A LONDON MIDLAND RAIL ROVER IN 1964
My interest in steam railways started in around 1962. I was brought up in Hucknall. We were lucky and once had three railways and stations in the town. The Great Northern through Hucknall Town station had long closed. Then there was the Midland Railway line from Nottingham to Worksop, now the Robin Hood Line through Hucknall Byron. Finally came the Great Central Railway from Nottingham to Sheffield. This latter station, Hucknall Central, was only a short bike ride from home and so most of my early spotting was done from here – sitting on the wooden fence next to the ticket office overlooking the station.
As a young boy I attended the County High School Arnold Grammar. It was here that I met up with a couple of older school chums, who at lunchtime ran a railway walk-in centre. They had Trains Illustrated available to view, and news and gossip on railway trips and shed visits. I remember reading the magazines and seeing the large number of steam locomotives listed as withdrawn and thinking that I needed to see as many as possible before the diesels and electrics took over and steam ended. It was during one of my lunchtime visits that I got wind of my chums’ planned Rail Rover tour of the London Midland Region during the long school summer holiday of 1964.
The purchase of a Rail Rover ticket allowed you to travel anywhere over the region and make as many journeys as one liked over the course of seven days. Having expressed my interest and obtained answers to several questions, they agreed to let me join them. We
