remember when we had our own train spotters langauge

[hovis]

remember when we used to have our own spotters language 08,s where shunters...20,s were choppers,25,s were rats or ice cream vans,31,s were goyles,37,s syphons,40,s whistlers,45,s peaks,47,s brush fours,50,s were hoovers, 55,s were dellies,,56.s were grids,electric locos were sparkers or whirrers,and hst,s were unkindly known as trams...and we used to occupy the crew cabin at the end of the platform at crewe on an overnighter the staff didnt mind as long as you didnt get in the way or pi$$ about with the trolleys or brutes did you like to walk through the steam when the pipes were leaky i used to like a ride from bedford and do a bit of spotting at bletchley station on the west coast for the electrics made a bit of a change to the ECML (and im talking pre electricfication)
whats your happy memory

[humbug]

Lots of memories of the above loco's in the 80's, when I did spot trains, then got into railway preservation (steam engines) for a bit, then discovered motorbikes.

Back on topic (ish), I'm happy to have ridden the now-closed bits of lines - the Aldwych branch, the Jubilee into Charing Cross, Epping-Ongar by 'underground' train.

Oh, and the fabulous visit to Mount Pleasant to see the Post Office Railway running. What an amazing system, still partly there today, and worth a visit.

[hovis]

my best memory was being allowed to ride upfront from chalfont to chesham with the driver in the second mans seat.
i was the only passenger and visiting friends in chesham i told the driver i was a visitor from yorkshire made my day.
but i panicked my hosts a bit after telling them i was going to look at a tube train ( novelty for me) and ended up buying a all london day pass
disapearing till the last tube.
they were expecting a phone call from london saying im stranded but i knew as long as i could get back to chalfont i,d be ok which i did from marylebone.
had a bit of explianing to do when i got back but i,d been into buckinghamshire,middlesex,essex,kent and surrey on the old slam door stock and spent a bit of time at clapham jcn and bashing the tube just riding the rails certainly got my monies worth

[jimbo]

I remember we sometimes used a cheap Green Rover ticket to tour country towns. The green country bus network served an extensive area the shape of an oval, with its long axis north/south. However, it avoided the red bus network, also the shape of an oval, but with the long axis east/west. This led to a pretty thin green bus network to the west of London, and a total gap between Epping and Grays, with a single route linking Grays to Romford, and another linking Epping to Brentwood. Only a Green Line route linked these two outposts, for which the Green Rover was not valid. Happy days!

The Green Rover gave access to many Thameside industrial rail lines, most of which were still steam operated in the 60s.

[selbiehouse]

When I first started spotting the 08s were not just shunters - they were DIESEL shunters!