June 2010

Mike Goodfield– “Back in Black & White” – June 1st 2010

Following the late withdrawal of our planned speaker members welcomed Mike Goodfield to our June meeting and our thanks go to him for standing in at short notice.
                                   
Mike gave a black and white digital presentation of shots taken mostly in the 1960s as steam came to an end on BR.   Mike took full advantage of his time as a signalman operating in the Filton area in 1968 with shots of early BR diesels and first generation DMUs operating services which certainly brought back memories of the local railway scene 40 years ago and all this before the building of Bristol Parkway!!     Other Bristol area shots were shown at Keynsham, Mangotsfield and Bath Green Park.

We were next taken on a tour of the surviving WR sheds including Didcot, Oxford and Banbury showing many classes of GWR and Standard designs.  Mike pointed out that steam on WR finished in December 1965 with the exception of Bath Green Park which ceased with the closure of the Somerset & Dorset in March 1966.

Shed scenes from most parts of the network as far north as Inverness and as far south as Weymouth were also shown showing a rich variety of surviving classes before steam finally ended in 1968.   The number of locations visited seemed staggering in view of the small number of locations available today.    Shots taken on the main lines included the last days of steam on the Southern Region with views at Vauxhall, Basingstoke and Southampton amongst others.   Views at locations on the Settle and Carlisle were also included.

This was certainly an evening of nostalgia and it brought back memories of a more gentle age long before the advent of HST’s, Pendolinos and the rest!   Our thanks go to Mike for reminding us what things used to be like. 

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