My childhood

admin · My childhood

Being born in Laindon and just 10 minutes away from the line, I began to take an interest in the line when in my childhood and following Mum & Dad taking us to Fenchurch Street and upon our arrival, Dad took us to see the engine. (Dad likes travelling on trains, but never been keen on them like me.) As we stood on the platform, the driver invited us up on to the footplate and I lked it so much, that after that, if ever we went out to play, nine times out of ten, I could be found around Laindon station watching the trains, getting the face full of smoke if they raced through on the way up to London and oh boy, WHAT a beautiful smell? Everytime I smell that smoke now, I recall standing on that bridge.

When I was on summer holiday from school, I would spend many of the days at Laindon station, but one day, instead of being there with my younger brother and lad next door, we cycled to Southend. I left them there and cycled home alone, but then in those days, all youngsters were reasonably safe. As a guide to getting back home, I used the roads next to the railway line as much as possible. I could also get to watch any trains passing as well.

Before the building up of Basildon was truly started, we three boys would cycle down to the level crossing that was at the top of Green Lane in Laindon and watch the trains steaming by, but one day there was a light aircraft that crash landed in a field on the opposite side of this crossing and because of the appalling road conditions, the local fire brigade had difficulty getting their tender to the scene and then the gates had to be unlocked to allow them to cross. Fortunately, the pilot was only injured, because had the plane blown up, the field of corn/wheat/whatever, would have caught fire and the lineside as well.

At this same crossing, we used to place stones on the line to see the trains run over them. That was until a lad in my sisters class caught me and asked if I was trying to derail the train. he threatened to go home and tell my Mum & Dad what I was doing, but thinking I was clever, I told him I wouldn't tell him where I live. He then told me my address and admitted, he liked my sister, so followed her home one day. To this day, I have NEVER deliberately laid as much as a pebble on tracks and do my best to keep others off when they have NO authority to be there.

Ever since those days, I have been interested in trains AND the LT&SR. In fact I was in a charity shop a month or so ago and bought a 1,000 jigsaw of Southend Central station, WITH a 2-6-4 crossing the bridge on its way to Shoeburyness. When I get round to doing it, I will be framing it and placing it on the wall of my home.

37427

Amazing story. Very Happy

I hope you don't mind me asking a personal question do you? ...how old are you?

admin

admin

I was reading on another forum today, about a member recalling his childhood days and becoming interested in railways. He went on to say about the amount of shunting that went on in the local marshalling yard during the night and memories flooded back for me.

As I have said, I was born in Laindon and close to the station, hence my interest. Well, I was born at the top end of Tyler Avenue as it was and the house has since been sadly demolished and a road through where it stood.
During the wee small hours, the coal trucks were shunted into the yard there and almost every time, the noise from the squealing of the wheels would be either so loud, or carried over the tree-tops and wake me up. This was noticed more during school term time, because of having to wake up and finding it hard after being awake during the night.

Dofre · My earliest memories

My earliest memories laying on Laindon railway bridge with enemy planes overhead. Helping the Station Master who sometimes let us ride on the footplate of the shunt engine in yard. My dream was broken when I started work at Bow Works C.M.E&E work shops building Loco e.g Blackfive , Grayhounds Tank engine

Guest · Earliest Memories

I was born in 1950 in Fairview Road, Vange, so I spent my train-spotting formative years on the bridge on Timberlog Lane. I remember the old semaphore signal on the Up line by the bridge, and possibly a little signal box just the Laindon side of the bridge. I also remember seeing Midland 4Fs on excursions on summer Saturdays.

I also remember walking home from school (Swan Mead Junior) one day and seeing a train on the Up line towards Pitsea, so I stopped and waited for it. I waited several minutes and it didn't get any closer, and it also looked a bit odd, like it was on but slightly to one side of the track. I gave up waiting and went home, only to find on the TV news a report that a train had derailed near Pitsea. They had been running the line betwen Pitsea and Laindon using the Up line for both directions, while they put up the overhead wires on the Down line. A platelayer had clipped the catch-points so that the trains could pass over in either direction, but had clipped the points the wrong way. A Southend train had crashed off the top of the embankment just before it crossed the A13 (as it was then), and two people had been killed. Loco was a Standard 4MT (80075 I think). I walked down there to watch, but couldn't see much because I was on one side of the embankment, and the train was off the other side.

My childhood

My earliest memories

Earliest Memories