If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, you may have noticed that I write about trains and public transport quite a bit. Recent posts have included the railway station in Wales with the excessively long name, decarbonising London’s rail termini, renaming London Underground lines and the issues with the Central Line in London. Trains, and especially trains in Britain have been an interest of mine for as long as I can remember, and this is an attempt to rationalise why that is.
My dad worked for British Rail
Compared with the average young person in 1980s Yorkshire, I probably got more exposure to trains than other kids my age. This was because my dad worked for British Rail, in their civil engineering department. As such, we got employee travel benefits, meaning 20 days free travel per year and a steep discount on all other rail travel beyond that. As such, we travelled by train a lot; despite living in York, we would have regular day trips to London which was only a couple of hours away.
My parents still have their staff travel privileges, even though my dad retired from the railway over a decade ago. I unfortunately don’t, as I’m no longer dependent on them, but I was able to keep it through my time at university, which was nice.
I could see trains from my bedroom window
The window in my childhood bedroom overlooked mainly fields, but in the distance, I could also see trains on the East Coast Main Line. Our house overlooked one of the busier four-tracked sections, and so as well as London-Scotland Intercity trains, I could also see Transpennine and Crosscountry services, and a few freight trains. We were close enough to be able to make out train liveries and types, but not individual train numbers.
I have vague memories of seeing the engineering trains that were involved in the electrification of the line, which took place in the late 1980s, and experiencing the then new electric Intercity 225 trains that are now in their twilight years.
I grew up in York
York is an important junction on Britain’s railways, largely thanks to George Hudson (although he has a rather complicated legacy thanks to some dodgy financing). It has a much bigger station than many places of a similar size, and is where the East Coast Main Line meets branches from Harrogate and Scarborough to the north, and Hull and Leeds from the south. There are lots of places that you can get to from York without changing trains. So, the combination of easy journeys and free/discounted travel meant that I was able to go on lots of trips by train whilst growing up.
York is also home to the National Railway Museum, which I used to visit regularly as a child. As an adult, I haven’t been in a few years but we’ve taken our nine-year-old there at least a couple of times.
I didn’t pass my driving test until I was 31
It was August 2015, at the age of 31, before I passed my driving test. We bought our first car the following month.
However, that meant that I spent the first 13 years of my adult life largely reliant on public transport. In 2010, I moved out of Bradford, where I was working, to Sowerby Bridge, and this meant that I spent subsequent years commuting to work by train. And even now, I tend to prefer commuting by train – it’s rare that I drive to work, even though I have the option.
Also, in 2009 and 2010, when Christine and I were dating but not living together, one of us would get the train across the Pennines to see each other almost every weekend.
I read magazines about trains
Ever since I could read confidently on my own, I’ve been reading Rail Magazine. Indeed, I’ve had a subscription and/or read it through Readly or Pressreader for many years now, not missing an issue. Which, as it’s published every fortnight, is a lot of content.
For a time, I also read Modern Railways every month, although I stopped when it was no longer included with Readly. I haven’t subscribed because, whilst I appreciated the analysis in it, I just don’t have the time to read that as well. Indeed, recently I was six issues behind with Rail Magazine and only really caught up due to being ill at the end of October.
Consequently, my knowledge of British rolling stock is pretty good. Give me a photo of a passenger unit or locomotive that has run within the past 20 years in Britain, and I’ll probably be able to tell you its class number, when it was introduced, which company built it and where. Granted, it’s not the most useful superpower, although it did come in useful when advising a friend with sensory issues about which trains would be nosiest on a long journey.
I’m also not a trainspotter – I don’t note down individual unit numbers and I don’t actively spend time hunting out particular types of trains. Not that there’s anything wrong with having a hobby like that, if that’s something you enjoy. It’s just not for me.
So, I think, in a nutshell, that’s why I’m interested in trains.
Reposts