British Rail-Penzance October 1990

A vid from a different part of the country now, Penzance one of the two furthest point stations in the UK. Taken in the early morning we see HSTs, the Night Riviera arrival & ECS to Longrock with a class 08 and a bubble car DMU. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@burntpeppers7414]

2:12 AHHH the wonderful dys when u could open the doors on the platform as the train was still slightly moving.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Some people opened them very early as seen on my upload here at 0.18 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoulZqV4pr16lc0

[@stephenpowell5912]

Lovely classic iconic BR footage before Privatisation ❤️love the sight of a Class 08 shutter pulling Inter City sleeper to passenger Carriages,There is something that is not seen every day to the DMU bubble cars ❤️love the Paxman Valenta sound ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Miss that sound 🥺

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

This was just an everyday sight when i filmed it.... i'm so pleased i did now......

[@vishengro]

Very nostalgic video...thank you for posting 👍👍

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I do have some more taken when i was on a railtour with a 31/37 combo back in the late 1990s, i will get up over time.

[@Transport-UK]

Great video. I remember being smoked out with fumes from those Class 101s when spotting at Ipswich

[@djtrainspotter3079]

Great vid again sir! Spent plenty of time there as my mum lived in Cornwall at the time of the final 47 hauled VXC services! I even took her spotting once here and at St.Erth haha! Thanks for sharing this stuff :D

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thanks, there will be more!

[@chris-io1ki]

Great video mate. I remember seeing 55000 going through Newport. It still had it's the SC regional prefix when I saw it. Must have been around 1990 also. Nice footage. 08801 has travelled a bit too. I remember seeing that one at Reading lol.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I don't recall the bubble cars working in Scotland?

[@markedgar6437]

Listening to that 08 pulling that stock out of the station brings back so many great memories. Another great video. Thankyou

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I love filming Gronks, a mundane part of the railway but fulfilling a most important part of it. I have other shots of them at work, the most hellfire is 3 working at once in the yard behind Scunthorpe Station back in the late 1908s, now overgrown & disused.

[@ethmister]

Love the 121 bubble car. Apparently the last on retired in 2017 meaning it ran in service for 57 years. Such a cool train.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I was out to see the last ones running on the Chiltern line, i have a vid up here kzbin.info/www/bejne/bF7Wqa2Pqa50jtU of my trip.

[@adelestevens]

I once did the paddington to penzance sleeper back in the early 80's. First class mk1 ... much better than the mk3 in the video because you could drop the window down in the compartment and take in the view from there sat on the end of the bed. Straight from the station at 6am(ish) and into a local pub that opened for brekkie! Then back on the morning "Riviera " back to London (cab ride all the way back from Exeter!).

[@trainsontuesday]

Nice look at Penzance station. I was amazed to see cars on the platform. I've ridden HST's in and out of there a few times. David.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

A very laid back place, a long way from London. The cars could well have been railway staff's.

[@interstat2222]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus They used to park cars on platforms in St Pancras too. It must have stopped some time in the late 90s.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@interstat2222 Probably got twitchy re terrorism i should imagine.....

[@speshalkmf9273]

I live near this railway station Check out the rap song i made on my channel 30yrs later

[@jessemoore3512]

Penzance and Paddington where railcar stations. Back when you could take your car on the train. Hence why Penzance has a separate long track on a separate platform.

[@petersmith4455]

lovely sound of the 121 .at least I have the Hornby one in green

[@williamnorris2449]

Interesting to see that the Night Riviera had so few sleeper carriages then, looks like mostly day coaches.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It was out of peak summer season, i'm sure more ran on the Summer timetable.....

[@edwardbarnes2702]

Another great location, even the bus’s in the background are ancient history! My word Soi, you certainly got about at the time, I like you tried as many places as could as see the future, like a previous comment, can you see anyone allowing car parking on the platforms Lol 🤓 43007 lovely clag🤓

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I had a priv so put it to good use and travelled about a bit! Most of my uploads are snippets from a much longer day out. I had 3 spare battery packs so could film all day. This day's filming was after an overnight at a mates place near Lands End, the day before i had left Waterloo behind a 50 to Salisbury, class 47 hauled DMU to Bristol, a 47 to Plymouth and an HST to Penzance. So plenty more films to get through-enjoy!

[@channelejg5862]

Didn’t realise 1990 was so old fashioned!!!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Do you mean we had lots of rateable traction about then??? lol

[@SPHolloway76]

Not that old fashion!

[@Cactus732]

It is the best part of 30 years ago tbf

[@briansaiditsoitmustbetrue4206]

It was 30 YEARS AGO..

[@jerribee1]

It wasn't at the time.

[@philclennell]

I like the way someone parked their car on the platform!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Probably railway staff.......

[@daveash9572]

I'm not sure about the timing, but this station definitely offered a motorail service from London, and the vehicles were unloaded here, so perhaps cars weren't such an unusual sight in and around the platforms? I haven't been able to locate any footage of cars being loaded or unloaded here though...

[@exb.r.buckeyeman845]

Hi Philly. I was a Shunter at Pz for 12 years, the car belonged to the Signalman in the Box. Possibly belonged to Monty Richards.

[@exb.r.buckeyeman845]

@@daveash9572 Hello Dave. Cars came down with the Sleepers, and were immediately unloaded, sometimes two GUVs, which held up to 8 vehicles. We also had cars come into Ponsadane one mile East of Pz, with new cars for the local garages.

[@exb.r.buckeyeman845]

Great to see the Signalman’s car at the end of No 3 Platform, possibly belonged to “Monty.”

[@grahamnancledra7036]

Cor the filth pouring out of the DMU at the start. And to think people worked in that Atmosphere. All so much different to today's Penzance.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Some classic traction back then....although you still have HST's! I have worked in some thick diesel fog over the years, both on the railways and the buses!

[@BibtheBoulder]

Yes, I miss those good old days....

[@olly5764]

43007 making itself popular with the station staff there!

[@AndreiTupolev]

It looks like smoke's coming out from underneath, though I think it's probably aerodynamics drawing the smoke down

[@ukdieselandelectricrailway1890]

Thanks for this one... it's surprising how rare it is to see footage or photos of the Cornish Night Riviera! I look forward to next week's heritage footage!! :^)

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I do have a few other shots of the Rivera, some at Padd and some in the West Country. Plus a few shots of the Plymouth-Edinburgh/Glasgow sleeper that ran until about 1993/94 time when it was withdrawn! It will appear at some point, rest assured!

[@ukdieselandelectricrailway1890]

I lived in North Devon between 1987 and 1991, but I was still a kid when we moved to Manchester in May 1991, so I wasn't able to sit around Exeter at night to catch a train like that. Actually, I thought the Devon to Scotland sleeper finished much earlier than 93/94! I look forward to seeing your videos! One of the things I like in your videos is that you recorded the whole train, which is really useful to railway modellers like myself. It enables me to work out what coaches and wagons were used, how long the train was, and the variety of wagons too. A lot of other people who took footage from this time stop recording once the loco is no longer visible, or they edit out the rest of the train because they think people only want to see the exciting loco bit. Did you happen to ever film the North London line south of Stratford to North Woolwich and capture the freight activity to Stratform Market chemical terminal, or the scrap metal to Silvertown tramway? I would be 'very' interested to see that!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I'm pleased you like my vids. When i used to do cine film it wasn't possible to capture the whole train as it used up so much film-a cine film was about £6.00 for 5 mins of silent film! When i got the video camera (which took full sized E180 3 hour tapes) £5.00 got you 3 hours with sound! So i could get the whole train freight, passenger and parcels. I never got a freight train south of Stratford on the North Woolwich line (there is a vid here i took just before the service was closed kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnXEZYeioNJsmdU) although i do have photos including the Ward's scrap yard at Silvertown which my father took in the late 1970s/80s.

[@ukdieselandelectricrailway1890]

I'd be very interested in seeing those photos. Would it be possible for you to scan them and post them on flickr, or maybe drop the link in your google drive? I had a plan for a model railway exhibition layout to P4 standards which would have been located just north of where the LTS goes over the line at West Ham (goo.gl/maps/Nq7TbRry4CB2( The land to the left of the line was the chemical terminal. What would have made the layout interesting is that there was so much detail there. Every track was different... flatbottom track on concrete sleepers, bullhead on chairs, and flatboom on wooden sleepers.... plus, it had 3rd rail AND catch rail too, because of the tight radius of the track. The only thing that prevented me doing it was that I don't drive, so the logistics of moving it to a show would be a constant problem.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

The chemical works was originally a petrol depot affair before Berk, Spencer Acids brought it. Just south of West Ham on the Woolwich line was a curve around towards Fenchurch Street which i think closed in the 1960s. The pictures my father took i think are mostly slides, i will have to have a dig about when i get time and scan them up. I will be away from home again soon for a couple of weeks to work at St Albans Beer Festival but will see what i can find. I'll also get a few vids uploaded to carry me over until my return in early October.

[@RailwayManUK]

Those were the days when you could park your car on the platform!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Real railways as they used to be!

[@RailwayManUK]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I'm not sure it would work today... maybe rural Penzance but not Clapham Junction! Thanks for sharing

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Yes, it was great when you could drive up the ramp onto platform 12 at Glasgow Central to drop people off. The car park was lost when two new platforms were excavated for the Glasgow Airport rail-link - which was never built!

[@stephenlittle7534]

Love the video. But what Queen Park doing on the End ????

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

the last 20 seconds of all my vids have 'the parting shot' of a 38 at QP where i upload the end cards. This saves putting them up over the last 20 seconds of the actual vid i have uploaded.

[@AndreiTupolev]

An MCW Metroliner looming above the Bubble Car 5:33! (55000, that's now on the South Devon Railway.)

[@RichardW23613]

AndreiTupolev Looks like a good ole bristol VR to me?

[@AndreiTupolev]

@@RichardW23613 Just behind it, the National Express coach

[@markcf83]

​@@AndreiTupolevI guess it was on the overnight service from Victoria.

[@30453trains]

Lovely clag from 43007, there-I’m guessing still with an original Paxman engine?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Oh yes! Real Valenta thrash here. The HSTs weren't re-engined until the mid 2000s

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thanks, i couldn't remember the exact date-i've got a head full of transport nonsense! lol....

[@fgwHST43009]

43007 is now with CrossCountry numbered 43207.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Was that the signalman's Talbot Alpine (very rare now!) at the end of the platform I wonder? He was allowed to drive it right down to the end of the platform?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Quite possibly. Being at one end of the railway system, far away from officildom all sorts of local arrangments went on!

[@markturner4219]

Back in the day some Cardiff Canton drivers would park their cars on the Cardiff General parcel's platform if they were taking over a train at the station. His was an Austin A50 Cambridge, and later a Wolsey 16/60. The staff at Canton used to run their own car maintenance co-operative.

[@carlheadley9775]

What there something wrong with that HST ?because is was blowing a lot of Exhaust

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Probably been idling a long time. All diesels do that once they move off, once they get going the exhaust clears through. Buses hace a tendancy to do the same....

[@timwattison4419]

Nope, the Paxman Valenta engines in them were designed to burn oil, the pistons having holes in them. I know this because I've driven them since 1997. They now have MTU 4000 engines fitted are are very clean burn units compared to as built. All in all, HSTs are a brilliant bit of kit. 👍

[@kenstevens5065]

​@@timwattison4419 Saved BR and a credit to all involved. All made and designed in Great Britain.

[@tonyroe2299]

where were the Sleeper coaches taken to by the Class 08?

[@boalbads]

probably into a siding, later taken to platform to return to paddington

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

To Long Rock depot for servicing and stabling during the day. A couple of HST's were stabled there each night as well as the DMU on the St Ives branch service......

[@anfieldlad70]

I used to have an apartment just off Soi Buakhao! towards 3rd Road in line with Soi 8. Chaloem Phrakiat 17 Alley to be precise.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I have never lived in Patts but have visited many times! I stay at an apartment block in Pattaya Klang near Leng Kee and ride along Soi Buakhao on a bhat bus! happy days, haven't been for a while as the exchange rate is so poor. The PHP Peso is so much better so i tend to visit Angeles more now....

[@anfieldlad70]

Always fancied going there, sadly now hitched to a Thai! lol

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I don't suppose she'll believe you're going just to trek up Mount Pinatubo!!! It's good fun, just as warm as LOS and mostly the scene is more cencentrated around Fields Ave. But still good fun! I have a Manila aircraft vid up from my one day stay there before heading home on an Airbus A350, only about 15 hours including about 6 trips around the Lambourne holding stack waiting to land at LHR!

[@justme-hh4vp]

Car parked on a platform.., that was a thing!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Back in the day it wasn't unknown for staff to do that.

[@prime6134]

just me lol

[@alexselby349]

Talbot Alpine Rapier by the look of it

[@NC-002]

Yet more quality content, Soi. Do you have any footage of the tubes Experimental Livery trains, the United Airlines 1973 Stock or the Yellow Pages C69 Stock? Keep up the good content!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Sadly, no! But i do have some more Underground gems tucked away awaiting their chance to escape!!! lol

[@NC-002]

Soi Buakhao I remember seeing it on the Chesham shuttle in the late 1990s. Also I wouldnt mind seeing some more Northern Line footage or thr Jubilee 1983TS. Anyways, I am so glad someone was here to record the memories!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I have some more 83 stock footage, more Northern & Bakerloo with 59 stock plus D and A stock on the East London line!

[@NC-002]

Oooh D Stock on the East London Line? I remember hearing about it but never rode it myself! I'd personally love to see some of this, thanks a lot!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I'll see if that can be the next Und vid up!

[@nopeoppeln]

was the 101 off to Plymouth or Newton Abbott?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It looks to show Plymouth on the destination blind, so i'm guessing it's the Plymouth local, all stations service.

[@nopeoppeln]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus nice, do you have any footage of 205s, on Reading to Redhill or Tunbridge Wells to Eridge (line was closed in 86 i believe)

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@nopeoppeln Nothing on the Eridge line but i do have vids of Thumpers on the Redhill to Tonbridge line, plus Hastings thumpers at Tonbridge and WR DMUs at work at Redhill and Guildford on the Reading line. A redhill upload is already up here kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3WTo6WOp5x9paM....enjoy!

[@andrewpepper8031]

Better times than now.

[@mitchellhurd8958]

Why was their blue smoke coming from underneath the power car?

[@SionsTrainVideos]

that looks bad the engine must have been hot

[@GreatBarrWolf]

Why's the platform being used as a car park?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Probably railway staff cars.....

[@AndreiTupolev]

They scattered those old Met Cam DMUs all over the Western Region after they'd been replaced by Sprinters elsewhere. Perhaps by scattering the smokiest and ropiest examples around they were hoping that people would welcome Sprinters with open arms. Looked like 47806 had been throwing some oil as well. Interesting how many seating coaches compared to sleepers there were.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They were all pretty much smokey by then!

[@markturner4219]

The sleeper dropped off sleeping coaches enroute so by the time it got across the bridge into Cornwall it had become the early morning passenger train with a few sleeping coaches attached. My wife traveled down on it recently and it appeared to have more sleeping cars going into Cornwall nowadays.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

If i remenber correctly some of the sleeping cars wwere detached at Plymouth where the train had anextended period to do this plus as you say became the first Down Road in the morning. It would have worked the same in reverse and picked up the sleepers again on its way back Up Road that night. I don't think they detatch at Plymouth anymore and the whole rake goes complete to Penzance (probably saves on staff costs, a shunter, and the cost of a gronk to shunt the coaches).

[@markturner4219]

Yes. On one occasion we were unable to get a berth right through, so had to get out of bed as we approached Plymouth and then go snooze in the passenger carriages for the rest of the journey. @@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Adds a whole new dimension to split ticketing! But a good, clever move....

[@RailwayvideosbyMrN]

9:35 wow didn't know 1938 stock ran to Penzance!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

That is just a clip i add to all my uploads, the 'parting shot' as it were, so i can upload the end cards without it interferring with the vid.

[@saltspringrailway3683]

Love the 125 but all that blue diesel smoke, I can feel the lung cancer coming on.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It soon blew away when they got going, like any internal combustion engine that sits idling, they smoked when first thrashed up as it cleared the exhaust. But an original Valenta on pull away sounded fantastic though!

[@saltspringrailway3683]

I'll give you that sunshine!

[@Isochest]

I expect the bubble car DMU worked the St Ives branch service

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i think it just had the odd trip into Penzance now & again.

[@Isochest]

I would expect so. I suppose it would shuttle between St Erth and St Ives most of the time.

[@daveash9572]

​@@Isochestdidn't the St ives train used to shuttle between Lelant and St ives for most of the time back then? I know that it shuttles between St Erth and St ives for the last few years, but I thought the old routine was back and forth to Lelant?

[@MrGriser]

When did 150's, 153's and 158's start running here?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Hello Mr G, i'm not sure when they made it to the far south west. I have video at Exeter in 1992 and real DMUs were still around then.

[@ukdieselandelectricrailway1890]

The 153's and 150's started taking over from 1st generation DMU's in 1993, although there were a few old Class 117 and 122 units running in 1994. Class 158's and 153's allowed the cascading of Class 143's to Cardiff, which released 150's and newly converted 153's to replace the 1st generation units. This doesn't include the Class 142's which first operated in the West Country in 1986 but lasted less than year before being transferred up north as being uneconomical to use because the long wheelbase chassis and tight corners wore out the wheels every 3 weeks, and that was only if they turned the unit around to get an even wear. It was also torture on the passengers ears too!!

[@djtrainspotter3079]

Just to elaborate, i think 155's were running to Penzance in 1989/90 on the 0455 Pz - Cardiff and 1255 return, before their conversion to 153's. Short term Cardiff based 156's were substituting for 155's at this time due to problems with the doors, so i wonder if any 156's made it to Penzance then!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

See my Newcastle vid kzbin.info/www/bejne/epzCoYBjbpKoqNE which has 142's in GWR chocolate & cream livery!

[@ukdieselandelectricrailway1890]

Indeed, but you can widen that timeframe to 1991 (see pic below) and probably into 1992 too. By 1993 they'd all been converted into 153's. Last year I had the amusing sight of seeing a pair of 153's working together in Leeds, both vehicles which usewd tro be a part of the same class 155!! www.flickr.com/photos/herrhemmelig/6473043139/

[@iantrack]

38 stock! Now that's a bonus .

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

That is just a clip i add to all my uploads, the 'parting shot' as it were, so i can upload the end cards without it interferring with the vid.

[@ukdieselandelectricrailway1890]

Hey Soi, would you like an intro/out'ro for your videos? I'm thinking two lines of text of"Soi Buakhao Transport videos" flipping over with the whirr of an electric train leaving a station. Simple, neat and most importantly, short (long intro's are annoying and turn people off). I created my own intro, which creates a consistant theme for my channel. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGbOYY2Ke5x5n7s Let me know.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It sounds interesting but i'm not the most technical person around!!! It sounds like it should be simple but things turn out a bit cack-handed when i try! And to think i used to drive 3000 ton trains about!!!

[@kenstevens5065]

Takes me back to the run down state of the BR network pre privatisation. I liked the Intercity livery as against rail blue but the overall run down state almost everywhere on BR at this time was heartbreaking. Love it or hate it privatisation has brought huge investment and change in attitude on our railway but to a point where ticket prices are getting beyond reach and subsidy is still required much to the annoyance of non rail users. The franchise system seems unreliable but what's the answer. Climate change could see a large reduction in car ownership but would public transport be needed at the present level if 15 minute cities and more working from home becomes the norm. I daren't mention HS2! Interesting video, liked and subscribed.

[@TrenyCwm]

The BR network was actually pretty good in it’s later days operating with fewer passenger receipts than today and a fraction of the subsidy received by the rail industry today in 2023.

[@kenstevens5065]

@@TrenyCwm I agree, in fact I think if BR had remained and had half the subsidy since they were forced to privatise we would have just as good a network today. Too many good people left the industry. Remember the first national timetable disaster and Railtrack. It seems to me it is government micro management of the railway, private or public that causes the problems. Thanks for your input.

[@fgwHST43009]

2:04 door open when the train is moving.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, that's how we used to do things back in the day. Back when we took some sort of responsibility for our own actions in life!

[@SionsTrainVideos]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus yeah they didnot look HST doors in those days did they

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@SionsTrainVideos No, the door locks were a mod. All slam door stock could be opened at any time if you so choose!

[@SionsTrainVideos]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus i know

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

"One of two furthest point stations in the UK" depends on your perspective. From where I live, Dover is one of the two furthest points. Not to mention Derry/Londonderry Waterside which is of course in the UK, and has a very photogenic station.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i didn't consider Northern Ireland.... Although of course it was never part of British Rail......

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus The LMS operated some of the lines in Northern Ireland, which they inherited from the Midland Railway in 1923. Upon Nationalisation in 1948, they were initially controlled by the British Transport Commission, but were sold to the Ulster Transport Authority in 1949, and are now part of Northern Ireland Railways.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@Clivestravelandtrains I never knew that, thanks for the info! Like BR though you had a fair bit of the NIR network closed in the 1960s, same as on the mainland.....