The Beatles [with Little Richard, I am now reminded] at New Brighton Tower Ballroom in 1962, England and Everton at Wembley in 1966, or Botham at Headingley in 1981? I’d be tempted by all of those, but first choice would probably be Exeter St David’s station on July 27th 1957. This was the busiest day ever on the Western Region’s West of England main line, both for the number of trains that ran and the number of passengers that were carried.
The account is told in one of my favourite go-to escapism books, Summer Saturdays in the West, by David St John Thomas and Simon Rocksborough Smith. This photo by Peter Gray is from the book, and also featured on the front cover. When I finally got there for the first time in 1963, the Kings had all gone and Hymeks, Warships and the new Western diesels were in charge of most long-distance passenger trains.
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