13th December 2019 · ‘Ramblings Around the UK 1962/63’

Presenters: Brian Holland & Michael Chapman

Well, what a feast of nostalgic images! That is about the best way to sum up the presentation given by Brian Holland and Michael Chapman on 13th December of black-and-white images in 1962.

Brian explained that the presentations began in 2017 at Burton-on-Trent and he enlisted the assistance of Michael to scan his photographs and to digitally manipulate them to improve their quality.

As a long-time resident of the Leicester area, Brian had many images of both MR and GCR lines through Leicester and of nearby places visited regularly at weekends. Then there were the visits to more distant places – NE England, Oxenholme and a holiday in Devon in the summer. Thus we saw images of all ‘Big 4′ companies’ locomotives, of BR Standards and even the occasional diesel! Images that linger in the memory are of the last Compound and an ex-S&D 2-8-0 at Derby Works, the Atlantic Coast Express and the Cornish Riviera side-by-side at Exeter St Davids and the last train from Leicester Belgrave Road to Skegness on 9th September. But perhaps the best came at the end with a visit on Christmas Eve to Grantham with its procession of Pacifics and an array of other ex-LNER types.

While Brian admits to be no expert, this was a really excellent record of steam in 1962.