Blast Form The Past 47 Eastleigh 16.9.2020

[Deleted]

47593 Passing Eastleigh Today Nice To Get Back To My Second Hobby

[davidallum]

Blimey Tarnish,those Brush Type 4's still going?Remember seeing loads of them when I was into train spotting especially @ Reading.

[dave]

hi,
spent 25ys in Crewe works working on these, and other types, good memories, as a aside odds on i've slept in her cab...

stay safe, regards,
dave...

[Deleted]

They are all in preservation now sadly .... nice to see them out and about though on the main lines
and the smell as it passed never leaves you...........

Good Memories

[graham]

I too remember those far off days at the end of the platform at Reading General as a lad aged 11 or 12, usually sat in a brute trolley. I recall that the 47s had serials in the D19** range and I always thought to myself how far in the future 1980 was. Now here we all are in 2020.

Of course Reading was also a great spot for the Westerns and Warships and we would always ask the driver if we were allowed into the cab and most would let us up,

[davidallum]

Graham,you've forgotten about the Hymeks mate D7*** if I remember correctly.

[dave]

hi,
we built 40 or so Westerns, and the only time we saw Warships was one came up from the south/south-west on freight overnight, so many nights a week, and was on the crewe north shed 3-4 hrs till she went back.
Started off on steam, then progressed if thats the word to building 47's.

Our bread and butter loco's were 1000 horse, type 2's, 37's, brush 4's, EE 4's, 50's, 56's, new build HST-125'S,
Fair share of crashed loco's for rebuild, the EE.4's were steel body work so just nose end damage, but Brush 4's were only Aluminium frame cabs so they were total front-end rebuilds.
there were Electric 81-87's but they were from the dark side and we did'nt both with them...

happy days, stay safe, regards,
dave...

[graham]

Yes Dave (s), how could I forget the Hymeks? Staple diet at Reading General back then along with the Brush Type 4s.. As my paternal grandparents lived in Basingstoke, I'd often take the train there from Reading, via Reading West, Mortimer and Bramley, what a lovely half hour ride that used to be. I'd often see Warships there too, presumably working from Waterloo on the Exeter (?) run. I think it was the Class 33s that we used to call Slugs, goodness knows why.

I recall that the three car diesel units that ran on the Basingstoke branch line were compartmentalised, no corridor, no toilets. Loved spotting at Basingstoke, huge variety of EMUs to be seen.

One of the platforms at Basingstoke had a vending machine, for half a crown you got a fruit pie, an apple and a two finger Kit Kat. I remember putting my half crown in, and all the glass doors opened, I ended up with ten each of the above in my duffel bag, scoffed most of the Kit Kats on the way home and Mum wondered why I didn't want any tea.

[davidallum]

I remember that story Graham,indeed I used to enjoy spotting @ Basingstoke especially when the Bournemouth Belle went through,usually a Battle of Britian,Merchant Navy or West Country class hauling it,it's also where I got my last Warship on a frieght train D813 HMS Diadem,happy days.

[graham]

Yes Dave, the locos back then all had a certain character even if most of the Warships had paint flaking away from them and really were in a bit of a state. I'm so out of touch now with railways but I'm guessing that nothing is pulled by a loco any more, it's all DMUs and EMUs plus the fast electrics that are being used on the GWR and no doubt elsewhere. We went to and back from Chippenham to Paddington on one of those new green electric trains last year, they weren't running on the new timetables fully and these trains accelerated so quickly, that we sat there in both Reading and Swindon for five minutes in order that we would run to the timetable.