Railways around Coventry

Hi Midland Red, I want to tell you a story. Are you sitting comfy? In late 1965 I had a Hillman Imp. It was a disaster as a car but enough said about that, as it also had a disaster as a driver. The drivers door lock was faulty. I had stopped just where your photo is recorded at about 9.45pm on a winter Sunday evening. I got out of the car to speak to Roy (signalman) whilst we waited a couple of minutes for the two borrowed locos on their way back to Nuneaton shed. I had left the keys in the car with the engine running. The two locos went by & saying goodbye to Roy & then could not get back into my car. It was Roy, using his ingenuity (his coat-hanger) who was able to prise open the small quarterlight window and so get me on my way. That was another lesson that I learned about not leaving keys in the car with the engine running, whilst I was outside.

My local station used to have an area where trainspotters could go to keep them out of the way. We were not allowed there during busy times over summer and of course we had to purchase a platform ticket, which I think cost 2d

Hi all People like me, express our sadness when aspects of the railway systems that we grew up with are either abandoned, sections closed or modernised. At present, the mood for closure has been put aside, because more people are now travelling by train in the UK than ever before. The debate is now all about the pros & cons of building the new HS2 & HS2part2. That aside, most of you know that I am a profuse user of public transport, which is all very safe according to stats. I recently watched this Network Rail video, which I enjoyed. It covers a huge area, but is very typical of what exists around Coventry railways now, as well as what we may expect to see in the future. I hope you enjoy this 12 minute video. Happy pancake day, all, for Tuesday

My pals and I never went to Coventry station to trainspot, it was much too quiet. We preferred Nuneaton and Rugby. Sometimes we spent the day on the bridge at Shilton. I'm happy to be corrected, memories are faded now but I think Coventry wasn't a main line station until the advent of intercity trains running from Euston up to Crewe and further north. I think I remember changing at Rugby for London and Brum for the north and west. Was that right? On a different note. The HS2 project seems to be pretty unpopular here in Cheshire. It will take a lot of precious farming land for what seems no benefit to anyone. Can anyone see any benefit to Coventry? My personal view is that it's a vanity project. Considering that the oil fuelled car has a limited future we would be much better served as a country if we extended the network to pre-Beeching days and ran the railways as a publicly owned national utility. I'd be interested in your views.

It was still the same after the introduction of new trains. Expresses ran from London to Manchester via Nuneaton and Stafford rather than Coventry and Birmingham.

Here's an interesting thread from another forum, with photos of Three Spires Junction, Bedlam Lane and Hawkesbury Lane

Hi, I lost hundreds of 2x2 colour slides after lending them to a friend who suffered a fire in his home. All I have left after the fire are a few that were printed. This is the Grange that I described in my previous post. It looked in almost fresh out of the works order, but this is the last recorded working, where it left Kemble for Swindon. I had seen this loco several times, as it was quite a regular on freights up the Lickey from Worcester & Oxford. I had never seen it so fresh & clean as in this pic. The pic is on linen print paper which was all the go at the time. ps. Many of my 2x2 slides were also in the hands of a lovely friend, Bob Clews, who lived in Green Lane, but he died very early. No one could ever find the slides. He supplied several of his publishing friends with both his & my pics, which I was delighted about & I did see some of my pics published. So I may come across this & some of my lost pictures as what ever were used he sent me the prints. This is one of them. Now a Conspiracy Theory. Ever since steam locomotives were abandoned throughout the sixties, many enthusiasts have had the idea that somewhere in a huge underground cavern, there are many steam engines stored for use in a national emergency. I have never fully subscribed to this as there are so many loopholes. The picture above is one instance of where I could subscribe for two reasons. This was the kind of go anywhere & do anything loco. It was fresh out-shopped (my opinion), so why would this one be scrapped when the class as a whole were working right to the end of WR steam, Jan 65. There were other Granges that went missing too, as well as other classes of these do anything types. If you do find any, please let us know!

In your dreams I think Philip, but what about the buried Chinese Warriors (the Terracotta Army) they discovered, what a find, so you may never know.

"The National Reserve", supposedly stockpiled at a secret army depot for use in wartime. At one time the Royal Corps of Transport did train soldiers at Longmoor to run steam locomotives but the programme was abandoned in line with all the other cost-cutting measures. There were actually very few locomotives at Longmoor of any description.

I have just been reading about the HS2 compensation scheme Dutchman. I suppose you could say that comes under the heading of 'progress' does it. At what cost though? Is it worth giving up one's home for?

Having lost my own home in 1967 for the building of the Coventry Ring Road you can guess my opinion on that. Most of the people involved though are not necessarily "giving up" their homes but are taking a huge hit in terms of the value of their homes. Those considerations aside I consider HS2 to be a complete waste of money but unlikely to be built in any case due to the impending financial crash.

This might interest you Philip. Have you heard the story of Atlantic Avenue Railway tunnel in N.Y. It was lost over time and has been re-discovered in the 1990's. It dates back to 1830, and was sealed off at both ends and roads put on top. It is also said that beyond the sealed off part of the tunnel awaiting to be found is a Planet Steam Loco from 1832. Nothing to do with us or Coventry, but still History. Urban legend could be true

There's a similar legend involving Deedmore Road school. Being on the route of a former colliery tramway, an abandoned railway carriage is supposedly buried beneath it.

My sentiments exactly There would be a few residents sighing with relief.