Are any Albion supporters really this old ?

[perseus]

Your question is to see how really ancient you are: have you ever been to a football match by steam train?

Bolton supporters need not reply. From what I gather they had steam trains up until 1968 (like Preston, Blackburn etc). Steam trains at Hove stopped early 64.

I first saw Blackburn and Bolton in successive matches in the old Division in 71-72. They were famous clubs back then the crowds were 23,000 and 25,000 plus for the corresponding games. Way back in the 20th century. I forgot this earlier when I thought we didn't play Bolton until the late seventies in old Division 2 when they went up as Champions.

 

[Geriatric Seagull]

Steam trains ran from Brighton to Horsham until the mid sixties so I'm sure there will be plenty of us geriatrics with stories to tell!

 

[Superphil]

I first saw Blackburn and Bolton in successive matches in the old Division in 71-72. They were famous clubs back then the crowds were 23,000 and 25,000 plus for the corresponding games. .

Away at Bolton that season the crowd was 5209, and away at Blackburn it was 8558. I guess we must have been a little more famous than them in those days.

 

[BensGrandad]

Many times in the 50s and 60s there was an express steam train later became a diesel went from Brighton to somewhere down the west country each day about 9 - 10 in the morning and then back again about 4.30 in the afternoon possibly went to Salisbury or somewhere down that way.

 

[Storer 68]

i thought southern region was one of the earliest electrification programmes. Most of the area immediately south of London was converted, together with the long-distance lines to Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings (via the LBSCR line), Guildford, Portsmouth and Reading, between 1931 and 1939.[20] This was one of the world's first modern mainline electrification schemes.

 

[aberllefenni]

Mid 90's a group of us considered using the Severn Valley Railway to Kidderminster. Abandoned the idea either because it would not arrive before kick-off, or it ate into valuable drinking time, or both.

 

[perseus]

Away at Bolton that season the crowd was 5209, and away at Blackburn it was 8558. I guess we must have been a little more famous than them in those days.

Way back in 71-2 the only Lancashire team in the top flight were Liverpool, Everton, Man United, Man City. For the Albion the season was a false dawn. Wigan were in he Northern Premier.

 

[skipper734]

I wasn't rich enough, and neither was anybody I knew, to be an away supporter or maybe it just didn't happen until well into the 60's. There were no replica shirts until the 70's either.
I do remember standing on the bridge at Hove Station and waiting for the smoke, as a train went underneath. That was regular fun, we were easily pleased in those days.

 

[perseus]

Many times in the 50s and 60s there was an express steam train later became a diesel went from Brighton to somewhere down the west country each day about 9 - 10 in the morning and then back again about 4.30 in the afternoon possibly went to Salisbury or somewhere down that way.

These trains did not stop at Hove though. I remember taking the Steyning Stinker non-stop from Shoreham to Hove in 63-64, just once for a match. Steam trains used go towards Cardiff way back then or earlier.

My first away trip was to Aldershot in the FA Cup, on one of two electric trains, mid-sixties. Early morning start.

 

[BensGrandad]

I wasn't rich enough, and neither was anybody I knew, to be an away supporter or maybe it just didn't happen until well into the 60's. There were no replica shirts until the 70's either.
I do remember standing on the bridge at Hove Station and waiting for the smoke, as a train went underneath. That was regular fun, we were easily pleased in those days.

I dont think away support became really popular until the 70s although I do remember bunking off school with Terry Tribe to go to The Den for a cup replay about 1957ish.

 

[Boys 9d]

Many times in the 50s and 60s there was an express steam train later became a diesel went from Brighton to somewhere down the west country each day about 9 - 10 in the morning and then back again about 4.30 in the afternoon possibly went to Salisbury or somewhere down that way.

I seem to remember 3 expresses pulled by West Country Class Locomotives leaving Brighton for the West. The first went to Bournemouth West Station although I am not sure of the time it left. The second (on which I had travelled) left for Cardiff at 1100 and at 1130 there was an express to Plymouth. There were return services arriving in Brighton during the late afternoon/early evening.
Incidently I cannot positively remember travelling to the Goldstone from Shoreham on the "Horsham Flyer" but I did ride on it many times to and from Brighton.

 

[BensGrandad]

I seem to remember 3 expresses pulled by West Country Class Locomotives leaving Brighton for the West. The first went to Bournemouth West Station although I am not sure of the time it left. The second (on which I had travelled) left for Cardiff at 1100 and at 1130 there was an express to Plymouth. There were return services arriving in Brighton during the late afternoon/early evening.
Incidently I cannot positively remember travelling to the Goldstone from Shoreham on the "Horsham Flyer" but I did ride on it many times to and from Brighton.

You are probably correct as my memory is a little hazy about actual journeys as my father was train mad and knew their names, times numbers etc and I was bored stiff hearing about them

 

[perseus]

You are probably correct as my memory is a little hazy about actual journeys as my father was train mad and knew their names, times numbers etc and I was bored stiff hearing about them

The railways were big employers in Brighton until the sixties and then it was all change into the modern era. The north was coal mines, steam trains and lots of football teams. I thought it would all change in the late seventies but that was the second false dawn.

If it is not another false dawn, I see the southern clubs replacing the northern clubs in proportion. The clubs like Blackburn, Burnley, Bolton won't find it easy to get back to the top flight. Blackpool are still in the steam train era ? It will be Brighton , Southampton and Palace (or Charlton) instead.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I've never been to an Albion game by steam train. But I did travel by steam train to the 3rd round FA Cup match between Spurs and Newport County in January 1960. South Wales to Paddington services were always steam-hauled in those days - and the locomotives were mainly Castle Class locos, built in the period up until 1950.

This beast became a regular on the Newport - Paddington service, but it hadn't even been built when the Spurs game happened:-

Spurs won 4-1, btw - but County's defender, Ken Hollyman, scored a fabulous goal from 35 yards that they still talk about in Newport.

 

[skipper734]

Wasn't that the last Star Class built. Built even as Beeching was wielding his axe. It was on the BBC4 prog the other night. The End of Steam!
I find as I get older the more of a train spotter I become, I didn't really appreciate them when every train was steam, but having to live it all again as my Son grew up from Thomas The Tank Engine, to riding on every preserved line we could find from Devon to Yorkshire.

 

[severnside gull]

Your question is to see how really ancient you are: have you ever been to a football match by steam train?

Bolton supporters need not reply. From what I gather they had steam trains up until 1968 (like Preston, Blackburn etc). Steam trains at Hove stopped early 64.

I first saw Blackburn and Bolton in successive matches in the old Division in 71-72. They were famous clubs back then the crowds were 23,000 and 25,000 plus for the corresponding games. Way back in the 20th century. I forgot this earlier when I thought we didn't play Bolton until the late seventies in old Division 2 when they went up as Champions.

yes


now f*** off you cheeky young whippersnapper

 

[kevo]

This beast became a regular on the Newport - Paddington service, but it hadn't even been built when the Spurs game happened

Interesting that they were still actually building steam trains after the decision had been made to phase them out - bit daft, really.

Tenuously related fact of the day: People could travel by tube to the last public execution in England.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Wasn't that the last Star Class built.

A sad bastard writes ...

It was the last BR Standard Class 9F to be built. Indeed, the last steam locomotive to be built in Britain. The Star Class locomotives of the GWR were much smaller. Built between 1907 and 1923, the last Star Class to remain in service kept going until 1957.

Lode Star is preserved at the National Railway Museum in York.

 

[perseus]

They used to build steam trains in Brighton. I come form a railway family and when I was a teenager I used to get free tickets. Some of the older travelling Albion fans who worked for the railways used to as well.



Mel Hopkins travelled by steam train on his trip to London to sign for Spurs

 

[Lord Bracknell]

They used to build steam trains in Brighton.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the Railway Works was the biggest employer in Brighton - 2,651 people worked there in 1891. There were still 850 people employed after the end of WW2. The last locomotive was built in 1957.