European Railroad Discussion > 1974 Routing question

Back in 1974 my family and I lived in London for several months in late winter and early spring.  Being a young railfan I was fascinated by British Rail, made even better by the fact that my school was right next to the western mainline out of Paddington.

Long story short, we took a trip that spring from Paddington to Stratford on Avon, changing trains in Leamington Spa.  I remember going through Reading and Didcot.  This was all pre HST so we were a locomotive hauled standard consist train.  Not sure if we had a class 52 Western but I became a fan of those engines.  What I am trying to piece togethor is what route we took to Leamington Spa and if this route is still a main route?  Watching some current You Tube videos of head end rides from that part of England has made me curious.  We rode a DMU from Leamington Spa to Stratford on Avon.  Very bucolic as I remember.  Also, what would our speed have been back then?  

As a side note, I also became a fan of British football during that time (I still am to this day), and I believe the day of our trip to Stratford on Avon was the Saturday Man U was relegated to the 2nd Division thanks to the famous Dennis Law backheal goal vs Man City.  Can't believe it has been over 50 years ago!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/25 09:05 by fulham.

fulham Wrote:
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> Back in 1974 my family and I lived in London for
> several months in late winter and early spring. 
> Being a young railfan I was fascinated by British
> Rail, made even better by the fact that my school
> was right next to the western mainline out of
> Paddington.
>
> Long story short, we took a trip that spring from
> Paddington to Stratford on Avon, changing trains
> in Leamington Spa.  I remember going through
> Reading and Didcot.  This was all pre HST so we
> were a locomotive hauled standard consist train. 
> Not sure if we had a class 52 Western but I became
> a fan of those engines.  What I am trying to
> piece togethor is what route we took to Leamington
> Spa and if this route is still a main route? 
> Watching some current You Tube videos of head end
> rides from that part of England has made me
> curious.  We rode a DMU from Leamington Spa to
> Stratford on Avon.  Very bucolic as I remember. 
> Also, what would our speed have been back
> then?  
>
> As a side note, I also became a fan of British
> football during that time (I still am to this
> day), and I believe the day of our trip to
> Stratford on Avon was the Saturday Man U was
> relegated to the 2nd Division thanks to the famous
> Dennis Law backheal goal vs Man City.  Can't
> believe it has been over 50 years ago!

The route you described is still a main line with substantial passenger and freight service through Didcot and Oxford. The major difference between then and now is that in addition to the route you took, the direct route to Leamington Spa (and on to Birmingham) via High Wycombe and Bicester North, which was downgraded by BR in the mid 1960s, has been substantially upgraded so today you would travel direct from London (Marylebone rather than Paddington) to Stratford upon Avon without the need to change at Leamington. You can still catch trains from Leamington to Stratford if you wanted to recreate your journey of 50 years ago, but you wouldn't need to.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/25 13:05 by 86235.