19. Bath Spa-??.11.80

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-1980 > 19. Bath Spa-??.11.80

Unfortunately, I do not have the exact date for this visit to Bath station. However, it was a particularly significant one as it the day that I bought my new camera, a Pentax ME Super purchased from the London Camera Exchange shop on the Abbey courtyard. I recall that it was a Friday afternoon and that I had gone there as part of a trip with my A-Level photography class.  Rather than heading straight for home, I loaded a roll of FP4 film and went to the station! Unfortunately, some of the very first photographs were a little out of focus, and the weather was appalling; I'll put the former down to me getting used to my new machine!

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Images 1-8 of 8 displayed.

Class 47, up parcels, Bath Spa station My first railway photograph with my new Pentax ME Super and it's out of focus! Normally, this would be confined to the 'almost ran' box but as its a milestone photograph for me it has made the cut! At 14.26 an unidentified Class 47 comes to a halt at Bath Spa station with a crew member ready to leap from the cab. The Post Office (now Royal Mail) staff are also ready towards the rear of the train with their trolley to load and unload mailbags. This sort of train and its associated activity is now lost from the railways but there is continued talk of its return in an effort to get trucks off the road; how very sensible that would be! Keywords: Class 47 up parcels Bath Spa station
253004, unidentified down working, Bath Spa station With its wiper caught in mid-sweep, HST set 253004 arrives at a very wet Bath Spa station working a Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads (or possibly to Weston-super-Mare) service. The HSTs had been in squadron service on trains to and from Bristol and South Wales for some four years when this photograph was taken with most spotters hardly giving them a second glance but I did actually take photographs of them. This power car would have been one of either 43062 or 43063. If was the former of the two it is now in use as part of Network Rail's fleet of yellow test trains. Keywords: 253004 unidentified down working Bath Spa station HST
33022, unidentified Portsmouth Harbour-Cardiff Central working, Bath Spa station 33022 arrives at Bath Spa statin leading unidentified service from Portsmouth Harbour. This train would have been going to Bristol Temple Meads and then possibly on to Cardiff Central. Notice that in common with a number of the Southern's Class 33s that they have their number painted on the buffer beam. Also, notice my white carrier bag leaning against the canopy stanchion. This was probably a London Camera Exchange bag that contained the box and bits from my camera that had just been bought and pressed straight into service here at Bath. Keywords: 33022 Portsmouth Harbour-Cardiff Central Bath Spa station
33025, unidentified Cardiff Central-Portsmouth Harbour working, Bath Spa station Whilst headcodes had disappeared from the front of trains from the start of 1976 the Southern Region persisted in using their two-digit numeric system. Correctly displaying its 89 coding 33025 arrives at a very wet Bath Spa station leading a Cardiff (or more likely Bristol) to Portsmouth Harbour service. This particular Class 33 is still in use on the network being painted maroon and operated by West Coast Railway, see..... https://www.ontheupfast.com/p/21936chg/26118464804/x33025-steam-dreams-excursion-07 Keywords: 33025 Bristol Temple Meads Cardiff Central-Portsmouth Harbour working Bath Spa station
Sorting mail bags, Bath Spa station A sight that was once so familiar that has totally disappeared from the railways, the conveyance of Post Office mail. Complete with his cloth cap an employee sorts bags of mail for onward movement either down under the station for further sorting or for transfer to a train. As seasoned spotters, we were always pleased to see an empty Post Office trolley on the platform end as it made an ideal place to sit, spread out one's kit and settle down to collect numbers. They were infinitely better than a BRUTE trolley seen to the right as these were too low down. However, I seem to recall that the Post Office trolleys had a vertical ridge running along the open side that ended up digging into the back of one's thighs after sitting on a trolley for too long! Keywords: Sorting mail bags Bath Spa station The Piost Office
50034, unidentified up working, Bath Spa station Despite HSTs, in theory, at least, handing all of the Paddington to Bristol and South Wales services by this time there were occasions when one was not available and a scratch set of stock and locomotive had to be mustered to work a train. This appears to be the case here as 50035 'Furious' stands at Bath Spa with an unidentified up working. As can be seen, the young spotter to the right was obviously quite excited as he runs along the platform to observe the event! Keywords: 50034 up working Bath Spa station Furious
Nameplate, 50034, unidentified up working, Bath Spa station Despite being named only just over two years previously the nameplate of 50034 'Furious' looks very tatty. The nameplate is seen on the side of the loco. as it pauses at Bath station working a Paddington service in leu of an HST. 50034 had another ten years in service ending its days in the hands of the scrapman at Old Oak Common in 1991. Keywords: Nameplate 50034, unidentified up working Bath Spa station Furious
Class 43, unidentified down working, Bath Spa station With the Western Region struggling to keep its HSTs together as numbered sets they gave up the use of a 253 designation on the nose of the power cars. This forced spotters to identify the individual power cars numbered in the series W430XX. As it transpired these were the identifiers that remained until the powers cars were withdrawn from service in 2109 albeit minus the 'W' or 'E'. Unfortunately, I have recorded neither numbers here at a very wet Bath Spa as an unidentified set arrives with a down service from Paddington. In more recent years, the scene has changed very little, see..... https://www.ontheupfast.com/p/21936chg/30013687912/x6-166204-gw-13-23-portsmouth-h-cardiff Keywords: Class 43 HST down working Bath Spa station

Images 1-8 of 8 displayed.