Facebook Spotlight Rail Thing - 70s UK Railscene

Medstead and Four Marks 24.6.1976

313 030 Finsbury Park 19.7.1978

Farncombe 6.7.1977

7724 Balcombe 8.7.1977

Ropley 24.6.1976

(All pics copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - RAIL THING - 70s UK RAILSCENE

I'm going to highlight our various Facebook groups over the coming months as there as so many of them - what started as a single Facebook group has blossomed to around 500!

This one currently has 855 members and covers the UK railscene in the 1970s. My very first railway photo was taken on 9.7.1971 so I covered almost this entire decade. I was just 13 at the start of it and just beginning to get a real interest in railways. Holidays at Dawlish Warren spurred this on - the line along the seafront was a real eye opener! It was mainly Westerns back then of course, I even remember maroon coaches, but was still very wet behind the ears then and didn't even realise they were anything special or different! 

So if you've an interest in this transitional decade this is the group for you. There are many active members and you'll see a wide range of pics from around the UK.

something different!

This is a rare shot showing the electrified industrial railway at Kearsley near Manchester, back in 1974. I'm not sure about the current (no pun intended!) state of this line, but what I do know is that the industrial railway will soon make a comeback big time!

When I started this blog not a lot of people were aware of Peak Oil but in the  last year or two it's an issue that's becoming ever more important. Whilst some roads may survive within towns and cities for electric vehicles and horse drawn traffic, it's highly unlikely that roads BETWEEN places will survive. At the same time most if not all freight will switch to rail, and many industrial locations, if they are to continue, will need dedicated rail access. This will mean a network of industrial railways springing up, as well as agricultural lines and lines into markets. Some will be electrified but many will use wood burning steam - diesels will vanish in step with oil.

I've been buying up negatives and slides of mainly diesel locomotives and industrial lines for The Rail Thing, which should launch fully later this year.

crowborough 1977

(Both 4.7.1977 © Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - RAIL THING - BRITISH RAILWAY STATIONS AND BUILDINGS

A couple of shots of Crowborough, on the Uckfield branch. I particularly llike the second shot with its array of BR(S) enamel signs, no doubt worth a fortune today!

This was (is?) a superb large intermediate station on what has been a rather neglected line since it was truncated at Uckfield, but is likely to become far busier when the Uckfield-Lewes section is restored, making this a second through route to Brighton from London, a long overdue move.

More info (from Wikipedia)

Crowborough railway station serves Crowborough in East Sussex, England. Train services from the station are provided by Southern, and the station is on the Uckfield branch of the Oxted Line.

History

The station was opened by the Brighton, Uckfield and Tunbridge Wells Railway on 3 August 1868 and was originally named Rotherfield.^[1] It was renamed several times: to Crowborough on 1 August 1880; to Crowborough and Jarvis Brook on 1 May 1897, before resuming the name Crowborough on 12 May 1980.

The station was also used to transport goods from the nearby brickyard and the old platform still remains, although not used any more. The old track still exists around the goods yard, however, like the platform, these are overgrown and unused.

Services

The typical off-peak service is one train per hour to London Bridge via Oxted and one train per hour to Uckfield.

Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05	0.175 million
2005/06	0.259 million
2006/07	0.324 million
2007/08	0.366 million
2008/09	0.353 million
2009/10	0.325 million
2010/11	0.363 million
2011/12	0.402 million
2012/13	0.406 million

the problem with heritage railways

(All 1.9.1972)

I'm glad we have a lot of heritage railways in the UK but I'll be a lot happier when they begin to morph into proper community railways as I reckon that will protect them from the ravages of Peak Oil and the hands of the government!

It's great that in 2012 we can still see rural steam trains running through beautiful countryside, and I can think of few better ways of spending a day than at a heritage line.

But one problem for me is that they freeze history. Look at  these shots, apart from a few details they  could have been taken last summer. Heritage railways don't really change with the times, and photos don't capture a true railway atmosphere for this reason.

I'd much rather have been down at Totnes photographing the Westerns etc that were travelling through, because I'd have caught a moment in time (and would have FAR more valuable negatives!) I could have returned to Buckfastleigh at any time and could have captured just about the same shot.

I'm not offering any cure for this problem, just making an observation!