RECORDED DELIVERY - 1970'S

Part of the fun of collecting vinyl records is that moment when you come into possession of a rare recording, and this one here is so rare, it's the only one in existence.

Not that it contains a wonderful song mind you, no, if you recall the item I put up in March 2011 about railway recording booths, then this is an example of the end product.

It dates from the 1970/71 period and was recorded in a booth in Broughty Ferry.

The Calibre Auto Recording was pressed on heavy duty vinyl and is a 6 inch disc rather than the standard 7 inch.

As you may expect from the cheapest recording studio around, the quality of sound is pretty poor, but hey, it's only supposed to be an audio postcard not a chart hit, the idea being that you pop into the station booth with thought of sending someone a message.

So, the background behind the duo on the disc - you know regular Retro contributor Craig Methven, well his brother Jack and his mate Derek, after a couple of pints, popped into the booth to record a message for their fiancees, Judi & Barbara, in Canada. At the end of the day, however, they decided not to send it, but Jack & Derek went over to Canada in 1971 and married the girls in 1972, where they have remained since.

You'll be able to hear a wee Dundee United song at the start but the content after that is a bit hit and miss.

Still a rare wee gem though, and a big thanks to Craig for passing it on.

LOCHEE WEST STATION IN COLOUR

Got a rare, recently discovered colour photo from the 1960's of Lochee West Station at the junction of Elmwood Road and South Road.
Still lots of open land around the area back then, and even some quaint farm cottages across the road. In fact, you wouldn't think there would be much call for a rail stop at this point. Quite a change from how it is nowadays.
A reminder that there are a couple of other items on Lochee West Station in the March 2011 Retro Archives, including map and film footage.
Thanks to Gordon C.

END OF THE LINE

As I bring the recent railway theme to a halt, I'm going to end it with the same topic I started it off with - the Lochee line.

The map section I scanned in shows Lochee West Station & Lochee Station, with the line then continuing up towards Downfield.

Before it reaches the Kingsway, another line branches off East to Fair Muir and Maryfield goods stations.

The aerial photo is from around the mid 60's and it too has the Lochee line visible on it.

The easiest way to spot it is - you see that small dark square clump of trees near the bottom right of the picture, well the thin grey track brushing passed it is the Lochee line, and in fact that is where Lochee West Station was located.

You can follow the line on the photo all the way along it's swooping curve through Lochee and up beside the Kingsway Ice Rink.

You'd probably be best to save the large versions onto your own computer and go back & forward between the 2 to match them up.

And just in case the obvious escapes you - the left side of the map corresponds to the bottom of the photo, so you'll need to twist the images around in your mind!

COURIER'S DISASTER SUPPLEMENT - 1979

On the 28th December 1979, the Courier brought out this special 4 page supplement to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of the Rail Bridge disaster.
The top photo tells you a bit about the technical details of the bridge design, the enquiry verdict and the evidence the court missed.
The remaining 3 pages consisted of facsimiles of the Courier's original coverage dated 29/30/31 December 1879.
It also tells of other damage in town caused by the hurricane - chimneys crashing down, roof tiles flying off, trees being uprooted etc.
Also published in 1979 to mark the occasion, these 2 cartoons cropped up in current affairs magazines.
The first one depicts the train driver as a bit of an Evel Knievel type character!
The second one shows a stereotypical mean Scottish reaction over the sad loss of return tickets!
You may also recall, in Anniversary year (1979) another train disaster occurred just along the road in Invergowrie, resulting in a few deaths and carriages falling into the Tay.
Spooky!!

GETTING THE SIGNAL - 1970'S / 80'S

Not exactly a brilliant picture this one but to be fair my brother was on board a train when he snapped it.

It was taken in the early 70's around the area between the rail bridge and the station.

To get technical for a moment - the WHISTLE sign was to warn of an approaching train shunting in the wrong direction over the up line.

The 2 signal arms on the tall post are shunting signals controlling one of the entrances to the goods yard.

What amuses me about the photo though is the reminder that back in the 70's my brother used to show his photos using a slide projector & screen at home, and every time this photo popped up on view, everyone in the room started to whistle!
 

Now this is a much better picture - this time one of Neale Elders.

You should recognise the view taken from the end of the platform.

The image was shot in December 1983, a year before these semaphore signals were replaced with a new coloured lighting system.

The signal boxes in the background are West Box & Central Box.
 

Another Neale Elder image here - the view along the rail bridge tracks taken in March 1986.

The "Push-Pull" train in the picture is another piece of history, and I'm pretty certain it has ScotRail on the side too!

If you need to delve deeper into the images, click onto them for the large versions.

2 BRITISH RAIL ADS - 1979/84

The top ad from 1979 has quite a lot of well known, but now long gone, BR services on display - Railfreight, Motorail, Red Star, Sealink etc - all of which have either been sold off, re-branded or closed down!

The 2nd one is a Dundee based ad for ScotRail dating from 1984.

The ScotRail name is still on the go - but minus the BR logo.

LOCAL RAIL TICKETS - 1980'S

Here's a nice wee collection of old BR tickets that were on the go in the mid 80's.
The large red & white ticket was probably the most common one in use back then for everyday city to city travel. Not only is the ticket a Dundee one, the machines that dispensed them were local too - the equipment being manufactured by NCR.
The white Excess/Travel slips were dished out by on-train staff in the days before they were given portable ticket machines for the job.
The wee pink ones were called Edmondson tickets and were issued at Broughty Ferry up until the station became unmanned in March 1985.
Big thanks to Neale Elder.

THE BROUGHTY FERRY TRAIN

There doesn't appear to be much of a difference with the view along Douglas Terrace nowadays and when the above photo was taken - the mid 70's.

This is one of my brothers snaps and you should be able to notice he managed to catch the moment a train went whizzing past Royal Tay Yacht Club.

So just for a bit of fun, I thought I'd accompany the image with this piece of film below - the same scene, but from the train drivers viewpoint.

The footage is from inside the drivers cab, and is the full, uninterrupted trip from Dundee Station to Broughty Ferry Station, passing places such as the Docks, Stannergate, Grassy Beach and of course this stretch here in the snap.

Duration? - 4 minutes.

"ALL ABOARD!"

BROUGHTY FERRY STATION - 1980'S

Well I've passed it often enough, but I've never actually had any reason to use Broughty Ferry Station - so for those of you who were Ferry passengers, this batch of photos from the mid 80's will take you back.

Top one is of the level crossing & signal box at Gray Street and was taken in July 1985.

The signal box and footbridge were later dismantled and is currently in storage, perhaps to be reassembled sometime in the future.

Middle shot is a view from the other side of the structure as seen from the platform. Picture is dated February 1984.

The last image is a look inside at the station's ticket office. If you zoom into the large version you'll find plenty of BR paraphernalia to read. This was snapped in September 1984, and then a year later it became unstaffed.

The station is now operated by mission control in Dundee.

Photos by Neale Elder.

RAILWAY RECORDING BOOTHS

Dundee used to have a Recording Booth (like the one above) at the rail station in the 60's and 70's.

Just like a photo booth, you'd plonk your coin in the slot, but instead of posing for some snaps, you'd start speaking.

The idea was that those who were travelling could send a voice message from the location they were visiting - a bit like a sonic postcard!

2/6 (13p) for a 3 minute recording at the standard speed of 45rpm.

Mind you, it was also put to use by the locals from time to time.

Yvonne J (Susan Childe from The Flamingos) was telling me that when she was a young teenager she once popped into the booth and recorded a full song - a bit of a precursor to her later years in proper recording studios.

The booth in the picture isn't the Dundee one, but I'm sure every main town in Britain had one back then.

I guess they must have been phased-out some time in the mid/late 70's.

RAIL STATION & GOODS STATION - 1983

The top photo is a nice reminder of how Tay Bridge Station looked before it became the design it is today. The one on top being a basic shoe box design - functional rather than eye-catching.

This is exactly how I remember the area when I lived in Dundee.

At the time the picture was taken (21st December 1983) the larger building next to it, the goods station, was being demolished, although obviously all the work was being done at the rear.

If you view the large version, you can see the rail station's Christmas tree.

The close-up image of the Dundee West Goods Station sign was taken on 22nd December 1983, and as you can see it was the depot of National Carriers.

Another relic from the past that's in the bottom shot is the guy wearing a Kestrel Marine jacket!

Photos by Neale Elder.

2 OLD LOCHEE RAIL STATIONS

Lochee by rail? Well you could once upon a time.

The top picture is Lochee Station, taken around 1970-ish.

It had been closed down for quite a while by then, but the station itself was saved and converted in 1972 into the Lochee Burns Club.

I really like the patchwork quilt stonework. You'd think Gaudi had paid a visit.

The other one, a bit further along the line, is Lochee West Station.

This outpost was flattened rather than rescued, but just before it disappeared it was filmed for posterity in the late 60's.

The footage below doesn't last long, but it lingers long enough to notice that it had separate waiting rooms for the Gentlemen and the Ladies!

LAW TUNNEL LARKS - 70'S

You're guess is as good as mine as to whether these 2 lads are law-breakers up to no good, or law-abiding citizens doing some research on the Dundee to Newtyle railway line - whichever it is, this image of the pair was taken at the bricked up entrance of the Law tunnel, around the Kinghorne Road area, in the early 70's.
2 ghost train-spotters possibly?!

DUNDEE - EUROPE - DUNDEE - 1983

I started using Inter Rail cards in 1980, and this one from 1983 was my 4th and last year of travelling this way. I chose to go to Greece going through the former Yugoslavia (despite lots of advice not to take that route). So the place names on the card are - DUNDEE - LONDON - DOVER - CALAIS - PARIS - NICE - VENTIMIGLIA - MILAN - VENICE - TRIESTE - BELGRADE - BAR (near the Albanian border) - THESSALONIKA - ALEXANDROUPOLIS (near the Turkish border) - ATHENS - KALAMATA - PATRAS, then pretty much the same route back up to VENICE. The trip from VENICE to LONDON was the direct Orient Express route through Switzerland. Then of course, back home to DUNDEE.
Click on the image to enlarge.

THE TRAIN LEAVING DUNDEE

It was good to get away from Dundee from time to time. I enjoyed travelling by train, so in the early 80's I pounced on the chance to get an Inter Rail card, which allowed unlimited travel around Europe for 1 month. Dead easy to use. Just write the destination on the card and away you go. No need to queue for tickets.
Unlike nowadays, when most people tend to choose their own holiday dates, back then most folk were stuck with the "Dundee fortnight". On the Friday everybody came off work, it seemed like half the town teemed down to the rail station to depart!