SPM 1970's

[jules]

I'd like to start one here ....

Did anybody else visit St Philips Marsh in the '70's and see the hydraulics that were stored there before scrapping. Warships and D63xx's ...

If only I'd known then (at the age of 14) just what was being cast aside, I'd have kept the parts ...

[Gary]

I was there in about 1974 (aged 16), but I can't remember how I got there! It must have been a railtour or summat, as I lived in Essex at the time.
I can't remember seeing any Warships or D63xxs, but I did see some Hymeks and a Blue Pullman.

[AndyK]

I'd like to start one here ....

Did anybody else visit St Philips Marsh in the '70's and see the hydraulics that were stored there before scrapping. Warships and D63xx's ...

If only I'd known then (at the age of 14) just what was being cast aside, I'd have kept the parts ...

Yes I did; and I must admit I squeezed through a fence and walked along the lines of locos - nobody saw me. I surprised myself a month or so ago when browsing through my old Ian Allan trainspotting book to find every single member of Class 43 underlined (my memory told me that the only class I had copped in its entirety was the Westerns). I think that achievement was only attributable to the number of sitting ducks parked at SPM. Different people have their own trainspotting ethics but personally personally I think it only counts to see loco when it is service - you can't legitiimately spot a loco after it's withdrawn.

[jules]

I can't remember seeing any Warships or D63xxs, but I did see some Hymeks and a Blue Pullman.

Wow! Thanks for the pics! From SPM in the 70's? Got any more?

I never saw the Blue Pullman dumped there, so you must have been a little later than me. I always remember SPM as the place we used to sneak to (out of parent's bounds) on a Sunday when it was quiet and indeed, squeeze through the fence and get inside the locos.

To be honest, as a kid of 10 or 12, it was the first realisation I had that all might not be well with the world. To see all those fine machines I had admired from the age of 8 (and yes, copped every single D63XX, Hymek, Warship and Western - just by spending every evening at Ashley Hill and every Saturday/Sunday at TM plus a few trips for the rarer ones) and here they were, a few years later, so much scrap. I still hate accountants to this day!

Personally, those memories make SPM a kind of "Bristol Barry for Hydraulics" to me. I'm sure other people out there must have pics of the scrap line, I did, but they are unfortunately long lost. I'd love to see the sights of SPM in the '70's recorded for posterity on here

you can't legitiimately spot a loco after it's withdrawn

Oh dear. That means the only D600 I can reliably keep is D602 Bulldog, seen at Ashley Hill being assisted on a service train by D808 in 1968. I guess I'll have to cross the other 4 600's off if that's the case .... so maybe I didn't cop every single hydraulic after all! Drat!!

[Roger]

I made a somewhat nervous visit to The Marsh (via the back of Bath Road Depot and the avoiding line) to photograph the CoBo when it had been stored there. I cannot recall the storing of hydraulics there, but that might have been at the time when I was living away from the area and young children were a greater priority.

[Gary]

I've only got a couple more pictures, of Co-Bo S15705, but I can't be totally sure that they were taken at SPM.
They were in the same set of prints as the Hymeks (D7076, D7096 and others) and the Blue(-ish) Pullman, but they could have been somewhere else (it's all a blur now). Maybe someone can confirm (pics here and here)?
If it was SPM, the presence of the Co-Bo might mean it was 1975 rather than 1974.

[AndyK]

Oh dear. That means the only D600 I can reliably keep is D602 Bulldog, seen at Ashley Hill being assisted on a service train by D808 in 1968.

That must have been a red letter day I wonder if D602 was on the way to its final (and short-lived) home on the Central Wales Line.

I do have one not-terribly good slide of the SPM dump - taken from the legal side of the fence. Unfortunately I don't have the means to scan it; but if I can get it scanned I'll certainly let you have a copy.

[Roger]

Gary's photographs of the COBO appear to have been taken at Swansea. I recall it being stored in sidings just outside Swansea High Street station before it came to Bristol. Possibly someone else could confirm this.

[Gary]

Thanks Roger! You may be right about Swansea, I did go on a trip there in 1974. The moonlike post-industrial landscape around Landore and Morriston was quite an eye-opener for a sheltered Home Counties lad.

By the way, on the other topic, if a loco was in the current Combined Volume then withdrawn or not it constituted a fair cop as far as I'm concerned

[simon]

I'd like to start one here ....

Did anybody else visit St Philips Marsh in the '70's and see the hydraulics that were stored there before scrapping. Warships and D63xx's ...

Yes I did; and I must admit I squeezed through a fence and walked along the lines of locos - nobody saw me.

snap - after Saturday morning school.

I think there were a number of other people there at the time.
Have no pictures though, I'm sorry to say.

[AndyK]

I'd like to start one here ....

Did anybody else visit St Philips Marsh in the '70's and see the hydraulics that were stored there before scrapping. Warships and D63xx's ...

Yes I did; and I must admit I squeezed through a fence and walked along the lines of locos - nobody saw me.

snap - after Saturday morning school.

It was somebody at school that tipped me off about this. It might well have been you, Simon. If so (belatedly) thanks.

[simon]

It was somebody at school that tipped me off about this. It might well have been you, Simon. If so (belatedly) thanks.

Too long ago for me to know whether to take the credit now

[Mitch]

I, too, was one of the miscreants who sneaked in to SPM to see the stored hydraulics. It must have been in the very early '70's, because although I recall seeing several withdrawn Warships, I seem to remember that some of them were re-instated for a while. It was a very long time ago and my memory is not what it was (who am I again?), but I do remember illegally "cabbing" them whilst keeping a watchful eye out for the authorities.
Twenty years later I was in the very same sidings preparing HST's for service at un-Godly hours of the morning. C'est la vie.........
Andy

[AndyK]

I do have one not-terribly good slide of the SPM dump - taken from the legal side of the fence. Unfortunately I don't have the means to scan it; but if I can get it scanned I'll certainly let you have a copy.

I have just come across this picture on the Web. It is a similar view to the one I have but rather better. http://western-champions-pics-online.fo ... 49540.html

The whole site is full of hydraulic nostalgia.

[AndyK]

I have just come across this picture on the Web. It is a similar view to the one I have but rather better. http://western-champions-pics-online.fo ... 49540.html

The whole site is full of hydraulic nostalgia.

On returning to look at this picture again, I see that the collection has become unavailable to those without the correct password (which I don't)