62 comments
  1. baron von zubb
    baron von zubb
    November 7, 2008 at 6:50 pm

    This has all gone into trainspotting old men territory.
    I may be convinced about the wonderfulness of harder/faster/grittier anarcho punk of the 80’s but trains?
    Whats got into you all?
    Go with Chas & take lots of drugs.

  2. andus
    andus
    November 7, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    Have you seen the Eastfield website, loads of trains. heres the link.
    Eastfield are a punk band from brum.

    http://www.eastfieldrailpunk.co.uk/

  3. Nic
    Nic
    November 7, 2008 at 8:57 pm

    I’m with you on the trains thing, Baron…
    🙂

    I have no interest in trains whatsoever (I’ve been on the Chiltern), but I do love the work of the GPO film unit and the film artists who worked in the British Documentary Movement (a precursor to the ‘Free Cinema’ movement and a direct influence on Greenaway’s early work)…

    Hopefully see you up in Wolvo, Andus: the programme is being shown twice, but I’m going to the showing on the 10th as I’ll be down in Minehead for the weekend on the first date vibing on Melvins, Bernard Parmegiani, James Blood Ulmer, White Noise, Dalek, Kool Keith, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Fantomas, Bohren, Meat Puppets, Os Mutantes and a little bit of Stockhausen…

  4. andus
    andus
    November 7, 2008 at 9:28 pm

    I’ll head for the 10th, I should have some cash by then, I have to get all these banks off my back in the meantime, I must be the only cxxt who will not loose any money if the banks collapse.

  5. baron von zubb
    baron von zubb
    November 8, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    Birmingham is the only place that has got that link .
    I’m sure I never posted the above in the end.
    Thought I was being mean. This IS a train thread after all.
    I think Penguin has linked this site to my synapses. I’m not in control.

  6. andus
    andus
    November 19, 2008 at 10:36 am

    That looks very interesting. I notice also that this was done under a Labour administration.

  7. Chas
    Chas
    November 19, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    well it was started by the tories and carried on under Wilson

  8. andus
    andus
    November 19, 2008 at 4:02 pm

    You’re right Wilson was elected in 1964 and again in 66. The Beeching report was done under Alec Douglas Home’s Goverment who was PM for just under a year. Who was only allowed to become PM after Tony Benn’s famous fight to allow people to renounce their peerages to become MPs.

  9. Chas
    Chas
    November 19, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    and who had to be persuaded by his officials not to intervene to save the line from Crieff to Comrie in his own constituency

  10. andus
    andus
    November 19, 2008 at 4:34 pm

    I have no idea.

  11. andus
    andus
    November 19, 2008 at 6:59 pm

    I have an idea it was Harold McMillan

  12. andus
    andus
    November 20, 2008 at 11:45 am

    Actually I have no idea

  13. andus
    andus
    November 20, 2008 at 11:47 am

    I have an idea it was Alec Douglas Home

  14. Chas
    Chas
    November 20, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    sorry Andus, I was completing your sentence about Alec Douglas Home, not offering an obscure railway pub quiz question! It was him

  15. andus
    andus
    November 20, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    Thats ok, thought it would be either him or Macmillan. I found Tony Benn’s diary quite amusing, he was post master general during that error and had to fight tooth and nail to get palace officials to reduce the size of the queens head on the stamp so we could have those nice drawings and pictures we have today, Benn wanted the Queens head removed altogether, but no way would they allow that! So they compromised after months of wrangling and reduced it.

  16. alistairliv
    alistairliv • Post Author •
    November 21, 2008 at 1:08 am

    I was baby sitting tonight and watched the Ian Hislop film plus interviews with Mr. Charles Loft… just got home and its nearly midnight or I would say more but it was most enlightening. ‘Motorway Marples’ def. a bit of a villain.

    In one of the Ceinfuegos Anarchist Reviews (late seventies) produced by Stuart Christie there was a lengthy piece about how the USA automobile industry bought up and closed down the Los Angles tramway system as a way to promote car ownership. [Also see ‘Who Killed Roger Rabbit?’ film for more on this theme] The anarchist connection being that the Barcelona Tram System was successfully run by Spanish anarchos in 1936…

    Need to fact check, but read somewhere that in UK development of motorway system was encouraged during Cold War as alternative to rail network – partly out of fear that “Communist” trade unions might shut down railways on orders from Kremlin in run up to war and/or that motorways would better survive nuclear attack.

  17. Chas
    Chas
    November 21, 2008 at 9:42 am

    Glad you enjoyed it, I’m waiting for the call to join I’m a celebrity ….

    Don’t know about the cold war thing, but I’m sure its something that would have been thought about. All the same everyone wanted motorways in 1960 (alright I dare say there were exceptions but you know what I mean) It was only once people saw the GLCs plans to knock down half of london for a series of ring roads (1968 I think) that people really started to oppose road-building. When the Beeching report came out the Cabinet got a paper on its implications for evacuating major cities in the event of a nuclear war

  18. Penguin
    Penguin
    November 25, 2008 at 12:34 am

    Just spent an enjoyable hour watching the Hislop railway film, nice work Chas.

  19. Chas
    Chas
    December 2, 2008 at 9:46 am

    Cheers Penguin, not that I can take much credit for it, Hislop has a very thorough researcher. If it helps me persuade my publishers to reissue my book as a 20 quid paperback with some photos instead of the current 70 quid hardback with no pictures (which has currently sold even fewer copies than flowers in the dustbin’s third single!) I’ll be happy. 1.3 million watched it on BBC4 but apparently there’s ‘no market’ for a reasonably priced paperback (sorry, rant over).

  20. Penguin
    Penguin
    December 2, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    Ha, yeah I checked it on Amazon straight after the docu Chas, and my eyeballs almost fell out when I saw the price! If it was a score would have snapped it up but…
    If there is any floppy back books getting printed let us know on this site and I am sure we will make an effort to out sell that last Flowers 7″ on Coldharbour Records. I liked that single actually, still do!
    You’ve filled out nicely since those days as well by the look of the TV angles.

  21. Chas
    Chas
    December 3, 2008 at 9:23 am

    No way! It’s well known the camera adds ten pounds – the other three stone was chips and beer – those 29 inch waist jeans aren’t ever gonna see another gig…..

  22. Penguin
    Penguin
    December 3, 2008 at 10:13 am

    My 28 inchers from those days need to stretch an extra 6 inches nowadays. Luckly Levis do a 34 inch waist – well done Levis corp for thinking ahead to my future lardiness.

  23. Chas
    Chas
    December 3, 2008 at 10:38 am

    Actually I’m surprised that Fender, Gibson and co have not shown similar foresight in designing guitars with concave backs that can hide that ageing rocker paunch and also make it easier to play – some of the higher frets can be quite tricky to reach while standing once you break the 13 stone barrier. maybe I should take that to dragon’s den?

  24. Penguin
    Penguin
    December 3, 2008 at 11:31 pm

    🙂

  25. Carl
    Carl
    December 4, 2008 at 10:08 am

    Both Chas and Penguin are missing the facts of the matter. I too had the 28″ waist kecks in the early 80’s and now in my 40’s am in the old 34″ !. This is not due to lardiness as Penguin puts it , but a conspiracy led by the EU to redefine measurement.

    I believe that the 34″ inch of 2008 is the same size as the 28″ of 1983.

    Thoughts ??

  26. andus
    andus
    December 6, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    No its not I’ve been on a 32′ waist since I was 16, I am now 43 and still on 32′, Putting on weight is due to lack of physical excercise, which we do less of as we get older. I got everywhere on a pushbike, do not own a car, so I reckon that accounts for my waist still being 32′.

  27. Chas
    Chas
    December 8, 2008 at 9:21 am

    Youre probably right Andus, but hang on when I was 20 with a 29 waist the nearest I came to exercise was managing to stand up and play the bass for a whole 40 minutes on the same day that I walked from Stokey to spurstowe terrace. When I was 29 I started playing football regularly and the resultant beer and curry habit has left me the wreck of a man I am today. Still, managed to drag my gut around for 90 minutes on Saturday – I was outstanding in a 5-1 defeat 🙂

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