Trains passing Magazine Cottages, Chilworth

The view from the front of Magazine Cottages where I was born and lived for 26 years looked out across the railway line which ran from Reading to Redhill, all the trains in the 1950's were hauled by steam engines, my ABC book of locomotives was well underlined as I was a keen loco spotter.

On quiet evenings it was often possible to hear the sound of the trains making hard work of climbing up the hill from Chilworth to Gomshall, there was a long goods train that used to go through at about 7.10 p.m.

One of the trains ran each way on weekdays between Birkenhead and Margate, Dover and Eastbourne, this train was affectionately known as "The Conti" short for The Continental Express, but Mrs Selmes next door to us called it "The Big Two"' maybe because it was a big train, often of 12 coaches, and went past in one direction at just afer 2 p.m. On Saturdays in the summer months there were many more of these holiday trains running between the Midlands and The Sussex and Kent Coast.

The three photographs below were taken from the front bedroom window of 6 Magazine Cottages, Chilworth. The quality is not 100% but the camera was only a Kodak Brownie 127!

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