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PHIL SEYMOUR'S DATA RECORDS

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The following data has been compiled by Jim Fenton from notebooks passed to him by Hilary Seymour.
Hilary's husband Phil Seymour, a friend of Jim's, passed away in the early 80s.
Phil was an avid railway enthusiast and similar to Jim,  made exhaustive notes of the railway trips he
took within our region.

The following data covers the period 1966 - 1968  when steam was fast disappearing from our railways and
is another unique record of what was happening to our railways at that time.

The data has been methodically compiled by Jim Fenton and I thank him for his effort and expertise.

I also thank Hilary Seymour for allowing us access to her late husband's notes.

I have found myself lost in memories as I went through the notes. I found the visit to Crewe in 1967,
Cashmore's scrapyard in Newport (1968), Woodham's yard at Barry Island (1968) and Phil's trip to Llandudno
in September (1968) fascinating reading.

So why don't you treat yourself to a trip back in time. Have a look at the cold engines awaiting
their fate at Cashmore's and Woodhams, have a wander around some of the top sheds in our region
and have a look at what steam was still working during this period.

This page is dedicated to the memory of Phil Seymour.

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1966 - 1968: TRAINSPOTTING OBSERVATIONS II by Jim Fenton.

The trainspotting observations below are those of a former work colleague, the late Phil Seymour. The records were passed on to me by Phil’s wife Hilary who thought that they were too important to be dispatched to the bin! What foresight!

Phil, as a boy, lived in Bebington on the Wirral, so although not entirely relevant to North Wales the records are geographically widespread and document the variety of motive power around England and Wales in the mid 60’s. The records are derived from four notebooks passed on to me, many of which unfortunately are not dated accurately. Much ‘detective work’ has been done via cross reference to Phil’s dated photographs in my possession and historical records of certain railtours.

It was interesting to discover that on 20^th April 1968 while I stood on the platform at Poulton le Fylde photographing the Lancastrian No.  2 tour passing through, Phil was actually on the train! It was to be another c.12 years until our paths “crossed” again when we both worked for the same company!

Locomotive, DMU and EMU records from 1966

Notes:

1) Pulled by 42616 from Rock Ferry to Chester and by D287 from Chester to Crewe.

2) Pulled by double-header D314 and D317 from Crewe to Chester. Pulled by 42616 from Chester to Rock Ferry.