9th November 2020 · On-Line Meeting: That Was The Year That Was – 1962

Presenter: Geoff Plumb

Our penultimate “Zoom” meeting of 2020 took place on Monday 9th November when Geoff Plumb gave a photographic presentation entitled “That Was the Year That Was – 1962”. Going beyond the advertised title, Geoff’s photographs ranged from 1951 to 1962! Over forty members and guests were present on line for the start of the presentation. Geoff explained that he was born in Sheffield in 1949 and brought up in a railway mad family. His father was a founder member of the Sheffield Branch of the R.C.T.S. Geoff’s photographs started with those taken on the family’s Box Brownie on spotting expeditions with his father, before he had his own camera. He also used the work of friends and other enthusiasts to fill gaps in his own, and his father’s, work. This enabled him to present us with a widely varied selection of illustrations, showing a variety of locomotives in a wide range of locations, including the Festiniog Railway and the Isle of Wight. Rail tours by the R.C.T.S and other societies featured largely in his presentation as the 1950s and early 1960s were the time when the various Regions of B.R. were happy to provide some very complex itineraries with specific locomotives. These tours ranged from the ambitious “Aberdeen Flyer” to complex itineraries involving several changes of locomotives en route. Highlights included the London Suburban Rail Tour with two Beattie well tanks. By the end of Geoff’s presentation he had indeed reached 1962 as promised – a superb evening’s nostalgia on line.