Trains In The 1990's Rugby, 13th June 1994 'AC Heyday' 

By golly your vids at Rugby bring back a lot of memories for me Darren. Over 40 years ago we took David as a baby to Scotland from here. All the money spent on updating the station has failed to generate more services. Your video is brilliant showing all the workings of the era.

Superb, great stuff Darren - great shots and sound captures - I do hope people watching these videos are also listening to the sounds as well as so much going on to enjoy

Darren amazing 100 percent pure quality. This video is a beaut and is absoloutely perfect

More sadness for me than delight. All that British workmanship now rusting away or sold and our identity now gone to tatters in the railway world. Great video though and still pleased your still doing it almost 20 years later.

Another stonker! Nice to see the one of the last 304's still in service. In this case it managed to survive a little longer than the rest because the Class 323's were late (with teething troubles) and Regional Rwails needed any EMU's (even West Yorkshire liveried 308's) they could get to run on the newly electrified Cross City line. 90132 was an interesting loco at this time too. They managed to get the RfD logo on backwards on one side!

Excellent footage.

Superb video , thanks for sharing .

Super footage from a very different looking Rugby Darren. Some nice looking 90's on this one and some very worn out looking EMU's..Enjoyable viewing once again, thanks for sharing these golden oldies.

Fantastic footage of an interesting variety of traction from back in the day.Brings back memories of bashing in that era! Oh yes,remember Sue at Rugby who had a particular fondness for 90006 High Sherriff?!

Fantastic! Nice assortment of liveries and trains on the 90s. One of the most versatile and hard working of all the BR classes and still going strong!

What great memories of a great station, and proper locos.

Thanks very much - happy to share my footage as so many seem to enjoy them and take the time to comment.

Thanks very much. I liked those 304's - did a few trips along the Trent Valley route on those :-) I hadn't noticed that with 90132 - I guess the RfD livery was all a bit new to them still back then!

Thanks Steve. Very different all round compared to today with both the station layout and workings that pass.

Thanks. It was a nice Summer's afternoon for sure with a feast of AC locos on view - how things have changed!

Crikey, you were 5 and I was nearly 25 - making me feel old now! A shame you missed out on all of these(in a similar way to that I missed out on the final 50's on the WCML and Hydraulics on the Western I suppose), but i'm glad you're enjoying my footage of the WCML AC's.

Thank you very much. I did manage to capture all three 'Freight Connection' European livery 90's at Rugby over the course of my visits - after seeing all three together at Basford Hall Open Day. I think the NSE livery suited pretty much all the units and locos it was put on, but as you say the 321's did look smart and still fairly fresh back then.

Thanks Keith. Yes, it's worth noting the changes in the station and the calling pattern of the services back then compared to now. Liverpool, Preston, Glasgow, and Holyhead were all served by regular services back then - very different to today with just Birmingham and an hourly Crewe stopper.

It was very different back then for sure. Even with the dodgy roof back then Rugby was full of character, and with those 86's and 87's powering up and down a great station to spend some time - except when it rained!

Great vid

Thank you. Yes, I know what you mean about a tinge of sadness when watching these movies. I'm just glad that I was around to see these workings for myself, and to record them of course. Still recording today as who knows how things might change in another 20 years?

Not really... there were more than half-a-dozen 90's done by then, plus a bunch of 86's. However, most of the 86's were done under contract at the Crewe Heritage Centre, and some of the 90's hauled to Tinsley.

Thank you.

Thanks Ian. The camera did record sound very well - in many ways a better mic than my current HD camcorder! Certainly some wonderful sounds back then, but at least from time to time you can still capture something similar today - 86604 on 4M51 at Wilson's Crossing from last week being an example :-)

Thanks. Certainly easier to find loco hauled trains back in this era.

Thanks Hayden.

Thanks very much. Yes, the 90's are still going well, even if a few are stored. When I was out filming on the WCML yesterday I saw examples of DBS, Freightliner Grey, Freightliner Green, Powerhaul, and Greater Anglia livery Class 90's :-)

Well, due to the modernization of the camera and digital uploading thats exactly why I am doing what I'm doing now. Marholm field could be an industrial estate and St Albans could have the biggest depot in the UK. So its not just about trains for me, although its the train content that brings me back time and again.

Thanks for another great video, evoking so many memories. The variety of motive power alone is amazing. Glad you captured 90 128 sporting its 'tribute' SNCB livery, that one always eluded me. I had forgotten how smart the 321 emus looked in their NSE livery - they would not look out of place today. Thanks so much for your efforts in making these available

Must have been a Friday late afternoon job then ;-)