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February 2010

February 2nd 2010 – Ian Chancellor
In his usual February slot and under the title 'Arrivals and Departures' Ian gave a slide presentation largely covering the last 30 years around these islands.

In line with the recent winter weather Ian began by showing  scenes from previous snowy interludes over the last thirty years, but mostly from the winter of 1981/2.  Apart from the inevitable delays both then and now the most noticeable change was that of the liveries and the infrastructure. We were reminded of HSTs in their early liveries which contrast with today's privatised schemes. First generation DMUs and long withdrawn diesel locos also featured in the programme.

More recent developments were also featured, such as the arrival on a regular basis of some 250 Class 66 locos at Newport Docks on delivery from North America, including shots of the locos in the hold of the ship before unloading  and delivery to various freight operators.

Some notable railtours were recalled, particularly the Pathfinder/ DTG tour to Inverness and the Kyle of Lochalsh in June 2009 using Class 52 “Western Champion”, surely a development not anticipated 30 years ago.   In Ireland we were reminded of locomotive hauled trains on main lines on Irish Rail now replaced to a very large extent by DMUs.

This show illustrated the vast number of changes that have taken place during the period covered which in many ways are far more extensive than the changes made as a result of the conversion from steam to diesel and electric traction.   As always from Ian this was a most enjoyable and interesting session. 

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