30th Anniversary Memories

This article was submitted by Geoff Woodley, a founder member of the Inter City Railway Society.

ICRS — The Concept - I Hear a New World (this was the title of the very first UK concept album)

As the ICRS 30th birthday is imminent, as a member from day one, a former editor (twice), treasurer and sales / publications team member, hopefully I am qualified to present at least a brief resume of the first few years of the society’s existence.

The origin can be traced back to a discussion in a fish & chip shop in Bradford, late on the evening of Saturday 24^th November 1972. A group of officials of the then DRC society had been receiving a “motivational monologue” from it’s president, and for reasons that are best left in the annals of time, and fuelled by a few beers, the group decided to form a new society.

On the 27th January 1973 a meeting was held in Cardiff which formalised the split of the two societies, albeit acrimoniously, and founded ICRS.

The new group had pockets of members all over the country, but two areas in particular were to provide trip participants in the first couple of months of the society existence. One was in the North West, based around Carnforth, Lancaster and Preston areas - indeed this group numbered over 120 members by June 1974, and Bristol Parkway station with its panoramic car park views also saw dozens of members joining. With other pockets in London, Cardiff/Barry, Derby/Leicester, Exeter, Gloucester/Cheltenham, and Sheffield, trips were able to run from most parts of the UK, and the 500 members mark was reached in November 1973. By mid 1976, there were 800 members and 14 separate trip running branches each with it’s own officials, from Stevenson to St Austell!

The first newsletter, a four page affair - run off by the then Editor on a Roneo duplicating machine at the school where he was a teacher- appeared in late January 1973. This advertised the first trips and featured news, stock changes and a decidedly ‘duff’ competition, the author of which now wishes to remain anonymous!

During December 1972 and January 1973 several trips were run using the new group name. However the very first trip to be advertised as, and run as an ICRS trip was on February 11^th 1973, from Bristol to Bletchley and its stabling points, plus Toton. It ran with a 52-seater coach, was full and so we were able to refund 25p off the advertised fare of £2.75. Those were the days the visit report for the trip is attached. A week later the Northwest branch ran a highly successful tour around South Wales.

The society grew and by Easter 1973 the society was able to offer a 4-day trip around most of Scotland with two coaches, one from Bristol & pickups to the Northwest, and the other from London picking up via the East Coast. £13.50 for a 4-day bash, including hotels and permit fees for 100 of us. We saw over 75% of the locos allocated to Scotland, and all bar 4 shunters — 2 being in Doncaster Works!

The concept of the society — the main thing that was to distinguish ICRS from other similar groups was the humble Shunter. The society decided that running trips concentrating on shunter stabling points was an important key to the society future, and something other groups did not do.

Two trips to say Toton would likely account for all the ‘class 44 Peaks’, and the ‘class 13 hump shunters’ when they were around, but 10 trips to Toton would not guarantee you would have cleared the 25 or so class 08’s then based there. So we went to places where there was perhaps only one shunter — the distant ones — Fort William, and Fishguard Harbour, the smelly ones — Lime Road Tar Works, and Bridgwater Cellophane — the inaccessible ones — Meldon Quarry, and Holyhead Breakwater,

And of course the socially desirable ones such as the various Scottish distilleries, and Guinness at Park Royal!

By 1974, the society was producing its own publications, Shunter Duties being the main one, which sold by the hundreds over the years. “Week of the Westerns” also brings back fond memories, with loads of us on WR rail-rovers charting the workings of this revered but endangered species over the Easter week of ‘75. Those were the days when you could get overnight loco-hauled trains with compartment stock to thrash Hemerden at some ungodly hour, and when the trains ran very well in the wet at Dawlish 

Last year whilst in a London railway bookshop, I was delighted to find an early Shunter Duties on sale for £8 — advertised as autographed by the author. I was well chuffed until my daughter deflated the ego and said that if I hadn’t signed it - it would probably have been £10 as a mint copy!

By the mid 1970’s the society was well set up, running trips here there and everywhere, by now the leading society of its type in the UK. It’s publications were well known, its news-letters, professionally printed from August 1975 were excellent, and the success of its sales team with stalls at open days and on rail-tours, had made the society financially stable from it’s rather hair raising origins.

In those days clearing your BR locos was not at all easy, DMU/EMU collectors were at least tolerated, whilst wagon enthusiasts were a very rare breed in Bristol I only knew of only one - and no-one was even remotely interested in anything Euro.

We became so successful that we really had to stop and take stock of what the core objectives of the society were. We were under pressure to re-write the Observers book of Railways, Pete Watts of Pathfinder tours fame wanted us to get involved in Rail-tours and Oxford Publishing wanted us to write new “spotting books” based on our Shed ‘78 booklet, and to give them Shunter Duties to publish. We had several budding railway writers who went on to great things (such as Colin Marsden) as members, all asking us to publish their ideas. But we felt we had to step back. Even if we could have resourced the time for all of this we could not risk member’s money in so many ventures, despite many of them being sure-fire winners. Looking back we missed out on a number of things, platform 5 cornering the spotting books market soon after being an obvious one, but the decisions taken were for all the right reasons, except perhaps commercial ones! At least it ensured that there was a legacy to leave to you, the members of today.

A series of family illnesses ended my direct ICRS involvement in 1979 but I have retained my armchair membership ever since. I now spend my time as a Personnel Manager with 08630 and so far this year 187 different class 66’s on Mgr’s visible from my Avonmouth office window, as a Granddad, a pub owner, and still visit my old Bristol Parkway haunts now & then.

Here’s to the next 30 years. Best wishes to anyone who remembers me.

Geoff Woodley

Very first official ICRS trip - to Bletchley Area 11/02/73 from Bristol/Gloucester. Renumbering was to start in March that year!

Rugby 3796, 7522/24, E3058, E3172/195. Coventry 3576, 7610, E3106.

Nuneaton 1548, 3764, 3974. Leicester 126, 1563, 1685, 3587, 3785, 3862-64,

5225/226/236, 5237/267/268/270/282, 7618.

Toton 1-6, 8-10/28/38/41/55/61/63/73174/82/86/87/90/93, 100/04/05/08/11/25/28/31,

1616, 1804/05/10/20/39/46,1962. 3029/39/44, 3345/62, 3400/02/04, 3505/14, 3788,

3852, 3996/97, 5224/30/39/42/60/73/74//85, 5601, 6842/98, 6984, 7534/57, 7620/49,

8015/35/37/39/42/64/66-68/74/81/88, 8134/35/37/40/44/45/47/52/59/63/65/67,

8172/73/75/80/87-89/97.

Northampton 1856, 3054/66, 3179, 3228, 3976, 5220/71,

7525/55/63, 7658, E3075, E3158.

Wellingborough 47/52/54/78,139,1667,1895,

3057, 3586, 5252, 7616,

Bedford 3053, 5215, 7570, 7663. 3699 was supposed to be

Here, but was not located.

Bletchley Depot 3023, 3107/88, 4098, 7531.

Bletchley ,Station/Yards 3110, 5218/61, 7528/55, 7658 (again) E3077, E3114.

Wolverton Works 3018/55/57.

Luton 4139

Top