IT WAS a holiday in Cornwall that sparked Peter Heath’s interest in railways.

Climbing aboard the steam-hauled Cornish Riviera Express with his parents at Paddington in 1947, he faced a five- or six-hour journey with nothing much to do.

He writes: “I can’t remember whether it was my idea to start collecting train numbers or my father’s suggestion to help pass the time, although looking back, if it was the latter, I’m sure he must have deeply regretted it as he had no interest in railways.

“During the next eight years, he did his best to stop this ‘ridiculous pastime’ when I should have been doing something much more worthwhile like playing cricket or reading history books.

“Anyway, I purchased a copy of the Ian Allan locospotters’ book, No 1 Great Western Railway, from the station bookstall and I was hooked.”

After returning to Oxford, he joined other locospotters by the line near Walton Well Road, north of the Oxford locomotive depot and five minutes’ walk from his home.

As we recalled (Memory Lane, January 25), Oxford was a paradise for trainspotters with engines from four regions of British Railways – Western, Southern, Eastern and Midland – visiting the city regularly.

Mr Heath, who now lives at Radley, recalls: “Our normal ‘spotting place’ was an interesting location as most goods trains stopped adjacent to us to take on water. We could also see the Bletchley trains crossing over from the Western to Midland Region lines.

“In those far off days, I spent many happy hours by the trackside between games of cricket on Port Meadow and swimming in the river at Medley.”

Like many others, he and his fellow trainspotters would try their luck and get into the Oxford locomotive depot to see what was ‘on shed’.

“Near where we gathered was a cinder track into the depot, purely for the use of railway staff, but we took advantage of it as our unofficial entrance.

“We would creep stealthily down behind the coaling stage, round the back of the turntable and, then having obtained several numbers, we would go into the shed itself and ask the foreman if we could go round the yard.

“If he said no, or we got caught first, we had to leave by the official gate on the towpath at the end of Cripley Road and walk all the way back via the canal path.”

Mr Heath remembers cycle rides to Steventon and Didcot to see ‘King’ class locomotives, which were banned from Oxford, and rail trips to London, Bletchley, Woodford Halse, and stations farther afield when he started his National Service.

During a summer holiday with relatives at Bloxham, he and a cousin were given a footplate ride on a fruit train on the Kingham-Banbury line.

He was also on the last passenger train to run on the Blenheim and Woodstock branch in 1954.

Today, he maintains his interest in railways as a member of the still-flourishing Oxfordshire Railway Society.

Any more memories of trainspotting to share with readers? Write and let me know.

Picture caption

No 5943 Elmdon Hall approaches Walton Well Road bridge with an Oxford-Worcester service while a freight train waits on the loop line – a picture taken by Peter Heath in 1951/2 with his Kodak ‘Brownie’ camera

A southbound freight train at Oxford station

The former Oxford locomotive shed and the famous signal gantry at the north end of Oxford station in 1966