Nottingham Victoria Station 1964-65

[@kra6750]

I can remember running from the Parliament Street Meths to watch from that slopping wall to catch the fish freight on the Friday evening from Grimsby pulled by a Brit. Also the Bournemouth to York which sometimes had a GWR loco to Nottingham. And caught some southern locos on the football specials when Forest played Southampton. Memories!

[@The8224sm]

Great photos. A Crosti boiler 9F photos are not very common. Glad you included one.

[@peterhunt2723]

Travelled daily for some weeks in the summer of 1962. Non corridor coaches. Was told these were going to be scrapped so took a screwdriver and suitcase a nicked some Hamilton Ellis railway pictures. At present (2023) one hangs in our lounge and one in bedroom. Still look good after 61years!

[@richardlingard6185]

Wonderful stuff. I was lucky enough to travel on the GCR from Banbury via Woodford Halse to Sheffield in about 1960 before I was really interested in trains but four years later - on 18th April 1964 to be precise, I spent a day trainspotting at Woodford Halse with a bunch of mates from school in Oxford, and on that day we saw 46125 3rd Carabinier, which features in your video a couple of weeks earlier. It looked very tired, as did 46163 which we saw on the same day but great memories which you've brought back - thank you.

[@geoffreyking4515]

They Were tired ,but we loved the scots and we loved the VIC..pure vandalism

[@dodgy1954]

Enjoyed that. What a variety of engines, all sadly rather run down and tired looking but great atmosphere. Glad you took those pictures. Thank you.

[@rogerfindlay6836]

Great photos and well put together. Thanks for the memories. R.

[@johnbarlow6990]

Great photos showing the engines as they came towards the end of their day's. So pleased to see the Robinson O4s as I remember them - plodding along and leaking steam. The Vic was a great place, full of atmosphere and cathedral-like in the long gaps between trains. If only it could have survived for a few more years the ridiculous HS2 could have been avoided.

[@skoot2u]

Just lovely ! Only get to see steam now in pristine condition so it's nice to see them in their " working clothes " so to speak. Only went into Victoria once, on a day trip with my family from Pye Hill station around 1962 ? Thanks for uploading.

[@adrianrouse5148]

Just about to say the same. They used to be filthy. I remember looking at a very black loco in a station and where the oil cups had been filled it was dark red !!! It looked just like the photo at the start.

[@jerrypinner1671]

Happy memories of NV- occasionally the totally unexpected could turn up- copped Evening Star light engine there.

[@richardsymonds5159]

44932 still with us today!

[@robnewman6101]

I also have a Hardback Book called The Railway Policeman. The Story of the Constable on the Track.

[@simongleaden2864]

Good photos. So many ex-LMS engines at this former LNER station though. After Nationalisation, BR moved its stock of locos around quite a bit, it seems.

[@andrewtaylor5984]

Most of the Great Central was transferred from the Eastern to the London Midland Region early in 1958. Already, a start had been made to replace LNER motive power with LMS classes, mainly, though not exclusively, Black Fives. LNER classes occasionally appeared even just before closure in September, 1966.

[@grahampaulkendrick7845]

Whay a great idea! In '65-6 I was frequentig Victoria and Waterloo Stations, to collect train numbers, altho' I didn't have a camera. I didn't realise that all those lovely Bulleid locomotives would cease running in the summer of '67. It's all rather sad. But what is the music you've chosen for this nostalgic video.

[@Maelli535]

Very nice! But what is the music, it#s good and it fits the subject nicely?

[@stephencope7178]

Excellent photos. . .the grime and glory days. I'd like to think that the Vic might have lasted longer, had it not been transferred to the Midland Region (an old rival) and it might now have resembled Birmingham New Street and been more useful than Nottingham Midland, that's a mile plus from the town centre! 🤔

[@robnewman6101]

Railway Movies. The Titfield Thunderbolt 1952. The Great Train Robbery 1963. The Railway Children 1970 & 2000. Thomas and the Magic Railroad 2000.

[@daystatesniper01]

Lovely video ,shame it closed ,yes it was showing it's age but the ex GCR line should never have closed.

[@keithchambers1035]

When it closed it wasn't actually that old

[@robnewman6101]

I have the DORLING KINDERSLEY DK EYEWITNESS GUIDES Book of TRAIN. Discover the story of railways - from the days of steam to the high - speed, sophisticated trains of today. In association with THE NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM.

[@geoffreyking4515]

The Scots on the semi fasts to Marylebone, they were tired when they came and the brits were only a bit better

[@andrewtaylor5984]

The Britannias were drafted to the line on two occasions, both of which were fairly brief. The first was after the closure of Neasden shed in 1962, but there were still steam servicing facilities at Willesden and Cricklewood. When Willesden closed to steam in 1965, there were no steam servicing facilities in North London, and it was thought that the Britannias with larger tenders, originally 70045-54, would be needed. (At least one of these large tenders was transferred to an earlier class member.) Presumably, someone discovered that the Black 5 could do the Nottingham-London return trip without taking on water in London. (Were there still water tanks at Woodford Halse?) The Britannias were needed on the West Coast Main Line north of Crewe, as BR management had ordered the withdrawal of the LMS Pacifics at the end of the 1964 summer. It is significant that almost all the Britannia Pacifics were withdrawn from one or other of the Carlisle sheds. On another front, the photographer must have been lucky to cop a Crosti-boilered 9F at Nottingham Victoria, as they were very rare on the GC main line.

[@geoffreyking4515]

@@andrewtaylor5984 you must remember the brits were two cylinder and the Scots three ,the brits weren't a success over Shap and Beattock only being two pot,but they went well on the G.C. everything was given to the G.C.black 5s,standard 5s,patriots jubes, brits, Annesley shed was a great spotters paradise,had a ride from basford into the Vic in 46158 the loyal regiment, the driver who was an eastern man from colwick said to me ""bet these scots were a brilliant loco but now they are knackered "46158 was about the best of a poor bunch , all very sad

[@andrewtaylor5984]

@@geoffreyking4515 I realise that. The LMS Pacifics should have been retained for longer, even though they were banned south of Crewe. The Royal Scots were rather run down on the GC, and they were not really built for hauling (usually) four or five coach trains averaging about 40 m.p.h.. Although I never lived in the area, I have been looking into the decline of the line for a relative's benefit. My impression was that Annesley was largely a freight depot, and had very few, if any, scheduled passenger workings until the three Marylebone-Nottingham trains were introduced at the beginning of 1960. If you look at photos of the line in BR days, Annesley locos were usually pretty scruffy, no doubt because of the shortage of cleaners. Apparently, limescale in the area was a problem. I have heard several conflicting views as to the mechanical condition of the Royal Scots during their spell there.

[@geoffreyking4515]

@@andrewtaylor5984 I lived in the area spent many hours train spotting on arnold Road,where the line out of the Vic was of course the G C.but it also branched out to Derby friargate,so we saw bongos,k3, l1 tanks, mainly off colwick we always saw the immighan fish train with brits Robin Hood,hereward the wake, there were 4 that came one each night about 7pm.then of course there were the windcutters with 9fs, yes it was very viared on the gc to say the least

[@brucenichols9153]

Excellent but had to turn off the audio, repetitive and awful!