Football and steam!

Didnt the SVR, also run its own football Supporters trains , when two local teams used to play each other ?

 

I also recall the East Lancs running a steam hauled train for Bayern Munich fans when they played Man City in the Champions League a few years ago.

I was on a SD charter with Mayflowerthe year before last and a passenger in the set of seats next to mine, happened to be a former Crystal Palace defender however his name escapes me but he played for them in the 70's I think.

 

The LYR are responsible for Man U. They started out as Newton Heath, the L & Y works team

 

Also responsible for Horwich R.M.I F.C. a non- league team famous for their sloping pitch which sloped 16 feet from diagonally opposite corner flags.

 

Yes the SVR ran a Footex from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster quite a few years when Shrewsbury played Kidderminster in the cup.
Not Steam but steam age Deltic 22 did a Footex from Birmingham New Street to Leeds for a cup tie in about 1998, grand total of 2 Birmingham fans got off at Leeds for the game!

 

A link to the film is given below. For some reason 17 minutes is repeated at the end but the film itself ends at 1'21'50.

Some interesting railway shots of Newton Heath shed and of the railway including above Bolton Wanderers old ground at Burnden Park. Railway shots can be found between

1'30 and 4'47

1 hour 14'20 and 1 14' 35

1 16' 50 and 1 21' 50.

Of course if you skip the other bits you will miss the other delights which include Shirley Eaton! The film also shows that the much maligned Fowler 4F had a surprising turn of foot.....

The ground at Burnden Park is no more as Bolton moved to a new ground at Horwich.

https://ok.ru/video/1009760996020

 

Great idea for a thread. From the old East Stand at the Valley (Charlton Athletic in South London - for my sins!) I used to watch the Networker 465s rumble past in the early 1990s. When the ground was rebuilt, they filled in the upper north west of the ground and you could no longer see trains from the ground.

Fifty years before, on that part of the Dartford loop line, the supporters would have been able to see third rail electrics and steam locomotives working side by side - imagine the sight of a BoB locomotive rumbling past the Valley these days! Maybe one day...

I have mused on why Charlton fans are known colloquially as "trainspotters" to their rivals - perhaps I should have just thought about it...

 

I remember being at Carrow Road watching Albion V Norwich in 2004 and 37042 was in the sidings at Norwich Thorpe and I could see it from my seat and was half keeping an eye on it, best bit of the game was half way through the second half and it was fired up.

 

The west side of Lancaster (Castle) Station overlooked the local football ground (Lancaster City). Saturday afternoon spotting included Semi's, Brits, Scots, Jubs, Clans, Prinnies, Black 5's, 4F's, WD's, 8F's, Ivatts, Jinty's and every half hour, the Lancaster-Morecambe and Heysham 3-car sets. All set to the small crowd noise of the game going on below and the chimes of the Priory Church clock striking out every 15 minutes above the station. My goodness, now I know I'm old!

 

We used to get the odd ball come over the stand from some wayward shooting/crossing when I worked on the 50’s at Kidderminster, and on the other side I’ve watched Kiddy Harriers and seen clag drift across the pitch when the 50’s have started up, on the other hand play to the whistle doesn’t help when 46521 is shunting stock in the yard

 

On 6th January 1962 I visited Birmingham Citys ground to see a cup tie against Spurs.
It was snowy, cold, and very very still. Sometime during the first half a labouring and slowly moving freight could be heard travelling from the Saltley direction to the GW. It noisily passed the ground moving painfully slowly blasting a volcanic column of black smoke into the sky. The Smoke cooled and rolled over the stand and came back down to cover the pitch, a minute or so later the banker also with a towering column of black smoke passed, which also added more black smoke to descend onto the enclosed pitch.
It took about fifteen minutes for the smoke to gradually disperse.
I often wondered if the 21A crews on these workings were Aston Villa supporters.

Birmingham 3-----------Spurs 3

 

If you read Terry Essery's book 'Saltley Firing Days' he recounts a day as a fireman on a banker when his engine, a fellow banker and a train engine were all on very Smokey coal and produced the exact same effect when passing the ground. Obviously not an isolated incident!

 

Steam train runs through a football ground

 

Rugby and steam will be seen together in the future as the Bala Lake Railways extension runs past the rugby ground .