Please note that all the photographs uploaded to this Flickr site are "© Chris (The Mighty Hood)

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Chris

 

😎***NEW FOR 2023-24 - AUDIO MEMORIES OF THE 1980s - 'THE MIGHTY HOOD' SOUND ARCHIVE - EXTRACTED FROM MY 'BOOMBOX' TAPES - NOW APPEARING ON SOUNDCLOUD!***😎

 

During the 1980s, I spent many a day, week, or weekend chasing my favourite locos around the country, and I made a number of tape recordings at the time using my trusty 'Ghetto Blaster' or 'Boombox' - which I travelled with on many of my bashing trips. Although it was a very heavy piece of kit to carry around, with it's load of six large batteries, it was very worthwhile, as I managed to capture many of my favourite loco classes, as well as numerous incidental railway sounds, for posterity. I had no idea at the time if I would ever be able to properly share the recordings, but now - thanks to 21st century technology and the online resources that are now available - the sounds can go round the world 😎:)

 

Now, at last, some 35 years later, these recordings can be heard via the magic of SoundCloud.. Visit Sound & Vision on SoundCloud - soundcloud.com/sound-vision-10193594 for more memories from a mis-spent youth 😎

 

And... even newer for 2024/25 -- Sound & Vision is now on YouTube, with a selection of Modern Age 21st Century short iPhone videos of both railway traction and aviation, with the occasional bus thrown in 😀:)

Visit my YouTube channel @TransportMemories here: www.youtube.com/@TransportMemories/videos

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My interest in railways started young, in the late 1960s, with my older brother taking me down to Southall Station (a few miles out of Paddington) - where we used to while away the time on the footbridge steps, watching the Westerns, Warships and Blue Pullmans race by.

 

By 1973, I was out and about all over the country, after joining Dalesrail which organised shed visits etc.

 

My earliest photos are black & white and centred around the London sheds and stations. I went colour around 1975, and as mentioned started to travel further afield, including my first foray into Scotland.

 

My interest in railways waned a bit towards the late 70s, and aviation took over for a while (living only 4 miles from Heathrow), but it was rekindled in the early 80s, just in time to record most of the remaining classes of locomotives from the 50s/60s before they disappeared for good.

 

From late 1982 to early 1985 I was chasing Class 40s around the North, based around Manchester and Preston.

 

There was an interesting interlude in Scotland around 1986 when I recorded the final months of steam heat haulage - 27s, 37s and the dreaded 47s.

 

Finally, I returned to the London scene and followed the Class 50s on the Paddington-Oxford and Waterloo-Exeter routes, with many a ride and a drink or two in Oxford, regular forays down to Exeter, and on occasion into deepest Cornwall. There's a good smattering of railtours from 1982 to 1988 as well.

 

My interest ended permanently around 1992 with the demise of the Class 50s, initially from the Paddington-Oxford route in 1990, and finally when they retired from the Waterloo-Exeter services in 1992.

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In this section I wanted to share links to the work of some of my favourite railway photographers and anecdotalists (is there such a word :) that I've met virtually on Flickr - so, in no particular order:

Steve a.k.a. westernbasher a.k.a. jetty - buns in black www.flickr.com/people/westernbasher/

Rob a.k.a. locoman1966 www.flickr.com/people/96915808@N03/

Arnie Furniss a.k.a. Deadman's Handle www.flickr.com/people/deadmans_handle/

Tim Proudman www.flickr.com/people/107203574@N07/

Russell Sedgwick a.k.a. Schwartz751119 www.flickr.com/people/90195807@N07/

Rob Finch a.k.a. crusader752 www.flickr.com/people/29288836@N00/

Adrian Hancock www.flickr.com/people/127526726@N06/

David Rostance www.flickr.com/photos/71592768@N08/

Gordon Edgar a.k.a Kingmoor Klickr www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/

David Hayes a.k.a. david.hayes77 www.flickr.com/people/davidhayes/

Jim a.k.a Purley Phottr www.flickr.com/people/24343055@N03/

 

Apart from working the Carlisle-Leeds 1E23/1M72 service on a regular basis, D200 alias 40122 hauled numerous railtours during its extended reprieve.

 

A hand-held slightly blurry shot of D200 / 40122 seen here at the head of the return working of 'The Christmas Cracker IV' at Paddington, after refuelling at Old Oak Common on 14th Dec 1985 - as seen from Platform 1 (at least a couple of seconds exposure judging by the ghostly moving people on the platform :)

 

I was very chuffed to be able to have Class 40 haulage both in and out of my old home terminus, as well as through my home station of Southall :)

 

During the 1980s, I spent a lot of my time riding around the British Rail network, mainly chasing Class 40s and then Class 50s, but also seeing and riding behind a number of other classes.

 

I also made a few tape recordings at that time - many from the front window, some from the platform - using my trusty 'ghetto-blaster' or 'boom box' - and now these recordings can finally be heard 😍)

 

NOW on SoundCloud! Enjoy the sound of the English Electric Type 4 - for 20+ mins you can immerse yourself in reliving the experience of hanging out of a Mark 1 carriage window behind a classic diesel 😎

 

The recordings I made on the day were recorded onto a Maxell II metal tape and have lasted quite well over the last 40 years - some distortion when the loco is on full power, but atmospheric all the same!

 

Visit the recording here: soundcloud.com/discover/sets/track-stations:2154735114

 

Track 9) 15m 10s - 20m 00s - With a cacophony of blasts on the horn, D200 restarts the tour from Paddington, heading west towards my home station of Southall. Note my two friends Llew & Tim who saw me off on the platform, and a rendition of “God Save the Queen” from local bashers on parcels platform 1A! Horn blaring again as we negotiate the crossovers, and then the driver applies power. Approaching Old Oak Common, the tour stewards try and encourage us back to our seats, but I’m staying at the front window until we pass through my home station of Southall 😍)

 

More info on the tour here on Six Bells Junction: www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/851214tt.htm

 

The British Rail Class 40s were built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962. They were numbered D200-D399. Despite their initial success, by the time the last examples were entering service they were already being replaced on some top-level duties by more powerful locomotives. As they were slowly relegated from express passenger uses, the type found work on secondary passenger and freight services where they worked for many years. The final locomotives ended regular service in 1985. The locomotives were commonly known as "Whistlers" because of the distinctive noise made by their turbochargers.

 

British Railways originally ordered ten Class 40s, then known as "English Electric Type 4s", as evaluation prototypes. They were built at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire. The first locomotive, D200, was delivered to Stratford on 14 March 1958. Following fitter and crew training, D200 made its passenger début on an express train from London Liverpool Street to Norwich on 18 April 1958. Five of the prototypes, Nos. D200, D202-D205, were trialled on similar services on the former Great Eastern routes, whilst the remaining five, Nos. D201, D206-D209, worked on Great Northern services on the East Coast Main Line.

 

Taken with a Zenith TTL SLR camera and standard lens. Scanned from the original negative with no digital restoration.

 

You can see a random selection of my railway photos here on Flickriver: www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/

There may be more...

 

And if you happen to be wearing your 'Aviation Hat' on, you might like my alternative Flickr site: www.flickr.com/people/heathrowjunkie/

 

Or if you have your (mainly London Transport) 'Omnibus Hat' on, take a look here: www.flickr.com/people/southallroutemaster/