recollections of a magical childhood
Our Model Railway Assets!
As for the locos we had; Jinty, Princess Elizabeth/Winston Churchill, Diesel Dock Shunter, Nellie, Southern Electric, 4F? 0-6-0 Goods tender engine, L1 4-4-0 Green tender loco, BR Standard Tank 4-6-2 or 2-6-4?, Barnstaple, and at one time an American OH electric but I don't know what we did with that (see comment and photo below this set). Were there any others?
Can't think of any more but I'm sure we had one or two more!
Found another good site, Tri-ang Hornby. This is the loco I was thinking of - 4MT Tank Loco but it says it wasn't released until '69 which would have been after "our time". Barnstaple came in in '66 according to this site.
Yes, that was it but I think we got it and Barnstaple from a Railway Modeller ad, so maybe it wasn't sold under the Hornby name back in 1963/4.
I think it was just after Tri-ang bought Hornby in 1965 and was selling stock under the Tri-ang Hornby banner.
According to that website mentioned above the price of Barnstaple in 1966 was 116/7 - which, if my calculations are correct, is £5 16s 7d!
Barnstaple was a favourite, wasn't it! The BR Standard tank was a 2-6-4 --- I must admit the (ex) Hornby stuff did run better than the Tri-ang locos partly due to better engineering and also the extra weight of the metal bodies.
I was thinking about where we sourced those two engines from, the BR 2-6-4 Tank and Barnstaple. If I remember correctly we bought them by mail order from an advertisement in The Railway Modeller and, for some reason the name of 'Southgate in London' seems to ring a distant bell. Does that sound familiar to you? Just found out that was the original name of Beatties of London (although I didn't think 'Beatties' was the same company at that time). What think you?
I agree that we definitely bought them "mail-order" because I can "almost" remember the excitement of opening the packages when they arrived. I don't actually recall which supplier we went to but I suspect we would stick to a reputable one and Beatties certainly would have come under that category to our minds.
We also had this (diesel-electric loco with pantographs) but I don't know what we did with it.
Yes, you got this for either your birthday or Christmas present because I remember you getting all the overhead wiring and masts etc. You also got the incline set to allow the track to cross over another line - perhaps to a bridge?
I can't remember what we did with the double pantograph loco. I suspect it arrived about the time we started to specialise in Southern Region stuff and thus it was set aside as not compatible; plus having loads of overhead catenary around would have been a nuisance with our operational activities. I think we dabbled with it and then abandoned it and used the powered bogie to try and make another EMU.
I recently found an interesting website (Here) that has really comprehensive information on British Steam locomotives. You can click on the loco class header and see the details of that group of locos or click on an individual locomotive to see its history, etc. It occurred to me to look up the L1 4-4-0 that we had (see above) but couldn't find it there so searched more widely and found an interesting site based on the modification/detailing of "our" loco (Here). It gave the details of the loco on which the model was based as a Maunsell L1 so why wasn't it on the previous website I wondered? Then I realised that it only covered preserved locos and, presumably, none of the poor old L1s survived the cull!
Someone spent a long time enhancing the detail on that Triang L1 4-4-0......I don't know if I would have the patience to do that now. I believe the model had that much-vaunted novel feature - Magnahesion - which glued it to the rails though we were never sure if it gave any advantage in pulling power. I don't think we ever saw one in real life as they were used on the South Eastern section...and seemingly unloved - as none were preserved.
I agree about not having the patience. By the way, wasn't it called Magnadhesion rather than Magnahesion? Maybe just a typo' on your part.
Yep, you're right it was Magnadhesion. I was earlier just recalling the name from the cobweb depths of the "old" brain cells.
Incidentally, when I did a search to check I came across a forum and the writer said "don't bother trying to get your magnet re-magnetised as pretty much no-one nowadays makes steel track." So what do they make it with that is a conductor but unable to attract a magnet?!
Nickel silver track
Southern Region "Schools" class 4-4-0 No. 30918 Hurstpierpoint, a recent transferee from Ramsgate (73G) shed with the implementation of the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme, gets a chance to stretch her legs on the run which made these locomotives famous before world war II, namely fast expresses to Bournemouth. Hurstpierpoint has them well in hand as she rushes towards Berrylands station with a Summer working
That would be on a Portsmouth Harbour-Waterloo service. Known as 'Nelsons' because they only had 1 window at the front of the cab. I used to watch these roaring through Surbiton every evening on my way home from school. Not only were they extremely noisy at speed, on a frosty night the showers of sparks from the pickup shoes made them more exciting than a Bulleid Pacific ambling along at 60 with a whiff of smoke drifting from the chimney!
They were most definitely from our era probably running right up until the mid 60's. Contrary to the flickr note, in our circles, they were always known as 'Pompeys' because they always ran the Waterloo to Portsmouth (Nickname Pompey) service. (Obviously different trainspotters groups must have had different names for them).
They did indeed throw out a lot of sparks when hurtling through Berrylands and Surbiton especially in the winter. I can only recall travelling on one once to Portsmouth when I was about 12 years old visiting an auntie Vera. They were very much of the 1930s era inside. I don't think many survived into the BR Blue era but I may be wrong.
While we're with the model trains, this featured as part of our set up! I think the code 4 was express and 3-1 for stopping train, 2-1 light engine???
I also remember the "Station Announcements" given by talking into those metal vase things that had lids with pointed handles - to create the echoing sound! (see Page 16) Plus, we did try to recreate "scale time" clocks by removing teeth from the cogs?! We ran full timetables, I recall.
The codes could have been along these lines:-
Passenger:
4 Express passenger train or newspaper train
3-1 Ordinary passenger train, mixed train
1-3 Branch passenger train
2-2-1 Empty coaching stock
2-3 Light Engine
Freight:
1-2 Branch line train
1-2-2 Express freight.
1-3-1 Non-passenger coaching stock
3 Freight, mineral or ballast train
4-1 Mineral or empty wagon train
Miscellaneous
Here's a topic for you. Do you remember the cereal dishes we used to have our Weetabix or Cornflakes in?
Marion has asked me this one in the past. I think mine was Buttercup and yours.... was it a reddish/maroon one??
Now you've made me think of horse-racing in those sprung rocking chairs....took quite a bit of punishment, didn't they.
Oh yes, the sprung chairs in the lounge!!!!
Oh and farting into those brass pots from the fireplace...replacing the lids quickly to see if we could capture the essence! (See Page 16) As you say, they became our station announcement loudspeakers. But what were the station names we used?
No idea of the station names more’s the pity. "Wake up Old England, daylight's come. Set the fuse and Fire the gun - BANG!"
Linda: A few more of Nanna’s quaint sayings came to mind:-- "It’s three o’clock and the King’s not here" (when the clock chimed the hour). I sometimes say this even now and Bob thinks I’m a bit odd.
I don’t remember that one.
Linda: "Hells bells and buckets of blood".
Yes.
Linda: "I’ll have your guts for garters".
Oh yes.
I remember Nanna saying... "Gordon Highlander!" as an exclamation sometimes.
Just remembered another - "Young Turk" and "Cheeky Arab"!
We also re-enacted the task of firing and driving a Bulleid Pacific from Waterloo to Bournemouth Central with nothing less complicated than Nanna's Singer sewing machine!
Also, I think we buggered up that kitchen clock, didn't we? Used it to speed up time but broke the pendulum spring. But then the clock reminds me of listening to the Archers at tea time with bread and jam sandwiches and Tony under the table snapping at your ankles if you moved your feet too much!
Silver teapot in knitted cosy, bread, butter and jam on a velvety tablecloth. Yellow and white patterned cups, saucers and plates. Ominous white paw sticking out from under the table, Blue tit flitting to the half coconut outside the window. Distant sound of Mrs Mitchell "Coooee!" from the otherside of the chainlink fencing and waving a potato peeler at old Mr Mitchell grimacing to himself down the garden.
Pop shouts "It's on Mum", then Dum-de-dum de-dum-de-da, dum-de-dum-de da da......
The Archers’ Walter Gabriel being ‘voice trained’ - scene from episode in Jan 1962.mp4
Wide necked Milk bottles, the fridge (or safe as Nanna called it) as she farted across the kitchen unapologetically.
I thought I'd check to see if it was usual, in those days after the invention of the refrigerator, to call it a safe. The only thing I could find was in a dictionary for the word 'safe' it stated - "A repository for protecting stored items, especially a cooled compartment for perishable foods. For example - A cheese safe.". Then June also found this - safe (n.) "chest for keeping food or valuables," early 15c., save, from French en sauf "in safety," from sauf (see safe (adj.)). Spelling with -f- first recorded 1680s, from influence of safe (adj.).
Pouring the tea involved much raising and lowering of the teapot...perhaps testing her aim. Pop with his big thick thumbs telling us how to test which wire is positive by dipping both bare wires in a bowl of water to see which one fizzed!!!! I doubt that's part of the City and Guilds Electrical course anymore!!!
Using Tony to send messages between us while roaming in the copse. OK, 'til he got bored and went home without telling us!
Talking about the copse, how about going fruit picking, I think for Blackberries, with Nanna. And then later, going to set fire to the gorse and enjoying it until it got out of control and we just had to run for it!! How we didn't get caught for that I'll never know. Our clothes must have reeked of smoke.
The milk bottle from Bolton's Dairy may be the right one for our Mimosa days. When we moved here and used to have our milk delivered, it was from the Ferndown Depot which was named Boltons Diary
Then there were the cigarettes hidden in the gate post by one of the locals (Cow-son) that led to the common.
Playing cowboys and Indians (where the cricket club is now) and falling off an imaginary stagecoach onto an adder and (again) running for our lives!
The day they started to fell all that part of the forest to prepare the ground for the cricket pitch. It seemed like Armageddon had arrived with huge bonfires everywhere.
I remember us climbing the trees on the edge of the football field and whittling twigs and peeling off the bark neatly to make pretend knives (see Page 7).
Sat at the corner garage.... Chubbs?....(see Page 10) on the pump kerb in the dark eating fish and chips and spotting a brand new Consul Classic with TWIN HEADLIGHTS!!! Huge boot....rather rubbish car as it turned out!
It was Chubbs. Do you remember whilst eating our Fish & Chips a Hants & Dorset bus went by with ILLUMINATED ADVERTISING panels on its sides?!!! So modern.
Also, the Golden Retriever that always barked at you as we walked to the shops - it was in the garden of the bungalow just before the garage and sat behind a wire fence or gate.
I always liked the Consul Classic and the rather swish Capri (sad but I remember they both had a 21 cubic foot capacity boot!). Quite fancy one now (lowered with 5.5J's on) The owners club for the Ford Consul Classic & Consul Capri models produced from 1961 – 1964
Mr Mitchell taking us out in his Austin 7? And telling us off for not telling him a car was coming across a road junction when he pulled out in front of it. We were about 10 years old, not accustomed to telling adults how to drive! Miserable bugger!
Wow - you're really bringing back some memories that I had forgotten about!
Pop Mitchell making us all get out of the car so he could drive it up the hill on the way to the beach and waiting for us at the top so we could get back in!
Fish pond....boats...big carp...water beetle.....playing trolleybuses with bamboo cane dragging behind us.....who needed the internet?
Yes, I remember the fish pond - the cove on the far side was the harbour. Wasn't there a sundial or something on a plinth near the pond? Loads of lavender plants. Then the day came when they widened the road and about 10 yards was chopped from the front garden!
When they cleared the field for the sports club it flooded if you recall and we spent many hours punting about on builders' planks getting soaked and muddy..... I think we also used to go into the barn near the sports club (full of hay) and have a cigarette or two.
The abundance of blackberries led to the great Blackberry fight.... covered in blackberry juice stain... Nanna had to work that one out... I don't think we confessed!
Wow - you've just listed a load of topics I've already prepared to drip feed out over the coming months!! You bugger.
Yes, I remember the floating builders' planks and standing on them and punting across the frozen pond that had formed. I'd forgotten about the hay barn but you're right. And the blackberry fight.
Do you remember ordering the railway baseboards from the shop in Parley Cross and when we weren't asked to pay for them when they were delivered we thought they had forgotten as we had no understanding of the notion of a monthly invoice so we decided to go and blow our savings on an engine (was that Barnstaple? - I think it may have been).
Then we built the camp up the tree somewhere quite a long walk from the chip shop.... end of the railway boards!
The tree camp was out towards the common along the edge of what is now the cricket pitch or further on.
It couldn't have been easy to get them there as they were quite heavy and we were just little boys. We must have made two journeys. Then, once we had selected our tree, we had to get them up into the branches and, presumably, support the boards with some timber spars. Then, what did we do once it was built? All that effort and then when it rained the chipboard would have, quite quickly rotted and disintegrated! What were we thinking!
True, those railway boards wouldn't have lasted through more than a few rainy spells up that tree. I would imagine we might've had to use a rope somehow to get them up into the branches, and would also have had to trudge over there with hammer and nails to secure them. Even after that effort, I don't think we even visited the site more than a couple of times, once to eat Fish and Chips; not one of our best thought out initiatives I fear.
I have attached a screenshot from Google Earth of where I recall the tree was (see upper right). I seem to remember as we approached it there was open country to our right and forest to our left. What do you remember and am I right with one or other of those locations?
I think the site of the camp was further over to the east - to the right of the second hedged heather field beyond a small pool and snake type territory (see lower right). I may be wrong of course!
Pond boats made out of bits of wood and nails, - Yes, boats in the stream in Bournemouth Gardens.
Yes, plus, low wire fences around Bournemouth Garden, glass lanterns in the trees to be lit on special occasions (see below - a tradition started when Princess Eugenie of France visited the town and her route through the gardens was lit by candlelight). Also, the small waterfalls in the stream plus the scary stone crocodile under the water that you could look down on from the bridge.
Click on the image below to hear it!
This shows us how surprisingly little the population had moved on in the 7 years since the war; forces uniforms prevalent.....40's baggy trousers, ladies in bonnets! It must be early spring judging by the coats. Of course, Bobby's is now Debenhams (for how much longer?) and the clock tower once on the roundabout is now on top of a café in the walking precinct. The area mid-distance, behind the granny with the pram, is currently a pop-up ice skating rink for the Christmas period only and had previously been the site of tethered balloon trips; now no more. We went on it when we first moved back here in 1992. Notably, you could see Hurn Airport from the top even though the Bournemouth gardens are in a hollow. The Church is still there but now a Comedy Club Restaurant and the bus station is a cinema complex, as I think you know.
Plus - the Square where Marion got a summer job in Bobby's - see this link (worth looking at some of his other photos)
Not often three ages of trolleybus appear at the same time as they do here approaching The Square
Kart with lights and rear stub axle problem. Bent bolts! (see Page 14). Yes - very frustrating.
Long bank seats upstairs and 'No Spitting' notices on Hants and Dorset buses...rough lot in Dorset!
Yes, you're right! This one has signs saying "SMOKING DEPARTMENT" and "SPITTING STRICTLY PROHIBITED". And, always thinking the thing would turn over as it went round the bends leading to Wimborne Road (see Page 10).
