Memories
Nic Thomas' story (age 57) - "I remember steam shunters working the coal trains in Mountain Ash from when I was very young - about 1967. We had mostly saddle tanks but also a pannier - 7754 which is now preserved in Llangollen.
"I built a model railway in my shed from the of about 12 (1974) until I was 16 (1978) or so. It was 8'x6' - and had a mixture of steam and diesel. It was a double track and had a sizeable station, sidings, a tunnel and a branch line. I used to scratchbuild all my own buildings.
"At about that time I also went trains-potting; usually at Cardiff Central but sometimes Reading, Swindon and once we went to York. We used to scribble the numbers in a notebook then underline in our Ian Allan Motive Power Books. Most diesels in the 1970s in Cardiff were 37s, 08s, 47s, 33s, and, of course, the HST.
"The Inter-City 125 came out in 1976 and we rail enthusiasts were really excited. A few months after its launch I got to ride on one from Port Talbot to Swansea courtesy of a family friend.
"They were great days - lots of fond memories".
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Bryan Williams' story (age 81) - "One of my family members, Olly Williams, was a Link One steam engine driver, links are different stages.
"Olly was a 1. He joined the GWR On 04/1935 and finished in 1970. He started in Cardiff Canton and then transferred to Cheltenham then transferred to Pontlotting. My father's main runs were Cardiff General - London Paddington then he did Chester - Birmingham (SH & NS) he also came down to Fishguard, Penzance and Cornwall. My father remembers the Inter-City 125s coming into Cardiff Central in the 1970s. He used to drive Kings, Castles, Halls, Modified Halls and Manors. He used to take me down to Cardiff Canton sheds. I used to travel on the steam trains from Maindy Halt to Ninian Halt. I also used to travel from Birmingham Snow Hill to Cardiff General when I was in the forces in 1957. I saw Flying Scotsman at London King's Cross in 1956 when I was in the army as a nurse.
"I used to travel to Chester in 1956. 1957 I was transferred to Linchfield. Then, in 1958 I was transferred to Warwick and in 1959 I was moved to Brecon.
"I ended my career on the railways working at Cardiff's Cathays wagon repair shops from 1970 - 1990.
"I have very fond memories".
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Steve EV Ellis' story (age 58) - "In 1964, I took my first steam train journey from Tonypandy station to Aberavon Beach in Port Talbot. I was four years old at the time and my mother accompanied me on the trip. The route took us through the Rhondda tunnel in Treherbert which is recently reopened for cyclists and is a lost railway.
"The tunnel is around three miles long. This nostalgic railway journey has always remained a fond memory of mine. My father also took the steam journeys and would often take the train from Tonypandy Rhondda to Cardiff General during the 1950s (1953 - 1964).
"I also remember the GWR trains being withdrawn from service in 1966 and put into scrap at Barry in South Glamorgan to be scrapped.
Known as Barry Scrapyard to people in South Wales.
"I have very fond memories of this also".
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Ron Wakefield's story (age 83) - "My first memory of steam trains were in 1944. Me and my pals would look over the Mountain Ash bridge and be engulfed in steam, soot and smoke and a damp feeling on the face. Every year, during the miners two weeks holidays, we would go to Porthcawl by rail and we would have competitions to see who was the first to see the sea. We would go home red raw with sunburn. In 1950, as a boy I would loved to go to the Navigation pit and seeing the locomotives shunting.
"Also the blacksmith shop with the men stripped to waste, sweating. The whole area was one of sound, steam, smells and sights. In 1954, I joined the RAF and travelled from Cardiff General to Cardington by train. The trains at the time were filled with military personel waving goodbye to people from an open train window. I remember travelling from Lincoln station to Mountain Ash but getting stuck in Bristol Temple Meads I was too late to catch the Cardiff train so I had to sleep on a bench along with homeless people and catching the 04.30am milk train to Cardiff and then onto Mountain Ash and throwing pebbles at the bedroom window to awaken my wife to let me in.
"In 1980, some friends came down from London and I took them for a walk through an old tunnel from Abercynon to the Merthyr valley snd we took some miners lamps and torches to see our way and we pretended that there was a ghost train coming through any moment.
"I have very fond memories".
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Stuart Andrew's story (age 70) - "I started train-spotting in the mid-sixties when Steam was just beginning to be phased out. I lived at High Wycombe, Bucks (which was on the Great Central/Great Western Region). One of our happier Saturdays out (myself and a mate or so) was to travel to Basingstoke for the day.
"Watching the great giants of Southern Region Steam (Battle of Britain Class, West Country Class and Merchant Navy Class) hurtling through Basingstoke with full 10 carriage sets was a sight to behold! I remember one particular occasion when a Battle of Britain Class pulled into the slow platform pulling a sad, empty loco (without its tender ot connecting rods) the loco in question was BODMIN (chalked upon the side of the cab)!
"The driver of the first loco said it was being taken to Eastleigh to be scrapped....we almost cried. But, during our next visit to Basingstoke, we were elated to see the self same 'Bodmin' hurtling majestically through the town! It has obviously in for an overhaul, and am pleased to recall that the 'Southern' Steamers were some of the last to be cut up (or sent to the Barry Island Coal Yards).
"I have very fond memories".
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David Knipe's story (age 71) "I started on the Midland Region on 31/12/1962 as a box boy at Colwick! 12/08/1963 I started as an engine cleaner becoming a fireman in January 1964. We had operations on the Great Central passing through Nottingham Victoria to Ruddington, Hotchley Hill and Rugby Central. I fired locomotives such as 9Fs, Austerity's, B1's, GC O4's Ivatt Moguls, Stanier Black Fives, 8Fs, BR Standard 3s and 4s. Going north we worked to Rotherwood, Wadsley Bridge and Tinsley.
"The other turns took us to the collieries and Annesley yards. Burton upon Trent was another destination. My last steam operation as a fireman was in January 1967 at Colwick and I fired an 8F. Colwick closed on 13/04/1970 when I was transferred to Stratford East London after 6 months I went to King's Cross as a Secondman working to Leeds and Newcastle etc. In 1975, I became a driver at Charing Cross then Stonebridge Park 1985. In 1990, I got transferred to Peterborough and continued working there until 2015 when I retired after 53 years of service.
"I have very fond memories".
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David on the footplate of BR Standard 9F no. 92191 at Colwick in 1965
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Robert Bullett's story (age 69) "I started on P/Way in 1970 at Teddington working between Kingston and Teddington for a couple of years then rejoined in January 1991 at Yeovil Jct as a RO2/Shunter platform and tickets as well as shunting, moved to Wimbledon Park as Trainman D then a driver and driver instructor, then transferred to Strawberry Hill Depot and medical retirement in August 2011.
"I have very fond memories."
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Myrna Thomas' memory (age 80) – "When I was a girl about 14 – this would be the early '50s – I lived with my mother and father in Sunny Bank, Quakers Yard near Treharris in South Wales. My mother was from Treharris itself but my father was from Mountain Ash which was in the next valley.
“To visit my grandparents, I had to catch the train from Quakers Yard station to Mountain Ash Cardiff Road. Quakers Yard station in those days was a very busy junction; serving the Merthyr lines and the Pontypool to Neath. My train would cross the viaduct and soon we would enter the tunnel and emerge on the other side of the valley from Penrhiwceiber. This village had a small halt on this line; the main station and goods yard being a few hundred yards away on the other side of the river. We would then pass through Cresselly Crossing and pull in at Mountain Ash. The entire journey only took about ten minutes – it took me longer to walk from the station up the steep hills to Aberpennar street where my grandparents lived!"
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​Andy Hall's recollections: “My great grand-uncle Lawrence Daffan (1845 – 1907) started as a brakeman on the Houston & Texas Central in 1865 when he came back from the Civil War. The postwar decades were boom times for the railroads in Texas, which expanded rapidly. Daffan moved his way up steadily through the company, successively serving as conductor, train master, station agent, and, from 1889, superintendent of the railroad’s Second Division. Daffan was seriously injured in a train derailment near Corsican in September 1898, losing two fingers and being severely banged up. Though he recovered, his health was much more precarious after that. He stepped down as superintendent of the H&TC’s Second Division in 1904, to become General Agent for Transportation for the entire railroad, a position he held until his death in January 1907.
My great grandfather, George William Ralston (1848 – 1934), was the station agent at Mansfield, Texas on the H&TC for some years. I don't know when he began there, but it was before 1895”.