The West Coast Main Line in the 1970s

A look at parts of the WCML from London Euston to the Scottish Border between 1974 and 1978, through the medium of some colour slides taken at various locations on different occasions. I have retired a previous slide show that used some of this material. I am now a little more skilled at recovering the slides and editing them so I think the quality is now a bit better. I don't have any notes from the time so I don't know exactly where some of these were taken. All constructive comments and criticism are welcome.

[@siddywiddyb]

Excellent Pictures from Glorious days gone by! Thank you.

[@flippop101]

A classic documentation just a matter of years after the end of steam. Thank you!

[@TheDaf95xf]

Great shots of a great railway era 😁 My best train spotting days the glorious 70s 👍🏻

[@Wilayaat]

Fantastic photos of an incredible time. Lived near Watford Junction (still do!) and saw as well as travelled on many of these as a kid, some great memories.

[@spunkospunko4800]

Me too Bushey boy

[@stphnwheeler]

A great slide show. It will be interesting to see how the North Bound Views at Euston is transformed during and after the completion of HS2.

[@alcatel4539]

Thank you for posting this. One of the things that annoyed me was letting diesel trains back into Euston. InterCity started to do this with HSTs in the 1980s. Now there are the "Super" Voyagers" which are a plague on the house An earlier error was BR not ensuring that Class 87s remained dedicated to the Anglo Scottish services. With the banks at Shap and Beattock, together with the TSRs that used to breed like rabbits on the route, the 86s struggled to keep time while the earlier locos simply couldn't. Still, fond memories of looking out of the droplight every time the train slowed unexpectedly.

[@BoogiesTrains]

The failure to make the Voyagers bi-mode was definitely a missed opportunity.

[@edwinholland6149]

Great photos, bring back so many memories of my time as a Secondman and then a Driver on the LMR in the 70s & 80s. Better times in many ways. Thank you, much appreciated.

[@BoogiesTrains]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@crispinalanrobinson4515]

Great video my mum comes from Carlisle so it was good to see how it looked before I was born

[@CheshireCars]

Enjoyed the Carlisle part as I was living in Armathwaite at the time as a young boy. My father worked in the control office in the station which was the reason for the family to move up from Preston in 1977. Had many a journey with 86 and 87 electrics and 45/46 on the Settle to Carlisle line. Now living in Crewe since 1986..

[@mattcoyne3923]

Fantastic photos. Really takes me back to my youth.. Thanks for sharing them.

[@folkeklarstrom3668]

Really cool! The 1970s was a really interesting time period for railroading in the Uk, i especially like the first generation electrics!

[@danw1374]

The class 86 locomotive (like the one you can see at 13:25) were only recently taken out of service after being bought by freightliner and they had a good run, they were real workhorses, built in the 1960s!

[@fatwalletboy2]

Superb photos. WCML as I want to remember it.

[@ChangesOneTim]

Thanks for posting this compilation - great shots!

[@soundseeker63]

Despite BRs best efforts to make everything look as uniform and drab as possible, this was an extremely interesting and diverse time on the WCML in terms of traction types. Whatever loco (or unit) you had, you were guaranteed a comfy seat, a decent ride and in most cases, an excellent view out. Sadly not always the case anymore. I can (begrudgingly) accept that the railways will never be this diverse again, but I'm damned angry that they are nowhere near as comfortable and relaxing either.

[@bobmather3615]

Thanks for sharing, brought back a lot of memories of the AC electrics.

[@phillipjones3439]

The class 86 was introduced in the 1960's for the opening of the whole WCML Electrification from Weaver Jcn to London Euston. It was the 87's that were introduced in the 1970s for the continuation from Weaver Jcn to Glasgow. These are lovely photos.

[@TrainFan_95]

Great pictures and very informative.

[@Wemblesden]

Some great shots there. Class 82 on the hoppers at 4:33 and the driver climbing out of the 310 at 7:13.

[@dansmith4601]

I can imagine this has taken a lot of effort to maintain the photos in pristine condition and then edit every single one. Very impressive!!

[@BoogiesTrains]

If only I had kept them properly! Luckily, modern software and a bit of practice has allowed me to recover most of the neglect. Unfortunately I wasn't a very good photographer so some are beyond help. Underexposure was my speciality and the software is able to deal with that to some extent. It's amazing to see the detail emerge from the dark shadows.

[@trainsontuesday]

Excellent record. I can appreciate the amount of work you have done in creating this video. Thank you. David.

[@stephendines1936]

Great pictures.

[@EM-yk1dw]

Great pictures, when train travel was comfortable and a pleasure, the days before the awful Pendolinos and Voyagers stepped in. And also then the infrastructure was properly maintained and cared for.

[@borderlands6606]

I remember the era well, mostly catching local trains out of Euston and living by the WCML for a time. To be honest Euston was a grim station and the tangle of catenary and wires did nothing to improve it. It was relatively efficient however. Nice photo collection of a time rapidly receding into memory.

[@stephenduncan3605]

Has anyone got the Strathwood book, Seventies spotting days on the West Coast Mainline? I got it for Christmas and today I have bought the other one about the East Coast Mainline!

[@Aidankiwi]

1.01 The 25 kV electrification into Euston was energised in 1965 not 1967. Full electric services from Euston to Manchester and Liverpool commenced with the introduction of the 1966 timetable. 1967 saw the completion of the West Midlands loop electrification. 1.15 Likewise the Class 86s (or AL6s as they were then known) were also introduced into service in 1965. It looks like the older loco in the background at 1.33 could be one of the Class 83s that were used for ECS workings.

[@BoogiesTrains]

I should have known that as I travelled from Carlisle to Euston in 1966. Loco change at Crewe to electric. Also remember lots of steam locos still on Crewe shed on the same day.

[@iantaf5559]

Many thanks.I really enjoyed these. Did you by any chance take photos around the various railways, particularly the freight lines around West Midlands area?? How our railways have changed....but have they improved??? Very best wishes.

[@BoogiesTrains]

I'm sorry to say that this slide show contains all my material from the West Midlands at that time except a few on the SVR. I didn't have a camera until my last visit to the area in the summer of 1974. I think I have only been back to Birmingham twice since, although I have driven past on the M6 many times.

[@iantaf5559]

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. Best wishes.

[@kamana6435]

At 7:22 there is a guard dangling at the end of the train?? Any ideas what he is doing looks a little dangerous to me!!

[@BoogiesTrains]

Well spotted. I have no idea. Most trains used to have opening windows on the doors. HST still does. It was quite common to stick your head out to have a look around. Not too dangerous so long as you kept an eye on what was coming towards you.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Doesn't that Mk 2 stock look appealing now, before Mr Branson came along with his ideas that the interiors of trains should look as much like planes as possible.

[@danw1374]

13:25 That incline downwards is very noticeable!

[@BoogiesTrains]

It is quite a slope, accentuated a bit by the use of a telephoto lens. 150mm if I remember correctly. Also the Newcastle line slopes down alongside it. The electrics make light work of it but I expect that steam engines had to work hard to get a heavy train away from a standing start.

[@phillipjones3439]

Sorry as you say, I miss read the script.

[@quintoflyer]

this was the time when thankyou very much firemen now go away ASLEF 1 Fireman 0

[@stephendines1936]

310/312 EMUs were the best ever made.

[@phillipjones3439]

Good o'l English Electric!

[@ChangesOneTim]

They were indeed well-specced trains with wood panelling and (generally) a good ride. I wonder with the 310s that BR decided that London commuters deserved rather better than the dreadful 304s built for the Northerners!