Train of thought……
At the weekend I found myself on a train from London to Dartford, via Sidcup.
I can’t recall the last time I’d been on this particular line as in later years I would always travel via Woolwich. Yet as I passed through the likes of Hither Green, Lee, Mottingham and New Eltham I was transported back to the 1970s.
After I started at Mary’s in 1977 I would – for a change – travel the one stop from Albany Park to Sidcup before catching the 228 bus up to school from the station.
You see I secretly envied those lads in my year who caught the train to and from school.
Like Martin Johnston, Paul Hedderman and Paul Scowen, old boys of St Anselm’s, Dartford and Ian Robertson, from Our Lady’s Dartford who travelled in by train along with old boys of St Joseph’s Crayford, like future GPs Phil Whitaker and Andy Meilak.
The train seemed a superior form of transport to my regular 269 bus and so every so often I decided to walk from my home on the new mid-sixties estate built alongside Bexley Park Woods to the 1930s-built Albany Park station on Steynton Avenue.
This is where - Reggie Perrin-like - my dad walked everyday on the way to his work with Lloyds Bank in London. I liked being among the grown-up commuters, many with their faces obscured behind their huge broadsheet newspapers.
Quite often I’d catch the train back from Sidcup station with Martin Johnston after a Saturday morning rugby match.
‘Johnno’ was the captain of the rugby team in those early years and generally regarded as the ‘hardest’ bloke in the year. I remember when we were 12 he would often buy a big glass bottle of orangeade or squash on Sidcup High Street and drink it down almost in one go after a Saturday morning game. In the blink of an eye it seems we were imbibing stronger substances.
The 1980/81 XV with the author seated second row from the left. Two down, holding the ball, is skipper Martin ‘Johnno’ Johnston, one of a number of lads who travelled in by train from Dartford
Sunday’s journey got me thinking of those old Southern region trains with their lovely British Rail blue hue and yellow fronts with three rectangular windows.
Sometimes you’d be forced to sit in a smoker which always meant you were coughing and spluttering when you arrived at Sidcup.
The smooth opening of the electric train doors today is a far cry from those old mechanical doors which were difficult to open when you were struggling with a sports bag and trumpet.
They also swung open dangerously when you arrived at your destination.
Of course Albany Park Station was also Parklands territory. The front of the station was safe as it formed part of the 1930s horseshoe-shaped shopping parade and faced the Albany pub.
Yet the back of the station represented a terrifying no-man’s lad where Sidcup met Bexley in a place called Royal Park, which my boyhood self would never venture into. I don’t know any St Mary’s boy who lived in this part of town but some surely did.
I’d be interested to hear from anyone who did and anyone else who caught the train to school.
And come to think of it, did anyone catch the ‘down’ train to get to school ie from the likes of Lewisham and those either stations I mentioned?