Do you have BTM connections?

[Hobbler]

The other main thing I remember about 17th March 1963 was that it was bucketing down all day!

If I remember rightly the rain eased off for a few minutes as the train pulled in but was bucketing down again by the time it came to a halt and we had got down to the other end of the platform so further pictures were impossible.

On the subject of special trains did anyone else go on any of the specials that started from BTM or passed through in the 1960's and early 1970's ? . I particularly remember the series of trains organised by the S & D Circle . BTM to Horsted Keynes for the Bluebell Railway (6 car Dmu) and a trip behind the Dukedog , Taunton and BTM to Kidderminster for the Severn Valley Railway and 3205 for Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade , BTM to Keighley for the Worth Valley Railway , BTM to Diss for a visit to Bressingham , BTM to Romney for a ride on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch and also their Coach Tours which started at BTM incline for the Opening day of the Dart Valley and another to Hereford for the first time King George V was steamed . The joint GWS and Wirral Railway Circle Somerset Rambler Tours and the BAC Railway Society Brakevan tours which included the Portishead line and Dean Forest lines on another occasion.

The other non passenger specials which stand out in my memory were the Circus trains arriving at Clifton Down and the parade of animals from the station up Blackboy Hill to the circus site on the Downs.

[Lulu]

Hello everyone

Sorry for the delay in responding, IÆve been working myself silly.

Hobbler, I really could do with your memories. Would you consider talking please?

I was a Railway Student 1970-71 based at Bristol, and spent some time in the Area Manager's Office based on the station. Would that experience and that time be of any interest to you?

Best wishes
Rhys prosser

Absolutely! Yes please, Rhys

If the original poster wants to speak to me in more detail by all means email me.

Robin Summerhill

Definitely! Yes please Robin

It's going to be short notice though. Next Saturday would be my absolute last day so I was thinking about a dedicating half of Sat 25th April to interviews at BTM if I can raise enough interest

Would you please email me filmingcontactATgmail.com if either of you might be able to do something.

I am tracing the history from the 1830's right through to today so anyone with thoughts and memories is welcome.

Thank you all

Lou

[Lulu]

For those who are camera shy, does anyone out there have any shots of BTM, especially the Goods Yards and Sheds they might like to share?

I have no shots of the Goods Yard and Sheds and using footage of a derelict site and a car park doesn't do much for me.

Also, someone told me Top of the Pops was broadcast from there in the 1980s does anyone know about this?

Thanks
LLx

[Robin Summerhill]

Another memory just crossed my mind:

By 1962 all the regular trains to London were diesel hauled, usually by Warships, but once a year there was a Hockey special taking those interested in such things up to a cup final (or whatever they call it in Hockey).

I/ we were just at that difficult age - not knowing whether we were there to look at the engine (4920 Dumbleton Hall was a regular as I recall), or the teenage girls that were getting on the train

[Andrew]

On the subject of special trains did anyone else go on any of the specials that started from BTM or passed through in the 1960's and early 1970's ? . I particularly remember the series of trains organised by the S & D Circle . BTM to Horsted Keynes for the Bluebell Railway (6 car Dmu) and a trip behind the Dukedog , Taunton and BTM to Kidderminster for the Severn Valley Railway and 3205 for Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade , BTM to Keighley for the Worth Valley Railway , BTM to Diss for a visit to Bressingham , BTM to Romney for a ride on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch.

The RH & D trip must have been pre-1967 if you went to "Romney" as New Romney & Littlestone BR station closed that year. Nearest open railhead after that would have been Appledore (Kent)

[Robin Summerhill]

quote="Hobbler"

On the subject of special trains did anyone else go on any of the specials that started from BTM or passed through in the 1960's and early 1970's ? . I particularly remember the series of trains organised by the S & D Circle . BTM to Horsted Keynes for the Bluebell Railway (6 car Dmu) and a trip behind the Dukedog , Taunton and BTM to Kidderminster for the Severn Valley Railway and 3205 for Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade , BTM to Keighley for the Worth Valley Railway , BTM to Diss for a visit to Bressingham , BTM to Romney for a ride on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch.

The RH & D trip must have been pre-1967 if you went to "Romney" as New Romney & Littlestone BR station closed that year. Nearest open railhead after that would have been Appledore (Kent)

That was Hobbler's post, not mine!

I did spend a good deal of time on the RHD after the end of BR steam, and I was a member of the RHDRA for a few years, but all this was of course post-68 and after the Romney branch closed. So in my case it was train to Sandling then walk down the hill to Hythe.

[g4mby]

Also, someone told me Top of the Pops was broadcast from there in the 1980s does anyone know about this?

That would probably be when a short HST made an attempt to break a speed record of some sort, running from Paddington to Temple Meads via Bristol Parkway. Power car 43002 was named "Top of the Pops", a name which fortunately it no longer carries. I think Jimmy Saville may have been there to meet the train.

[Hobbler]

Another memory just crossed my mind:

By 1962 all the regular trains to London were diesel hauled, usually by Warships, but once a year there was a Hockey special taking those interested in such things up to a cup final (or whatever they call it in Hockey).

I/ we were just at that difficult age - not knowing whether we were there to look at the engine (4920 Dumbleton Hall was a regular as I recall), or the teenage girls that were getting on the train

It was Dad's job to organise those specials at that time and trains were run to all sorts of events particularly for schools. The English Schools Football cup final at Wembley was my favourite as I could often arrange to get a spare ticket for that train and others and I would spend the duration of the match on the station . Some very interesting cops from the specials coming in from other parts of the country.

[Hobbler]

Hello everyone

Sorry for the delay in responding, IÆve been working myself silly.

Hobbler, I really could do with your memories.

Lou

Sorry Lou but I will not even be in the country by then - but feel free to use anything I have posted.

[Robin Summerhill]

Another memory from my working days at BTM in 1979:

There were still quite a few overnight holiday trains to the south west at that time, and one Saturday morning at about 0430 four Asian guys walked in to the office, bleary-eyed and holding Stockport to Euston tickets. They wanted help because they needed to be at Heathrow by 0715.

It was clearly their fault that they were in their predicament - they had simply got on the wrong train at Stockport. We had nothing that could get them to Heathrow that quickly, so they were told that they had better take a taxi.

The ASM was concerned that they might be ripped off, so told me to go to the taxi driver's rest room and get them a quote.

The response from a dozen or so semi-somulent taxi drivers when I put my head round the door and said "Can anyone give me a price for a passenger for a Heathrow?" had to be seen to be believed. I think some of them would have stirred even if rigor mortis had set in .....

[Robin Summerhill]

Another one from my Bath Road days c.1974:

An internal memo came round basically saying (between the lines):

"Will you buggers stop pinching the anti freeze from the stores for your cars - we haven't got enough left to put in the diesels!"

[Robin Summerhill]

If the original poster wants to speak to me in more detail by all means email me.

Robin Summerhill

Definitely! Yes please Robin

Lou

I emailed you last night - please PM me if you didn't receive it

[Lulu]

Also, someone told me Top of the Pops was broadcast from there in the 1980s does anyone know about this?

That would probably be when a short HST made an attempt to break a speed record of some sort, running from Paddington to Temple Meads via Bristol Parkway. Power car 43002 was named "Top of the Pops", a name which fortunately it no longer carries. I think Jimmy Saville may have been there to meet the train.

Yes, that's the one g4mby!

Any idea of the date - possibly 1982? There seems to be nothing on record.

[Lulu]

Hello everyone

Sorry for the delay in responding, IÆve been working myself silly.

Hobbler, I really could do with your memories.

Lou

Sorry Lou but I will not even be in the country by then .

That sounds ominous. I hope it's for pleasure.

Thanks for the permission.

[Robin Summerhill]

Also, someone told me Top of the Pops was broadcast from there in the 1980s does anyone know about this?

That would probably be when a short HST made an attempt to break a speed record of some sort, running from Paddington to Temple Meads via Bristol Parkway. Power car 43002 was named "Top of the Pops", a name which fortunately it no longer carries. I think Jimmy Saville may have been there to meet the train.

Yes, that's the one g4mby!

Any idea of the date - possibly 1982? There seems to be nothing on record.

I've checked my photograph album because I was at Badminton that morning and got a couple of shots of it.

It was in June 1977, and shortly after the HSTs were introduced (I was at Bath Road until September 1976, and the HST depot at St Phillip's Marsh was just being completed at the time, so presumably the full HST service would have started with the commencement of the summer timetable that year)

But the HSTs didn't have a tender, or a "proper" regulator, or injectors, so I wasn't all that interested at the time, and I didn't keep comprehensive records!