Author Topic: Train spotting  (Read 27541 times)

Ray Harrison

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Train spotting
« on: January 01, 2014, 03:59:04 PM »
As a lad from Vauxhall train spotting was in the blood I had a phase when I got several books and got started, Living  in Inkerman st  I had trains all around me soon found loads of kids doing the same went all over to spot the right train Tamwoth was good, Grassy banks down aston church rd another. Once you got the hang of it going on platforms etc, not long before you get to Crewe / Wolverhampton and so on . Snow Hill station was the best Great western lust seemed the bees knees plus getting to the station through the Arcade and a coffee in the Kardoma café. I found out that Curzon St was the first station in Brum, I had a nose there but it was all goods yard  with those 3 wheeled lorries going in and out , also Vauxhall was the first railway sidings and carriage depot in brum . history at the top of my street never knew it . If the drivers were in a good mood I could cab the locos at Saltley sheds. We had a lot of train drivers lived in our street always well dressed only mixed with other driver being the elite of the job, when the diesels came in spotting all fell apart and threw my books away ,should have kept them. there must be more anoraks out there what did you do ?.
BUD

roy one

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2014, 04:13:15 PM »
hi Ray

when I was a kid I had a mate who was in to train spotting I went with him a few times to smallheath  on the goldenhillock road   it was like watching paint dry I used to go off and play down the cut   no fish in that cut if you fell in the water would kill you  dead dogs cats all in there but that was better than sitting waiting for a train to come past and get its number
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frederick

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2014, 04:34:57 PM »
Roy,
I used to go to the bridge on Golden hillock rd I did 't keep it up I started to do other things as a hobby.
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Phil

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2014, 04:37:40 PM »
Ray

I think you may have your facts on Vauxhall and Curzon St stations a little mixed up, Vauxhall station did in fact open more than a year before Curzon St so the kudos of being the first railway station should go to it and not Curzon St, but it hardly ever gets a mention, perhaps because none of the original station remains.

Duddeston station opened in 1837 as Vauxhall station, two years prior to Curzon St When Curzon St opened in 1839 Duddeston became a goods only station. It reopened in 1869 as a LNWR station and it was renamed in 1889 as Vauxhall and Duddeston in 1889.  In 1941 it was hit by a bomb during a night raid and was completely destroyed. It was rebuilt in a temporary fashion, and in the mid-1950s it caught fire and was again rebuilt. On 6 May 1974, it was renamed with it's original name Duddeston.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Ray Harrison

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2014, 08:12:36 PM »
Ray

I think you may have your facts on Vauxhall and Curzon St stations a little mixed up, Vauxhall station did in fact open more than a year before Curzon St so the kudos of being the first railway station should go to it and not Curzon St, but it hardly ever gets a mention, perhaps because none of the original station remains.

Duddeston station opened in 1837 as Vauxhall station, two years prior to Curzon St When Curzon St opened in 1839 Duddeston became a goods only station. It reopened in 1869 as a LNWR station and it was renamed in 1889 as Vauxhall and Duddeston in 1889.  In 1941 it was hit by a bomb during a night raid and was completely destroyed. It was rebuilt in a temporary fashion, and in the mid-1950s it caught fire and was again rebuilt. On 6 May 1974, it was renamed with it's original name Duddeston.
Hi Phil I did not say there was a station at Vauxhall it was railway sidings and carriage sheds which was down the line from Curzon st , This going back to the very first steam trains. Just a note the area I lived in Eg. Inkerman st area was classed as Vauxhall B7. PS I just double checked Vauxhall was opened as a tempary terminal in1837  while  Curzon st was made ready, It was later called Vauxhall & Duddeston 1889. It seems some of it is still there for historic reasons.
BUD

Phil

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2014, 08:18:11 PM »
Ray

What I am saying is that there was a station where Duddeston station is now, nearly two years before Curzon St was built and that was the first and only station in Birmingham until Curzon St was built and it was after then that it was relegated to being a goods siding for a while.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

trapio

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2014, 11:38:12 PM »
It was through trainspotting that I got the idea of working out a couple of ways of travelling free - from Snow Hill
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blane

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2014, 11:48:58 PM »
Hi Ray  -  Did you ever go down Saltley Station to spot the Glasgow Express about 2130 hours on a weekday night,for a dare we used to see who could stand the closest to the platform edge,how stupid.Spotting the Pines Express from the Duddeston bridge at 1230 hours.As you say we used to get about a bit,I remember Tamworth High and Low levels spotting from the field next the tracks,crapping myself with fear in case the goats attacked.I've still got my Ian Allen Log Books some where in the attic.Once an anorak always a anorak. O0 O0 O0

Ray Harrison

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2014, 10:34:01 AM »
Hi Ray  -  Did you ever go down Saltley Station to spot the Glasgow Express about 2130 hours on a weekday night,for a dare we used to see who could stand the closest to the platform edge,how stupid.Spotting the Pines Express from the Duddeston bridge at 1230 hours.As you say we used to get about a bit,I remember Tamworth High and Low levels spotting from the field next the tracks,crapping myself with fear in case the goats attacked.I've still got my Ian Allen Log Books some where in the attic.Once an anorak always a anorak. O0 O0 O0
We used to go to Landor st where you can get two different tracks inc, through to Saltley may even get a cup of tea from the guy in the signal box. In Tamworth there was cafe full of anoraks like us, used to wait all day for a namer only to find a blackie 6 come through. In 1964 at Saltley shed I climed over the canal wall only to find a grave yard of steam locos it was so sad and again on a day trip to Barrie Island hundreds of steam locos awaiting the gas axe , that was about 1972.
BUD

Ray Harrison

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2014, 10:37:50 AM »
It was through trainspotting that I got the idea of working out a couple of ways of travelling free - from Snow Hill
That was done quite often ,Jump on a train with a platform ticket go to Wolverhampton and back again ,As long as you stay on the station you could get away with it.
BUD

Spud

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Re: Train spotting
« Reply #10 on: January 02, 2014, 12:22:00 PM »
Train Spotting that takes me back. Remember those 'Ian Allen' books with all the train numbers listed ? Tyseley was my spot. With the sheds on one side and the main London Line passing through such happy days. We had names for different engines, Tankers, Matchboxes and Double Headers on The Main. My ambition was to see The GWR flagship engine King George V. Someone spread a rumour that it was to pass through one Saturday Morning . I got up to Tyseley about 8 am . It was a pea souper of a morning. Couldn't see a hand in front of your face. The Flying Scotsman King George V even Lady Godiva on White Horse could have very well passed through I'll never know.
Did eventually see the dear old King George V even stood on the footplate that must have been 60 years later and not at dear old Tyseley but a the Swindon Railway Museum . He who waits......
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