Nostalgia, Heritage & Leisure

Nostalgia requires photographs!

An important part of the process of recording events which in later years will be of historic interest is the collation and storing of images. In 'olden times' this might have included paintings, mosaics, rock / cave wall art, etc., (as well as statues, busts, and more) but since the age of photography this has also included the taking of photographs - both still and moving.

Nowadays the recording of sound and images is extremely easy, and although over time some will be lost (films will fade, hard drives containing digital media will crash irretrievably...) it is expected that enough will remain to be of benefit to future generations. **Especially if the data is saved in multiple ways & places, eg: CD/DVD as well as hard drives, plus various physical locations, including if possible in a Faraday cage [possibly a microwave oven will suffice, if a mobile phone placed in it loses its signal] or somewhere underground, as the period 2012 - 2014 is expected to be a time of heightened solar / sunspot activity with a high risk of solar energy discharges reaching the planetary surface and erasing magnetic data storage systems, which means computer etc., hard drives.**

The principle constraint in the present era is not the willingness of people to record sounds and images, nor the quality of these recordings, but the human politics which all too often sees such actions as (quote / unquote) "undesirable". Too often otherwise totally innocent people taking photographs are hounded, arrested, detained for questioning / full anti-terror security checks (ie: treated as if they are pro-human rights and / or democracy activists in a totalitarian state), because of an irrational concern that their real intent is to use the images they are capturing for purposes which can only be described as detrimental to the greater good.

In future generations historians will come to rue the fact that our generation fell victim to so many ill informed and fearful, negatively inclined 'more than my jobsworth' officials who seem to take delight in accusing people using cameras of being paedophiles, or of investigating localities, transport systems, etc., (ie: suspected criminals) with intent to cause harm to the general public. Train / tram / bus 'spotters' are nearly always otherwise law abiding people following a creative hobby / interest - as well as recording scenes of 'everyday life' as this is lived 'at present'. Little regard seems to be given to the fact that the very small number of people whose intents are not of the best will have resource to covert means of obtaining their information, such as mobile telephone cameras and shirt button cameras - the latter being so small that they are virtually undetectable.

The topic of harassment of people using cameras is also raised on the first of the Railfanning London's Railways pages .

By March 2008 the harassment of people using cameras had become so severe that Austin Mitchell MP - a keen photographer who chairs the Parliamentary All-Party Photography Group - tabled an 'Early Day Motion' (EDM) in the House of Commons canvassing the support of fellow politicians in condemning police action against lawful photography in public places.

An EDM is a formal motion that allows MPs to express and publicise their opinions on given matters and gives fellow politicians the opportunity to support it by adding their signatures.

According to a report in Amateur Photographer magazine (link removed as no longer works) Austin suggested that the current climate is 'all daft.' He also cited Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) as among the worst offenders - which is significant because under the Civil Contingency legislation which the Blair government created in the early / mid 2000's these PCSOs will, along with other officials such as Traffic Wardens, be granted extreme human rights busting powers - often with minimal (if any) recourse to judicial redress for their 'victims'. So, if they are getting things wrong now, then how can anyone have confidence that they will do any better when they have even greater powers???

(There will be some people who would suggest that Austin missed out including security guards who [also] often blindly follow rules without judgement as to whether they are applicable and if so how they should be applied... behaving in the process almost like brain dead 'organic portal' robots and not real sentient, thinking, human beings.)

The full text of the EDM is below. It can also be seen on the British (London) Parliament's website at the following link:
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2007-08/1155

That this House is concerned to encourage the spread and enjoyment of photography as the most genuine and accessible people's art; deplores the apparent increase in the number of reported incidents in which the police, police community support officers (PCSOs) or wardens attempt to stop street photography and order the deletion of photographs or the confiscation of cards, cameras or film on various specious ground such as claims that some public buildings are strategic or sensitive, that children and adults can only be photographed with their written permission, that photographs of police and PCSOs are illegal, or that photographs may be used by terrorists; points out that photography in public places and streets is not only enjoyable but perfectly legal; regrets all such efforts to stop, discourage or inhibit amateur photographers taking pictures in public places, many of which are in any case festooned with closed circuit television cameras; and urges the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers to agree on a photography code for the information of officers on the ground, setting out the public's right to photograph public places thus allowing photographers to enjoy their hobby without officious interference or unjustified suspicion.

Photography conforms with the important ethical motto of doing no harm unto others and the moral code which requires that people
take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time.

Steam Nostalgia

Steam engines are the most popular form of railway nostalgia with many older people remembering them with affection from when they were younger and steam was the primary form of locomotion. However modern-day youngsters also find that despite being old-fashioned museum technology Steam engines posses an almost magical attraction. Maybe this is because with the constant hissing of steam and the general busy-ness of the drive gear they almost seem to be alive. What is usually forgotten is just how dirty they are - belching out massive amounts of sulphurous smoke that if the carriage windows are open will come into the train and make your clothes and face dirty. Steam locomotives are also very labour-intensive, not only needing two people to drive (driver and fireman - whose primary duties included shovelling the coal to keep the fire going) but also needing someone to create the fire long before the journey begins and clean out the firebox after it is over. Coal fired Steam locomotives sometimes also emit small slithers of burning coal which can ignite lineside vegetation.

Steam nostalgia is such a powerful force that in 1990 a charitable trust fund was founded to build a replica of a type of Steam engine where no examples were saved after the demise of steam as a main form of motive power in the 1960's. Named 60163 Tornado - after the Panavia Tornado military jet - it took until summer 2008 for her to be ready to make the momentous first journey under her own steam.

Designed to meet modern safety and certification standards, Tornado represents an evolution of the LNER Peppercorn Class A1 class, incorporating improvements likely to have been made had steam continued and some other small changes for cost, safety, manufacturing and operational reasons. Tornado is considered the 50th Peppercorn A1, numbered next in the class after 60162, Saint Johnstoun, built in 1949. and now sees frequent use hauling special leisure and nostalgia themed trains on the British rail network and on mainline-connected heritage railways.

Although theoretically capable of 100mph (160 km/h) Tornado is being restricted to just 90mph (140 km/h). Nevertheless she is still the fastest Steam locomotive on the British mainline railway.

Having achieved mainline safety certification Tornado is expected to remain available for premier mainline use at least until her 10-year fire-tube boiler re-certification in late 2018. As with many other steam locomotives, it is very possible that Tornado will remain in service for many decades - or at least until environmental and pollution regulations ban the use of coal in this way.

In an era when other countries are investing in electrically powered magnetic-levitation trains it may seen somewhat bizarre that here in Britain we should want to be investing in Steam Locomotives, however such is the power of nostalgia, the leisure industry and its money - making capability...

Railway Birthday Nostalgia

In January 2013 special celebrations were held for it being 150 years since the 1863 opening of London's Metropolitan Railway, this being the first ever underground railway.

The highlight of the celebrations were special train journeys on two Sunday's in January 2013 which included most of the original route... and more. What was truly special was that the special train only comprised original vintage Metropolitan Railway rolling stock - including a 1st class four wheel passenger carriage which was originally part of a fleet of such vehicles that had been built around the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, the Ashbury / Cravens passenger carriages which are seen below, a milk van, a steam locomotive (in steam!) and the electric locomotive named Sarah Siddons, as seen in the Electric Nostalgia section below.

The astonishment and bewilderment on the faces of ordinary passengers - especially unsuspecting overseas tourists who just happened to be on a station platform waiting for a train at the time the special train passed - had to be seen to be believed! Of course on seeing so many people with cameras filming the special train so the unaware soon became enlightened.

Clicking these links will make it possible to see larger versions of the films at YouTube in new windows
Left: Paddington station (District & Circle line platforms which date from 1868) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM3_p3gHKBA.
Right: Kings Cross St Pancras (subsurface platforms which date from 1941) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrOvKgD2yso.

As if the one event described above was not enough, August 2014 saw the same train carrying fare paying passengers who had bought a special advance-purchase ticket as part of celebrations for the 150th Anniversary of the Hammersmith & City railway which opened in 1864. This line comprised an extension from the Great Western Railway (GWR) main line near Paddington station to Hammersmith. Initially services were provided by the GWR using its broad gauge trains, however eventually solely Metropolitan Railway trains plied this route, which nowadays is served by Hammersmith & City and Circle line trains.

Diesel Nostalgia

It is now more than a generation since diesels started replacing steam engines en masse and there is a slowly growing tendency for them too to become part of the Nostalgia movement (primarily older types that have been withdrawn from normal use by the mainline railway). As with Steam engines the Diesels use irreplaceable fossil fuels, make living (albeit growling) noises and emit exhaust fumes. Some railway living museums also use Diesels because they require far less manpower to operate and are ideal for days when the centre is open but expected visitor numbers are low. Diesels are also used in high summer when a drought alert poses a serious risk of Steam locomotives causing a lineside fire.

Whilst preserved diesels do exist they are far less common than steam locomotives.

Electric Nostalgia

In Britain Nostalgic interest in mainline Electric trains is of a lesser order, mainly because until the 1960's only London & Southern England saw any significant railway electrification. Elsewhere there were just a handful of locally based schemes and almost without exception all the old locomotives were scrapped when they were withdrawn from active service. Britain also used to have many electrified industrial railways, such as at collieries, docks etc,. however almost all of these too have been closed and again very little remains. Even if they had been preserved questions related to the voltage and current type of the power supply plus for electric rail locomotives the safety issues would likely have prevented their use in the present era.

Although not true Nostalgia there is also much interest in various planned railway electrification schemes which never actually happened - or in London were partially completed and then the lines were closed.

One of the very few preserved electric locomotives which is still able be used to haul passenger trains, and hence has become a focus of electric railway nostalgia, is London's former Metropolitan Railway No.12, Sarah Siddons.

Clicking any of the four Sarah Siddons images below or here will lead to the first of several pages showing more (and larger) images in a new window.

Sarah Siddons has been used as part of so many nostalgic events that they cannot all be detailed here. Most have been on the outer sections of the Metropolitan Line north of Harrow-On-The-Hill station and involved former British Railways passenger carriages in conjunction with either steam or diesel locomotives, however in connection with 2013 celebrations for it being 150 years since the 1863 opening of London's Metropolitan Railway and 2014 being the 150th Anniversary of the Hammersmith & City railway which opened in 1864, Sarah Siddons was used at one end of a special train of solely original vintage Metropolitan Railway rolling stock and included part of the original subterranean section of the Metropolitan Line in central London. On both occasions the special train travelled west from Moorgate station, with all journeys extending to Edgware Road and some journeys travelling onward to other western destinations which varied according to the special event timetable.

More about Sarah Siddons and the rest of the fleet

Originally part of a fleet of 20 electric locomotives Sarah Siddons was built in 1923 by the former Metropolitan Railway for its London - Chesham / Amersham - Aylesbury (and beyond) services which until WW2 sometimes even included a Pullman carriage offering light refreshments. These engines hauled trains over the electrified section between London and Harrow-On-The-Hill (or, after 1925, Rickmansworth) whilst steam locomotives operated services over the rest of the route. The use of electric locomotives to haul passenger trains ended in September 1961 and initially Sarah Siddons was one of eight locomotives which escaped the "knacker's yard" - four went to British Railways (London Midland Region) for electric locomotive testing purposes and four remained with London Transport for "operational" reasons, such as acting as depôt shunters.

Eventually however their nostalgic value was realised and two have been preserved. One of these now lives at the London Transport Museum which is located at Covent Garden in central London http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/ whilst Sarah Siddons has been kept in fully operational condition and sometimes takes part in leisure-orientated events such as "Steam on the Met" (above right). Until railway privatisation some railtours even saw her hauling British Railways InterCity carriages on both the Underground and the 3rd rail Southern Electric networks.

Named Galatea and Mayflower (after two yachts contesting in the 1886 America's Cup) the two Pullman carriages were introduced in 1910 and using different electric locomotives were the first electrically hauled Pullman's "anywhere" globally. They were for first class passengers only and as usual there was a supplement (extra charge) for travelling in them. Initially this was either 6d (ie: six pence in real money or 2½p in modern decimal money) or 1s 0d (ie: one shilling, which equated to 12 pence in real money or 5p decimal) according to distance travelled, although later this was reduced to just 6d for all journeys. In addition to offering freshly cooked light refreshments they were also fitted with toilets, which - as was usual in those days - discharged on to the tracks and were even allowed to be used whilst travelling through tunnelled sections of the route. Their demise came as a wartime economy in October 1939, and it is reported that neither survived.   Scones and afternoon cream tea anyone?

Passenger Carriage Nostalgia

As with the locomotives most passenger coaches are scrapped when withdrawn from service. Just occasionally however an item of rolling stock escaped the knackers yard because the railway company wanted to use it for various internal purposes (or it was sold to someone to use as a holiday home, chicken shed, etc), and it is these, together with examples of the few types of rolling stock withdrawn within the last decade (or so) that have formed the basis for restoration to become part of the Nostalgia movement. Future historians may regret that in some cases a lack of general interest (and a consequential inability to raise funds) has also seen items 'saved' by preservationists ending up being scrapped.

Passenger carriage nostalgia also includes an interest in what could perhaps be described as the core design / passenger amenities / ambiance of older rolling stock, which sometimes is said to be more favourable than that of modern trains.

At one time travelling in the Pullman carriage was considered the height of luxury - with passengers usually having to pay a supplement (extra charge) for travelling in them.

Traditionally Pullman carriages were painted in umber (a form of dark brown) and cream but under British Railways this was changed to a variant of its blue / grey InterCity livery.

The Pullman carriage named Vera seen above was originally part of the Brighton Belle train which between 1934 and 1972 linked the fashionable south coast town of Brighton with London's Victoria station. (5BEL Car No.284, train No. 3052). The Brighton Belle was a prestigious service which consisted of three sets of five carriage electrically powered multiple-unit trains, with the entire train featuring Pullman carriages. Following the withdrawal of these trains all the carriages were preserved - although alas one was since lost in a fire - with some of them having found a second life working on the British section of Venice Simplon Orient Express (VSOE) service, as seen here at London's Victoria station.

More information about Pullman Cars can be found at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_train_(UK) .

Brighton Belle Pullman Restoration

In 2008 it was decided to try and restore a 5-carriage Brighton Belle train so that it could be used on the leisure market. The project will be as faithful as possible to the train as it originally was, but will include some 'present-era' upgrades - including with the electrics and the requirement for either centralised door control or secondary locks on the passenger doors. In that respect it is fortunate that some ex-Brighton Belle Pullman cars are already operating with an accepted 'safety case' on VSOE services. Although the revitalised train will be capable of operating on the Southern 3rd rail electric network on its own, another new feature will see it being able to be hauled over other routes behind a diesel (and possibly electric) locomotive.

More information can be found at this link: http://www.brightonbelle.com/ .

Another famous Pullman train was the 'Golden Arrow' Boat Train, and one of its former carriages (named Orion) has now found a second life as a static dining car at 'Pecorama', which is one of Devon's leading leisure destinations.

Clicking either this link or the image will lead to a page with information about Pecorama as well as both external and more internal images of Orion - including the private four seat compartment seen here - which is a display area / not used as part of the restaurant.


Pullman carriages only provided a very small proportion of our longer distance / trunk / InterCity railway rolling stock. For most journeys most people had to use 'ordinary' trains, which normally varied in degrees of comfort depending on whether they were for 1st or 2nd class passengers and journey type.

In the early days of the railways passengers travelled in four wheel carriages which were not that different to horse-drawn stagecoaches. One (of the many) railway companies which built such carriages was London's Metropolitan Railway. One of these carriages is still extant and after restoration has become of heritage / nostalgic interest.

The fleet of Jubilee carriages (so named in honour of Queen Victoria's 1887 Golden Jubilee) were built for services which travelled to Chesham and Aylesbury, although similar carriages were also built for what at the time was known as the Inner Circle and nowadays as the Circle Line. They were withdrawn in 1905, when the Metropolitan Railway introduced new electric trains on its urban services.

Having ended up as a shed on a farm, this beautifully restored 1st class varnished teak carriage makes for a stark contrast with trains of the present era! Note how it is luxuriously furnished with deep buttoned upholstery - even on the insides of the carriage doors. Each seating bay also includes the Metropolitan Railway MR logo. Originally they used pressurised gas lighting, however when refurbished it was found that electric LED lights offered a visually similar but much safer way to mimic the appearance of the gas mantles.

This carriage is used variously with the Metropolitan Heritage train and the Metropolitan Vintage train, alongside an original Metropolitan milk van which also survived to the present era and has been restored.

Further reading:
http://basilicafields.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/metropolitan-jubilee-4-wheel-coaching-stock-part-3/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-20399568

Clicking either of these two images or here will lead to one of several pages about former Metropolitan Railway vintage and historic passenger coaches showing more (and larger) images in a new window.

There are so many preserved passenger carriages that it is not possible to mention more than a handful of examples. Virtually all of the 50+ British historic / leisure-themed railways use historic rolling stock which may vary from Victorian-era vintage four-wheelers to former British Railways passenger carriages which were built in the 1960's.

The City Stock carriages were primarily used on suburban services out of Paddington station, however until 1939 some peak-hour workings were extended to the City area of London via the 1863 route of the Metropolitan Railway - these switched between steam and Metropolitan Railway electric locomotives (such as Sarah Siddons, as seen above) at Paddington.

Initially there were six close coupled sets of City Stock passenger carriages which operated in six carriage formation, formed of 2x third class brake, 2x third class and 2x 1st/3rd composites. In 1925 a further three trains were built, these comprised two sets of 3x triplet articulated carriages per train.

Clicking the photograph of the City Stock passenger carriage or here will lead to one of several pages with more (and larger) images as part of an eclectic collection of historic British trains and their interiors in a new window.

Clicking the photographs of either of the replica passenger carriages or here will lead to one of several pages with more (and larger) images as part of an eclectic collection of historic British trains and their interiors in a new window.

'Open' and 'Compartment' Seating Comparisons in a Nostalgic Context

Some of the photographs seen below are part of an eclectic collection of historic British trains and their interiors
- clicking them or here will lead to one of several pages showing more (and larger) images in a new window.

Some people would say that with the easy visibility through the picture window and its low window sill this type of seating represents where nostalgia points to the pinnacle of passenger carriage design. The ability of family / social groups to sit together in a seating bay (or several seating bays) is part of what makes the journey so enjoyable. However, as not all passengers (especially singles / couples) want to sit with total strangers in this way so some 'airline' style seating is desirable as well - providing the seat pitch gives sufficient leg room.

Also of note in the image above left is the golden honey coloured carriage seen next to the Southern Railway carriage, and (in both images) the hand operated open 'slam' doors. The 'golden honey' carriage has wooden sides which were varnished instead of painted, this is further explained below, after which the hand operated open doors are further explored.

Passenger Carriage Painting

Early railway carriages were based on the horse-drawn stagecoach, and (initially) used similar materials and construction techniques. As time progressed methodologies changed and once the skills for building metal sided carriages had been developed this (eventually) became the preferred option as metal was much stronger, and safer, especially in case of fire. However where the metal used is steel it (like wood) needs protecting from the elements, which usually means painting it. Other benefits of painting include that where trains are dedicated to specific services / specific routes they could be painted in ways which make them easier for passengers to identify (typically by means of different colours / special brandings) and that it can help build a corporate image, so that the items of rolling stock could be seen as mobile advertisements for the railway company.

During the era of wooden sided carriages some railway companies preferred to varnish their trains rather than paint them. The LNER (London & North Eastern Railway) was famous for this - although they did paint some rolling stock too - and prior to the grouping of 1923 some other railway companies also chose to highlight the natural beauty of the wood by varnishing rather than painting their rolling stock. Typically these carriages featured teak panels. Teak was often chosen because it is easily worked and has natural oils that make it suitable for use in exposed locations - where it is durable and long lasting, even when not treated with oil or varnish.

On the London Underground trains built between the late 1950's until the 1980's featured unpainted aluminium sides. There are several reasons for this choice of metal which dates from the post-war era when steel was in short supply. These reasons include:
* the use of aluminium was seen to be innovative,
* as it was lighter in weight the cost of operating the trains would be lower (less weight = lower energy consumption)
* as aluminium does not rust it would be possible to save even more weight by not painting the trains.

However by the mid-2000's the process of mid-life refurbishment saw the previously unpainted trains being painted. One reason why painting came back in fashion was that the process of removing graffiti vandalism damaged the surface of the metal, which created a 'down at heel' impression. Painting also brought the trains into line with newer legislation that requires railway carriage entrance doors to be in contrasting colours, so as to help people who do not have 20/20 vision find where to board the trains. For what it is worth painting also saw the unpainted fleet being brought into line with respect to 'corporate image'. (Different people will have different points of view on the necessity for this).

The MR's demise came in 1933 when - at the government's behest - it was forcibly merged into what became known as The London Passenger Transport Board. It should be noted however that despite its mainline pretensions (the MR saw itself as a mainline railway company and vigorously fought against its de facto takeover by the motorbus & tube railway operating combine) the MR had escaped the groupings of the mid 1920's, which affected virtually all the other British railway companies outside of London.

Within months of gaining control the new owners started looking to reduce the MR's sphere of operations, a policy which by 1937 had seen some line closures and a handover of non-core passenger operations to the LNER; in 1962 there was further retrenchment when services beyond Amersham were handed over to British Railways.

This policy is still underway, as between 2010 and 2012 a new fleet of trains were introduced which were primarily designed to accommodate the needs of short distance inner-city passengers in Central London and therefore replaced higher seating capacity with increased standing space. At the same as the new trains were being introduced the timetable was also substantially recast to eliminate fast trains (except to match the peak flows in the rush hours) so that with trains now stopping at all stations journey times have been extended noticeably. This means that more passengers now have to stand on journeys which typically can take 30 - 60 minutes.

By way of an 'excuse' passengers were told that reducing seating capacity throughout the train was the only way to meet the legal requirements for trains which are 'special needs' accessible. Some passengers would suggest that emulating the mainline railways and having just a couple of carriages per train as fully accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs would have met everyone's requirements / complied with the law in a way which did not also use special needs as an excuse for disadvantaging the rest of the community.

Passenger Carriage Doorway Nostalgia

For many years passenger trains were accessed via hand operated outward-opening swing doors, which passengers had to open and close just like most house etc., doors. In Britain these were often called slam doors, although other English speaking nations sometimes used different names. These doors were (and are, where they still exist) very simple in operation, but unless locked by a railway official prior to leaving each station there was always a possibility of someone opening one during a journey - and falling out. Whilst the locking of doors was often possible it was rarely done - except to prevent passenger use of a / several specific doorway(s) for reasons such as the complete closure of a section of the train. One reason for this would be because a lot of station staff would then need to be available at every station the train stopped at to unlock and (prior to departure) re-lock the doors. Otherwise with just a couple of station staff there would (potentially) be very long station dwell times. Of course this would be totally unviable & uneconomic - especially for services where the trains stopped frequently. Another reason for not locking the doors between stations follows a handful of events in the early days of the railways when there were accidents which saw the passenger carriages (which in those days were mostly made out of wood) catching fire and resulting in high losses of life of the otherwise unhurt but trapped passengers.

Mention should also be made of the various railcars (combined steam locomotive plus passenger accommodation in the one vehicle) which operated on quieter rural routes and sometimes featured either inward swinging or hand operated sliding doors. However compared with the rest of the coaching stock these were relatively few in number.

Using passenger carriages of virtually identical physical formation to the other urban railways, when they first opened London's Metropolitan Railway and Metropolitan District Railway originally did the same as other mainline steam railways, although the 'slam' doors sometimes were a nuisance in the tunnels as where clearances were tight a swinging open door would occasionally physically strike the tunnel wall as the train continued its journey. Britains' first urban 'open air' electric railway (the former Liverpool Overhead Railway - LOR) also built its trains with the traditional 'slam' doors.

Starting in 1903, when the first steam-hauled urban railway electrification schemes began operating in Merseyside, Tyneside and then London, some railway companies decided to copy the solution which had been adopted on London's deep level tube lines (see below) and built new trains with end vestibules (sometimes open, sometimes enclosed) that used metal lattice gates which were opened by guards specially employed for this duty. For reasons of weather protection the guards were often allowed to travel in 3rd class carriages between stations. However this arrangement did not last very long and the gates were soon replaced with either inward opening swing-type doors or hand operated sliding doors. Some railway companies fitted balancing gear and self latching locks to make the doors easier to close and prevent them from sliding open when the train was braking. With present-day risk adverse eyes the idea that it was not unusual for hand operated sliding doors to be left open whilst travelling between stations must sound alarming, but despite the danger of people falling out it seems that this rarely (if ever) happened - even on crowded rush hour trains. Passengers understood the risks to life and limb and acted in ways which ensured their personal safety.

As time and experience progressed, attempts by the first two London railways which electrified their trains to reduce station dwell times as passengers boarded and alighted at just the carriage ends saw the Metropolitan Railway adding an extra set of hand operated sliding double doors located midway along the carriage, although right up to the end of its independence new trains for longer distance services which mostly travelled on surface alignments were still being built with hand operated outward opening slam (swing) doors. By way of contrast, the Metropolitan District Railway saw a solution in doing away with the end doors completely and instead building trains which featured three sets of hand-operated double sliding doors spread along the carriage sides. However as far as I've been able to discover, none of the other railways which introduced new trains when they electrified their urban / suburban services subsequently changed the door configurations to reduce station dwell times. To a large extent this will be because the new trains still featured the traditional slam doors. eg: MSJ&A (Manchester - Altrincham), LNWR to the north and west of London and LSWR / LBSCR in south London.

The 1905 electric trains built by London's Metropolitan District Railway included the innovation of air-operated sliding doors, however the air equipment proved to be troublesome and they were soon converted to hand-operation. In London air operation was tried again on some of the new trains built in 1935, and having (this time) been found viable many older trains were converted to air operation, with all newer trains featuring this from the outset. However the use of trains with hand operated sliding doors only fully ended on London Underground subsurface services when the relevant rolling stock was replaced with newer trains after WW2. Outside of London new trains introduced in 1938 for the Merseyside (Liverpool, etc) area featured air operated doors, with a second batch finally replacing the rest of the older trains in the 1950's, and the last trains with hand operated sliding doors were taken out of service in Tyneside in the 1960's. Perhaps inspired by matters financial, when (after WW2) the LOR modernised some trains it included replacing the slam doors with sliding doors, and perhaps had the line's fate been different the rest of the fleet would have been rebuilt in a similar way.

This is not meant to be about railway electrification, which explains why some railway electrifications are only minimally mentioned (if at all). Information about these can be found on the Suburban Electric Railway Association website.
http://www.emus.co.uk/zone.htm

Because of the small diameter of the single bore tunnels and limited clearances between the side of the trains and the tunnel walls the use of traditional railway outward-opening swing doors was prohibited on the deep level tube lines. In addition, especially at first inward-opening doors were regarded as being almost impossible to arrange within the very restricted height of the carriages, and when at a later date they were introduced (in London) it was found that by opening inwards they impinged upon passenger space (something which was then forgotten until experienced again in the 1980's on London's Docklands Light Railway). Therefore instead of fixed doors the early deep level tube lines decided to copy a solution already used on rapid transit lines in the USA, this being that of locating entrance platforms at the car ends and protecting them using various types of hand operated metal gates. Being mostly (or even entirely) below ground weather protection was not a major consideration. Depending on the railway company these included Bostwick style sliding gates (as were used on lifts) and hinged opening gates (as seen below) which were opened / closed by 'gatemen' who travelled with the trains. Even with the entrances of two intermediate car ends controlled by one gateman this system was labour intensive. In the USA it was usual for trains to only pick-up a relative few passengers at intermediate suburban stations and then for all passengers to want to alight at the terminus - where it was relatively easy to allow plenty of time for everyone to disembark, but as London's trains became busier it was soon found that with large numbers of passengers trying to both board and alight at the many stations en route by only having entrances at the carriage ends the station dwell times often became quite lengthy.

Later batches of rolling stock tried to reduce station dwell times by means of an extra doorway in the centre of the carriage. After an unsuccessful trial (circa 1911 - 1914) with a new train which featured pneumatically operated sliding doors (at the carriage centre and at both ends) the chosen solution was to retain the outer gates and add one set of inward opening double swing doors at the centre of the passenger saloon. The central doors were self closing (by means of springs fitted under the floor) and electronically latched, with the system being designed so that they would be automatically unlocked by the gatemen when they opened the gates and it then being up to passengers to physically open the doors, as required. A red light by the gateman's position illuminated when the doors were released, and a green light when locked. Switches located on the roof canopy above the end platforms allowed the gateman to decide whether the central doors should remain locked, or could be opened even if the end gates remained closed. Although this system worked reasonably well experience soon showed that the self closing feature resulted in passengers often struggling to pass through the middle doorway whilst holding both doors open, with the alternative of only holding one of the doors open leaving an opening that was a 'bit of a squeeze'. To remedy this and make life easier for the passengers, soon after their introduction the trains were modified so as to replace the double doors with single wider doors.

The next few batches of trains (which entered service in the 1920's) retained the central single leaf door but also completely replaced the gatemen by featuring similar doors at the car 'ends' as well. Also around the same time a small batch of new trains was introduced which featured air powered sliding doors, which eventually became the favoured solution with many (but not all) existing gate end trains being converted to air operated doors too. In some cases the conversion saw trains being fitted with extra wide single leaf doors about 1/3rd and 2/3rds along the car side, with the former gate ends being sealed and incorporated within the passenger saloon. Since then door configurations have varied with trains typically featuring two sets of single or double doors in the main 'body' of the car plus sometimes extra single doors at the ends as well.

Britain's only other small profile 'tube' railway is in Glasgow, and here they initially used collapsible steel gates (some sources suggest that these were power-operated). Later the gates were rebuilt with solid sliding doors, and nowadays the trains have powered sliding doors. A unique feature of the Glasgow system is that originally all stations used island platforms and the trains only needed entrances on one side of the carriage. However that is no longer the situation.

Although no complete gate-end carriages survived into preservation the rear of a 1909 motor car built by the former Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (which nowadays is known as the Piccadilly Line) has been preserved so that future generations can see the gate end arrangement.

The original trains on London's Docklands Light Railway (which were known as P86) featured inward opening powered doors, this being a configuration which had been tried and found wanting many years before... and as before it was quickly realised that by impinging upon passenger space just inside the doorway - especially at busy times when the train was crowded - they reduced the train's overall passenger capacity by preventing people from standing near the doors whilst they opened and closed.

There is a saying that those who forget the lessons of history are destined to relive it, and this is exactly what happened!

This image shows one of these trains after having been sold to Essen in Germany and before conversion to single leaf sliding doors.

Nowadays virtually all trains have doors which will only open after the guard / train captain or the driver activates an electronic unlock. Once released passengers using the few types of rolling stock which still have hand operated doors still have to manually open the doors (usually from the outside - passengers inside the train must open the window and use the hand operated lever on the outside) whilst on trains with powered doors they (usually) have to press a button near to the door for it to open. Many types of train on the London Underground are fitted with buttons to open the doors (and on some trains close them too) however the transport operator prefers that its staff open all doors at all stations, and (apparently) has even threatened to discipline its staff for allowing passengers to use the passenger door buttons. Especially in the winter passengers would prefer that they controlled the doors, so that doors not being used during station stops remained closed - particularly at 'open air' stations, as this helps reduce draughts and keep the train warm.

Of course the use of electronic over-ride locks on the trains with hand operated doors and the widespread use of powered sliding doors is by far a safer way to operate the railway, however many of the passengers who are old enough to remember the hand operated sliding doors still lament their loss - especially as in hot weather a slightly ajar door could be a very good source of a refreshing breeze.

Self-propelled Passenger Carriage Nostalgia

Some passenger carriages are self-propelled, which means that they do not need a locomotive somewhere along the train (usually at the front) as tractive power is spread along the train.

Self-propelled trains existed for many years alongside trains hauled by steam locomotives. The earliest versions actually consisted of a passenger railcar with a small steam engine at one end. These were often called Railmotors and their intended purpose was to provide a more economic way of operating low capacity services and to increase the attractiveness of services on routes which faced stiff competition from tram and motor bus competition.

Railmotors came in two basic variants, these being of a small 0-4-0 steam locomotive with one end of a coach hung on it like a semi-trailer and a passenger carriage with a steam engine built into one end of it. The latter type would sometimes have a vertical (ie: upright) or transverse (ie: sideways, across the carriage width) boiler which required less floor space.

Railmotors were not normally very powerful, usually being just about able to power themselves plus perhaps an extra carriage. This made them very inflexible, as they were unable to cope with greater than expected passenger demands - an example being busy market days on an otherwise lightly-used rural branch line. They were also unable to haul goods wagons, requiring conventional locomotives to be stationed on the same line for these duties.

For the busiest of urban railways a different type of self powered train was the electric train, and despite the cost of the trains (or converting existing trains to electric traction) and installing the electrical infrastructure along the entire route for a while this became the only viable alternative to steam traction. Electric trains are looked at below.

After borrowing and being impressed by a 1902 steam railmotor which had been built for the London and South Western Railway, in 1903 the Great Western Railway (GWR) introduced its first railmotor, and by the time production finished in 1908 it had a fleet of 99 carriage units plus 112 interchangeable power units which could be swapped between the carriages to suit maintenance needs. Although many other railway companies also used steam railmotors the GWR had the largest fleet. A few railway companies also used fuels other than steam, however always in small numbers. Whilst there was no doubt that the railmotor offered many passenger enticing features and helped keep railway services successful in the face of tram and (nascent) motor bus competition, the vehicles themselves presented maintenance challenges in that when being serviced they took up much valuable workshop space (after all, they were longer than steam locomotives) and the proximity of the boiler made it difficult to keep the passenger space clean. In addition, their success soon became such that on some routes longer trains became required, but adding an extra carriage often made them so sluggish that they had difficulty keeping to the timetable.

To solve this (in 1905) the GWR experimented with adding extra equipment to some small tank engines and separate passenger carriages so that they could work as fixed units where the driver could drive from the far end of the passenger carriage(s), eliminating the need to run the engine round to the other end of the train at the end of each journey. These became known as auto-trains, and the carriages which were fitted with the extra equipment at the vestibule end for the driver to use becoming known as autocoaches or auto-trailers. This concept allowed the trains to operate in 'push-pull' mode, making them similar to short multiple-unit (electric) trains where only one of the passenger carriages are motored. Experience found that one intermediate trailer (which had been fitted with the required mechanical train control linking equipment) could be located between the autocoach and locomotive without there being so much slack in the mechanical linkings that the concept started to become unworkable. Another option was for trains to be formed of several autocoaches with the locomotive between them.

With trials of autotrains having proven successful, withdrawals of the railmotors began in 1914 and by 1935 they all had either been scrapped or converted to auto-trailers. The design proved very successful, with 163 examples in total - and the last being built by British Railways as late as 1954!

In addition to creating an 'almost' self-powered train where the power unit was powerful enough to haul several passenger carriages another advantage of the autotrain concept was that the locomotive could be detached for maintenance - or for use on a freight train.

None of the former GWR railmotors survived in that format but No.93 (which in 1934 became autocoach No.212) has been converted back to its original format (albeit with a new power unit). It is normally kept at the Didcot Railway Centre where it is sometimes used in passenger service.

Photographs of the mechanical linkage system used on autotrains which facilitated the train driver controlling the locomotive from the auto-trailers can be found on this page at Wikipedia which also has some other autocoach photographs.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:GWR_autocoaches

More information about GWR Railmotor No.93, Autotrailer No.92 and the Didcot Railway Centre can be found by visiting these websites:
http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/ and http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/zrailmotor93/index.html .

Other attempts at more economic ways of operating low capacity services typically provided by railmotors saw the use of liquid fuel railcars, which either used a mechanical drive system or were fitted with a way of producing electricity for an electric drive system. One of the railway companies which pioneered these alternative traction technologies was the North Eastern Railway (NER).

In 1903 the NER augmented the new fleet of 3rd rail electric trains which it was introducing on some of its busier services in the Tyneside area with two petrol-electric railcars. This is believed to have been the first time that an internal combustion engine had been used in a passenger carrying rail vehicle. They were withdrawn in the early 1930's but the bodywork of one of them saw a second life as a holiday home and therefore has survived to the present era. It is currently being restored to its 1923 form and will eventually be used on a living museum railway. Also being restored is a NER autocoach and the desire is to be able to operate the two together.

Another railway which experimented with a petrol-electric railcar was the Great Central Railway (GCR). The GCR had been influenced by such vehicles which since 1905 had been being used with reasonable success in Hungary. This vehicle was both lighter and more powerful than the NER vehicles and capable of hauling up to two unpowered passenger carriages as well. The GCR's vehicle was reasonably successful and lasted until 1936, by when it was under LNER ownership. When withdrawn from service it was replaced by a Sentinel railmotor.

In 1912 the GWR also built a four wheel petrol-electric railcar. This could out-perform the Railmotors, as it could travel at up to 35mph and had a range of 250 miles on a tank of liquid fuel but it suffered from an overheating problem and was withdrawn in 1919.

With liquid fuel technologies advancing rapidly in 1922 the NER converted one of its petrol mechanical motorbuses to become a railcar, in the process adding driving controls and a radiator at the rear of the vehicle plus a passenger door on each side in the middle. This vehicle proved to be reasonably successful but in 1926 it met an untimely demise whilst being refuelled when someone used a naked paraffin lamp to check the amount of fuel in the tank(!) ...and within just 15 minutes the ensuing fire had sealed its fate. Another petrol railcar which the NER built in 1923 also only had a short life, being withdrawn in 1934, by which time it was under LNER ownership.

In 1924 the LNER trialled a Railmotor built by Sentinel and was so pleased with the results that in the period between 1925 and 1932 it bought 80 of them. These were were known as steam railcars, or to be exact Sentinel-Cammell Rail Cars. Over these years there was a continuous programme of innovation and improving technology which saw the Sentinel railcars become more powerful, with smooth six cylinder engines, gear drives and speeds of 40mph easily being achieved. Towards the end of this time period Sentinel built some double engined steam railcars which had an engine at each end and used a single larger, more powerful marine coal powered boiler. There was even one articulated twin car steam railcar, the trailer shared one of the railcar's two powered bogies plus had its own bogie at the far end. It had a very respectaphiliosophble claimed top speed of 64mph.

In 1927/8 the LNER also bought 11 steam railcars from Clayton. This was something that they soon came to regret as Clayton ceased trading in 1929 and it became so difficult to source spares that they ended up having to fabricate these themselves. The last of the Clayton railcars was withdrawn from service in 1937.

Initially the LNER's steam railcars were unpainted / in varnished teak 'livery' but this was changed to the green and cream livery the LNER used on its tourist passenger carriages.

What might have happened next is all conjecture, because the onset of war in 1939 saw everything change. The core operating philosophy of the railways changed from trying to attract passengers through more frequent services with cheaper to operate trains to trying to dissuade people from travelling and providing a bare minimum basic service. The very drastic reductions in service frequencies meant that fewer trains were needed whilst the reduced maintenance affected everything. Increasing age also started to affect the steam railcars and the wartime make do and mend philosophy was not suited to a series of small highly specialised rail cars that often needed intensive maintenance and repairs. By the end of the war only a handful of the LNER's Sentinel steam railcars remained in service and there was insufficient appetite (or ability) to restore service frequencies to prewar levels. The last of these steam railcars was withdrawn from service in 1948.

By the early 1930's oil fuel (diesel) was starting to find favour in Europe and several British railway companies decided to trial diesel railcars. Undoubtably the railway company which had the greatest success was the Great Western Railway (GWR) who by the onset of war in 1939 had a small fleet of diesel mechanical railcars.

The LMS bought just three streamlined Leyland four wheel railcars in 1933, these lasted until 1951. Although just single railcars (ie: not articulated) they could perhaps be seen as early examples of the Pacer trains that British Rail introduced many years later. Also in 1933 a luxury Armstrong Whitworth diesel-electric railcar operated a 12-seat express service on the LMS for two weeks in connection with a British Industries Fair. In 1934 this was purchased by the LNER. In 1937 the LMS bought a streamlined three carriage articulated trainset which was based on a design that was operating in Ireland. This was withdrawn in WW2. The war also scuppered the construction of a planned second similar trainset.

Between 1932 and 1934 the LNER bought four Armstrong Whitworth diesel-electric railcars. In 1934 the LNER investigated the effectiveness of its various railcars and this found that the best of the Sentinel steam railcars easily outperformed the diesel-electric railcars. This probably explains why it did not buy any more diesel-electric railcars. The LNER also noted how these railcars performed best when new and that their performance deteriorated as they aged. This may be been due to lack of knowledge of what maintenance needed doing. Several of these spent many months out of service after engine failures and all were withdrawn in 1939.

In addition to a perception that the technology was not quite mature enough to be relied upon another reason for the slow drift away from coal to liquid fuelled traction on the railways of mainland Great Britain would have been that this a was coal mining country which did not have any appreciable oil reserves, and in those days the concept of 'home' (or 'Empire') sourced goods was seen in a much more favourable light than it is nowadays.

Once the technologies became effective, the ability of diesel (and electric) traction to use multiple unit control offered many operational benefits over steam traction, as they facilitated several smaller trains combining at busier times and being driven by just the one driver. Whilst it was always possible to add extra carriages to locomotive hauled steam trains this was a much more involved process which required time consuming shunting of the carriages onto the train. As for railmotors, steam railcars and autotrains, the lack of an effective system for one person to simultaneously control all the traction packages from the front of the train plus the need for each coal fire to be looked after at all times makes it is difficult to see how multiple unit operation of these could ever have been practical option. For the sake of completeness, its worth noting that whilst sometimes trains were 'double-headed', which means that they had two steam locomotives at the front, each locomotive still needed people on its own footplate.

By the 1950's diesel railcar technology had advanced greatly but here in Great Britain the upheaval of war and nationalisation had resulted in the steam engine still reigning supreme. It was only with their demise that most railway routes around Britain started to become served by self powered trains, of which there were many types and on the vast majority of routes used diesel traction.

For lightly used lines in the late 1950's British Rail experimented with various designs of Railbus which - as the name suggests - shared many aspects of their construction with buses, usually having a bus-type body and four wheels on a fixed HSFV§ base, instead of being on bogies. Some could only be used on their own whilst others were also equipped for multiple-unit operation. §HSFV = High Speed Freight Vehicle, this being a generic term for a number of prototype 4-wheeled rail vehicles.

Even some routes which were eventually closed by Dr Beeching lived long enough to see diesel traction replacing steam. Despite the new diesel trains being cheaper to operate (ie: helping to make branchlines more economic by reducing their operating costs) the reality is that officialdom - politicians & civil servants - had already decided that railway closures were needed. To their thinking the 'only' [sic] way forward was for the closures to continue. This was irrespective as to whether the new diesel railbuses could have represented a more cost effective solution.

After several decades almost all of the older first generation 1950's types of rolling stock were replaced with newer trains, and whilst many were scrapped in most cases the vehicles which remain extant have also become part of the nostalgia movement, both as single (static) vehicles and as fully working trains. It is perhaps ironic that even the operators of many museum and heritage railways which typically were created to keep steam locomotives alive have realised the cost effective benefits of using (historic) diesel railbuses on days when fewer visitors are expected and therefore it may not be financially viable to 'fire up' the steam engines (or when a shortage of volunteers means that there are not staff to operate the steam locomotives).

Other enthusiastic users of older / historic diesel rolling stock are the locally operated community railways who see the benefit in trains which are fully paid for.

Both photographs seen above were taken at London Stratford's low-level station. The image on the left looks north towards the high-level platforms and the top of a westbound unpainted aluminium livery Central Line 1962 tube stock train can be seen on the bridge in the background. Nowadays this entire area has been completely rebuilt so as to be totally unrecognisable - in 2010 a new platform (No.3A) for the Central Line trains opened on this side of the bridge (so that trains open their doors on both sides) and after a period of reconstruction 2011 saw the Docklands Light Railway's service between Canning Town and Stratford International using these low-level platforms, which are now Nos. 16 and 17.

Clicking either of these images or here will lead to a dedicated page showing more (and larger) images of DMU's at Stratford low-level station in a new window .

Although it was recognised that for busier routes electrification would provide a more cost effective transport solution, outside of London and southern England the period before the 1950's saw only a handful of lines being electrified, and as new trains were introduced almost all of the older trains were scrapped. Unfortunately even when attempts at preservation were made these sometimes ended in failure.

Nowadays much of the former Tyneside Electrics network is operated as part of the Tyne & Wear Metro, which in its own way is as innovative as the original 1904 electrification. As with the 1937 LNER trains, the Metro's rolling stock (called Metrocars) are also articulated / comprise two passenger carriages which share a central bogie, although here the carriage ends are fully open creating the ambiance of one very long walk-through carriage.

The one aspect of the conversion of the existing mainline railway routes to become part of a local urban transport system that was not wholly beneficial was the loss of the network effect with the mainline railway. Passengers are no longer able to buy through tickets from local stations to destinations on the mainline railway elsewhere in the UK, and the former through trains (especially on summer weekends) from other British towns and cities to the coastal resort of Tynemouth have had to be withdrawn.

More information about the Tyneside Electrics (plus links to further information) can be found at these links: ,
The Tyneside page in the Suburban Electric Railway Association History Zone - http://www.emus.co.uk/zone/tyneside/tyneside.htm
The Tyneside suburban electric railway system - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneside_Electric
The NER Tyneside Electrics trains of 1904 - 15 and 1920 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NER_electric_units.
The Stephenson Railway Museum - https://stephensonrailwaymuseum.org.uk/.
The LNER Tyneside Electrics trains of 1937 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Tyneside_electric_units.
The BR Tyneside Electrics trains of 1954/55 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_416.

In 1903 the Mersey Railway - which linked Liverpool city centre with Birkenhead / the Wirral via a tunnel below the river Mersey - became the first British railway to fully convert to electric traction.

However it is worth noting the context in which this line was electrified.

In 1900 the then steam operated railway had been declared bankrupt - because despite using condensing type steam engines the air quality in the tunnels and stations was such that only the unwary / unknowing or the desperate used this railway. In 1901 the line was rescued from bankruptcy by people who realised that it really should be profitable, all it needed was breatheable air in the tunnels - which would be easily obtained if only it was converted to electric traction. They were right and nowadays the route below the River Mersey is an essential component of the Merseryrail Wirral line.

These trains were first introduced in 1936 by the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS), at which time they were seen to be of a very advanced design for a mainline railway's suburban passenger trains, featuring things such as air operated sliding doors which were opened & closed by the guard. The routes they operated on in the Merseyside area included an underground link under the River Mersey between Wirral and Liverpool which in 1903 was the first British railway conversion from steam to electric traction (even before London!) - an act which probably saved the (then) Mersey Railway from bankruptcy due to people choosing to use the slower ferry over the Mersey and avoid the choking atmosphere created by the steam trains in the tunnel under the river.

In 1956 the then British Railways (BR) built a second batch of near identical trains, which in many ways was quite remarkable - as for virtually all other services elsewhere in Britain BR was still building and even designing new types of the more traditional 'slam door' trains.

Designed for speeds of up to 70mph (110km/h) they originally featured flat fronts - the doors were added in the 1970's to meet safety requirements for when the city centre single-track underground loop was built.

Attempts at preservation of Liverpool's historic trains has been somewhat tragic, with some preserved rolling stock then being destroyed, however some of the LMS trains remain extant, albeit in need of restoration. None of the pre-1930's trains are known to have survived.

More information about the Liverpool Overhead Railway and Merseyrail Electric trains (plus links to further information) can be found at these links:
The Merseyside page in the Suburban Electric Railway Association History Zone - http://www.emus.co.uk/zone/mersey/mersey.htm
The Liverpool Overhead Railway - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_Overhead_Railway
Electric trains of the Mersey Railway - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersey_Railway_electric_units
Electric trains of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) which includes some services in Liverpool - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LYR_electric_units
The LMS Merseyside trains of 1938 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_503
A different batch of LMS Merseyside suburban electric trains - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_502
The Merseyside suburban electric railway system - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merseyrail

More information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_306

The Manchester versions of these trains (known as Class 506) remained in their original 1,500V DC format until they were withdrawn in 1984, this being concurrent with the electrical conversion of the remaining section of the Woodhead Manchester - Sheffield line to 25kV AC. These images them in two liveries, green with partial yellow front and their final format - the blue / grey livery. Generally they operated as solo 3 carriage units, except in then rush hours when two units operated as 6 carriage trains.

(The section of the Woodhead route east of Hadfield [towards Sheffield] was closed in 1981 - including the brand new specially built 3miles 66yds long Woodhead Tunnel which had only opened in 1954).

More information about the suburban railway lines in the Manchester area which were electrified around the time of WW1 and the early 1930s (plus links to further information) can be found at these links:
The Manchester pages in the Suburban Electric Railway Association History Zone - http://www.emus.co.uk/zone/manchester/manchester.htm
The route to Altrincham - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester,_South_Junction_and_Altrincham_Railway
The 1931 trains of the route to Altrincham - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_505
Trains of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) which includes the route to Bury - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LYR_electric_units
British Railways Class 504 trains on the route to Bury - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_504
British Railways Class 506 trains on the route to Hadfield and Glossop - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_506

Also worthy of note is the former Heysham - Morecambe - Lancaster line which was electrified in 1908 at 6.6 kV, 25 Hz AC. The original trains were replaced (none survived) with steam trains in 1951, whilst the line was converted to 6.6 kV, 50 Hz AC, as part of trials for future mainline railway electrification elsewhere. In this guise it operated from 1953 - 1966 using rolling stock that had originally been built for the London area but had stopped being used during WW2. The line is now closed.
More information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MR_electric_units
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_AM1

Glasgow and the Strathclyde area was another conurbation where the electrification of urban railways saw British Railways eschewing slam-door trains and instead both designed and built a new design of sliding door train. Many years later these trains also became of nostalgic interest.

Introduced in 1960 they were known as the Class 303 electric multiple units, although their striking Caledonian Blue livery saw them being nicknamed as "Blue Train". The last of these trains were withdrawn from service in 2002.

In the late 1960's a second batch of very similar trains was also built in connection with further railway electrification in the Strathclyde area. These were known as Class 311 and amongst the few changes which applied to the new trains was that whereas the older trains had been fitted with tungsten filament bulbs the newer trains featured fluorescent lighting . In the 1970's both types of train had their wrap-around driving cab windows replaced with flat, toughened glass as this offered train drivers better protection in the event of attacks by stone-throwing vandals - and were cheaper to replace, if damaged.

In the 1980's the ScotRail-sector of British Rail began a major refurbishment programme for 50 of the older trains. The many changes included the removing of asbestos insulation (to conform to contemporary health and safety standards) the installation of connecting doors between coaches, a new type of push button passenger door control, all-new interiors and new fluorescent lighting. Most units also received new "hopper-style" windows and were repainted in the (then) new orange/black livery which had been introduced by the newly-created Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive (PTE).

The refurbishment did not meet with universal approval. For instance, whilst the original seating was fully upholstered, deep sprung and (arguably) very comfortable the new seating comprised a hard plastic frame with a thin fabric covered foam squab cover. This style of seating was similar to that fitted on the more modern Class 314 trains which were being introduced on services within the Strathclyde area (and were variants of similar trains which were being introduced in several areas around Britain). Other gripes were the 2+2 seating configuration which allowed for many more standing passengers, but with far fewer seats than previously, and the loss of the glass bulkheads behind the driving cabs, which meant that passengers could no longer enjoy the driver's view through the front windows.

Left: These trains comprised 3 carriage multiple-units, with typical formations being one, two or sometimes even three such units coupled together at a time (ie: trains of 3, 6 or 9 carriages). Very occasionally four unit (12 carriage) trains were also operated, although not normally when in public service.

Right: A video which includes these Scotrail trains (plus classes 314, 318, the Glasgow Subway and some buses) has been placed on the ‘YouTube’ film / video website and can be watched either above or at YouTube by clicking here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uG73GPely0 .
Mostly filmed in 1994, with added scenes from 1998 and 2005.
Virtually everything in this film is seen in the now historic orange Strathclyde livery.

More information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_303
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_311

Although the London UndergrounD is famous for its small profile 'tube' trains the initial parts of the network used mainline sized trains. For a while services on the Metropolitan Railway were shared with the broad gauge trains of the Great Western Railway, which used tracks 7ft 0.25in (approximately 2.14m) wide.

Trains such as the mainline sized examples seen below were introduced in the 1930's and lasted until the 1980's. Although there were several variants which featured different electrical components the differences which passengers would have noticed were in their external colouring and their internal illumination, with the red trains using light bulbs and the white trains using fluorescent tubes.

The flared body design with the lower edge riding slightly over the platform edge was introduced as a safety feature, although it also resulted in trains of an iconic design. The flare was instead of the wooden footboards mounted along the trains' bodyside at floor level which began to be fitted to earlier designs of trains shortly after electrification. Their purpose was to prevent passengers from falling through the gap between the train and platform edge, however the wooden boards then became the scenes of several accidents as passengers tried to board moving trains which were leaving stations by standing on the wooden board and hurriedly open the sliding passenger doors (which in those days were hand worked) before the train had left the station. The danger was especially acute at subsurface stations when the trains reach the end of the platform / the tunnel walls.

Despite being a significantly beneficial safety feature the flared design overriding the platform edge also made special needs 'level access' impossible, so this feature is deemed to be unsuitable for present-day train design.

As with many other trains when they were replaced a few commemorative tours were operated for staff & railway enthusiasts and they carried special headboards.

As an aside, on the London UndergrounD passenger trains are normally referred to using the American term 'cars' and not the English 'carriages'. This is because much of the system was built by (or eventually passed into ownership of) American financiers, whose influence and operating practices included referring to the rolling stock as 'cars'.

More and larger images of the CO / CP / R stock trains (including internal views) have been placed on these two pages at the free online "Wikipedia" encyclopædia:
the Red CO / CP stock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_O_Stock
the Silver / White R stock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_R_Stock

Despite being experimental in design, dating from the 1960's and only four trains having actually been constructed the "Craven" tube trains have also become part of the nostalgia movement.

Only the motor cars were built new - they were intended to work with older trailer (non powered ) cars dating from the 1920's. In the 1990's the older trailers were replaced with newer examples dating from the late 1930's, this being the format in which the train has been preserved.

They saw most of their lives working on the Hainault - Woodford shuttle service as test-beds for automatic (self driving) trains. Nowadays the preserved train is used as a working attraction during special events.

Station Nostalgia

The railway builders of the 19^th century left us with a rich heritage of (often) architecturally interesting station buildings & structures, many of which are still in frontline use. This is because if well cared for a station will be a substantial physical structure which can outlast several generations of trains and other rolling stock. However, whilst many older (and some younger) people may find them to be visually pleasant in many cases they can be expensive to maintain and / or do not conform to modern-day expectations / demands in term of amenities. This issue is more fully explored on the Historic stations - the challenge of meeting modern-day needs! page.

Some (usually younger) people compare older railway station buildings which date from the Victorian, Edwardian (etc.,) eras somewhat unfavourably with stations on modern (overseas) railway systems which are only several decades old, and even with airports, and suggest that they would wish that everything 'old' could be replaced with shiny new steel & glass space age style structures. By way of a contrast, other people look at some modern minimalistic stations and cringe in horror! Replacing everything that is old - just because it is old - would change the face of Britain, resulting in a loss of our urban landscapes' distinctiveness. Experience from towns and cities where this type of urban renewal was done in the period between 1945 and 1975 has shown that the newer so-called modern structures only sometimes represent actual improvements which stand the test of time. A contrary view might include that as living entities our towns and cities need to change as time passes, and should not become fossilised with changes prohibited.

Inside the station master's office at Chappel and Wakes Colne Station on the East Anglia Railway Museum.

This station is on the Sudbury to Marks Tey branch line, the living museum uses one platform plus footbridge, the main station building and former goods yard whilst mainline trains call at the other platform. Marks Tey is on the Great Eastern Main Line out of London Liverpool Street.
The EARM website is at http://www.earm.co.uk .

Over the years Britain's railway system has contracted somewhat and many stations have become redundant. Mostly these have been allowed to decay to a point whereby the structure is no longer viable, but some have been saved and converted for other uses, such as private residences. One station which has been saved and (in 1972) was moved to a living museum where it can be used in an educational role is the former Rowley Station, which was near Consett in County Durham. This has been painstakingly restored at the Beamish Open Air Museum where it has become a central feature at Beamish station yard. The passenger building, which includes a ticket office and waiting room for ladies only, dates from 1867 but is shown as it would have around 1910. During its working life this station was always illuminated by oil lamps, as it was never provided with gas or electricity. Heating of course came from coal fires. In 1914 it became a temporary three day home for a trainload of passengers who had been stranded by deep snowfall.

A different form of station nostalgia is where the stations become the means through which the nostalgia is conveyed. This can come in several forms, including art exhibitions and platform wall murals - as seen here.

Old advertising posters (such as were often located at stations) can also be of nostalgic value. Examples of these abound, however just two images are shown, with these being of advertising issued by the railway companies promoting different aspects of their services. Posters such as these would have been found at various locations around the stations, including platform and passageway walls, as well as alongside / near to information displays with timetables and other passenger information.

Left: These examples are promotionals by the former GWR (Great Western Railway) for their domestic air transport services and the LNER (London and North Eastern Railway) to encourage leisure travellers (tourists) to use their services and visit London.

Right: This example dates from the 1939 - 1945 war when leisure travel was discouraged. It was seen outside the 'Britain At War' visitor attraction which is located in central London / near to London Bridge and the station of the same name. More information about this visitor attraction can be found by visiting their website at: http://www.britainatwar.co.uk (beware of the loud air raid siren which starts as the page downloads).

In addition to the items detailed above another aspect of station nostalgia can come from old fixtures and fittings, such as from when the station was built or renovated 'many years ago' and which people often like seeing and may even (sometimes) find visually preferable to modern equivalents. However, there can be a sting in the tail in that when the old fixture / fitting becomes life expired or otherwise requires major (ie: 'expensive') overhaul the item may not justify the investment, and therefore either need to be replaced or result in the survival of the entire station being jeopardised.

The lifts at the station seen below were over 100 years old and eventually it was decided that the low passenger flow meant that major modernisation works could not be justified, so the station was closed.

Other Infrastructure Nostalgia

In addition to stations nostalgia can also be for things which represent significant engineering, technological (etc.,) achievements, the maintenance of which sometimes poses a significant challenge for railway operators who have historic systems and who would wish to use the cheapest engineering / maintenance solutions rather than those which preserve original features which are (usually) far more visually appealing. In addition to stations this includes tunnels and bridges.

The three wall murals below are of the Thames Tunnel, which is the first known tunnel under a navigable tunnel. Some of the information about the tunnel has been sourced from two pages at the free online "Wikipedia" encyclopædia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Tunnel and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_London_Railway ) where further and much more detailed information can also be found.

35ft [11m] wide, 20ft [6m] high and 1,300ft [¼ mile / 396m] long, this tunnel runs between Rotherhithe and Wapping at a depth of 75ft [23m] below London's River Thames.
It was built between 1825 and 1843 using Marc Isambard Brunel's newly invented tunnelling shield technology, by him and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This long time period included a seven year abandonment, which was caused by financial problems.
Originally the intention was that the tunnel should be used by horse-drawn carriages but ongoing financial problems meant that the access ramps could not be afforded, and it remained for pedestrians only.
In 1865 the tunnel was purchased by the East London Railway Company, this being a consortium of six railway companies who wanted to use the tunnel to provide a rail link for goods and passengers between Wapping (and later Liverpool Street) and the South London Line. The tunnel opened for trains in 1869 and in 1884 the disused entrance shafts in Wapping and Rotherhithe were converted into Wapping and Rotherhithe stations respectively.

Freight Nostalgia

The moving of freight is an essential part of our way of living. Whether it is parcels containing birthday gifts being sent to friends or goods such as foodstuffs there was a time when the railways handled almost all of it. Furthermore, before the age of containerisation most packages / boxes (etc)., were handled individually, often travelling via mixed goods wagons which would be (un)loaded in a transhipment facility in a station yard. Beamish shows how it 'used to be done'!

Signal boxes (which are sometimes also known as signal cabins or interlocking towers) can be very interesting places to visit, especially older ones with the very large levers, dials, knobs, etc. Of course, being a trained professional the signalman (in 'olden days' it invariably was a man) would know what everything is for, but to the untrained eye it is all a mystery. Dating from an age when electricity was still 'new', the large levers would be (and still are, on the lines where such still exist) physically attached via mechanical rodding to either points (also known as 'turnouts' or 'switches') or signals, and especially for those which were located possibly a mile from the signal box it would require a person of reasonable strength to move them.

The mechanical lever frames also included a feature known as 'interlocking', which would ensure that it was not possible to create conflicting movements that would result in a collision between two or more trains. If the signal box also controlled a level crossing (ie: a road crossing) or an opening bridge, then the interlocking would only allow the signals to be set to allow a train to pass if the route was safe (ie: the gates closed to stop road traffic from using the crossing, the swing bridge in the correct position for railway traffic, etc).

Some of the advantages of mechanical signalling systems such as this include that because they only looked after small areas they if they failed then the consequences would (usually) be less wide-ranging than with modern hi-tech electrical signalling systems, and that experience has shown them to have been hardly affected by the coronal mass discharges, gamma ray bursts etc., which periodically rain down upon us from the Sun and wider cosmos.

However, mechanical signalling systems were very labour intensive, as more or less every junction required a signal box (large junctions might even require several signal boxes) plus even along plain track there would still need to be a signal box approximately every couple of miles.

Over the years there has been a trend towards replacing mechanical rodding with electrically operated signalling and points and relocating of signal control from small localised boxes to regional control centres which might look after hundreds of miles of trackage. In addition, for many lines electricity has created the possibility for the signals to be automated, so that far less human intervention is required. Even at junctions it is possible for the computers to change the points etc., to suit the train's preplanned route.

Inside the former signal cabin on the westbound London UndergrounD Central Line platform at London Liverpool Street Station.

A video showing this signal box in action has been placed on the ‘YouTube’ film / video website and can be watched either above - right or (a larger version) at YouTube by clicking here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz8mlpRhcA4 . The video was taken after the signal box had been equipped with a touch-screen computer display system which is not seen in the still photograph.

Dating from 1937 the second signal box seen here uses what is known as a 'power frame'. The signalman still only looks after a small section of track but instead of using long rods which physically link the signals / points with the levers everything would normally operate electrically (occasionally power frames operate pneumatically).

As seen here, the route is represented pictorially, but with the addition of small lamps which for reasons of safety (in case of lamp failure) only illuminate when the tracks they represent are unoccupied. Therefore the two siding tracks (seen on the panel to the right) are unoccupied, whilst below them dark (not lit) section of route shows that a westbound train is approaching the station. In addition another westbound train can be seen having just left the station and passing a crossover, with the rest of its route to the edge of the board being outside the area that this signal box controls - so there are no lights to illuminate. There is also a train in the eastbound station platform.

Power frames usually feature miniature levers. In some cases, the interlocking is still done mechanically, but in others, electric lever locks would be used. Sometimes there would be a 'king' switch which might be locked to prevent accidental use. This switch would only be used in cases of extreme emergency, as it could effectively override the normal safety interlocking which prevents the signal box being used in ways which potentially create danger.

This signal box also controlled access to two sidings where during off-peak times of the day many trains would reverse. It was replaced in the early 1990's when the line was resignalled, with many other signal boxes elsewhere along the route also being closed and a new centralised signalling control centre replacing them.

As a schoolboy I used to change trains here every day and as I walked along the platform to the escalators I would pause for a few moments and watch the signalman operating the levers, knobs and dials. Much to my delight I would sometimes be invited in and given a quick 'tour' of how the system worked. The signalmen also made sure I did not stay too long and become late for school!

In addition to controlling the flow of the trains, another duty of the signallers in this signal box was to advise passengers of the destinations of the approaching trains.

A video showing a selection of (mainly) historic and modern next train describers has been placed on the ‘YouTube’ film / video website and can be watched either above - right or (a larger version) at YouTube by clicking here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k54-xCr6Z3w .
The video only shows a selection, alas I regret not having filmed more - when it was still possible.

Train operator Nostalgia

It is indeed possible to become nostalgic over former railway companies, train liveries and train operators, especially if they were well known for something people liked or was very beneficial to them, be it good service, longevity, or something else.

Just about visible behind the Class 86 locomotive can be seen part of a passenger carriage in the former blue-grey livery. This can also be seen in several places elsewhere on this page.

In 1986 the government instituted some business-led reforms of the then state-owned British Railways. In southern England this saw the creation of Network SouthEast which operated all services (except InterCity) in London and its hinterland - this roughly being south and south east England plus East Anglia. The new operator, along with some new ideas and helped by a boom in London's economy, successfully reversed a long term decline in passenger traffic. One of its most innovative and popular ideas was the introduction of a railcard which offered discounted off-peak travel. Although this railcard had to be purchased many people found that it was a cost effective marketing tool which not only saved them money but encouraged them to make journeys they might not otherwise have made.

Since railway privatisation what became known as the network effect has been killed off. The privatised railco's did not (still do not) like the Network Card as they saw it as being too generous and a threat to the more restrictive offers they wanted to make for their own sphere of operations only. So, slowly by slowly, over several years the railcard's terms and conditions were so savagely eroded (for instance: on weekdays discounted tickets cannot be used before 10.00am - previously it was 9.30am - and there is now a minimum weekday fare of £10.00) that many people no longer bother with them - myself included.

The phrase 'death by 1000 cuts' comes to mind.

Ticketing Nostalgia

Ticketing Nostalgia can be looked at in several different ways.

For many people there is an interest in old tickets as issued over the many years by the many railway, tramway, ferry and bus companies. This covers their shapes, sizes, colours, the information on the ticket, the ticket issuing process, and much more.

Some people will also look at the fares and how much it used to cost to travel compared with 'today'.

A different type of nostalgia is for things 'as they were' within recent living memory - where the changes have been inspired for reasons political and or business rather than technological. Such as changes to the ticketing system which result from changes in how the transport system (primarily the railways) are owned and operated - although there is always the possibility that (some of) these might have happened anyway, in one form or another.

Since railway privatisation the ticketing system for longer distance travel in Britain has undergone a marketing-led revolution. No longer are fares based solely on the distance being travelled - instead the motto is what the "market" is deemed to be able to afford, and indeed some tickets (especially full fare singles and returns) are so expensive that they could be made out of real gold! Whilst the railcos still offer off-peak discounted tickets (many of which are *very* advantageously priced) these are only for passengers who are prepared to book seats in advance, as if they were travelling by airplane. And, as with airlines, people who miss their timed transports often lose the tickets' monetary value (ie: few railcos offer either transfer or upgrade facilities on these tickets), so if they wish to travel they must buy a brand new ticket - at whatever fare is available. By way of a contrast no-one ever has to book their private car in advance - they just "turn up" - and can even decide change their travel itinerary, delay return journeys, etc., after having started their journey. The nostalgia here is for the discounted walk-on tickets, and route interavailability.

Discounted off-peak walk-on "Super-Saver" tickets

British Railways offered the "Saver" and "Super-Saver" tickets which offered discounted walk-on travel on longer distance services after 9.30am. ('walk-on' means just turn up, buy a ticket & travel on the service of the passenger's choosing, no advance booking required). Since privatisation the railcos have more or less totally abolished the Super-Saver and (most of them) wanted to get rid of the Saver too. However this was not allowed as during privatisation there was a public outcry against the possibility of the Saver's demise so to placate public opinion the Saver became a 'protected' ticket, which meant / means that it must still be offered and its price can only be raised in line with the national inflation figures. Many people lament that the Super-Saver was not similarly protected too. The reasons why the railcos were not / are not in favour of Super-Saver and Saver tickets include that the railcos want to use demand management techniques to help fill emptier off peak services / reduce demand for their busier services (something which unrestricted walk-on ticketing does not facilitate) and that they prefer to sell tickets where they receive 100% of the revenue - walk-on tickets often share the revenue between different railcos, depending on the dynamics of the specific journey.

Despite the Saver tickets' protection the railcos have still managed to find some backdoor methods with which to undermine their true value, in the hope that so few people use them that they would be deemed irrelevant and (eventually) the decision makers would abolish them. One way in which they were able to make Saver tickets less attractive to the travelling public was / is by pushing back the weekday morning starting time from 9.30am to 10.00am - as this change makes day trips far less viable for people who wish to spend many hours at their destination. At present however it is still permitted to break one's return journey - as long as at all times one is travelling towards the return destination. The combined effects of inflation and abolition of Super-Savers means that on many longer distance routes the cheapest walk-on fares can be as much as 50%-65% higher than they were when the railways were privatised in 1995.

By 2008 the airline style marketing led system of train tickets had created such confusion that the railway industry decided to revamp the system and try to simplify it. The confusion was not just because of the plethora of ticket type and names but also because often the same ticket, for the same journey, would be available at several different prices. Its protected status means that the Saver ticket is being retained (albeit renamed) although a way to erode its overall scope has still been found, for instance on some routes Saver tickets are being replaced with day return tickets.

Ticket Routing Interavailability

There was a time when a ticket between two stations could be used via any "reasonable" route. Where there were several routes passengers with return tickets could travel out via one route (eg: Exeter to London Waterloo or Southend Central to London Fenchurch Street) and return via the other route (eg: London Paddington to Exeter or London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria). Since privatisation passengers can only do this with full-fare (and for certain routes Saver / off-peak) tickets, these not being the cheapest tickets by any stretch of the imagination. Indeed with these tickets it is sometimes cheaper for even single people to travel by car - even with Britain's very expensive petrol and congested roads! So nowadays the only way passengers can buy cheaper tickets is to restrict themselves to specified trains, on one route only, out and back.

Tram Nostalgia

Although prior to the 1950's Britain had very little mainline railway electrification there were many urban electric tram systems. Of these only the Blackpool - Fleetwood inter-urban survived, but preservationists were able to save enough examples of rolling stock from some of the other systems to create several Transport Centres where they give rides to delighted passengers. Nowadays double-decker trams are very rare - with only two locations globally still using them in full passenger service (Hong Kong and Alexandria, Egypt) Blackpool still has some available for normal passenger service, but they are rarely used..

Other living museums which operate trams include Beamish North of England Open Air Museum in Co. Durham (near to Newcastle Upon Tyne and Durham), The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley (near Birmingham) and the East Anglia Transport Museum, (near to Lowestoft). At Beamish and the BCLM the trams (and trolleybuses) are used as 'serious' transports helping carry people around extensive sites which primarily look at how people lived in days gone by, for instance the early 1900's, when trams such as these were often in mainstream use. In this way they have become useful extras that enhance the visitor experience, but not the main attractions. The use of trams & trolleybuses at Beamish & BCLM are looked at on the Leisure page.

Milestones in Basingstoke, Hampshire is a slightly different type of living museum, as the site is local government owned, undercover / indoors in a large modern building and the transport exhibits are static. There are two themed areas representing the Victorian era and the 1930's.

However whereas the Steam based Living Museums are based on what almost everyone agrees is outmoded technology many of these tramway transport centres were created by people who held / still hold the firm conviction that British transport 'policies' were seriously flawed in encouraging the closure of our tramway systems, and that whilst the money invested in the replacement motor buses appeared to be cheaper at the time experience from overseas has shown that in the longer term it would have been far cheaper to have kept the trams and slowly upgrade them to light rail standards.

To a large extent these views have now been proven correct; especially following the success of Manchester's Metrolink and Croydon's Tramlink: so its not surprising that now many other places also want to bring them back - including London where plans include new lines right through the heart of the central area, serving areas where previously the trams had not been allowed to operate.

For more information about these living museums visit their websites:
The National Tramway Museum - http://www.tramway.co.uk/
Beamish North of England Open Air Museum - http://www.beamish.org.uk/
The Black Country Living Museum - http://www.bclm.co.uk/
The East Anglia Transport Museum - http://www.eatransportmuseum.co.uk/
Milestones Museum - https://hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/milestones-museum
Apologies if this link does not work but this museum is run by a local government who frequently change it!

Of course some places retained their trams...
so in these places there is no need to go to "out of the way" museums to experience historic tramcars / streetcars in action.

Transport nostalgia is seen as being so commercially sound that even the famous Walt Disney Company has joined-in. This is in their Disney California Adventure Park which forms part of the famous Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

Here the nostalgia is for the former Pacific Electric Railway "Red Cars" which at one time operated an extensive light rail streetcar and interurban service in southern California. Built by Brookville Equipment, the Disneyland streetcars are replicas of the Pacific Electric "Hollywood" class cars that date from the 1920s. Although the original Red Car system used standard gauge tracks this Disneyland line is metre gauge.

Don't let these photographs fool you... despite appearances these replica streetcars are not quite what they seem to be. Although they still use trolleypoles that make contact with overhead wires, they actually take typical North American pastiche-ness to the ninth degree by using dummy / unpowered overhead wires! Instead they are battery powered!

Also in California is the city of San Francisco where real historic streetcars can be found.

In what is one of the top tourist destinations planetwide, the city of San Francisco, USA uses historic streetcars on frontline passenger services on route F. This includes many PCC vehicles painted in liveries from other North American cities, plus some Peter Witt tramcars from Milan, Italy and other types of tramcar from a diverse range of locations which include Melbourne Australia, Horishima & Kobe Japan, Porto Portugal, Blackpool England and Zürich Switzerland.

Despite being leisure orientated this line provides a useful public service linking various parts of the city which are popular with tourists.

Sometimes there is just a fine dividing line between leisure and nostalgia and further complications are added when the same tramcars are used for both "serious" passenger services and leisure-orientated nostalgic rides. For instance: Milan, Italy is still using some of its Peter Witt tramcars for "serious" passenger services whilst in cities such as San Francisco they are share duties with restored PCC streetcars on the tourist orientated services. Until the 2012 introduction of the single-deck articulated Flexity2 trams some of Blackpool's trams also came into this category too, with (for instance) the open top tram seen below being similar to many others (with 'closed' tops) which provided "serious" passenger services.

Cities which have modern light rail systems have found that the operation of historic tramcars (streetcars / trolleycars) over part (or all) of the system is a well proven way to attract extra interest and passengers.

As previously stated buses also feature in the Nostalgia industry and there are several places where it is possible to ride fully-working preserved trolleybuses (and / or preserved / replica motor buses). As with the tramway preservation movement the trolleybus living museums were created by people who held / still hold the firm conviction that British transport 'policies' were seriously flawed in encouraging the replacement of the electric trolleybuses with fossil-fuel powered polluting motor buses. They see it as a serious error that (so far) the return of the tram has not been matched by the return of the trolleybus.

Arguably Britain's foremost Trolleybus living museum is the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, this being located on an ex-WW2 airfield near the village of Belton, in North Lincolnshire. (Also near Doncaster, Yorkshire and the M180).

Preserved but still alive trolleybuses at the Sandtoft Trolleybus Museum.
Taken using a 'stretch / panoramic' camera this shows a general view of the main circulating area at the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft. The three vehicles on the right are being used to give passengers rides on a circuit which includes locations not seen in this view. The trolleybuses comes from Bradford (front), Huddersfield (middle) and Nottingham (rear).

In addition to historic motor buses, trolleybuses and trams the East Anglia Transport Museum (which is at Carlton Colville, near Lowestoft) has a large museum collection of vintage vehicles including cars, a taxi cab, vans, lorries and steam-rollers, many of which can sometimes be seen operating on its 'olde worlde' style street scene. There is also a miniature railway.

In 2008 the EATM opened a new section of trolleybus served roadway, this being the first new section of trolleybus wiring for many years. This was made possible by a generous donation and in honour of the donor the road served by the trolleybuses is named Herting Street.

The Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) is another place where the trolleybus lives on, although since these photographs were taken a change in policy has resulted in only trolleybuses which are of a 'local' interest being used here.. As this is a large museum covering an extensive area the trolleybuses (and tram) provide a useful service linking various sections of the complex with the main entrance. As such this is the world's only double-deck trolleybus route (at present - but it would welcome many companions!). It is 0.8 mile (approximately 1.3km) in length and configured in a figure-of-eight loop.

Before the age of the railway, rivers & canals were the best way to move freight inland. Nowadays the waterways are very much under-used, however while visiting the BCLM it is also possible to get a taste of what life on the waterways was like by taking a fascinating 45 minute ride through the Dudley Canal Tunnels and Limestone Mines on an electrically powered narrow boat. This is provided by the Dudley Canal Trust and is a separate visitor attraction which can be easily reached either via its own street entrance or via a direct access from the BCLM.

The use of water transports for leisure is looked at in greater detail on the Leisure page.

Although Beamish has some trolleybus wiring their vehicle is too modern for the time periods they are recreating. However they also have two replica 1913 motor buses which are used in the summer season. These are copies of a double-deck bus owned by Gateshead Tramways in 1913 and of a London General double-deck bus. On this rather dismal Sunday only the London bus was being used.

Nostalgic Nostalgia

Sometimes people will complain when items of nostalgic interest are swept away by progress, but it can happen that going backwards can actually equate with undoing previous "wrongs" and / or going forwards.

Perhaps one of the best examples of this is what happened in Berlin, Germany, after the city was re-unified. With the building of the wall in 1961 some sections of the U-Bahn (underground railway) in the western sector of the city ended up being closed to passenger services. At Gleisdreieck station one of the disused platforms was incorporated in to the experimental Magnetic Levitation railway (M-Bahn - more information on this page) whilst nearby a section of disused elevated U-Bahn was effectively "re-opened" by means of a vintage tram shuttling along one of the tracks between Bülowstrasse and Nollendorfplatz stations. Furthermore, Bülowstrasse station became a Turkish bazaar (shopping arcade) whilst Nollendorfplatz station became a flea market with stalls along the platforms and inside the two vintage U-Bahn trains which were stabled in the station.

However, with Berlin's re-unification all these have been swept away and the lines re-established as part of the modern-day U-Bahn.