ABOVE :

This photograph was taken at Leeds Central 1961 and is A4 class 60021 Wild Swan about to depart on a Leeds to London ( Kings Cross ) Express. Wild Swan was a regular visitor to Leeds at this time, and the photo was taken by my good friend Roy.

From my base in Sowerby Bridge, up here in what used to be the West Riding of Yorkshire, myself and my friends travelled to all the regions of British Railways in search of the magic cop, we would obtain permits from Crewe, Swindon, and Doncaster, to visit their works, sleep on Stations and trains, as we roamed the rails with our Railrover tickets, and I still have mine to this day from 1963 which covered the whole of the Western Region, and that was a big area to cover but we managed to get round all the big sheds and some of the more remote ones, what a great and memorable adventure it was for us.

One of my most happy memories was when 60022 MALLARD passed through our small town on her way to Blackpool from Retford with the NORTHERN RUBBER SPECIAL seen here below passing the signal box at Sowerby Bridge Station September 1961

My mates and myself used to sit in this signalbox with the signalman on early winter mornings around 04:00 as we waited for the train to Manchester, there was a grand coke pot belly fire always on the go and a cup of tea to keep us warm.

Watch the last shot at the end of this video (Above) and see the Duchess pass this exact spot as Mallard some 51 years ago !

We used to have trains with romantic names like the Flying Scotsman or the Cheltenham Flyer, but nowadays trains no longer fly.

Where did the romance of the railways go ?

Due to the politics and curriculum of the era, and having failed my eleven plus, this accounted for my narrow education at school.So, how did I put that little problem right then ? well, thanks to my train spotting days, I can safely say..it was that which gave me a further education, coupled with curiosity, I had a need to find out what more lay behind the name on the loco, and it really was amazing what I picked up.

We were also very lucky to have a fine locomotive shed which was coded 56E Sowerby Bridge in the North Eastern region of B.R.

The route through our little town was mostly a heavy freight route across the Pennines from Manchester to Leeds, but we had our fair share of the glamour too with the holiday excursions to the West and East coasts during the summer.

Our adjacent line which ran parallel over on the Huddersfield line tended to see more named action than us, but we had the good stuff too and a lot of my old friends were shedded down at Leeds Holbeck, Low Moor, and Mirfield, which were only a bike ride away.

The double header would come through every afternoon ex- Newcastle to Manchester and if we were fast enough we could run down to the valley after school had finished and catch the magic as it passed under the little cattle bridge as she headed towards the Luddendenfoot water troughs, it was always a big thrill to stand on the bridge as the thick smoke and steam of two screaming steam engines as they passed under you at speed, and there was always two interesting locos to be seen, usually a Royal Scot and a Patriot or two Jubilees, the highlight of the day for me and my mates.

I was very lucky to catch this particular time in history as B.R were in full transition from steam to Diesel, so steam locomotives were constantly being withdrawn and sent to the scrapyard, we had to be quick to catch what we did at the time..so here are a few of what me and my mates captured in time, on cellulose, in and around our area and beyond.