Well actually, it was more likely to have been, “Bloody
diesel,” to be honest, or simply, “Oh no, not another one.”
This might have been accompanied by a little barracking or
some booing and a “thumbs down” directed at the driver. I bet they were really
upset by that, sitting comfortably in the warmth of their weather-proof cab.
The drivers had actually never had it so good.
Nevertheless, that is exactly how we were likely to have
responded to them when they rumbled into view at Preston, Chester, Crewe or
Shrewsbury stations in the early 1960’s. They were not welcome at all as far as
we were concerned. We wanted steam. Yet from the time we started spotting in
1960, diesels had always been around. The story of the following decade, which
coincided with our initial involvement, was really the unfolding of their
eventual take over.
A two-tone green, Hawker Siddeley Brush Type 4 powers north
through Ludlow on 12/4/65. The main line through the Welsh Marches - from Bristol
via the Severn Tunnel and the Maindee Triangle at Newport to Shrewsbury - was
still the preferred inter-regional route for SW to NW traffic at that time. We were on a youth hostelling and cycling holiday, reaching the Cotswolds and Oxford during our school's Easter break.
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