Ken Mumford's
SPOTTERS NOTEBOOK
COMPILED BY KEN MUMFORD
EDITED BY GEOFF POOLE
Ken
Mumford
is
the
Secretary
and
Editor
of
the
Abergavenny
and
District Steam Society but in the late 50's and early 60's he was
an avid
train spotter who, like several other far - sighted spotters on this
site, made and kept records of his trips to capture
engine numbers that were soon to be fast disappearing from our railways
as the forthcoming "Beeching
axe" was about to be implemented.
Ken
has
opened
up
his
notebook
which
logs
a
trip
to North Wales with his family for their annual holiday in August 1959.
There is also some interesting data from Chester and Crewe amongst the
notes.
Once
again
we
are
able
to
re
-
visit
a distant
railway memory through the notes captured by an eager young spotter
who had the foresight to preserve his notes from those glorious days.
Ken
has
written
a
short
introduction
to
his
page
below
to
give some background to his trip and details of his notebook entries.
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INTRODUCTION
AND
COMMENTS
BY
KEN
MUMFORD
When I look at the spotting notes below I’m
surprised at
the number of ‘cops’ I had during that August 1959 holiday at
Llandudno and
also
the number of days I spent train spotting.
These are the bits I remember though not the
dates and they
are in the order that come to mind.
At Llandudno junction station I can remember seeing
a
westbound local train hauled by an LMS 2-6-4T
(no other details).
It had a small hole in it's right hand
tank
allowing water to dribble out.
It’s driver also boasted that he could
beat the DMU’s between certain stations in that area.
At that time I regularly took the Eagle comic. It
had an
offer on free child tickets, or was it reduced child tickets?
They were available on boat trips from places
like Llandudno.
From Llandudno they were
only available for trips to the Isle of Man. Mum
,
Dad
and
I
decided
to
book
a
trip
on
the
SS
Tudno to Liverpool.
Mum tried to
argue, when we were buying the tickets, that I went for free according
to the Eagle
comic.
The ship’s company representative
said that such tickets were available on trips to the Isle of Man but
not to
Liverpool, so off we sailed to Liverpool.
I can’t remember the trip to Liverpool or in Liverpool itself –
but the
return journey was memorable.
We were sitting on the ships deck outside,
waiting for the casting off, and I was reading what I now regard as
pornographic literature – Ian Allan’s ABC diesels.
Suddenly from on high a double page of this
book was filled with the waste matter of a seagull passing overhead.
Was this an indication from God that such
material was not desirable for my eyes!
Somehow Mum made the best of cleaning up this excretion.
Although the numbers of the Snowdon Mountain Railway
locomotives are recorded we certainly did not travel on that line.
Since all of the locomotives seem to be
recorded it is possible that Dad and I must have been allowed into the
locomotive yard at Llanberis.
On a
recent visit, Some 40 + years later, I was not allowed into the yard. Indeed I had to go up to the summit with a
diesel but only after the booking clerk
could see that I was adamant that I was
not travelling by diesel. But I did – why?
Because he let my son go for half price.
The guest house we stayed at was run by two sisters,
one of
whom had a set of loose false teeth which caused her to speak with a
hiss!!
You didn’t need an alarm clock to wake up at the guest house as the
seagulls
screaming in the early morning did that!!
Looking at the 'cops' I have recorded it is interesting to note how many of them are in preservation today.
I remember when travelling from Llandudno Junction
to
Llandudno by train, at Deganwy, the beach was easily accessible from
the nearby
road.
When we tried it in Dad’s car (a
1946 Austin 10) that was not correct.
Whilst spotting at Crewe I recorded D222, but little did I realize at that time, how future spotting would change.
The scans of my Locolog notebook are shown below and
I hope site visitors find them of interest.
These are my 'cops' during a holiday at Llandudno in August 1959 when I was, what we now call, aYear 9 student at Bedwellty Grammar School in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales.
The
column
headed
CODE
tells
me
how
many
of
that
particular class I have
'copped'. The column headed REMARKS tells me where I saw that
particular
'cop'.
I
came
across
the
6G
website
as
I
was
looking
for a photo of THE SHAMROCK
express in steam days to go with a snippet on
an
unusual
interest
happening
to
that
express
in
January
1959
whilst
preparing the January issue of the A&DSS (see below) magazine - THE
COAL TANK.
It’s
a
long
story
how
my
wife
(of
44
years)
and I came to live in Swindon
and another long story how I became the Secretary and Editor of the
ABERGAVENNY & DISTRICT STEAM SOCIETY.
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This is the front
of Ken's Locolog notebook which holds all of the notes shown
below.
The
following
scans
show
the
original pages of notes Ken made on that trip to Llandudno in
1959 that he
describes above.
They show many local locations along with some details covering
Holyhead, Chester and Crewe along with various other
places he visited before and after his family holiday including a visit
he made to France and Berne the capital of Switzerland.
Ken also recorded some Southern Region engines at Folkstone, Newport
and Ashford.
LOCOLOG NOTES (1)
45015 to the
Snowdon Mountain Railway numbers (August 10th 1959)
45130 to 44868 (August 3rd 1959)
LOCOLOG NOTES (2)
41158 (I
was
surprised to see a compound
at 6G but
possibly it was sent there because 6G had a spare space)
40635
(according
to
my
ABC
1960,
combined reprint, this was a
Somerset &
Dorset - yet to be withdrawn engine)
40128 to 45095
(August 3rd 1959)
44911 to 90566 (August 4th 1959)
LOCOLOG NOTES (3)
90257 to M79652
(August 4th 1959)
73040 to 46127 (August 5th 1959)
42971 to 42848 (August 6th 1959)
45311 to 42567 Penmaenmawr (August 6th 1959)
LOCOLOG NOTES (4)
42544 to 41234
Penmaenmawr (August 6th 1959)
Swiss and French locomotives recorded previously to Ken's North Wales
holiday.
44800 to 44710 Llandudno - Crewe (undated but same holiday - August
1959)
LOCOLOG NOTES (5)
Llandudno -
Chester - Crewe (undated but same holiday - August 1959)
LOCOLOG NOTES (6)
40658 (was possibly stored at Chester as it was not in the aforementioned A B C combined)
Crewe - Chester -
Rhyl - Holyhead (undated but same holiday - August 1959)
LOCOLOG NOTES (7)
70046 & 46150
(August 12th 1959)
73127 to 42594 (August 14th 1959) End of holiday.
46131 & 45281 (August 15th 1959)
34083 to 31317 (July 25th 1959) Folkstone - Newport - Ashford.