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What train encapulates your childhood?

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Masboroughlad

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Bit of a whimsical thread, but do you have a train that takes you back to being 8 or 9 years old on the station platform again? For me, its an NSE livered class 455/1-ambling miserably through South London.
Sheffield Division Merrymakers from Rotherham in the late 70s and early 80s. A long rake of 2nd class mark 1s, a Tinsley 47 (often 174 or 175 ), a 45 or occasionally a class 40.

First one, 45 The Manchester Regiment, 14 or 15 coaches to Torquay.

Many more great days out thereafter.
 
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Journeyman

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Absolutely! I remember them brand new. They were rocket science compared to the EPBs we had had previously on the Catford Loop!
Yeah, I liked the 319s! A big step forward at the time. People get nostalgic about EPBs, and as an enthusiast I liked them, but as a day to day user of the rail network, they were horrible rancid things.
 

yorksrob

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You've admitted you like EPB's "as an enthusiast", which is progress at least.

As for a 319's, they only really impressed me when they started replacing pacers and 150's in Lancashire. They were something to avoid on the Southern Region.
 

Sad Sprinter

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You've admitted you like EPB's "as an enthusiast", which is progress at least.

As for a 319's, they only really impressed me when they started replacing pacers and 150's in Lancashire. They were something to avoid on the Southern Region.

Maybe for you Eastern section chaps, but for us on the Central they were always better than a dreary 455!
 

Bikeman78

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You've admitted you like EPB's "as an enthusiast", which is progress at least.

As for a 319's, they only really impressed me when they started replacing pacers and 150's in Lancashire. They were something to avoid on the Southern Region.
I wasn't impressed when the 319s appeared on the Horsham stoppers but they didn't last long. They were pinched to work Brighton to Rugby and the Connex Express.
 

CBlue

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317's to Liverpool Street, WAGN would have been operating them at the time. Remember the Prism Rail logo stuck to things, usually over the top of Network SouthEast colours.

Ditto if visiting my grandparents down near Southend as we would also travel around by train, although don't remember catching anything other than Class 321s.

I'd also add in the LU Central 1992 stock which featured on the occasions we drove to the outskirts of London and caught the tube rather than getting the train down..
 

grove

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Mine is the push-pull auto coach trains from Northampton to Wellingborough in the early 1960s.
 
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My youth is clearly showing here, but I have a lot of nostalgia for Voyagers. When I was little, for whatever reason I thought they were the coolest trains around. I guess it was a combination of them being able to tilt, the engine sounds (I love the sound of a powerful DMU, it's the same with the Adelantes), and the pleasant interior (when there's no overcrowding, I still maintain that Voyagers are really nice when they're not busy). Whenever my family went on holiday up North I would always get excited at the prospect of a 4 hour journey on a Voyager, something I doubt many on here can relate to!

A more conventional answer would be the HST. Just hearing an MTU engine makes me feel nostalgic. I'd say the same for the Valentas but I'm barely old enough to remember them. Most had been converted to MTUs by the time I was 8 and I only have vague memories of seeing and hearing the last few Grand Central HSTs with Valentas around York. One other HST sound I'm nostalgic for that I already miss is the sound of the doors slamming on the Mk3 coach. It brings back memories of travelling with my parents for holidays in London.
 

greatvoyager

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My youth is clearly showing here, but I have a lot of nostalgia for Voyagers. When I was little, for whatever reason I thought they were the coolest trains around. I guess it was a combination of them being able to tilt, the engine sounds (I love the sound of a powerful DMU, it's the same with the Adelantes), and the pleasant interior (when there's no overcrowding, I still maintain that Voyagers are really nice when they're not busy). Whenever my family went on holiday up North I would always get excited at the prospect of a 4 hour journey on a Voyager, something I doubt many on here can relate to!
You aren’t the only one, I was young too when they were introduced and I have been a fan ever since. Perhaps our youth helped us to not see some of the problems.
 

Journeyman

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You aren’t the only one, I was young too when they were introduced and I have been a fan ever since. Perhaps our youth helped us to not see some of the problems.
Voyagers have an unfair, undeserved bad rap from enthusiasts. Only significant problem with them is that they're too short for the services they're used on.
 

WestCoast

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Oh I’d say Pacers for sure, specifically 142s in the blue and gold star livery of North Western Trains. i miss bombing along the WCML on them :D
 

Richard Scott

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Voyagers have an unfair, undeserved bad rap from enthusiasts. Only significant problem with them is that they're too short for the services they're used on.
Also they drink fuel and, most stupidly, replaced electric traction under the wires. Afraid a poor concept.
 
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Also they drink fuel and, most stupidly, replaced electric traction under the wires. Afraid a poor concept.
The same could be said for HSTs running all the way from Edinburgh to King's Cross, up until recently anyway. Or indeed XC's own HST fleet. Also, remember the Voyagers came before bi mode trains were a thing. Would you say the concept of any high speed DMU is poor?
 

Richard Scott

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The same could be said for HSTs running all the way from Edinburgh to King's Cross, up until recently anyway. Or indeed XC's own HST fleet. Also, remember the Voyagers came before bi mode trains were a thing. Would you say the concept of any high speed DMU is poor?
The concept is fine, the routes they were used on weren't. The big downfall is fuel consumption. Agree with HSTs running under the wires for extended periods too but this happened mostly as a consequence of electrification, HSTs didn't displace electric traction (except, I'll accept, on Euston to Holyhead route as far as Crewe around early 1990s). Anyway think we're getting off topic?!!
 

R Martin

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A long ago memories a a small boy on bike ride on the "Combes Road" between Shoreham and Steyning. Looking across the Adur Valley towards the cement works and watching a "Push/Pull" propelled by a Terrier on the line from Shoreham to Christ's Hospital/Horsham and the faint "Bark Bark" of the engine far away. They were a few years later replaced by Thumpers, But by then i was older and only interested in chasing girls!
 
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The concept is fine, the routes they were used on weren't. The big downfall is fuel consumption. Agree with HSTs running under the wires for extended periods too but this happened mostly as a consequence of electrification, HSTs didn't displace electric traction (except, I'll accept, on Euston to Holyhead route as far as Crewe around early 1990s). Anyway think we're getting off topic?!!
Ah I see what you mean. And yeah I think we are off topic now.
 

Sad Sprinter

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My youth is clearly showing here, but I have a lot of nostalgia for Voyagers. When I was little, for whatever reason I thought they were the coolest trains around. I guess it was a combination of them being able to tilt, the engine sounds (I love the sound of a powerful DMU, it's the same with the Adelantes), and the pleasant interior (when there's no overcrowding, I still maintain that Voyagers are really nice when they're not busy). Whenever my family went on holiday up North I would always get excited at the prospect of a 4 hour journey on a Voyager, something I doubt many on here can relate to!

A more conventional answer would be the HST. Just hearing an MTU engine makes me feel nostalgic. I'd say the same for the Valentas but I'm barely old enough to remember them. Most had been converted to MTUs by the time I was 8 and I only have vague memories of seeing and hearing the last few Grand Central HSTs with Valentas around York. One other HST sound I'm nostalgic for that I already miss is the sound of the doors slamming on the Mk3 coach. It brings back memories of travelling with my parents for holidays in London.
Being born in ‘95 I know what you mean about Voyagers. I generally dislike them but I remember thinking they were positively space age when they first came down the Brighton Mainline. I remember seeing one crawl through my local station and noticing the “Club Class” sign on the side of train, which I thought looked so cool. That said I’ve never liked Voyagers after I first went on one in 2008 and found it horribly cramped and unpleasant.

Valenta engines reminds me of 90s railway VHS mainly. I was terrified of the damn things when I was little so either had my hands over my ears or was not yet at an age to appreciate the sound of Diesel engines!
 
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Being born in ‘95 I know what you mean about Voyagers. I generally dislike them but I remember thinking they were positively space age when they first came down the Brighton Mainline. I remember seeing one crawl through my local station and noticing the “Club Class” sign on the side of train, which I thought looked so cool. That said I’ve never liked Voyagers after I first went on one in 2008 and found it horribly cramped and unpleasant.

Valenta engines reminds me of 90s railway VHS mainly. I was terrified of the damn things when I was little so either had my hands over my ears or was not yet at an age to appreciate the sound of Diesel engines!
I wasn't particularly fond of loud screaming as a kid so I probably did the same. I think the first time I visited the ECML I wasn't fond of the howl (can't think of a better word) of a Class 91 either, but I got used to that pretty quickly.

Nothing makes me cringe more than wheel flange on a Pacer though. I hated it as a child and still hate it now!
 

greatvoyager

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I seem to remember multi coloured 153s with Wales & West. As a kid I used to look out for them.
 

Sad Sprinter

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I wasn't particularly fond of loud screaming as a kid so I probably did the same. I think the first time I visited the ECML I wasn't fond of the howl (can't think of a better word) of a Class 91 either, but I got used to that pretty quickly.

Nothing makes me cringe more than wheel flange on a Pacer though. I hated it as a child and still hate it now!

Lol yes I was caught off guard by a class 91 and Kings Cross to see the Toronado when I stood right by the power car of one that suddenly started up. I assumed they were as quiet as class 87s!


I seem to remember multi coloured 153s with Wales & West. As a kid I used to look out for them.

Do you mean the brown, white and red ones? I remember looking out for those too.
 

greatvoyager

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Do you mean the brown, white and red ones? I remember looking out for those too.
Yes, there were also some different liveries during Wessex Trains’ existence, including the blue St Ives livery carried by 153329 and lope branch livery carried on 153369 after they transferred from Central Trains.
 

UP13

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That's a very fair point. 455's are quite boring !

To be fair I have nostalgia for the NSE and early SWT liveried 455s. Both my garden and primary school playground backed into the tracks around Strawberry Hill Depot.

Not the grandest trains but they do take me back to my childhood.
 

Journeyman

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To be fair I have nostalgia for the NSE and early SWT liveried 455s. Both my garden and primary school playground backed into the tracks around Strawberry Hill Depot.

Not the grandest trains but they do take me back to my childhood.
Yeah, 455s were brand new when I was about eight or nine, and I remember them being exciting and modern to my young eyes, a million times better than the battered, dingy EPBs and SUBs they replaced. I'll always have a soft spot for them.
 
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