I was born and bred in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, and from the age of ten began to take a healthy interest in railways and particularly in steam engines. From my home in the south of the town I was able to clearly hear the movement of locomotives and the sounds of shunting in and around the station and small loco shed. One of my lasting childhood memories when lying in bed on a clear night was to hear the sound of the last train from Hull as it departed from Carnaby, some two miles or so away, then "clanked" its way into Bridlington. This was followed a few minutes later by the sound of the loco as it propelled the coaches into the Garden Sidings, so named because of the proximity to allotments and private gardens, and then repaired to the shed for turning and servicing. During the mid-1950s, before the introduction of diesel multiple units that led to closure, about half a dozen locos were permanently allocated to Bridlington 53D shed. Three or four of these were the Gresley D49 "Shire" and "Hunt" 4-4-0 tender engines that worked services on the Hull - Bridlington - Scarborough line. The remaining allocation was shunting locomotives for the goods yards at Bridlington and Driffield, some 12 miles south on the line at the junction of the lines to Hull and to Selby via Market Weighton. During the mid-1950s these were a pair of Y3 0-4-0T Sentinel shunters, a most curious beast that had a chain drive that could clearly be both seen and heard. Other locos employed on regular all-year-round services included a single Thompson Class B1 4-6-0 working on the only full corridor service at about 8 am from Scarborough to Hull that returned at about 5 pm, some Thompson Class L1 2-6-4Ts, Robinson Class A5 4-6-2Ts and Gresley rebuild Class A8 4-6-2Ts that worked services between Hull and Bridlington and together with other D49s from Hull and Scarborough sheds. Later BR standard Class 3MT 2-6-0s and Class 4MT 2-6-4s appeared on isolated workings. The one daily mixed pick-up freight service from Hull to Scarborough and return was usually in the hands of an Austerity WD 2-8-0.

Bridlington during the 1950s was still a very popular place for holidaymakers and day trippers with additional timetable services and day excursions running every weekend from Easter through to mid-September. The timetable grew at least threefold on Summer Saturdays with many trains running through to the station at Butlins Holiday Camp Filey and to Scarborough. Through timetable trains ran to and from such diverse places as London Kings Cross, Kings Norton, Newcastle and Manchester London Road, as Manchester Piccadilly was then known, as well as a range of mining and mill towns in West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire. Additional trains were then overlaid to meet the peak demands during the "Wakes Weeks" and to the group of train spotters who lined the railway just south of Bridlington station these presented the most interesting visiting locomotives.

These summer visitors were predominantly ex-LNER types such as Thompson B1 4-6-0s, Raven B16 4-6-0s, with the opportunity to see almost the whole class of over 60 locos during a season, and elderly Worsdell D20 4-4-0s that were usually paired with ex-LMS Ivatt Class 4MT 2-6-0s for the workings over the steeply graded Selby - Market Weighton - Driffield route. One or two workings threw up a Gresley V2 2-6-2. This was the largest locomotive to regularly use the line and ex-LNER Pacifics were unknown, although the odd one did get to Scarborough from York. However, there were also regular visits from ex-LMS types such as the ubiquitous Stanier "Black 5" Class 5MT 4-6-0s, Hughes "Crab" Class 5MT 2-6-0s and Stanier "Jubilee" Class 6P 4-6-0s. On those weekends when the sun was hottest and demand outstripped supply duplicate trains were thrown together at short notice with the most elderly rolling stock and hauled by Stanier Class 8F 2-8-0s or Hughes Class 4F 0-6-0s. BR standard Class 5MT 4-6-0s were also regular visitors. One particularly interesting working was a daily timetabled summer excursion train from Doncaster that arrived at Bridlington in mid-morning and returned about 7.30 pm. This was used as a running-in turn for new BR Standard Class 4MT 2-6-0 then being built at Doncaster Plant and one could expect to see every loco in a complete series during the summer months.

Unfortunately, no recordings were made during this period, although there is an interesting collection of black and white Kodak "Brownie" negatives and prints that has survived the years. However, an opportunity did occur on a Summer Saturday in 1963 to make recordings that recapture some of the sounds that could so easily have been during the 1950s. Saturday 20th July 1963 was typical for the Yorkshire Coast. It was rather cloudy with only occasional bursts of sunlight and with a sharp breeze blowing off the North Sea. Although the scale of the Summer Saturday train service was significantly less than during the 1950s and many trains were now operated by diesel traction, there remained a rump of services worked by a varied range of steam locos. The first group of recordings was made alongside the line about half a mile south of Bridlington station. This had always been the enthusiasts' favourite location; it was easily accessible by bike and there was a handy fence to sit on. It also proved to be sufficiently far from the station to get good recordings of trains as they accelerated past and southwards on the level towards Carnaby, the first station on the line towards Driffield and Hull. However, it was only about 50 yards from a busy road overbridge and this does produce traffic noise at times.

The Summer Saturday train to Kings Norton provided a service for returning holidaymakers to stations on the ex-LMS route from Sheffield Midland, through Derby and Burton-on-Trent to Birmingham New Street and beyond. Its departure from Bridlington at 9.53 am had remained largely unchanged for over ten years and on occasions it had been hauled by some interesting visiting locomotives. However, on Saturday 20th July it was a relatively local and well-known engine in charge. Thompson Class B1 4-6-0 61215 "William Henton Carver" had for many years been allocated to Hull Botanic Gardens shed and then to Hull Dairycoates following the conversion of the former to a depot for diesel multiple units. The name it carried was that of a former MP for the Hull area. By 1963 it was allocated to Ardsley shed, on the outskirts of Leeds, and would be working the Kings Norton service as far as Sheffield. The train is heavy with about ten coaches so 61215 makes a slow but determined start from the station, past the large South signal box and former locomotive shed and then bursts out from under the overbridge and gathers speed as heads towards the south.

Only 20 minutes later there was an opportunity to record one of the all time greats so far as steam loco sounds are concerned. Gresley V2 2-6-2 60877 came up to expectations as it took out the 10.13 am departure to Leeds City. Allocated to York shed, 60877 would have taken the empty stock from York via Scarborough to the Butlins Holiday Camp station near Filey. The characteristic 3-cylinder "syncopation" is clearly evident as the train approaches, as well as the excitement of the recorder, and the driver is certainly "taking no prisoners" as he accelerates the train into the flat countryside of the Holderness Plain.

The final recording at this location is Stanier Class 5MT 4-6-0 44695 restarting from the down home signal having been held to await clearance of a preceding train in the station. At the time this loco was allocated to Bradford Low Moor shed indicating that this train was almost certainly from stations on the former L.&.Y.R. Calder Valley line.

North of Bridlington the line towards Filey and Scarborough climbs quite steeply for almost four miles through the stations at Flamborough (now closed) and Bempton to Speeton (also now closed). Just over a mile north of Bridlington station the line passes close to the cliffs at Sewerby affording good views across Bridlington Bay. The location for the next two recordings was at the top of the cliffs about 400 yards from the railway embankment that curves towards a level crossing at Sewerby. The sun had come out at this time and it was pleasantly warm as a Raven Class B16 4-6-0 climbed the bank and whistled to warn the crossing keeper of its approach.

Shortly after a Stanier Class 6P "Jubilee" 4-6-0 seems to be making much heavier weather of the climb with what was clearly a heavier train.

Having spent the weekend with my father in Bridlington it is now Sunday evening and I am making my way back to Liverpool and my job with British Railways at Edge Hill. A reasonable Summer Sunday service from Bridlington via Seamer to York meant that the journey could be made quite late in the afternoon and at around 7 pm I was on York station waiting to join the evening service through to Liverpool. This gave the opportunity to record two trains that had originated from Scarborough

Thompson Class B1 4-6-0 61087 makes a noisy and slippery start with a returning day excursion to South Yorkshire followed immediately by an English Electric Type 4 "Whistler" D345 on a service to Leeds.

A few minutes later, Stanier 6P "Jubilee" 45568 "Western Australia" also makes a spirited departure on a return day excursion heading towards Sheffield. From the cries of the children it's obviously been good day out.

In August 1963 I was living in New Brighton and still working at Edge Hill Goods Depot in Liverpool, commuting each day on the Wirral and Mersey Railway to Liverpool Central and then from Lime Street to Edge Hill. Despite the introduction of DMUs to many of the local services and English Electric Type 4 diesel locos (later Class 40) to some of the Class 1 longer distance services (the InterCity brand name had not yet been coined), there was still a lot of main line steam about.

Using my privilege travel facilities I travelled to Crewe via Birkenhead Woodside and Chester on Saturday 3rd August, including a ride behind a Black 5 on a Llandudno - Euston Summer Saturday train. My aim was to try my luck at some West Coast Main Line steam recordings and I made a good choice with Crewe which was always a hive of activity. I found an ideal location at the south end of one of the longest platforms (number 2 I think) which meant that I was quite a considerable distance beyond where most southbound trains started off and was therefore well placed to record trains as they gathered speed.

The first clip is of BR Standard 7MT 4-6-2 70018 "Flying Dutchman", a Crewe North engine, departing at 11.50 on a train from Manchester to Birmingham. At this time the only section of the West Coast Main Line Electrification that had been completed was between Manchester and Crewe and this train had actually been electrically hauled from Manchester to Crewe where the "Britannia" took over. After a purposeful start 70018 then has to slacken speed through the complex of switches and crossings that represented Crewe South Junction at that time and of course it's only in the past decade or so that this has been simplified to permit high speed running through the station. This meant that my recording wasn't quite as interesting as I had intended.

A few minutes later we enjoy an example of Crewe at its most active. Initially, Stanier Class 5MT 4-6-0 45324, allocated to Rugby, departs at 12.09 with 1A30 from Blackpool North to Bletchley then less than half a minute later we hear the whistle as Hughes 5MT 2-6-0 Crab" 42814, whose home shed was Birkenhead Mollington Street, departs on 1V68 to a Western region destination.

The final recording at Crewe is another "Britannia". 70051 "Firth of Forth", also from Crewe North, suffers an initial slip as it departs at 12.25 on 1G14 to Birmingham New Street.

Later I travelled from Crewe northwards to Wigan North Western and took the short walk up the road to Wigan Wallgate with the intention of making my way back to Liverpool Exchange via Kirkby, which at that time was still a through route. However, before my train I had the opportunity to make a recording of a "Duchess" leaving Wigan North Western from the platform at Wallgate some 100 yards away. 46235 "City of Birmingham" is leaving at 16.00 on the northbound "Lakes Express", a through train from Euston to Windermere. Unfortunately this recording is severely affected by the departure of a Southport-bound DMU from the very platform that I was standing on at Wallgate. Nevertheless, the Stanier Pacific is still slipping slightly and noisily gathering speed long after the DMU has gone. I seem to remember that the children were in a nearby playground. 46235 was allocated to Crewe North at this time but tragically disappeared from the scene after the end of 1963 - gone to the great shed in the sky.