Earliest Train journeys

I remember going with my mother quite often to watch the trains when I was young, and waving to my father who was a freight train guard as his train passed by.
Also watching the newly introduced "Inter City 125's" or "High Speed Trains" fly by with their screaming turbochargers.

We travelled by train a lot, and often visited family in London. My paternal grandparents lived in Wood Green which I remember arriving at one warm summers evening as the sun was setting. Wooden escalators, blue sentry boxes with wooden frames which housed the ticket collectors, and outside, the busy High Road with routemasters climbing the hill - all with their driver's cab doors open in the summer air.

My other grandparents lived near East Finchley which was a novelty as the Underground went overground!
Once, my mother and I travelled on the Northern Line from East Finchley where we had stayed with my grandparents, to Morden, where my aunt picked us up to go and stay with her at her house in Carshalton. We travelled in the leading car and I discovered a small hole in the door between the passenger saloon and the cab, through which I got a driver's eye view for the whole journey!
The Northern Line trains were also interesting as you were able to watch the guard at work in the last car, opening and closing the doors. You couldn't do that on the Piccadilly Line as they travelled out of sight in the rear cab.

I also recall the red "Fire" buckets on the platforms, which were filled with sand or water.

Gabriel has mentioned the Science Museum in his post. There is a pedestran foot tunnel/subway which you walk through from the station to get to near the museum, in which I remember pretending to be a tube train when I was young!



On my tenth birthday, myself my mother and father, travelled from Peterborough to Hitchen to see another aunt. On the way back, the train we were catching pulled into the station and my father knew the driver. My dad asked if me and him could go up in the cab for the journey, and the driver replied that we could.
I'd had a couple of cab rides before, but the driver on this train was telling me which levers to move, and what buttons to press to open and close the doors at each stop! Fantastic!
What was quite funny, was when we came across a yellow signal which required the AWS (Automatic Warning System) reset button to pressed as the train went over a magnet on the approach to the signal. "When you hear the warning horn, press the AWS button," he said. Unfortunately I had my finger holding down the button before the warning sounded, so the speedometer went to zero, and the brakes into emergency! However, he was quick thinking and tripped and reset a circuit breaker, and we got our brakes released before much speed was lost!
The exact same thing happened later in the journey at another yellow signal! ;D ;D
However I did get one more opportunity as we later had another yellow signal and this time I waited until the warning had sounded before pressing and releasing the button. Did it properly that time.
I was utterly beaming when I got off that train. I've never been into writing numbers down so I don't know what unit it was but it was a class 317.

Now I'm a driver myself I do get a bit of a kick sometimes, driving HSTs screaming through stations whilst kids (and adults!) put their fingers in their ears. I always feel like I'm letting them down with a Meridian though - there they are, hands over their ears, expecting an awe-inspiring racket to thunder through, only it's a Meridian. I think they're good trains, just not awe-inspiring.
You wont find a ten year old boy in my cab though - you'd never get away with that these days!

My first memories seem to be the Tyne and Wear Metro, where I can remember having to pay the vast sum of 10p for a child ticket.

I think that my first journey on a proper train was a thumper from Uckfield to London Bridge on my first visit to London. After visiting HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge we took the underground to somewhere else, probably Westminster. I think that was a C stock. On the way back it was a D stock, and I can remember being somewhat suprised at the trains being different.

My parents have a severe dislike / phobia of deep tube lines. I didn't actually use one until 2004 when I needed to get to Heathrow. My parents said that I should go to Earl's Court and then change to the Piccadilly, but I decided to see what all the fuss was about and ventured down the escalator to the Piccadilly (admittedly a little tricky with a large suitcase). I still don't see what they're so worried about.

My earliest tube journey was (naturally) on the Vic about 14-15 years ago (although I can't remember it), in the days when the 67s were unrefurbished. As for mainline, the Chingford line from Walthamstow to Liverpool Street would likely have been my first time on a train around the same time.

From what I can recall, my first journey or the one I can remember, was from Laindon to Upminster on the good old LT&SR, changing to the underground and getting off at Dagenham Heathway, knowing we were going to see my favourite grandparents. Upon alighting at 'The Heathway' as we called it, my brother and I would race to the top of the slope and call for mum and dad to hurry up and only because we wanted to get to Nan's as soon as possible.

My first full journey on the one train was again from Laindon, but right to Fenchurch Street, where upon reaching there, Dad asked the driver if my brother and I could look up on the footplate of the 2-6-4 steam loco that had hauled us there. I was in my element as I loved trains then as much as I do now, but my brother couldn't wait to get off of it again. It was then that I wanted to be a train driver, but did eventually become a Guard and worked behind steam specials, as well as diesel hauled and electric units for WAGN.

First memory of a Tube journey was on the Met Line, coming up to Baker Street.

Mum said we'd missed our stop, and she disembarked, whislt my dad had the pram with my brother in, but I didn't want to get off. I must've been 5 or 6, because I remember we still lived near King's Cross at the time, and I was wearing a dress. (I refused to wear dresses by the age of 7...)

Anyway, I digress.

Miraculously, I got left behind on the train. Realising this, I was estatic.

I managed to ride out the adventure all the way to Aldgate, where I was then intercepted by a member of staff.

A threw a tantrum shortly after my collection. Aware of my obvious upset, Mother had no choice but to abandon our planned bus journey home and to have us travel back to King's Cross via the Met.

I can only just remember a day out when I was around four years old, my mum took me to London with my brothers and I can remember what I recognise today as a 1972 mk1 stock train on the Northern. I can't remember too much but my younger brothers (who are twins and were in their double pushchair) were extremely scared of the underground and mum pushed them around with them holding a blanket over their heads!

I have other little memories of going to Wimbledon with my mum to see my great - grandmother - these must have been earlier than the time above. This was on BR from Basingstoke and again, as I was very young my memory isn't that good. I do however, remember going on a LT Leyland National along the Broadway there.

Oh dear! Oerliken stock on the NLL, from H&I to Kew Gardens, steam trains from Paddington and Waterloo to holidays in Devon and Cornwall, using steam hauled suburbans between KX and Oakleigh Park to the school playing fields (an alternative to the recommended 609 trolleybus from the Angel). Sometimes used the Northern City branch to/from H&I with 1936 stock, and have one vague memory of electric loco hauled journey on the Met from Baker St to Ricky, where there was the changeover to steam. Can remember when A stock was new too!

Metrodyne on the SSL, with its weird sounds. The new 59 stock on the Picc was revelation, with flourescent lights instead of bulbs.

I also saw the A stock during the nineties and I have to agree adw, they were a real mess up to their refurb.

Arnos Grove/Southgate to Covent Gardens on the pre-refurb 73's ;D

Bit OT cos it's not on LU, but my earliest journey I can remember was when I was in a pram at about probably age 2 heading into Central station across the Flying Junctions. 'twas a Red Rattler train too so the doors were open as we were flying along, perrrfect...

The first I really remember ...



A very young Hutch is on the footplate of 70013 ‘Oliver Cromwell’ on the very last British Railways steam hauled train – August 1968. Why he’s looking so bl**dy miserable in this photo is a different story!

My first re-collections were travelling to South Kensington from Hounslow West via Hammersmith.

I remember sitting in the gaurds car of the District and seeing the the doors were opened using a key rather than buttons as I had just seen on the 38TS Picc line.

Anyone know the District stock that used a key - vertical was neutral and then turned to left opened the doors, right closed them and the signal button right above the key in neutral.

ttran's "Flying Junctions' (Reply # 49)

More information, please ? :-)