SPOTTING TRIPS TO CREWE
Crewe! It was a spotter's paradise, and I wish I could have gone there more often, but as the journey involved catching a train from Leeds and changing stations at Manchester, my mother had a morbid fear that her small boy could get lost somewhere along the way. It never dawned on me that she had another, more tangible reason, like 'Mother Love', for example, but since she offered no other explanation, her refusal seemed very unfair. Didn't she realise how important this was to me? – I mean, a trip to Crewe?
But the answer was an emphatic 'No, no, no!' every time, and that was the end of the matter - or, rather, it was the beginning of another - because a few weeks later I met the doyen of young train
spotters called Bonzo. Aged thirteen, he was a veritable professor on railways, who taught me all I needed to know about the Stanier 'Black 5' two-cylinder 4-6-0s with their Belpaire fireboxes, tapered boilers and outside Walschaerts valve gear; the 3-cylinder express variant 'Jubilee' class and rebuilt 'Royal Scots', and the 4-cylinder 'Princess Royal' and 'Coronation' class Pacifics. The 'Coronations' included the ex-streamlined locos which had been stripped of their casing in 1945, yet instantly identifiable by their bevelled smokebox tops. It coined their nickname 'semis' among spotters, but by 1957 they were becoming something of a rarity since only four remained in that guise; the last being No 46243 City of Lancaster in November 1958.
The 13 year-old Bonzo had a maturity well beyond his years, and because he was two years my senior it allayed my mother's fear that I could end up in some place I shouldn't. The fact is, Bonzo opened all kinds of doors for me, for in spite of the distances involved, he was a master at deciphering railway timetables, and regularly organized visits to Birmingham, Carlisle, Newcastle, Derby and, of course, the railway Mecca of Crewe.
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The doyen of the Princess Coronation class, No 46220 Coronation was the first of five blue streamliners - painted in 'Caledonian blue' with silver stripes - to emerge from Crewe Works in 1937. The locomotive set a new world steam speed record of 114mph on her press run with the LMSR's prestigious 'Coronation Scot' express. In September 1946, No 6220 was de-streamlined, but retained its cut-down smokebox top, as seen in this view during early BR days at the south end of Crewe. Photo © ER Morten (Below) One of the five red streamliners to emerge from Crewe works in 1939, Stanier Pacific No 46239 City of Chester, which had its bevelled smokebox door altered to a conventional shape in February 1957. The loco is seen at Crewe North shed (5A) prior to hauling the 'Mid-day Scot'
. Photo © JR Carter
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If truth be told, train spotting was more of a jolly jape for young boys - the 'thrill of the chase', if you like. However, there were certain rules to follow. I'm talking about 'honesty' and 'integrity', which are admirable sentiments but hardly the stuff you can rely upon when the very reason for collecting engine numbers was to push your 'cop'-rate as far as you could go. Therefore it gives me no great pleasure in saying that some members of the spotting community thought nothing of added random numbers to their collection, perhaps thinking that by cramming their Ian Allan abc chock-full of underlined 'cops' it somehow absolved them from paying any attention to a credible story...like where and when the sightings were made?
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In Bonzo's opinion, these 'cheats' had no place in the club; they were offenders of the worst kind, whose indiscriminate spotting didn't depend on their powers of observation, more likely the fertility of their youthful imagination. Not only did the 13
year-old Bonzo have a maturity well beyond his years, he was two years my senior which allayed my mother's fear that I could end up in some place I shouldn't. The fact is, Bonzo opened all kinds of doors for me, because in spite of the distances involved, he was a master at deciphering railway timetables, and regularly organized visits to places like the railway Mecca of Crewe.Like a fishing trip, we always started the day with the highest hopes, and a visit to Crewe offered by far the best chance of adding a new batch of engine numbers to our collections. I was desperate to see my first 'Princess Royal' class and, of course, the mighty 'Coronations' - both classes being the almost exclusive preserve of the West Coast Main Line. As it turned out, I never did quite catch them all, though I came pretty close - just two short of bagging a 'full house' - but the expectation of 'copping' them in the end never wavered.
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(Right) Stanier's 'Lizzie' No 46209 Princess Beatrice and 'Duchess' No 46239 City of Chester head northbound trains at Whitmore, just south of Crewe on 23 July 1957. Photos © ER Morten
Having risen early, we met at Horsforth station - both carrying the latest fashion accessories; a matching pair of tartan duffel bags or ex-Army & Navy khaki shoulder bags, both stuffed with jam butties the size of breeze blocks – and, in Bonzo's case, a well-thumbed copy of 'Health & Efficiency' magazine, plus umpteen bottles of fizzy pop. He loved Tizer, perhaps swigging up to three bottles a day, and mine if he'd had the chance. I've known him belch all the way from Leeds City to Manchester Exchange, spending much of the journey poking his head out of windows in search for cops. After a quick dash across Manchester city centre to London Road station, we hung around the Eastern Region platforms hoping
to 'cab' one of the EM1 Bo-Bo electrics on the Sheffield service via Woodhead, some carrying the oddest names such as Diomedes, Ulysses, Mentor and Pomethues.
(Left Top) Class B1 No 61082 approaches Manchester (London Road) with a train from Sheffield on December 3rd 1953. Photo © BKB Green. (Left Bottom) When the Manchester-Crewe electrification commenced on September 12th 1960, the impact of the intensified, accelerated electric service saw an increase of 62% on passengers. It was just reward for Mancunians who had suffered a depressing timetable compilation and complicated diversions during electrification work. From the start, twenty two 2,300hp electric locomotives were provided for the new service which eliminated almost all steam working from the newly-named Piccadilly station. With the overhead electric warning sign on the cab end, BR/Sulzer Type 2 No D5135 stands beneath the overhead catenary at Piccadilly station in April 1961. For the record, during the Spring of 1963, the LMR were offering rail travellers week-end breaks in London, including hotel accomodation, meals, coach tours and a night club visit for an all-in fare of £12 to £19! Photo © GEC/Altsom
For anyone unfamiliar with train spotting in the Fifties, then I should put the record straight. In spite of our strict upbringing (or perhaps because of it?) our behaviour was at best boisterous and at worst a downright nuisance. So to run away with the notion that the train spotting fraternity was an angelic lot is something of a misnomer. The majority of boys I met were loyal, trustworthy, and committed to a single cause, and because we shared a common interest in trains, there was a wonderful sense of belonging to a club that excluded no one from joining. The hobby embraced youngsters from all walks of life, from the big-shot luminaries in high places to the average-Joe on the street, and all could be found congregated at the ends of platforms, drawing cries of Cop! or Cope! and Strake! or Streak! Indeed, if you were seeking to find a group of train spotting stereotypes, Crewe was the place to go. There you'd see scruffy kids in anoraks chomping their way through jaw-aching jam butties whilst the posh kids donned natty school blazers and dined on a veritable banquet of chocolate eclairs - and, after they'd finished, they in all probability fluffed instead of farted - but so what?
No, it was the reckless few vandals who infiltrated the spotting fraternity that spoiled the fun for the rest of us. I'm harking back to the days when Britain stood at the social crossroads, and the stuffy, stiff-collared old order was about to be swept aside by a brash new youth culture. All at once, train spotting began to take on insidious undertones. The foul-mouthed antics of the hooligan element became a menace to the rail-travelling public and, in some extreme cases, their thuggish behaviour would stand up well against the yob culture that began to creep into football in the Seventies and Eighties. As a result, the authorities came down hard on spotters, and unless you could produce a valid ticket, anybody who looked remotely like a spotter was not allowed on the platform. Many stations barred us altogether, and warning notices were posted at ticket barriers - NO TRAIN SPOTTERS ALLOWED! So when Bonzo and I boarded the train for Crewe, the hoity-toity displeasure on the faces of the London-bound passengers was a palpable thing. They shifted in their seats, as if shrinking from something nasty. Then baggage mysteriously appeared from suitcase racks onto unoccupied seats; anything to prevent us from sitting in their compartment.
Childhood allegiances? Today my soccer-mad grandson wears a replica Leeds United FC shirt. Fifty years ago, I wore an anorak with Ian Allan Locospotters Club enamel badges on the lapel. This show of solidarity must be in a boys’ genes, because youngsters love to wear badges, caps, scarves - even stick-on tattoos - to show their loyalty. There are many similarities between soccer fans and train spotters, though it is scarcely apparent at first, yet both groups embrace every emotion from great joy to deep despair. Take Leeds United's spectacular fall from grace at the end of the 2003-4 Premier season - it had a devastating effect on my grandson, in much the same way as the end of steam effected me during the Sixties.
But we didn't want to sit down. We were only interested in what was going off outside the window. Within minutes of leaving London Road, the train was passing Longsight shed (9A) - two end-to-end buildings containing 12 and eight tracks respectively - and, judging by the dense layer of smoke shrouding the scene, sheltering a good proportion of its main line passenger stud. In the yard, we spotted a couple of 'Jubilees' and a 'Brit', but the rest were lost through the blur of rolling stock assembled in the intervening sidings.
(Left) Prior to accelerating the Anglo-Scottish expresses on the West Coast route in 1927, the LMS took the unusual step of borrowing a 'Castle' class 4-6-0 from the GWR for tests between Euston and Carlisle. The performance of the GWR engine proved superior to the LMSR's 'Claughtons', so a decision was taken to dispense with Sir Henry Fowler's planned 3-cylinder compound and 4-cylinder compound Pacifics, and an order was placed with the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow to build fifty 3-cylinder 4-6-0s with a parallel boiler and Belpaire firebox. At the time, the SR generously offered a few pointers of their own for the Derby drawing office to consider, so the 'Royal Scots' had more than a passing resemblance to the Southern Railway's 'Lord Nelson' 4-6-0s introduced a year earlier. Sporting a 5A (Crewe North) shedplate on the smokebox door, No 6149 The Middlesex Regiment waits its next turn of duty. Photo © L Turner
Namers to the left, namers to the right: (Left) The doyen of the Class 6P5F 'Patriots' No 45500 Patriot heads a 'down' express through Stafford on 3rd June 1952. The resemblance in external style to the larger 'Royal Scot' class coined their nickname 'Baby Scot', but the scrapping of the LNWR's war memorial engine Patriot led to the name being transferred to the class. (Below) No 5502 Royal Naval Division enters Crewe with an Edinburgh-Birmingham train on 15th May 1951. By 1945, the 'Patriots' were becoming a little underpowered for the increased loading of traffic, and HG Ivatt rebuilt eighteen of them with the larger Stanier tapered boiler, new cylinders, double chimneys and blastpipes - none have survived in preservation. (Middle) The first batch of 'Royal Scots' Nos 6100-6149 emerged in 1927, followed by Nos 6150-6169 in 1930. Rebuilding of the class began in 1943. The work included replacing the old parallel-boiler with the Stanier No 2 tapered boiler, a new double chimney and blast pipes, new smokebox and new leading bogie. The only significant part to survive from Fowler’s original parallel-boiler design was the cab. Here, rebuilt ‘Scot’ class No 6127 Old Contemptibles heads north from Crewe in 1946. The loco is painted in the LMSR post-war livery of black, lined out with maroon and straw yellow. (Right) In providing a stud for express passenger services, Stanier set about the design of 3-cylinder 4-6-0s which were built concurrently with the 'Black 5' mixed traffic locomotives. The result was the 'Jubilee' class, based on the 'Patriot', except for a tapered boiler which Stanier imported from GWR practice at Swindon. Both 'Black 5' and 'Jubilee' classes can be seen in this view of Crewe's south end platforms, as No 45601 British Guiana prepares to take over an 'up' train. All photos © ER Morten
(Below) Established in 1845, Crewe works came under the direction of many well-known Chief Mechanical Engineers whose reputations are synonamous with the locomotive types that came off the assembly line. Crewe not only built steam locomotives for the London & North Western Railway (LNWR), London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMSR), and British Railways (BR), the works also designed and built the Covenanter tank for the war effort overseas. The last steam locomotive built at Crewe was the BR Standard class 9F No 92250 in 1958 - the 7,331st engine to be built from the beginning. In this view outside the paint shop, a line-up of steam and diesel include BR Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 No 92004, an unidentified Crosti-boilered variant and a Standard Class 4 2-6-0 numbered in the 76000 series. On the diesel front, several EE Co Type 4 1Co-Co1s and a solitary EE Co Type 1 Bo-Bo are joined by a Class EM1 electric (one of 58 Bo-Bos Nos 26000-26057 designed by Gresley and Metro-Vickers for the Woodhead route). On the extreme right, a newly-built 2,700hp diesel-hydraulic Co-Co No D1072 Western Glory was one of 44 diesel-hydraulics to be constructed at Crewe for the Western Region.
(Above) Another product of Crewe works, No 46245 City of London, introduced to traffic in June 1943 - and the first of 16 Duchesses to be repainted in BR-style red livery by the London Midland Region in December 1957 - heads past the works prior to taking over a Railfan Special on September 1st 1964. The locomotive was one of 17 Duchesses withdrawn the same month. Note the boilers in the background (now the site of the Crewe Heritage Centre). Photo © J Carter
On arrived at the railway Mecca, the first item on the agenda was to scout the station for any southbound departures. That done, we headed for the footbridge at the north end. What a place! The bridge could well have bee
n put there especially for spotters. Not only did it provide a grandstand view of the main lines to the north, it gave a tantalizing glimpse of smoke and steam rising from express engines simmering in the shed yard at Crewe North. Having claimed our spot, a group of spotters told us what had been through earlier that morning. We had missed a 'Patriot', several 'Royal Scots', a 'Princess Royal', a couple of 'Coronations' plus the prototype Deltic had worked the up 'Merseyside Express'. But the prize cop I wanted above all others was No 71000 Duke of Gloucester which had run light engine in North shed, so there was a good chance it would emerge later that day. Only it didn't, and I had to wait another year before I finally caught up with it at Carnforth.
I was rarely disappointed with my visits to Crewe because the railway Mecca produced the highest 'cop'-rate of anywhere I visited on the LMR. I even 'copped' my first Western Region locos on shed at Gresty Lane near the football ground. As for the twin Co-Co diesels Nos 10000/1? I remember spotting them at Crewe heading the up 'Royal Scot' express and, judging by Bonzo's impeccable time-keeping, running a few minutes ahead of their booked time. Leading the ensemble was a rather grubby No 10000 in green livery with the BR insignia on its side, and carrying the distinctive tartan 'Royal Scot' headboard on the nose-end. A loud groan rose up from the pack of spotters, then another - and another - until the footbridge was awakened to a crescendo of cat calls and boos. I'd never heard the likes of it before. I glanced at Bonzo swigging his Tizer, his face showing a variety of emotions. I wasn't sure whether he was caught up by the hostility around us, or suffering from trapped wind? It turned out to be neither...like me, Bonzo was as pleased as Punch; the Co-Co twins were 'cops' for the both of us and, after watching them glide through the station, we dutifully logged them in our books, away from prying eyes.
(Left Top) Had it not been for the involvement of the LMS Princess Royal class No 46202 Princess Anne in the tragic multiple railway accident at Harrow in 1952, the design and construction of the BR 3-cylinder Caprotti-fitted No 71000 Duke of Gloucester would never have got off the ground. At the time, No 46202 Princess Anne, better known as the former experimental Turbomotive, later rebuilt back to its conventional form in 1952, sustained damage beyond repair and was subsequently written off. This led to the Railway Executive agreeing to Riddles’s proposal for the construction of a prototype Class 8 standard 4-6-2 as a replacement locomotive. Designed at Derby and built at Crewe Works in May 
1954, the unique Class 8 Pacific was intended to represent the pinnacle of modern British locomotive development, but No 71000 was unpopular with crews for being a shy steamer and after only a short working life on some of the heaviest Stanier ‘Pacific’ diagrams based at Crewe North MPD, the locomotive was withdrawn from traffic,