fyldetrainfan
Member
Oldest trains I remember travelling in would be the class 101s that still lingered around the Manchester area, in the mid to late 90s. They were about 40 years old by then.
None of the Bulleid-designed 4-SUBs and 4-EPBs were built on second-hand underframes, were they?
In my case the oldest stock at the time I travelled in it is the 1938 tube stock on the Isle of Wight, 76 years old on the latest occasion (although I'm not sure whether every vehicle dates right back to 1938). The earliest-built stock I've travelled in is I think the previous generation of IoW trains, which were about 60 years old at the time of my journey.
However, it occurs to me that the Vale of Rheidol Railway was part of BR until 1989, and according to Wikipedia a few of its carriages date back to 1923, older than most of the Standard tube stock, so that could possibly be the earliest-built for me and probably quite a few other people. (The other VoR carriages were built in 1938 and so 51 years old when they ceased to be part of the national network).
None of the Bulleid-designed 4-SUBs and 4-EPBs were built on second-hand underframes, were they?
When that EPB hit the buffers at Cannon St in the early 90's weren't the frames found to be rotten (& a contributing factor to the number of injuries) & dated from pre-grouping?
What ever was operating on the Waterloo and City in the late 1980's which must have surely been pre WW2.
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No debate in my mind - by far the oldest for me are the lounges of the Caledonian Sleeper, running at anything up to 45 years old as of now.
Yes, I know it isn't strictly 'national network' but there is still 19th century stock in normal (seasonal) service in the Isle of Man. Great rides to be had there.
Some of the cast of The Titfield Thunderbolt film, in 1953 (sadly no longer with us and hence unable to post on this forum) had the pleasure of travelling on the footplate of the steam locomotive "Lion", dating from 1838, when it was already over 114 years old.
Aren't the 1931 Manchester-Altrincham trains class 505?1931 Manchester - Altrincham units - or possibly IOW stock, which I travelled on in about 1975 - would that have been 1923 units?
If they were, they certainly weren't referred to as such.Aren't the 1931 Manchester-Altrincham trains class 505?
Aren't the 1931 Manchester-Altrincham trains class 505?
Sometime in the mid 1950s, when I was about 7, I went on an old LSWR gated coach (images are on Google if interested) on the Callington branch (on which my uncle was a driver). I don't know when they were built but they seemed pretty old, even then. Each coach had a lattice metal gate on each side, rather than doors, into a vestibule. From this, there were doors either side into (I think) the saloons on either end of the coach.
LSWR "gate" stock railmotor sets 372-4 from 1914 (just checked with Mike King's OPC book SR Push and Pull sets. As these were basically unaltered in their lives I think these beat the SR electrics discussed.
I've posted elsewhere (can't find the thread ATM) about travelling on the Westerham branch, possibly in set 481/2 which were converted by the SR from steam railmotor built in 1906 - but these weren't in original condition. So LSWR beats SECR
I've seen photos of the old gate stock and it almost looks like something from a foreign land. Did any of them enter preservation?