Train spotting

 

 

No,  I’m not referring to the film about drug users but rather the innocent hobby of collecting train numbers. As a boy I was a fanatic for a couple of years then faded rather quickly. I was fortunate in that steam power was the overwhelmingly dominant form of locomotive power at the time. I still thrill to the sight of a big steam loco but nowadays on Heritage railways.

I was introduced by a school friend, Anthony, not long after starting secondary school. It was a very common interest and I reckon a dozen of our class of 36 were enthusiasts. The general idea was extremely simple. Every BR loco had a unique number in large characters on the side of the cab. For historic reasons the loco world was subdivided into regions. The Midlands with the West Coast mainline passing through Tamworth was in the London, Midland and Scottish ( LMS ) region. All LMS locos had a five digit number with leading digit always 4. So the spotter just noted the last 4 digits.

The spotters indispensable book was by Ian Allen publications. This listed every loco by its class with some brief details about the class. The layout of the engine was described in shorthand form with the number of leading, driving and trailing wheels. Thus the largest ( also known a Pacific types ) had the 4-6-2 layout. Different designers and different applications demanded different layouts thus the 0-4-0 was the smallest possible but the smallest in common use was 0-6-0. Many of the larger locos used 4-6-0.

The loco spotters rules were simple. To count you actually had to see the engine. It was OK for someone else to note its number. This only happened at busy stations where many may be in view. You noted the number in a notebook then at leisure  you underlined its number in your Ian Allen guide. Once seen it was a “cop” and subsequent sightings were disregarded. The ( distant ) goal was to see every loco in your region. In practice this never happened as some loco’s only travelled short distances from their home base which meant they never visited your area.

Some larger engines were named. The name plate would be curved above the central driving wheel. For a loco speeding along the main line you had to rely on your Ian Allen guide to tell you the name of the engine. Names were usually in groups appropriate to the class . Thus the Patriot class of 4-6-0 had names after regiments in the army. Some loco’s were rarely seen thus Patriot class “Green Howards” caused great excitement when I saw one on its rare appearances in Tamworth. In contrast “Gurkha Rifles” which frequently appeared would result in groans.

I said I was a fanatical spotter for a time. I would dash from school straight down the road past my school bus stop to just above the cutting where the West Coast mainline passed. Keeping one eye open for my bus arriving I would hope to see a train pass through. I had just enough time to run back to my bus stop where others slow boarding would just give me time to catch it.

I lived about 5 miles from the West Coast mainline. In a summer evening I would cycle to a suitable viewing point and see a few trains past. One of my regular viewing points was just opposite where Annette lived although I had no idea at the time.

Most of my weekend expeditions was with Anthony. His parents were very indulgent and took us to both Rugby and Crewe, both very busy stations. Tamworth was actually a good spotting place as the Derby to Birmingham line crosses the West Coast mainline so it was quite busy.

Spotting was based on the honour system and some of my form mates were less than honourable. Thus Twink ( I only remember his nickname) claimed to have seen every noteworthy loco in the book. He was scandalised when Anthony and I had a ride on the footplate and I’m sure he thought this was an invention. One Sunday morning Anthony and I went to quiet branch line in Leicestershire at Sweptstone. There was an 0–6-0 ( always called a Duck-six ) doing some shunting. The bored driver seeing us watching asked if we would like a ride. This was a couple of stations down the line and return. We were fascinated particularly at the exchange of tokens on a single track portion.. I’m sure this wouldn’t meet health and safety criteria nowadays; indeed a driver inviting two small boys aboard was probably contrary to regulations then..

We were late back for lunch flushed with excitement. The following day we were anxious to tell other friends about the experience. We briefly basked in glory. Twink of course didn’t believe us.

Anthony was more venturesome than I was and often took the lead in our expeditions. Once we had seen that the Birmingham to Dudley service was by diesel rail car, very unusual at that time, and the only one in the LMS region. We went to Birmingham, changed stations and travelled on the rail car to Dudley.

When he was a boy Martin became interested and I passed my spotting book to him. Since moving to North Yorkshire he and all the family have become volunteers on the North York Moors Railway. This a 20 mile stretch from Pickering across the moors which has special permission to run into Whitby several times a day during the tourist season. The final few miles from Grosmont is on national track. Their special claim to fame is the streamlined “Sir Nigel Gresley” originally built for the East Coast mainline and a sister engine to speed record holder “Mallard”. “Sir Nigel Gresley” is presently undergoing heavy maintenance at York Railway museum.

My grandson, Alex, takes his volunteer work very seriously. He has been promoted to work in the motive power ( engine ) department  and it was impressive to meet him in his overalls and boots after a day’s work looking every inch a railwayman.. He has been allowed to drive an engine, cautiously and under supervision.