British Rail-Penzance October 1990 

Some people opened them very early as seen on my upload here at 0.18 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tZB5rBqXG_k.html

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.

Thanks, there will be more!

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.

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

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

I was out to see the last ones running on the Chiltern line, i have a vid up here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6-sxzYtIAXs.html of my trip.

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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 Plus a few shots of the Plymouth-Edinburgh/Glasgow sleeper that ran until about 1993/94 time when it was withdrawn!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!

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!

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 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LDa4Tlkm9cs.html) although i do have photos including the Ward's scrap yard at Silvertown which my father took in the late 1970s/80s.

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.

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.

Probably railway staff.......

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...

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.

@@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.

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

Not that old fashion!

It is the best part of 30 years ago tbf

It was 30 YEARS AGO..

It wasn't at the time.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

43007 is now with CrossCountry numbered 43207.

AndreiTupolev Looks like a good ole bristol VR to me?

@@RichardW23613 Just behind it, the National Express coach

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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....

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

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!

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....

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. 👍

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

Real railways as they used to be!

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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......

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

@@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)

@@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 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YD0rrXr7JoA.html....enjoy!

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

just me lol

Talbot Alpine Rapier by the look of it

that looks bad the engine must have been hot

Probably railway staff cars.....

They were all pretty much smokey by then!

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.

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).

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

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

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

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

​@@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?

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.

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.

@@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.

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.

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!!

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!

See my Newcastle vid ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Dk_pM-9-uro.html which has 142's in GWR chocolate & cream livery!

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/

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!

I'll give you that sunshine!

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.

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. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V5k0ZTF7FiY.html Let me know.

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!!!

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!

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

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

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus i know

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

@@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.

@@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.....