David Hunt : Railways in the 1970s 14/10/23

Our new programme commenced on 14th October with a healthy number in attendance to see a traditional slide show presented by member David Hunt. He revealed that he first started to take slides in 1973 and the 200 shown were all from the first year or so of this activity. The subjects ranged far and wide, from Westerns at Penzance to Class 26s at Wick and Thurso. We saw Class 40s at Rhyl and Clayton Class 17s at Eastfield with other locations that varied from the scenic such as Kyle of Lochalsh to the urban including Altrincham and EMUs on suburban lines in the South East. Some photos were of interesting items of rolling stock that he came across on his travels, and there were a number of views of station buildings. There was also a good selection of local scenes that included Westerns, Peaks and Class 25s in Devon; one of the latter featuring on a branch brake van tour over the Hemyock branch. Of particular interest to the writer were rare views of since demolished structures at Starcross and Dawlish Warren stations. The presentation was over all too quickly and was well received by the audience – perhaps 1975 next?!