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BIOGRAPICAL INFORMATION |
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My first encounter with the Deltics began in 1976 when I went to London to buy a black & white portable reel to reel video recorder & camera. On the way back home I decided to call at London King’s Cross to see if I could film any trains & there at the buffers was a Deltic it was 55014 THE DUKE OF WELLINGTONS REGIMENT Soon after another Deltic arrived this time 55010 THE KINGS OWN SCOTTISH BORDERER & with that started to film them. Other Deltics coming & going were 55020 NIMBUS 55015 TULYAR 55019 ROYAL HIGHLAND FUSILIER Some on the platform would ask me what I was doing & so I replied I’m filming these locomotives on this portable video recorder & they would ask "what does a video recorder do?". This started a long association with these Deltics. Later on I started going to a place near Newark called Claypole & within a few minutes Deltics were passing by at a low speed as there was no crossing with electronic barriers but only a man in a little shed who would close the gates to let these Deltics pass. So out with the video to film them. A week or two later I returned but this time the Deltics were really shifting I had some difficulty filming them but did my best. I recall I used to sleep in my old Morris 1000 van so I could see as many Deltics as possible during daylight hours. I would also visit York to film Deltics. Sometime later I sold my video outfit along with the tapes containing these Deltic shots. About 6 years went by & I asked the person I sold this video outfit to "Do you still have that video outfit I sold you sometime ago" To my amazement he said "Yes want to buy it". So I did & a lot of the film I had took was gone but there was one tape still containing some Deltics & so transferred them onto my new Sony portable Betamax colour video outfit HVC3000 I still have those recordings. I decided to film some Deltics with this new video outfit so Guess where I went to film more Deltics? Yes back to Claypole only to find the shed & man gone and new barriers installed & Deltics shifting but not as many as before. As time went by I put away my equipment & so one day in 1981 went to Claypole & not many Deltics at all. I recall seeing one special called THE DELTIC CUMBRIAN As time went by it was revealed that the Deltics had only one month left before they were withdrawn from service so I decided to spend as much time filming these Deltics before they were gone forever. I spent a lot of time at Peterborough railway station in my motor caravan & filmed Deltics 55017 THE DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY 55007 PINZA that had failed being towed by a class 47,Aslo seen were Deltics 55022 ROYAL SCOTS GREY & 55009 ALYCIDON arriving with the DELTIC BROADSMAN & again hauling THE DELTIC EXECUTIVE I drove to many places like Finsbury Park and there was Deltic 55013 THE BLACK WATCH 55008 THE GREEN HOWARDS & 55007 PINZA
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