I remember him doing that as we pulled away from Oldham and Blackburn. Stations in the North West seemed to have bricks conveniently piled up by the tracks.
I remember being on the Special to Bristol Rovers away in the 77/78 season that never got to Bristol. It was an evening game and when we reached Bristol Parkway we were told that the match had been postponed due to bad weather and the train was turned around and we headed back to Brighton.