realtimetomes
Gasheads or Pirates?
As Lofty and Red carefully peruse the timetable, behind them 59205 exits the Bath down goods loop at Oldfield Park with a working of empty JNA open wagons from Westbury bound for Bennets siding at Avonmouth.
The freight working had been routed into the goods loop, formerly the exit of Westmoreland Goods Yard (known latterly as Westmoreland Railhead - a refuse transfer terminal administered by Avon County Council and closed in 2011) for a spot of "Oldfield Parking" to allow the passing of FGW 1C07 09.03 Paddington to BTM working.
Oldfield Park station is a short walk from Twerton Park, the home ground of Bath City F.C ('The Romans' - presumably for the obvious reasons). During the period 1986 to 1996 Twerton Park was shared with Bristol Rovers ('The Gas' or 'The Pirates') who had vacated their Eastville Stadium (now an IKEA in Bristol) at a time of financial difficulty for the club. This was an opportunity for myself and 3 friends, only one of whom was a true 'Gashead/Pirate', to watch some big Football League sides only 15 minutes from our home in Frome. Two particular matches stand out, the first was an FA Cup tie on 5th February 1992 when the visitors were mighty Liverpool who left Twerton having managed to salvage a 1-1 draw (and their pride), they won 2-1 in the replay at Anfield however - a great atmosphere and well worth the £7 investment. The second match of particular note (also 1992) was a 1-0 home victory against visitors Millwall, I particularly remember the sense of fear and dread as the near 4000 Rovers supporters cowered in the home stands as the 400-or-so travelling fans were cajoled and cattle-prodded out of the ground after the match - in those days Hooliganism was still an ever-present (if infrequent) problem in English football, the large clubs had violent followings (or Firms as they were known), the Millwall firm went by the name "The Bushwackers". Apparently the West Ham group were known as the "Inter City Firm" - The name came from the use of InterCity trains to travel to away games (I'm guessing they arrived late for most fixtures hence the violent tendencies).
I am told that the Chelsea firm were known as "The Florists" (after the annual flower show held in that London borough since 1912) although I suspect this to have been a lie.
Interestingly, the fans of Millwall are known to chant from the terraces "no one likes us, we don't care", this same refrain was considered in 1980 for a British Rail advertising campaign, eventually however they settled on "this is the age of the train" presented by that nice man Jimmy Saville.
Gasheads or Pirates?
As Lofty and Red carefully peruse the timetable, behind them 59205 exits the Bath down goods loop at Oldfield Park with a working of empty JNA open wagons from Westbury bound for Bennets siding at Avonmouth.
The freight working had been routed into the goods loop, formerly the exit of Westmoreland Goods Yard (known latterly as Westmoreland Railhead - a refuse transfer terminal administered by Avon County Council and closed in 2011) for a spot of "Oldfield Parking" to allow the passing of FGW 1C07 09.03 Paddington to BTM working.
Oldfield Park station is a short walk from Twerton Park, the home ground of Bath City F.C ('The Romans' - presumably for the obvious reasons). During the period 1986 to 1996 Twerton Park was shared with Bristol Rovers ('The Gas' or 'The Pirates') who had vacated their Eastville Stadium (now an IKEA in Bristol) at a time of financial difficulty for the club. This was an opportunity for myself and 3 friends, only one of whom was a true 'Gashead/Pirate', to watch some big Football League sides only 15 minutes from our home in Frome. Two particular matches stand out, the first was an FA Cup tie on 5th February 1992 when the visitors were mighty Liverpool who left Twerton having managed to salvage a 1-1 draw (and their pride), they won 2-1 in the replay at Anfield however - a great atmosphere and well worth the £7 investment. The second match of particular note (also 1992) was a 1-0 home victory against visitors Millwall, I particularly remember the sense of fear and dread as the near 4000 Rovers supporters cowered in the home stands as the 400-or-so travelling fans were cajoled and cattle-prodded out of the ground after the match - in those days Hooliganism was still an ever-present (if infrequent) problem in English football, the large clubs had violent followings (or Firms as they were known), the Millwall firm went by the name "The Bushwackers". Apparently the West Ham group were known as the "Inter City Firm" - The name came from the use of InterCity trains to travel to away games (I'm guessing they arrived late for most fixtures hence the violent tendencies).
I am told that the Chelsea firm were known as "The Florists" (after the annual flower show held in that London borough since 1912) although I suspect this to have been a lie.
Interestingly, the fans of Millwall are known to chant from the terraces "no one likes us, we don't care", this same refrain was considered in 1980 for a British Rail advertising campaign, eventually however they settled on "this is the age of the train" presented by that nice man Jimmy Saville.