Bristol Railways

20th January 2006

I began train spotting in the Autumn of 1967, at about the time I started secondary school. To start with my horizons did not extend beyond the platforms of Temple Meads and I was quite ignorant of the wider Bristol railway system; several lines closed "under my nose" before I was aware that they had existed - the Midland route through Mangotsfield, Bristol to Radstock and Severn Beach to Pilning.

Although I had access to my parents' camera I think at first I shared the attitude of most people that, while it was legitimate to take pictures of preserved railways which were safely classified as heritage, photographing ordinary trains was an inexcusable waste of precious film.

What probably changed my attitude was the discovery that the locomotives that I considered to be the finest and most glamorous had been targeted by BR for early withdrawal, and would themselves be heritage before long. Added to that, a major resignalling project was soon begun, resulting in the disappearance of dozens of mechanical signal boxes. I decided that the rapidly changing scene was well worth recording.

The earlier pictures in this collection were taken with my parents' Kodak Instamatic (although most have been cropped from the original square format to a 35mm-style rectangle), but in July 1973 with the proceeds of my first summer job I acquired a second-hand 35mm camera - a Kodak Retinette 1B. The best results from this have not been surpassed by any camera I have owned since.

I used a variety of film types. I now regret almost every occasion when I used a film other than 25 ISO Kodacrome or AGFA - in particular Boots and the diabolical Gratispool "Free Film Service". But I was subject to the restrictions of pocket money and sometimes economies were necessary.

It would be unwise to assume that these photos present a representative sample of the trains and locos in the Bristol area at this time. There were lots of Class 47s about but I generally avoided photographing them because they were so common and boring. Likewise, you might infer from this collection that DMU's were a rarity. Not so!

A page from my spotting notebook for a Saturday afternoon in early 1970 will give an idea of the mix of locos to be seen at that time.

31, 110, D138, 139, D149, D151, D185
822, 839, 845, D864
D1016, 1022, 1040, D1054, D1068
1110, 1558, 1565, 1619, 1641, 1670, 1692, 1696, D1856, 1922, D1941, 1944, 1957
D3803, D3806, D4019, D4024
D6991, D6993
7029, D7040, D7044, 7077

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