RICHARD-LONG TERM FUTURE OF THE FORUM

[50C]

The following may have been raised before so please bear with me. I have been a member of this Forum for over a year now and I am amazed at the content, variety and quality of the various threads that have been posted. Having been born and bred in Selby I am LNER through and through ,however, like most of our members, I have a general interest in railways from the steam era through to present day operations. I belong to other railway Forums but I think this, without a doubt, is one of the best supported and easiest to navigate.

Now it is very apparent that a lot of our members are, like me, over 60 and still able to reminisce, from personal experiences, about the good old steam days in the 40's,50's and 60's. I don't want to sound morbid but as time goes by we will all eventually sign on for the "great engine shed in the sky" and then there will be no more facts, figures and memories to post. I'm sure that most of us have thought at some stage about maybe writing a book to record our experiences but very few of us will actually achieve this. However, when you think about it we are all, through this Forum, collectively writing our own book and what a fantastic book it is turning out to be.

The Forum has been going nearly 5 years so there is a considerable amount of invaluable information contained within it. Now I suspect that in the long distant future this forum will probably become another forum for model railway enthusiasts - nothing wrong with that.

May I suggest, therefore, through Richard, that at some stage the Forum data base be donated to the NRM, say, as it is a record of our social history. Just think what it will be like for rail fans in 50 years time who can look back and view the rail scene in the 50's and 60's through people with first hand experience. Wouldn't it have been great if the internet had been available in the 1950's so we could now be viewing threads of the current railway topics of the 1920's-the mind boggles!!!.

What do you think? and keep the threads coming.

50c

[hq1hitchin]

Know what you mean - worked with blokes on the GN who started in 1916 and, when I went to Crewe in 1978, had a chargeman who could give you chapter and verse on the night a Lizzie had trouble with the regulator sticking whilst on the Up Merseyside Express and then made a cracking run to Euston. The chap who taught Douggie Turner the job, started, so they told me, in 1897!
Then there was the time in Hitchin when, having a quick pint outside the station, I got talking with an old boy who worked on the station when it was served by slip coaches and horses were used to pull them around.
Yes, a great shame these characters didn't have the means we've got today to record their experiences.

[52D]

Couldnt agree more and im sure an anthology of some of the more debateable topics would prove popular to a wider readership.

[richard]

Nothing against that. I don't have any plans to remove the site, so I guess the question would be if something was to happen to me.

So I could approach them ahead of time, but I'm not sure if they're geared to electronic archives yet?

I could add a section for to the main site for reminiscences (ie. the same level as the locos, engineers, etc sections). I would have to manually add and format them, and we'd have to come up with a meaningful layout.


Richard

[Bryan]

I sincerely hope it does not become another rmodelling forum.
The amount on here now is to me about right, it should be balanced with real life Historic, Present day and Future episodes of the development of the Rail Story.

As for transferring the archive to the NRM or similar.
It should be remembered that archaeologists are having some difficulty at present due to the decline in the written word.
This affects future records and current research.
How much of our history is known about through the discovery of letters and other documents? I would guess that most of it is.
As for the research being done now, A lot of material has been stored on computer only for the storage medium to become obsolete and no one noticed until it was too late in some cases. This has affected some of the Archaeological trusts around the country and beyond.
Some method must be found of making the material available in the future whatever happens to us.

[StevieG]

I would go along with all that's been said here. The point about so many of us 'having a book somewhere within' but which, for any of a number of reasons, will never be written, is particularly apposite.

And many might never even think about being able to write a book, yet if, after a year or more, one can review having made numerous memory-driven contributions to threads herein, on subjects, equipment and methods that have now passed into history, it can be really surprising how much we have, held within our 'leetle grey cells'.

[StoneRoad]

Agree with the above!

"Oral" history ie a personal viewpoint of events and the stories, even of the routine tasks, are very important. Indeed I think the NRM are already in this area. But I am not sure if fora databases are included, yet. (If they are not, they should be!)

Stoneroad

PS - as indicated above, I agree that advance plans are also important! (added as edit)

[coachmann]

I don't think this will just become another modelling forum as someone suggested. For a start, many older members have done many years research in connection with building models so the two go hand in hand. We have people like David Jenkinson and Bob Essery to thank for much of what we know concerning LMS and Midland matters but it should not be forgotten it was often allied to a modelling activity.

[Bryan]

Time moves on and some regular posters have fallen by the wayside.
I am getting the feeling that the previous high LNER content has now reduced somewhat and if you look at today's and more of the recent postings it has become mainly model subjects and no full size rail topics.

I hope that this is a temporary blip.

[65447]

The LNER Society (a recent reversion to its original name, but was known for many years as the LNER Study Group) exists to become the authoritative source for information about the LNER. The Journal editor has been asking for contributions from members who worked on the railways - not so many who worked on the LNER these days, but it was quite a few years after 1948 that the old traditions were gradually swept away - perhaps the biggest change came with the introduction of British Rail and the Corporate Image in the mid-60s.

However there were still many customs and practices as well as methods of working that took a while longer to fade away, thus making it more likely that a number of the members of this forum were amongst those railwaymen, and it really is a disappearing opportunity to ensure that the human side of railway operation is recorded in the words and experiences of the real railwaymen and not an 'interpretation' by someone who probably has little idea of what really made a railway run.

So if you would like to know more about The LNER Society, or perhaps just want to get your work experiences written down for posterity, then please PM me.

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

I would disagree that this is becoming another model forum. There's all sorts of stuff from livery experiments to the many footplate reminiscences. I've even told some stories meself from the pioneering days of preservation. Some I will never post on here - too horrific. They I endure in the watches of the night when the demons strike.

However, we talk about all sorts.

Come on - tell us YOUR stories. We've all got 'em - trainspotting, railwaymen's tales, dropping the boss's best china tea service at the unexpected appearance of an A4. Tell us, please.

It is from Oral histories we learn about what really happened. For example, my father was in RAF Commando during WW2 and his stories varied from the scary to piddle yer pants laughing, none of which are in any official histories, mainly because the unit was not officially admitted to until the Millenium.

[Bill Bedford]

I am getting the feeling that the previous high LNER content has now reduced somewhat and if you look at today's and more of the recent postings it has become mainly model subjects and no full size rail topics.

That will depend on whether those people whose interest is primarily in historical research see fit to post here.

[strang steel]

I find that stories from ex-railway employees are fascinating, although maybe not full of technical accuracy and/or detail.

Books have been published on the thoughts and experiments of various CMEs, but much less on what it was like to work with the results of their inspiration. And while there are a number of accounts of driving and firing of prestige locomotives, there is little about how (to choose one random example) the catering staff managed with preparing meals in a cramped kitchen car which was rocking and rolling at high speed.

I get the impression that many of the employees feel that no one would be interested in reading what was just a story of their daily work, but this is far from the truth and will be lost if those in their 70s and 80s aren't encouraged now.

My grand idea for a project to mark the millennium (instead of a dome) was to get anyone and everyone to write, record or dictate accounts of any memories they had from the first half of the 20th century and preserve it all as a permanent record of those times.

Even accounts from those whose jobs were at the bottom of the hierarchy (because most of those jobs now no longer exist) would be of great interest.

[2002EarlMarischal]

Bringing us back to the full-size "stuff", I was thinking the other day that this forum, if anywhere, should have a section where we could see where all the preserved locos and rolling stock are to be found and in what condition at the present time. It could include loco movements and charter trains being hauled etc.

For example, even though I live nearby, I didn't realise that a B1 had been resident on the Shackerstone Railway until recently, and I think it may have moved on now. I never knew that the B12 had a spell on the SVR some years ago, etc, etc.

Not everyone can justify a regular subscription to the railway press and they do not cover everything anyway.

Why not have a thread on each loco - there aren't that many LNER locos preserved sadly, so we're not talking too many. This thread could be updated when anyone had any news on that loco......

What do you reckon? That might alter the bias back to full size?

Just to be annoying, I'll copy this post into the suggestions section too!

[richard]

The model topic has become a bit more general that I would prefer - it is intended (along with the rest of the LNER topics) as being LNER, Constituents, and Eastern Region, and to have non-LNER topics (GWR, Class 37s, etc) over in "Other Railway"...