get rid of your steam??????????
 

someone told me about this site and its pretty fascinating always fancied a do on one of the steam trains since i stood on the engine of the flying scotsman when it stopped at accy station a few (goodfew)years ago and for the price its cheaper than taking kids to blackpool and more exciting. http://www.railwayvideo.com/railtours/

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

perhaps we could have a accy web meet on one of the trips up to carlisle and a few beers in the historic city, bet it would be a brill day plus nostalgic for some.

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

When I worked in Bury (and lived in West End), in the early 60s, I used to go by train. They were steam trains and I loved them. They were often dirty, always cold in Winter and a bit noisy but there was something about a steam engine that the modern ones just don't have. My grandfather was the Station Master at Church & Oswaldtwistle station in the 1910s and 20s so maybe it's in the blood.

Some years later, after I was married, we lived in Whitby, North Yorks. The Whitby to Pickering railway line had been axed by Beeching but the N Yorks Moors Railway Society decided to open up the old line. My husband joined and used to go with the children, on a Sunday, helping to clear it. The steam trains started to run on it about a year before we left the area.

Last time I travelled by steam train was in the Lake District, on the line to Windermere. I loved every minute of it - though I fell asleep on the way back, just like I always did on the Bury train. :D

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

well; we might think its more exiting staggers but doubt very much wether many of todays kids would,i love em.

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

my husband worked on the steam trains at rosegrove,,he had just passed from being a fireman to a driver when "beeching " got rid of hundreds of railmen .it was last in first out and you couldent be demoted to the rank you were before ,so it was the chop for him ,,,it broke his heart ,,,,i remember him getting £300 ,redundency money,,, that seemed a fortune then,,,,

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

I have always had a deep affection for British Steam Trains -- I still model an LMS Branch line mostly running Burnley/Rosegrove engines and rolling stock (including, for real nostalgia, Stanier 57ft crimson 3rd class carriages).

I misspent(?) a lot of my youth trainspotting and just observing railway operations --soaking up the atmosphere as it were -- much of it on my way to and from regular and Sunday school (of course, we all walked in those days) at Towneley station which had a level crossing and signal box. I got to know the signal box man very well -- in fact I found out from him that WW2 had been declared on my way home from Sunday school on 3 September 1939.

During the 1930s just about every Lancashire family that could afford it went to Blackpool for holiday during wake's week or August bank holiday. The travel by those marvelous steam trains to get there was itself memorable -- I can still recall the excitement of seeing the engine approaching Burnley Bank Top station (now Burnley Central) and the thrill of arriving at Blackpool Central!

I travelled a lot by train during the war Years -- mostly from Burnley Manchester Road Station or Rosegrove, locally (Accrington, Blackpool, Southport, etc.) and further afield (London, Derby, etc.). After the war a lot of Blackpool excursions especially the Saturday night "Passion Express" from Burnley Bank Top.

Happy Days!

Jamesl

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

heres a nice piccie for old times sake.

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fantastic,,,,,

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

you dont get many of them steaming there way past cleveleys do you granny claret?

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For some reason i always connect steam trains with romance.

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This should stir the blood of British steam train enthusiasts:

http://www.jp29.org/rw09.JPG

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

good piccie but what train is it? its a clan??????????????

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Clan MacKenzie

Re: get rid of your steam??????????
 

Have you ever seen "Brief Encounter", with Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson? A very English love story and with Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony as the theme music.

It just wouldn't have worked with a 2-carriage diesel train. ;)