Below: During the late Fifties, tens of thousands of schoolboys began photographing steam trains using the simplest Kodak Brownie 127 camera. Introduced in 1952, it was the first affordable camera on the market, costing £1/4s/6d - £I.22½p in today’s money. The camera had a single element lens and fixed shutter speed of 1/25 sec, which was totally inadequate for taking photographs of moving trains. Still it required no adjustments except for pressing the shutter and winding on the film, enabling thousands of young spotters to get started in railway photography. The camera took 8 pictures on 127 roll film - the yellow backing paper was a bit finicky when loading -  but it was a robust model with a bakelite body and a face plate ornamented with a diamond pattern. The Brownie 127 remained a firm favourite with spotters until the launch of the Instamatic cartridge camera in 1963.

(Below) The reason train spotting become so popular with small boys in the Fifties is because steam trains are hugely-watchable - a sight for sore eyes, as we say in Yorkshire. At the same time, wartime measures were still very much in evidence during the 1950s, and most High Street shops were selling utility products made from strictly controlled Government allocations.  The end of the 'points' rationing system, some 14 years after its introduction was a portent of better things to come, but with the absence of anything much to buy in toy shops, many youngsters were taught how to create the simple pleasures from their own imaginations. For instance, pulling an empty cardboard box by a piece of string was not, in our minds, playing. We were in charge of a bus, or driving a steam engine. Then, as we grew older, we had spinning tops, kites, skipping ropes and Meccano bits 'n' pieces. It was a world long before the silicone chip, mobile phones and the Internet, so we knew nothing else. Indeed, my earliest memory is watching the stately procession of steam trains on my local line on the Leeds-Harrogate line. The sight and sound of a hard-working steam locomotive evoked such an extraordinary sense of being in the company of something great and dignified that, after it had gone, I could barely wait until the next one came along. In this Mike Mitchell © photo (below) you can almost hear the roar of Class V2 No 60946 heading a Liverpool-Newcastle train near Rigton Box on the Leeds-Harrogate line in December 1959 

 

 

And the smell? - a heady mixture of steam, coal, steam and hot oil which somehow touched allsenses, except for touch itself, but even that was imperceptible; a steam locomotive has such profound character that it was impossible not be affected by its presence.  Even so, it would take a child with a rhinoceros hide to overcome their fear of steam. How often have we seen a terrified toddler being dragged, kicking and screaming, because their father wants to cajole his offspring to take a closer look at the 'big' engine simmering away at the end of a station platform? It may well be a ruse by doting dads to indoctrinate their child into the spotting brotherhood, but in the eyes of a small boy, a steam locomotive is an awesome animal at close quarters, and no amount of unconditional bribery can dissuade them that it isn’t.

In the photo © Frank Ashley (below) you can almost hear this terrified toddler kicking and screaming as a doting dad tries to cajole his offspring into taking a closer look at Stanier Pacific No 46250 City of Lichfield simmering away at the end of the platform at Carlisle in May 1952. It may well be a ruse to indoctrinate a child into the spotting fraternity, but a steam locomotive is an awesome animal at close quarters, and no amount of unconditional bribery can dissuade them that it isn’t...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Below) In many ways, the Rev Audrey’s stories of 'Thomas the Tank Engine' puffing up and down his branch line are a cruel deception, for the cute little engine is nothing like the living, breathing monsters we see in real life. These engines have fires raging in their bellies and steam rushing through their veins, so when a child is lifted up

to the footplate and shown a fireman shovelling coal into the firebox, they probably think they’re being offered up as some kind of a metaphorical sacrifice! This photo of four year-old Geoff Plumb in the cab of MR 1P 0-4-4T No 58077 at Wirksworth station during the SLS/MLS 'High Peak Rail Tour' on 25th April 1953 speaks volumes...'No anoraks in those days!' he says on his website - 'I was enjoying myself - honest!' Treat yourself to more of Geoff's photos by visiting his site via this link - 'Plumb Loco' . Talking of links...harking back to the old days before the world wide web (www) was launched in 1989, there was nothing I liked better than browsing through the pages of ‘Railway Magazine’ and ‘Trains Illustrated’. Odd then, that it took me so long to surf one of the largest railway archives in the world on the Internet. At first, I found the 'drag and click' jargon a bit baffling, but once I got going it was great to log on and look at the thousands of railway sites. Trouble is, surfing the 'communications super highway' is a daunting task unless you know what you're doing. Over the years, the world wide web has become a victim of its own success, and the information overload - the sheer volume of material it contains - can take a lot of digesting. But the task is made somewhat easier by visiting a community site such as 'Steam Train Galleries'.  For an old duffer like me, it is like dropping in on old friends! When you have finished visiting another site, click on the 'X' top righ-hand corner of the screen to return here... 

Geoff Plumb's photo reminds me of my own timidity at such a young age, because it wasn’t

until after a dozen or so close encounters with steam that I finally mastered my fear of them. In fact, the expression 'cheap thrill' springs to mind, because not only was train spotting thrilling, standing by a railway line collecting engine numbers cost next to nothing, which, for many post-war families strapped for cash, came as a blessing in disguise. Indeed, because parents gave the hobby a universal 'thumbs-up', train spotting became the national hobby for boys in the 1950s. (Right) Ambling along at a leisurely pace, this 'Thomas the Tank Engine' look-alike - Class J72 0-6-0T No 68686 - heads a troublesome truck on the Cawood branch near Wistow for the return journey to Selby on 20 August 1959 Photo © Mike Mitchell

Below: 'Cinders and ashes!' gasps Thomas - 'That's me!' In the normal way people hate having their childhood memories messed around with, but when the 'Thomas and Friends' TV series was launched in the 1980s it surpassed all expectations and railway enthusiasts (Doubting Thomas’s - if you’ll forgive the pun!) were bowled over. Thomas is a registered trademark of Gullane (Thomas) Limited 2004; a HIT Entertainment Company, and I have used this poster - 'A Day out with Thomas' - on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway to promote both the line and the Rev. W Audrey’s stories, which are a huge hit with children today. There is another ‘David Hey’s collection’ to be found on the ‘Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway’s website. 

Below: I like the EE Co machines, I really do! During the transition from steam, the English Electric Company was the only manufacturer to have designed and built diesel locomotives to meet the requirements of all five BR power classes. The company also supplied more than half of the diesel fleet. But the box-like shapes of diesel locomotives are soulless in comparison to the bulky proportions of a steam locomotive - and less scary, too! Here, young spotters are not afraid to get a close-up view of No D258 being coupled-up to a southbound train at York Photo © EA Wood-D Hey.       

Below: The childhood memory is fallible, they say, but if I had to take stock of all my spotting memories, the sight of a mid-afternoon express thundering through Calverley & Rodley behind a rockin'-rollin' Class B1 is the most profound of all. Talk about rough-riding! It was a spell-binding moment that rooted me to the spot. The train hurtled through the station, rocking and swaying over the points like a wild stallion. You could feel the air pressure bearing down, a headlong rush of noise and smell - then it was gone, the magic all too brief. I’m not sure if the NER driver had some misbegotten allegiance to former companies engines working on MR territory, or if the train was booked to an impossibly tight mid-afternoon schedule between Bradford and Leeds. Whatever the reason, thanks for the memory! The photo was taken on a Brownie 127 in June 1958.

Below:  'BLINKERS!' During the 1950s, British Railways had more than 230 different steam engine classes on its books, therefore identification was a tricky subject for the inexperienced spotter. I’m referring to the numerous former ‘Big Four’ 0-6-0 tender engines and tank engines still in common use across the Regions. HC Casselerley's excellent 'Observers Book of Railway Locomotives', published by Frederick Warne & Co Ltd., was a great aid in identifying the full range of British Railways steam engines then in use on Britain's railways. Even the 'namers' among the ‘blinkered’ 'A1' and 'A2' Pacifics were difficult to tell apart. Indeed, both classes could well have been one and the same to me until the quite obvious differences became apparent later. Class A2 No 60513 Dante is being prepared for duty at its home shed of New England. Photo © D Hey-EA Wood collection

(Below) For the benefit of younger spotters, the nickname, 'blinker', was derived from the appearance of the smoke deflectors which look similar to the leather pieces fixed to a horse’s bridle to prevent the animal from seeing in any direction other than straight forward. The nickname stuck with me until my dad explained that deflectors were designed to prevent the formation of a vacuum which can suck swirling smoke down along the boiler and obscure the driver’s view from the cab. As for the Class A1 names? In true LNER tradition, several members of the class appeared with names of racehorses and birds, but five engines carried names of the constituent railway companies which had gone to make up the LNER - No 60113 Great Northern, a rebuild of an original Gresley Class A1 Pacific - No 60147 North Eastern; 60156 Great Central; 60157 Great Eastern and 60161 North British, the latter seen  here at its home shed of Haymarket. The full complement of 49 engines was not named until the early 1950s.

Right: A favourite place for train spotting during the 1950s was Thirsk station in North Yorkshire. The station is

situated on the flat racing ground north of York - a superbly-aligned section of track that has seen more high-speed running than anywhwere in Britain. From the platform edge, you could spot a train a mile away, especially the Class A4 'Streaks' - the sun caught their distinctive streamlined fronts which produced a beam of light. It was just a faint glimmer at first, and hardly discernable in the shimmering haze rising from the track, but you knew instantly what was hurtling towards you - 'Streeaaak!'  Here, Class A4 No 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley heads the down  'Talisman'  through Tollerton in typical flamboyant style. Photo © D Hey-EA Wood collection

Left: As mentioned elsewhere, railway photography is a natural adjunct to train spotting. Well, the same can be said for railway art - and, in time-honoured fashion, I save the best until last! This picture of ‘County’ class No 1015 County of Gloucester storming Dainton bank epitomises all that is great about steam railway photography. Having read Dick Blenkinsop’s books on the Western Region: 'Silhouettes'; 'Shadows'; 'Reflections' and 'Echoes' - to say nothing of his similarly titled books on the ‘Big Four’ - it inspired me to seek out the locations he visited whilst holidaying in South Devon, albeit some twenty five years after steam had vanished from the scene. Needless to say, I didn’t get anything quite like this! The eagle-eyed reader may spot Dick Blenkinsop’s signature in the bottom left hand corner. This signed photograph is a treasured item in my collection of railway memorabilia

Teignmouth Painting: © D Hey One of the best ways of painting a technical artwork is by copying the detail from a photograph. But that raises the question of who owns the copyright - the artist or the photographer? Indeed, few artists can claim not to be inspired by a great photograph. I certainly have. The one man who has fired my enthusiasm for the Western Region is Dick Blenkinsop, whose photographs have been a source of inspiration. In particular I recall his shot of ‘Battle of Britain’ class No 34061 73 Squadron heading a local Plymouth-Exeter train along the seal wall between Dawlish and Teignmouth. It appears in ’Echoes of the Big Four’, in which he says - ’It is not easy to obtain pictures of trains with a clear seascape in the background.’ Oh, but there is! It’s called artistic licence! And this is the result; a painting of ’King’ class No 6024 King Edward 1 heading the ’down’ ‘Cornish Riviera Express’. For me, Dick Blenksinsop represents the very best of a Sixties demigod that few people outside the spotting community know about - the railway photographer... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The smell of a steam engine is one the most delicious in the world, and there are few smells more rewarding than those to be found on a preserved railway. If you can imagine soaking up the freshness of newly-mown grass or the radiance in the street following a good bucketing down of rain, then you’ll

appreciate the aroma of hot oil and steam that permeates every fibre of your anorak! (Right) Established in 1832, the Ffestiniog Railway is the oldest independant company in the world. Following closure in 1946, a group of enthusiasts set about the task of re-opening the line in 1954 and today the company has become a leader in railway preservation. (Below) Following closure of BR's 5-mile branch from Keighley to Oxenhope in 1962, the KWVR's re-opening of the line in June 1968, just two months before the end of BR steam in August 1968 is a credit to all concerned. Indeed, whilst the rest of us were bemoaning the end of steam like scatterbrained ninnies there was somebody prepared to roll up their sleeves and do something possitive to restore it...

Although my train spotting days have long since gone, it doesn’t stop my imagination being fired up and rearing to go. Trouble is, as you get older -  well past the ‘Big Six-0’ - the sedentary lifestyle that comes with the ageing process is profoundly depressing, so wallowing in nostalgia for the old days is a great way of seeking refuge from the grim reality of our crazy world. And in case you’re wondering, I am not alone in some reactionary minority. The huge majority of my generation find themselves lamenting the erosion of common decency, politeness and, above all else, a respect for wholesome family values...and Britishness.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But then, one of the great joys of growing old is that you can excise the bad parts from memory, so even the bad times look good. Okay, one’s unfettered imagination can get the better of even the most hard-faced person, but in view of the recent demographic changes affecting our lives, it's time our political masters listened to what my generation have to say. After all, the whole point of a democracy is to address the important issues of our times, not suppress them, and by turning Britain into a multi-cultural society in which immigrants are allowed to pursue their own cultural agenda without any regards for the indigenous population is quite wrong...

Of course, this country has successfully assimilated overseas immigrants for more than 150 years. The first significant wave came from Ireland to help build our Victorian railways (see Blea Moor picture right and the spectacular Marsh Lane Cutting in Leeds below). Indeed, the British owe a huge debt to the countless thousands of Irish navvies together with the immigrant workers from Commonwealth countries who were actively encouraged by the Government to fill the acute shortage of manpower during the Fifties. Today, however, the number of immigrants entering the country is beginning to threaten our national identity, yet our politicians are too cowardly to discuss the problem in an open and honest way for fear of reprisal from the PC brigade. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed, there was a time when British people gave their full support to the Government's policy on assylum seekers because it seemed the decent thing to do, but in the cold light of day we now find ourselves encumbered with thousands of illegal immigrants ruthlessly exploiting every possible human rights legislation - all of which costs the public purse countless millions of pounds as fat-cat lawyers get rich from organising endless rounds of appeals and amended applications.

Well, what about our rights? Having valued this country’s freedom of speech over the past 60-odd years, my generation dare not say anything nowadays to which the PC lobby might take exception. Instead, we simply ignore the problem, hoping it will go away. It won’t, of course, and to set the record straight - I'm not a racist and my patriotic views should not be construed as those of a Fascist. But there are times when common sense should prevail, and unpalatable though it may seem, this country is bursting at the seams with people barely able to disguise their hostility towards our British way of life. Oh dear, I'll be pilloried for saying this in such an honest way...opinions like mine are held in contempt by our politically-correct masters. But if truth be told the British are not prejudice against skin colour and creed. Our grievances are focussed on economics. The burgeoning cost of uncontrolled immigration has put an intolerable strain on housing, health and education, and instead of a multi-cultural utopia, local authorities  are burdened with inner-city no-go areas.

And why am I telling you all this? Because back in the 1950s my parents would have run a mile from the proposition that their adorable small boy - albeit with 'sticky-out ears' and an unashamed passion for train spotting - would grow into a disi