Happy Holidays at Burnham
06th August 2025
As a child, and during the early teenage years, annual holidays, and more often than once a year once, would be taken with my Grandparents in Burnham, Bucks, a village on the outskirts of Slough Industrial Estate. First impressions might not sound that promising but Burnham was OK, sufficiently out-of-town not to make us country bumpkins feel out of place, and we always had a great time there. My brother and I would spend as much time as was allowed trainspotting on the island platform at Burnham station, one of many commuter stations on the Great Western Main Line between Reading and Paddington. With permission of the man in charge of course! Not sure if he was a station master then, or just a senior porter, but always welcoming and tolerant. There was never a problem, no hassling from anyone and there was a constant procession of trains between Reading and London all day to keep us on our toes. We spent hours there. Happy times indeed!
A typical day would be Wednesday 2nd June 1982. I would have been 16, coming up to 17, so I am guessing that my 'O' levels were over and I was able to get away for a week away. Either that or half term holidays were on, but I'm not certain. I kept loads of notes of my trips out, of which I still have most, but I do not know how much time was spent at Burnham station on this particular day. Needless to say we saw 35 locomotives and 28 separate HST sets on the long-distance trains. Of the locomotives the split between classes was:
Class 31 - 2 (31209, 31316, each on separate freights)
Class 33 - 3 (33062 on an unrecorded train, plus 33015+33114 on an oil train)
Class 37 - 2 (double-heading a Foster Yeoman stone train, empty to Somerset)
Class 45 - 1
Class 47 - 15
Class 50 - 11
Class 73 - 1
So 35 locomotives in total. I'm guessing we were there for maybe 3 hours or so, no more. The Class 73, no. 73129, was a surprise, running light engine towards Reading on the fast line, as was the 'Peak', Class 45 no. 45057 on empty coaching stocking. This was the time when Pope John Paul II was visiting the UK and British Rail were running hundreds of specials. On this day he was in South Wales so maybe the 'Peak' was operating the ECS in connection with that.
The two photos above were taken on the same day with my trusty 110 camera - looking back a dreadful choice but all I had at the time. 35mm SLR photography for me started the following year in 1983! Class 50 no. 50032 "Courageous" was working the 10.22 Reading to London Paddington local stopper, and Class 47 no. 47131 was on a London-bound empty newspaper train. Both running on the up slow. Whilst I wish I had a better camera, and took more photos, what I have got are treasured and bring back so many happy memories, and that's what it is all about, isn't it?
A typical day would be Wednesday 2nd June 1982. I would have been 16, coming up to 17, so I am guessing that my 'O' levels were over and I was able to get away for a week away. Either that or half term holidays were on, but I'm not certain. I kept loads of notes of my trips out, of which I still have most, but I do not know how much time was spent at Burnham station on this particular day. Needless to say we saw 35 locomotives and 28 separate HST sets on the long-distance trains. Of the locomotives the split between classes was:
Class 31 - 2 (31209, 31316, each on separate freights)
Class 33 - 3 (33062 on an unrecorded train, plus 33015+33114 on an oil train)
Class 37 - 2 (double-heading a Foster Yeoman stone train, empty to Somerset)
Class 45 - 1
Class 47 - 15
Class 50 - 11
Class 73 - 1
So 35 locomotives in total. I'm guessing we were there for maybe 3 hours or so, no more. The Class 73, no. 73129, was a surprise, running light engine towards Reading on the fast line, as was the 'Peak', Class 45 no. 45057 on empty coaching stocking. This was the time when Pope John Paul II was visiting the UK and British Rail were running hundreds of specials. On this day he was in South Wales so maybe the 'Peak' was operating the ECS in connection with that.
The two photos above were taken on the same day with my trusty 110 camera - looking back a dreadful choice but all I had at the time. 35mm SLR photography for me started the following year in 1983! Class 50 no. 50032 "Courageous" was working the 10.22 Reading to London Paddington local stopper, and Class 47 no. 47131 was on a London-bound empty newspaper train. Both running on the up slow. Whilst I wish I had a better camera, and took more photos, what I have got are treasured and bring back so many happy memories, and that's what it is all about, isn't it?