8th April 2019 · ‘A trainspotter’s Odyssey’

Presenter: Brian Arman – RCTS President

An excellent end to the indoor meeting session.

On 8th April, the branch was pleased to welcome the Society President Brian Arman who came to present his slide show on the theme of “A Trainspotter’s Odyssey”. This was to be a journey from Gloucester back to Gloucester via Bristol, the S & D, Bournemouth, Waterloo, the London area and Birmingham.

There was an unfortunate start to the proceedings when the slide projector blew a bulb. Luckily a spare was available and after running repairs, the show commenced. The delay enabled Brian to explain how his interest in railways started and how things developed from there.

The slides came from several sources and largely concentrated on the 1950s and 60s. They gave a very comprehensive overview of the main line, local, and freight services in the locations shown. The motive power depots en route were covered and also many sidings and short freight branches to industrial sites. The steam locomotives shown were a wide range of GWR, SR, and BR types with the occasional diesel locomotive, DMU and EMU appearing.

Of particular interest were 1937 colour slides of SR locomotives nearly all in green livery and an aerial view of Eastleigh depot taken in the 1955 ASLEF strike and completely filled with out of service locomotives. An excess of slides however meant that the audience of 22 was only able to reach Waterloo, which we hope will lead to a return by Brian to complete our journey.