If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Red Star parcels

Discussion in 'Everything Else Heritage' started by SilentHunter86, Dec 1, 2016.

  1. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2014
    Messages:
    15,330
    Likes Received:
    11,666
    Occupation:
    Nosy aren’t you?
    Location:
    Nowhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Just had a look and Old Tom's 8.5%! So it seems that comes under the 'it seemed like a good idea at the time'
     
    SilentHunter86 likes this.
  2. The Green Howards

    The Green Howards Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2016
    Messages:
    14,118
    Likes Received:
    7,644
    Occupation:
    Layabout
    Location:
    Naughty step
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I still remember going out drinking with a mate of mine (the same one alluded to elsewhere) once when we were on a training course. I remember the hangover caused by the disproportionate consumption of Old Tom :Dead:
     
    nine elms fan and Matt37401 like this.
  3. Spamcan81

    Spamcan81 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2007
    Messages:
    35,121
    Likes Received:
    20,773
    Occupation:
    Training moles
    Location:
    The back of beyond
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Perhaps you're confusing it with Owd Roger from Marstons? Stand to be proved wrong, but I can only ever recall it being named Old Tom.
     
  4. John Stewart

    John Stewart Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2011
    Messages:
    4,206
    Likes Received:
    2,072
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Hilton, Derby
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    In the 1980s I was involved in a major station redevelopment. At one end there was huge difficulty reconciling the needs of taxis, hotel parking, drop-off and Red Star Parcels. They had the biggest vehicles and the layout eventually thrashed out was rather dictated by their needs. Worked OK right until they packed up a few years later.
     
  5. 6024KEI

    6024KEI Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2006
    Messages:
    860
    Likes Received:
    472
    Location:
    Bath
    Going back to when I was a kid in the late 1970's and early 1980's, my Dad was responsible for distributing the "Church of England Newspaper" to those in the congregation of the church that wanted to read it. That entailed a slight detour every Sunday morning to pick up a roll of papers from the local station that had come down from London via Red Star. Got to the point that the regular Sunday staff would recognise me as I walked in the door and get the package without even being asked.
     
    SilentHunter86 likes this.
  6. SilentHunter86

    SilentHunter86 Member

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2014
    Messages:
    306
    Likes Received:
    25
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    How am I feeling nostalgic for something I never experienced?
     
    Matt37401 likes this.
  7. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2012
    Messages:
    1,658
    Likes Received:
    3,891
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Out there somewhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Not sure if it was via Red Star but I remember a few times when I was 'spotting' crates of pigeons arriving by rail complete with instructions for staff to "Please release at 1pm" or similar and with a return address for the cages. Apparently that's how they used to train (no pun intended) them. Sending them slightly further afield each time...
     
  8. flaman

    flaman Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2012
    Messages:
    2,292
    Likes Received:
    2,048
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Semi-retired farmer, railway & museum owner
    Location:
    Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
    Carrying racing pigeons was once big business for the railways. As @gwilialan says, individual pigeon fanciers dispatched their birds by rail on training flights, but more importantly, during the summer racing season special pigeon trains travelled to the major race release points, such as York, Hexham, Fraserburgh and Wick (known to the pigeon racing fraternity as the "North Road") and specific stations towards the south-west (the "South Road"). The LNER had specially adapted full brake coaches for pigeon traffic and many station staff were specially trained to release the birds at the appropriate times. The traffic was largely lost to road transport during the Beeching era and finished entirely when BR stopped carrying all forms of livestock in the early 1970s, so it's demise predated the Red Star parcels service.
     
  9. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2014
    Messages:
    15,330
    Likes Received:
    11,666
    Occupation:
    Nosy aren’t you?
    Location:
    Nowhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I feel something similar having never used the Red Star service but as a kid watching 'The Train Now Departing' on 'The Line That Refused To Die' episode there's an interview with a couple on Settle station with a nice 'Red Star' poster behind them! Then a few years later (1991 maybe?) I was given a choice of train sets for Christmas. Did I want 'Red Star Parcels', with a red 90? Or did I want 'Night Mail Express' with a red 46251 and a TPO that caught and dropped mail bags? No contest really! The all action train set with the Big Lizzie won! So began my admiration of things by Billy Stanier :):):)
     
    SilentHunter86 likes this.
  10. SilentHunter86

    SilentHunter86 Member

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2014
    Messages:
    306
    Likes Received:
    25
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I can only imagine that must have been a nightmare to clean.
     
  11. The Green Howards

    The Green Howards Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2016
    Messages:
    14,118
    Likes Received:
    7,644
    Occupation:
    Layabout
    Location:
    Naughty step
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I could well be. My memory's not what it used to be, tbh.
     
  12. The Green Howards

    The Green Howards Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2016
    Messages:
    14,118
    Likes Received:
    7,644
    Occupation:
    Layabout
    Location:
    Naughty step
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I remember in the mid-70s (1975/76?) seeing a long train of cattle wagons heading down the ECML behind a class 40. I assume they were making their final journey.
     
  13. flaman

    flaman Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2012
    Messages:
    2,292
    Likes Received:
    2,048
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Semi-retired farmer, railway & museum owner
    Location:
    Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
    Probably. The last cattle traffic on BR was about 1974/75, Irish stores being transported from west coast ports to be fattened on summer grazing. A regular destination for this traffic for many years was Norwich, from whence the animals were taken to grazing marshes in East Norfolk and Suffolk. The extensive cattle docks at Trowse, used for receiving this traffic, survived for many years after the traffic ended.

    The hundreds of cattle wagons were quickly scrapped, apart from a couple claimed by the NRM and four that were converted into departmentals, as access vehicles for maintenance in tunnels. All the latter vehicles survive in preservation, including one at Mangapps. According to a late 1950s BR poster that we have in our collection, there were no less than 11,500 cattle wagons in service at that time, but only those six original wagons survive.
     
  14. Robin

    Robin Well-Known Member Friend

    Joined:
    May 7, 2012
    Messages:
    1,393
    Likes Received:
    1,747
    Location:
    Stourbridge
    Before its recent conversion to a Brake Third, the Severn Valley Railway's 24506 began life as full brake pigeon coach (BGP) 70759. The brake portion still retains the racks used to hold pigeon baskets. There are a number of pictures at
    http://www.svrwiki.com/LNER_24506_Brake_Third
     
    Matt37401 likes this.
  15. Jon Pegler

    Jon Pegler New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2014
    Messages:
    42
    Likes Received:
    30
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Red Star did have a facility for sending pigeons in individual containers.
    I used it to send an errant pigeon from Kings Cross to Leeds as late as 1988
     
  16. flaman

    flaman Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2012
    Messages:
    2,292
    Likes Received:
    2,048
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Semi-retired farmer, railway & museum owner
    Location:
    Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
    One of the more modern items of railwayana at Mangapps Railway Museum. Formerly at Clapham Junction Station.
     

    Attached Files:

    • 017.JPG
      017.JPG
      File size:
      3.5 MB
      Views:
      18
  17. simon

    simon Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2006
    Messages:
    11,567
    Likes Received:
    5,224
    There is still one of those in situ on the station approach road to Guildford.
     
  18. flaman

    flaman Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2012
    Messages:
    2,292
    Likes Received:
    2,048
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Semi-retired farmer, railway & museum owner
    Location:
    Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
    Someone had better get a ladder out, it's the railwayana of the future;).

    As a friend in the railwayana world often says, "It's still out there!"
     
    SilentHunter86 likes this.
  19. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2014
    Messages:
    15,330
    Likes Received:
    11,666
    Occupation:
    Nosy aren’t you?
    Location:
    Nowhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    There's a really nice EWS 3 beasties sign on not too far from my current abode, I did send a email to someone at DB about it,asking how much and could I purchase it please? No response and I think it's still there, but you just know some scroat's going to whip it away one day.
     
  20. flaman

    flaman Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2012
    Messages:
    2,292
    Likes Received:
    2,048
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Semi-retired farmer, railway & museum owner
    Location:
    Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
    It's another downside of the "modern" railway. Before privatisation you could contact the local BR manager and, if the item was redundant, he could contact Collector's Corner at Euston, who would set a price and you, having paid, could go and remove it. Failing that, a direct approach to Bob Ballard, the CC manager would often produce the same result. So you got the desired item and BR got something for it. Now you have a situation that benefits nobody and simply encourages theft.
     

Share This Page