A DAY FROM MY RECORD BOOKS
On the Friday night of September 27 1963, I travelled by a late local train from New Malden (where I was living at the time) to Waterloo, where I arrived around midnight and walked round to join the 1.10am newspaper train to the West of England. The train ran in two portions - next to the engine was for Ilfracombe, formed that night of one coach and two bogie vans, followed by the Plymouth coaches and a string of vans, some of which were detached en route. I boarded the front coach and waited for the engine to back on. It appeared in the shape of ‘Merchant Navy’ 4-6-2 No. 35008 Orient Line. As it was dark, and the train didn’t have a particularly fast schedule, I decided not to time it and settled in the almost empty coach for the night journey to Exeter. In the early 1960s, railway enthusiasts were seldom seen travelling in the numbers they do today, and during my many journeys if I had two accompanying enthusiasts it was considered unusual!
