bridge and spend the day there returning late afternoon to check if there had been any more arrivals before we went back to Darwen. Wonderful times
You have painted a vivid picture there Tony, and I was living every word of it.
Fantastic days they were as you say, and I am so pleased I lived it.
I was 2 years old in 1968 & so obviously can not remember the shed operating. However having lived in Ward Street then Moss lane I was brought up with the railways & today in 2014 I live in Crewe!! I spent many happy early years in and about Lostock Hall, Todd Lane South , Farrington Curve crossing the triangle foot bridge from Queen Street. I can just about remember catching trains from the original station @ Lostock Hall ( booking office I think on top of the bridge? ) My father spent 50+ years as a controller @ Preston, Carlisle then Preston & finally Swindon. We had a 3 year spell living on the Settle to Carlisle @ Armathwaite where I spent many an hour watching trains class 40, 45 & 46 passing. Also the start of the Cumbrian Mountain Express working when Armathwaite Signal Box & station was open for the service.Happy days...
Well....you have been surrounded by railways all your life it seems, you must either love or hate the railway scene, but thank goodness it is the former. Oh to have lived (or even live) on the S&C, a photographers dream. Thank you for letting us in to you life growing up, it sounds very interesting.
Dave.. Just watched.. amazing. Always looking to see if I can see my dad.. Bob "Jock" Cumming.. based at this shed at this time.. My dad is no longer with us but was 33 years on the railway, fireman then driver.. went in the cab with him all over.. thanks for this.. Gareth.
+deborah cumming : What a shame, wouldn't it have been nice if your Dad was featured in the film. Very kind of you to comment, so thank you for that....and pleased you enjoyed the video.
Wow no health and safety days superb video.
Great bit of footage. Incredible to see people wandering around the sheds which is exactly as I remember it on my trips to Crewe North, Edge Hill and Aston sheds. No health and safety in those days. We just walked off Crewe platform and starting copping and cabbing. I suppose it was trespassing but nobody ever stopped us!
+NJH Video : Thank you for that comment. It was a great day, and the drivers were inviting people on the footplate for rides around the depot....it was brilliant. We all got chased off once, but quickly returned....and we were then left to it.
Yes the walk to Crewe South past the diesel shed and across the mail line to the steam shed - wonderful and exciting - never a problem there - wandering about all those great engines. If only I could travel back 50 years just for one hour of that!
If ever you find how to travel back 50 years, please let me know, as I would love to come with you.
Just the magic and smell of there wonderful beasts for one more day.........
I used to visit Lostock hall lots of times between June 66/June 67 when i lived in Farrington with a friend called Eric Baker
the date of the film was my 13th Birthday and at that time i was living in Bristol
Hope the film brought some nice memories back for you. Many thanks for watching and commenting on the video.
Good on ya, I am glad you are enjoying it.
@notdrivingaminimetro I am glad this has helped, thank you for watching.
I am so pleased the video brought back memories for you, although it seems...sad ones. Congratulations on passing your drivers test, and have actually got to drive the "big ones".
Thank you for your comment, and maybe see you sometime at Bury.
The driver on 45318 is Andy Hall, fireman is Ian Hogg. Just seen Andy today in Sainsburys Bamber Bridge, Regards John Fletcher, ex10D
+David Wake Thank you very much indeed for this information, may I include it in my summery. Would Andy and Ian mind if I gave them a mention. The footplate ride on 45318 was very memorable, and I thank them for the experience (especially on the turntable, that was brilliant).
@PNEKarl It is worth all the effort when I get a comment like yours PNEKarl, so pleased it brought back memories for you, and you enjoyed watching. Thank you.
Hi Dave. I was there that day with 3 friends. John Duckworth, Peter Howarth & John Dutton. We were all from Burnley. There are many U.S.A videos on U TUBE. I am now a volunteer on the BOSTON # MAINE private Railroad. Did you know that there is U.S.A engine in steam at Howarth & Worth Valley, still in its natural color scheme. Hope can keep in touch. peter wilding
Are you on the video? So you are a volunteer for a private railroad, I should think that is a very rewarding pastime. Do you take any film yourself of the locos? I was a member of the K&WVR in the early 70's, and able to take loads of lineside pictures, including the U.S.A. engine.
I have watched quite a lot of U.S.A. videos on you tube, and am drooling each time as every one is fantastic.
All the best, take care.
You are right what you say, most of us were very sensible and knew how to behave. Thank you for your comment.
Thank you for your comment, and the soundtrack is copyright free by AKM Music, the album title is "Tranquil Rhythms".
I've watched your video umpteen times. Thank you :-)
@percomotion No H&S at all that day, it was a wonder no one was injured (inc. me I suppose). I was on and off the footplate of a few loco's that day......what a great, but sad, day.
Half a century ago now. Of all the machines ever built these were the best. Moving works of art that appealed to all the senses - sight, sound, smell and touch. I was a boy at the time but even then I was painfully aware that people in general were blinkered and prejudiced against the incredible industrial beauty and romance right under their noses. My relatives would never be seen dead at somewhere like this shed. There was so much propaganda about steam being inefficient and dirty - I believed it myself right up to the recent revelations about the health dangers of spending prolonged periods near a high voltage wire. Then came the biggest bombshell - diesel engines are now known to be 200 times more deadly than petrol engines or ones that release coal smoke. Deep down I knew it all along. They made a huge, catastrophic and expensive mistake in the name of fasion. Railways now are sterile, ugly, uncomfortable and very expensive, Above all they are soulless. All you are likely to see from a train window is an ugly plastic wilderness. A reminder of what was once so tidy and perfect. Progress?
I think we must have crossed paths at sometime. I will be over in the UK later this year & hope we can arrange to meet in the Preston area. All the best Pete.
This sounds a very nice "invitation" Peter, not sure if I will be able to manage it though. Preston is quite difficult to get to from Yorkshire (Doncaster), and with commitments at home !!!! But never say never, by all means send me details nearer your visit, and I will see what the situation for me is at that time.
amazing footage! I'm relatively sure that the driver of 70013 at around 9:09 on the video is my grandad- have some old photographs of him driving that train at lostock hall on that day
Very poingnant. My Grandad used to work in the nearby signal box and I spent a couple of shifts with him in 1964. You never forget the sound and the smell of the steam era.
I should imagine been in the signal box was a great experience. As you say, if you lived in the steam era, it stays with you forever. Thank you for your comment.
Sorry for the late reply, as this is a lovely comment. Have you (or are you able to) confirm the driver was your grandad? All the drivers were brilliant that day, allowing me to climb up on to the footplate, and then ride up and down the depot.
No Probs. Wil wait with joy.
What a difference a few years make. When young I cycled to trainspot , and would never have thought of mis-behaving. Nowadays , children have to be driven to school ( take that two ways!) , and they think it fine to sit at a computer game for hours on end , frying their brains and playing at killing people . |What a sad world we live in . PLEASE DON'T tell me we've progressed.
If only we had governments back then,that were really interested in steam traction. We entered a period of absolute destruction,not only of our beloved steam locomotives,but more importantly,the heart of B.R. morale...which has never recovered from the shock? R.I.P all those beautiful machines.
Have you got any videos of them cutting up these old heaps of junk into scrap?
That would be great!
Post the videos!
@PNEKarl Pity I didn't have the camera I have now, but then the old 8mm dates the footage for that era.
@bigblue1402 It seem's this video had mixed emotions for you. Hope you enjoyed it though, and thank you for the comment.
Will be over either August or Sept 2016
I think it was a Sunday. That day we were at the Talyllyn Railway.... to lessen the sorrow of steam's sunset.
I went round Lostock Hall on the Saturday, and the tour to Carnforth on the Sunday 3rd. and 4th. August 1968.
It was really hard to accept that there would be no ordinary steam on BR. Steam locos had seemed like the friendliest of machines.
I agree with you 100% on that, it was devastating to think it at all come to an end.
And worse, my Dad said that because it was a nationalised industry, I and everybody else owned all the stock.... yet nobody asked me if I minded that (say) 7823 was scrapped. I did mind. I minded a lot!
hI dAVE. yOUR LATEST VIDEO IS NOT COMING UP. iT SAYS IT HAS BEEN REMOVED BY YOU
A technical hitch I'm afraid, sorry about that. Give me a couple of days to sort it....cheers.