Your first train ride you can remeber

[50035 Ark Royal]

What is your first train ride that stands out for you and you can remeber?Mine is 50045 Achilles from Leamington Spa to Birmingham on 1M07 13.50 Paddington-Liverpool, i remember it gliding around the curves resplendent in the then novel Large Logo livery with headlight blazing, the teriffic dubbing while idling and of course the noise pulling away from station stops.This was my first time out chasing 50's and was very welcome as our outward train was a strumming devise :evil:I remeber getting off at New St and admiring the loco which was gleaming apart from on the roof near the exhaust ports which were beginning to darken.Sadly Achilles is no longer with us but i shall always have a soft spot for this loco as it was my first one for haulage.Always gave me a good run and was generally one of Laira's good engines.

[m8internet]

Many rather boring and dull trips on Class 303 EMUs in the early 1980s

I vaguely remember a trip from Birmingham New Street to Glasgow, anticipation of the train arriving in the platform and seeing the train arrive with a BR blue Class 87 on the front, then losing my parents so I just got on the train!

Several intercity trips thereafter
Glasgow - Margate, another trip behind a blue Class 87 (with scissors pantograph) from Euston, the driver advising he would be up to 100mph by Wembley!
Glasgow - Darlington, first trip by blue / grey HST, including a day trip to York (via Eaglesciffe) although those were both on Mark 2 stock

From then on I then really got interested in train numbers
Glasgow - Aviemore, including a day trip to Inverness
The hotel at the time used to be the Stakis Aviemore (I think it is now a Macdonald hotel) with a great view over the station
This was excellent for watching the two sleepers in the morning before breakfast
Ironically, the journey itself was rather bland
The northbound trip was in almost complete darkness, plus it was a Mark 2 First Class corridor coach

My first "real" train ride would probably be a Class 37 in and around Aberdeen station in the early 1990s
I was shocked at how harsh the ride was
Further to that I had a ride in a pair of Class 37s between Edinburgh and Carstairs, when I worked on InterCity, by then I was more familiar with the ride quality and I was sat in the cab nearest the fan (which is noisier than the other cab!)

[Brianetta]

Going home with my mum to RAF Cosford from Albrighton in a parcel van, around 1982-84. Don't now why we were in there, but it was kind of cool. It isn't my earliest railway memory (I have memories of south east EMUs and seeing my first 125) but it's the first one that stands out as a single event where I was on a train.

[Pug]

I used to have a day out by train with my Grandparents once a year when I was a boy, back in the '50's, [Don't be cheeky! Of course it wasn't the 1850's!]

Granddad had been on the railway from when he had been released from his previous job as an instructor at the Machine Gun School at Grantham - he'd been retained after his service in WW1.

We lived in Peterborough when I was a boy, and Granddad had a railway pass, of course, and I think that back in those days, Grandma went at some special rate, but that I probably went free - my Father [William], was also on the railway, so I was referred to as "young Billy", and everybody at Peterborough North Station knew Granddad.

I can't remember any of the loco's, but the drivers and firemen all seemed to know Granddad - I was usually lifted up onto the footplate for a quick visit before getting into the train.

Not a Diesel in sight then!

And not one train station in those days, either - they were all railway stations then - I've no idea when they were moved!

John

[Bushey Troughs]

Stepney East to Southend, in the early 50s behind a Stanier 3-cylinder 4MT I believe.......

[egroeg93]

probably on a 150 sprinter, Reigonal railways, Corbridge to Hexham.

[bsa77]

Either the bluebell railway with my Grandad when I was 7 or 8 or the one at Minehead with my Dad (similar age) - this was also the first time I rode on a bus (double decker too). Something that I've probably done 5 or 6 times in the 27 years or so between!

Been on the Watercress lots of times.

Probably the first time on a normal service train was in my early teens.

[CraigB192]

Overnight train from Glasgow Central to Euston in summer 1982 then Victoria to Dover Western Docks for a crossing to Oostende. First leg was an electric loco-hauled and 2nd leg I'm guessing was probably a diesel loco haul rather than a DMU, although since I was only 7 I wasn't paying that much attention. I've no idea what classes would have pulled them in those days, but everything was blue & grey!

[bike2steam]

Summer 1955, Ruabon to Barmouth.

[Bufferstop]

I've got two sort of snatches of memory of train rides from when I could have been no more than three. One is of sitting at a table in an open saloon carriage, with Mom and Gran looking out over a busy junction station. It was on a journey from the midlands to Yarmouth, I guess the loco was being changed, and there were both green and blue locos in the yard. It was around the time of Nationalisation. The other one is walking down the corridor of a train with my father and stepping from one plate to another in the corridor connection, I think it would have been a Birmingham to Holyhead via Crewe train. If only there was a way to unlock the bits either side of these snatches and explore the detail.

[fratton]

my first memorable train journey is probably the most epic i cant really remember most of the fine details but here goes

some time maybe 88-89

slam door EMU from portsmouth harbour to waterloo

taxi across london

then im not sure quite how we did it but intercity overnighter up to glasgow or straight to inverness i dont know

the main thing that stood out for me from the whole journey was standing on the platform at inverness watching a class 37 couple to the train and watching a second thunder out of the station

then from inverness to elgin where i got off,,,,the longest train journey i have ever made would love to do it again!!!!!

[Terrier]

My first memory is almost as epic lol. probably about 1980? Gosport ferry over the harbour to Portsmouth Harbour Station with my mum, up the gangway to the station and a ride on a slamdoor to Havant to visit my nan and grandad. i think, but it's a little hazy, that it was an all dark blue unit, i used to like the noise they made while idling, 'doob-a-doob-a-doob-a-doob etc etc' (something like that)

[TerryB]

In 1957 .....my parents took me on the train to visit relatives in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
My Fathers Uncle was a driver at the local sheds [16E],which were literally just over the road from Uncles house.
I soon aquired an Ian Allan "ABC" book and began "collecting numbers" ....but,it was only the LMS book ....containing the 4/5/7/8/9xxxx prefix numbers.
On returning home [to Rotherham] I then needed a book with the 6xxxx numbers in it,because we had both the ex LMS [main]line and an ex LNER branch line running very near to our house ....so a combined volume ensued.
I can date it to 1957,because this post set me off thinking about my old [first] Ian Allen ABC .....and just out of idle interest [sad huh ] ......I googled "Ian Allan ABC" .... I came up with this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ian-Allan-ABC-LMS ... 3cac00532a
I recognise the picture on the front .....after all these years [now thats real sad, aint it ... ]


T.

[Ciotog]

In 1956, I was taken on my first school trip from Ballina, Mayo (in the west of Ireland) to Dublin. It was also my first time on a steam train, and we had great fun opening and closing the windows, allowing the smoke in. As we passed over the Grand Canal, I made a fatuous comment asking if it were the Suez Canal. I got some withering looks!

Also it was the first time I had tomato soup for lunch - probably tinned. I refused to eat it, as it resembled blood..........

I'm trying to gather any information on the trains which ran from the west of ireland to Dublin in that era, but so far have drawn a complete blank.
Anybody help?

[Speed Whisker]

Going on holiday as a small boy in the early 1960s (possibly 1964) and travelling on a DMU with speed whiskers. I can't remember the journey but I remember the front view of the train for some reason.