by Mark Found

My opening piece to camera seemed to send people into a bit of a curve - name four football league clubs with the letter 'x' in the name. Answer: Wrexham, Oxford, Exeter and Crewe (full name Crewe Alexandra). Hope that's cleared things up.

So to Crewe, and the irrepressible Howard Curran, local historian, councillor, and former employee at the railway works. When one's putting together a story Howard is one of those people that you pray to meet - he knows his subject inside out, he's got an engaging personality (you just can't help but like him) and he can talk (and I mean really talk!).

We arrived in Crewe the night before filming - unfortunately not in the manner that we'd intended. When we'd originally planned the series we were going to do a piece about The Flying Scotsman and The Orient Express, killing two birds with one stone as it were, since the Flying Scotsman was due to be hauling the Orient Express. As luck would have it, the planned train that we were planning to travel on was going to (wait for it) Crewe. What a way to arrive, hauled by steam and treated like kings, but come the day the Flying Scotsman went sick (with a hot tender axle) and we went to Crewe in the van. Oh, well - break out the Ginsters sausage rolls then.

Stayed in the marvellous Station Hotel, right next to the, well, station as it happens. Fine hotel and, oh joy of joys! a room right next to the railway, terrific vantage point and saw a lot of action (railway-wise thank you).

The next day off to the station and met up with Howard to do the filming. It's really great when someone is so enthusiastic, it seems to rub off on every one - the cameraman was on the verge of buying a house up there by the end of the day! Learnt a lot about the place and its' development, all of which I really didn't know before, and heard, for the first time, the name of Francis William Webb, engineer and entrepreneur. Now, I can't do the man justice on this page - but I think I might try to persuade Howard to write an article for trainspotting.tv, it's a fascinating story.

After filming on the station it was off to the Railway Age to do a couple of things - the second part of the Crewe story and the feature about the APT - P.

The Railway Age is a great place, stuffed full of interesting stuff and sandwiched between the lines at Crewe North Junction, yet, on the day that we were there, a nice day weather-wise, barely a sole in the place. Come on guys, get visiting - the place deserves your attention - and here are some of the attractions:

Firstly it's home to the APT - P, Britain's laudable attempt to make high speed travel work using existing tracks but shelved by politics. There's a full unit at The Railway Age, recently cosmetically restored by Virgin and Pete Waterman's LNWR staff, and there's the story of the doomed project on board. Unfortunately not every is as lucky as myself in getting to meet Kit Spackman, one of the original designers of the tilting system who worked on the original gas - turbine powered unit, but don't let put you off, it's worth checking out (and don't forget your camera, it looks stunning).

Secondly there's a whole host of locomotives in various states of repair, including both the engines seen in the feature.

And thirdly, there's the North Junction signal box. To me, this would justify a visit to the Railway Age on it's own. From the outside it looks like a bunker with its' thick concrete walls, and on the inside it looks like the signalman's just popped out to the loo. Absolutely brilliant and, as if that weren't enough there's a balcony outside giving a prime view of the West Coast Main Line and the line to Holyhead. We filmed in the box for about half an hour and I saw some great stuff go past - a Serco test train, a new Pendolino, a bit of freight, multiple units in a dazzling variety of colours, a couple of class 92s etc. etc.

Many, many thanks to all who made the day possible: Howard Curran, Margaret and Anthony at The Railway Age, Rob Latham of the APT - P support team, Kit Spackman and Lee West of Virgin Trains.

Trainspotting.links (will open in a new window)

The Railway Age
Home site, tells you what you need to know.
 

www.apt-p.com
As seems to be the case, railway-wise, some one else's hard work makes good reading for us

http://www.freewebs.com/crewenorthjunc/

excellent site, although hard to read in parts.  Certainly worth having a look at.