Channel 4's 'The Other Side' followed a group of Class 37 bashers on the North Wales coastline during the final weeks of loco hauled services - classic stuff!!! This was aired in 2000.
My god this is HILARIOUS! 😁 Watching this has cheered me right up, 1000% more fun than I was expecting. These guys are absolutely bonkers, and good on them! They've found what makes them happy and its all good clean fun. 20+ years later the 37s still have one heck of a following, and deservedly so. Geat locos, an iconic design.
A sniff of the barmaid’s apron pretty much floors me now but when I was younger I could drink all day and through to the next morning and kid myself I’d drunk myself sober! I’m Scottish though and grew up in a tiny wee village where the accepted legal drinking age was 12 and you’d end up at a party on the beach and have a blast! I’m 46 now and can’t drink for shite!
Superb, took me right back to the late 70’s / early 80’s days when I was 15/16/17/18/19 years of age bashing 26’s / 27’s and 40’s and then, early to mid 80’s bashing the 37’s (108 and 111 spring to mind IIRC) in Scotland on several 7 day rovers (rancid festers lol 😂). Crazy days (and nights), seriously tiring but the enjoyment blew the tiredness away. I remember one occasion behind a 37 en-route from Glasgow Queen St towards Crianlarich and beyond, where the train stopped in the middle of nowhere, the guard leapt off and helped an elderly lady down from the carriage and through her garden gate to her house (which backed onto the railway) along with her shopping. Guard leapt back on and off we went with big thrash and wheel slip, Imagine that these days 😂 😂 Great Fun!
“We are currently enjoying the motive power up front, however I to tend to detract from that to find that I’m an absolute mess” 😂 bloody bonkers, hilarious
I’d give my right tit to take a run on a 40 too. I’m from near Kyle of Lochalsh in the highlands and sometime I see a 37 pulling coaches into the station, obviously a tour of some kind. Does anyone know where I can find info on where I can sign up for a tour? Haven’t been on a proper train journey for donkeys years. Doesn’t matter what part of the uk it’s in, I’ll sell my kidneys if I have to. I would prostitute myself, but my arse and tits pretty much drag along the ground these days and 46 year old, pasty old women aren’t much in demand!
@@Highland_Moo There are railtour providers that have websites listing upcoming trips, which you can book on them - UKRailtours, Pathfinder and Branch Line Society to name a few. Railway Herald also has a calendar of upcoming railtour trips, and there are preserved railways across the country that do diesel-only train services (or diesel galas as they're known) about one weekend a year on average. Can't put links as RU-vid will flag this as spam, but a quick internet search comes up with the results.
Never seen this programme before, but thank you! It brings back a lot of great memories of doing the 37's in Scotland and on the Cambrian from 85' to around 88'.
I was a main teenman in the 80's & the fact you've left out the mighty whistlers & included electric tin cans like 90's & 91's is criminal, 87's i can accept as someone who's had haulage of every one, even 45's where better than any electrics in my opinion but hey i'm a thrash metal basher not an electro pop tart, each to there own, (the tongue firmly in cheek 40 fanantic (-;< )
@@steveglf I'm only mentioning the ones I've seen and travelled on, I say British legends because sadly, great British locomotives and trains are no longer being built.
Bashers, Cranks, Gricers, DAAs, NEDs, Veg...what a great passion for their hobby. Pity their wings were clipped with the demise of slam-door coaches and droplight windows 🙄
Having featured in this production, the comments aimed at the cameraman re 'CLASS 37 ENGINE" it was for TV audience and not your satisfaction, I can assure you he probably had more 37's than you have dreamed of, enjoy the video and stop picking in holes in the film which while topical was meant to be fit for TV, if that's your only gripe maybe you want to get a life! Join me down the pub for some dominoes it's great fun !
Brilliant! I've got a unit in one of my books called 'Unusual Hobbies'. I'm definitely using this as a documentary. It might shock my students into silence!
Great video , i spent 40 plus years bashing westerns ,40s/37s,25s/peaks had all the deltics,got out for the drags around brum/crewe with 56/58s the list goes on happy memories spent with Jed,Sid the grid.the Peak army ,TT,Mick , Shawn,cod head etc
Me too, I had the final Manchester Skegness 40181 in 84, 25s on the Cambrian, all the summer no boiler reliefs. The sleepers up the Lickey pushed by a pair of 37s. I was a main man at 12 years old because me Grandad and Dad (being ex drivers) had contacts with Bescot men they'd give them a call and I'm out for the day armed with me gen. I had grown men taking the piss saying I knew fuck all. I'd see aNow all I'd ever be excited by is a 68 on the Moor Street to Marylebone. Sad but true but I still have memories that is such a comfort. Wish for a time machine at times, or that me Mother wasn't such a person that threw my belongings because they were under my bed. That was a filing system mum ffs. Oh my god its so easy these days totally a search away on the Internet. Not like them old days eh.
"There's no youth coming into bashing these days..." Certainly not true anymore. Most bashers I know are young and it seems a quite young hobby nowadays. Unfortunately the cranks here would likely refer to us as 'neds'. But it's just a generational thing, they relate to the 37s and missed them on their withdrawal (though I'm glad to see they're back on the Cumbrian Coast)... My generation grew up with Valenta-powered HSTs so that's what we had until GC MTUtilated their power cars. Dare I say we're also better behaved? Though sometimes too well behaved.... I think we lost something when flailing became frowned upon, for example. Harmless if done carefully.
I took up bashing 2 years ago, but I find Britain a boring country to bash, so the continent sees my tweed & Interrail takes my cap. I'm planning to go back to Austria soon, Hungary's just like going back to the 70s (especially away from Budapest). I've had recommend to me the Czech Republic, my erstwhile home from long before I was a basher, & I can't wait to check it out (pun not intended). France can be rewarding if you know where to look, especially around Paris, & Belgium has some great stuff too. Switzerland is past its best & would've been heaven 10 years ago but is worth a visit just for the quality of the timetabling late into the night. Poland is a tough country to bash because all their good stuff's reservation compulsory. Same with Sweden & its frustrating Wild West privatisation model. Italy is an unknown to me & I want to go there to see what it's like.
I grew up with 455s on my home region, Intercity 225s on the East Coast, Pendos on the West & those horrid high-speed DEMU juddernauts everywhere else. I was also witness to the electrification of much of the Western Region. I never did get up to the Cumbercoast for haulage because I couldn't afford the fare that far from London.
One of the main reasons I prefer the continent to Britain is that the British railways take a draconian stance on basher behaviour. I have never encountered any trouble abroad. France? Fine. Hungary? Fine. On my first train in Austria I got in some flailing with a come-back passenger sitting on the seat behind me. In Germany it's so normal they even have a hashtag for it (#FensterAuf). Even in Sweden, yes Sweden, the land of health & safety, I got through a ticket inspection while flailing (the Black Trains have a mega-droplight in the dog compartment, like the stretcher window but not quite that big), & the guard tapped me on the shoulder only because I couldn't hear him enter over the sound of the brakes. The most trouble I've had with it is a Walloon who told me opening the windows was not allowed, but from further research I'm pretty sure he was just an arsehole who lied to me because he wanted the window closed (a Ctrl+F search for “fenêtre” in the SNCB conditions of carriage returned nothing of the sort).
What a great show! Can see the power of the locomotives, remember them from the North Wales line - Pen to Conwy and Llandudno and Llandudno Junction. Amazing bit of scenery for an amazing locomotive the 37. Love their enthusiasm and didn't actually realise bashing was a thing. Me, I was when in single figures, a traditional trainspotter :)
I know a few featured on here.... and was on the Scottish trip to Fort Bill that decended into farce..... I remember 023 dumped in the tamper siding at Tulloch, the thrash from 37 114 on load 14 after that ws hellfire!..... good days..... Even more so, as i used to drive them on freight trains back then......
I use to be a Peak Basher from 1980 to 1987....we hated to be classed as a spotter!! Bashed quite alot of 40s and 37s, 25s etc. There were a lot of wierdos bashers though - especially from Cardiff!
...we use to use the Tops reports..we knew some BR insiders...can you remember 'Frog'.....saver tickets that were valid for 30 days but were not inspected or clipped...we use to look for the rail ticket waste bags and go through them looking for 'frog'...free tickets.
Agreed with everything that was said in this program except that Westerns are lawnmowers. I've never understood why some people only like certain classes of locos. Any diesel loco from a 14 upwards built by BR from 1956 to 1976 was a beast. There aren't any I don't like. We're so lucky in the UK.
I didn't understand the comment relating to the Western at all: A lawn mower? Hardly. I find that Generation can influence being into certain types of locomotive and not others: Its what the 1980s does for me what any locomotive design post c.1995 doesn't :o)
+William “7822WelshSteam” Roberts I was a spotter back in the 70's. Even then 37's had more character than the 40's and peaks and the 47's.. Its the look and the sound.
Remember chasing that tour to Oban by car when 37023 failed and was put in a PW siding at Tulloch. In the end I think 37114 came up from Glasgow to assist from Crianlarich back with 37116 I think. Happy days!
You know when they talk about the tragedy of cut up Tractors.............well the kettleheads thought the same when the Smellies came to replace them........history rhymes. But I agree with Andrew, in nearly no railway in europe there is as much variety as there used to be in the eighties and nineties. Now there are less loco manufacturers, and everything is standardized down to the bodyshells. And then there is that Multiple-Unit fever, fast enough for passengers, louder than loco hauled trains and useless for anything but carrying passengers.
Brings back great memories ive bashed classes 20 25 26 27 31 33 37 40 45 47 50 52 55 56 60 now in me 45th year for me the best years was the summer Saturday from 1980-87 now do the odd gala met some great bashers to its in your blood and yes pip dunn is a nob
Apparently, 37408 was replaced by 37419 after 408 ran away and crashed into a empty coaching stock diagram. The Driver (who worked for Arriva and not EWS) claimed that the reason the engine ran away was because he saw children about and thought the engine had been tampered with. I wonder what would become of 37408 if it didn't run away?
Lovely guys…..”what you ‘avin?”. Anyone who offers a drink is ok with me….I’m Scottish! I’m 46 and hadn’t heard of bashing until now. I grew up in Kyle of Lochalsh in the highlands and Class 37s were something I worshipped as a kid. The noise and the smell of them is something you don’t get with any other loco.
Also, 37421 was one that I travelled on loads of times going to Muir of Ord to my auntie’s house or to Inverness. The hours I clocked up on 37s was rediculous as I was born in 77 and they were the main loco on our line until well into the late 90s. We had those shitey wee Sprinters from 1989 but for some reason we still had proper trains a lot of the time.
I don't know why they think only 37s have followers amongst bashers. People bashed all manner of locos and still do, though reduced to preserved lines and charters now. I watched this programme when it was originally screened. I love these lads, true British eccentrics.
That guys right about the rail magazine !!! It started out good when it was called Rail Enthusiast Magazine ! By the Enthusiast for the enthusiast was their slogan ! I bought the first every copy in 1981 and then ever since until Pip Dunn took over and it went down hill in the late 90s .Under Pip Dunn it dropped the enthusiast tag and became some sort of glossy railway industry brochure magazine around about the time this was filmed and I stopped buying around this time if not before !! I mean what was that three page article about rubber level crossing surfaces ? I mean WTF was that all about? That`s when I decided to stop buying it !! I thought why am I buying this shite !!? Pip Dunn absolutely ruined it !!
while I appreciate the enthusiasm for the 37s and I applaud them for that ,myself being a steam enthusiast I was horrified to see them so far out of the windows waving their arms about. Dont forget people have got decapitated that way I remember on a trip back on the North Wales Coast that such an incident happened which led to bars on the windows in the 80s .
5:17 A spot of Basher generosity. In general this is about dedication ... Proper dedication to a cause. However going on that booze-fuelled tootle up to Scotland is WELL beyond me: Think I will stick to aircraft spotting :o)
The ORR would like you to believe theyre dead from even standing near an open droplight, while in reality I think all of them have had pretty decent careers.
Time for a reunion next month when the TPE 68s take to the rails... they’re NB, heavyweight and NEW- the red pen will definitely be out!! Now how do you get the droplight down on a Mk5??
With the exception of the Deltic, all of these types of British made locomotives were very seriously under powered for their weight and a lot of them were disasters right from the draughtsman's office........god I love 'em though......very sadly missed.
After all this time I've realised what I was back in the early 80's. Spending all my money on train tickets just to get behind a 37. No one else ever joined me. lol. Is there still a bashers club? Meet-ups?
Were the Deltics idolised within the bashing cult? Don't know much about it unfortunately down on my generation. I do see the odd class 37 in Cardiff but it's too rare.
A very good documentary, but obviously these Bashers are the mid-late 80s starters so would’ve missed the proper pre-ETH days etc… My dad began bashing Peaks/47s in the early 80s in a true Sulzer fashion. Naturally I have followed in his footsteps and as a 2000s kid I’m probably one of the only sulzer devoted bashers from the era. Apart from those Type 3 things yuck 😂. PS. Notting wrong with Wizzos.
Should of made a programme about brush bashing , from reading, that would of made an excellent program and anyone in the no , knows why plus the the traction would of been better
