My Love Of The Railway

Further Info

Funded by Bristol City Council. Watershed has created a new Bristol Stories theme to focus on the area now designated as the Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone.

The theme engages businesses, residents, and people travelling through Temple Meads and the surrounding neighbourhoods in projects that deliver creative digital representation of the area to ‘animate’ the heritage and personal experience of the area.

As part of this project Watershed worked with Knowle West Media Centre to deliver digital storytelling workshops with a group of ex-railway workers and ex-railway workers widows who lived and worked on the railways in Bristol.

This project was funded by Bristol City Council and delivered by Watershed and Knowle West Media Centre in collaboration with bigger house film

Transcript

I call it the good old days really myself with the trains because you didn’t feel like you was all het up like on the steam trains, it was sort of like a relaxing time.

Ever so quiet in those days outside, there was no cars, hardly any cars in they days. (man interrupts) yeah that’s right. Coz I used to play marbles at a lot with the children.

My name is Joyce Grimstead. I used to go on the railway years ago like with my mother and father. If you was going down Weston on a train it was brilliant, you know you felt as though you were going to the other side of the world coz that’s what it seemed like in they days you know. And the lovely smell of the coke, that was burning, the coal. It had a certain smell on that railway, I used to love it you know.

The steam used to right up under the bridge. If you was in the way at that time you’d get a puff of it in your face.

Of course in they days people never had the cars and when they went on holiday all you seen on the stations was loads of cases. So when they went on holiday it was all with a case, that’s all they had.

All I can remember is it Parson Street Station.

(man) So you met through the railway though did you in a kind of funny way.

Joyce: Well, I was only young then you know, I only remember seeing a person on the station sweeping the platform. As you as saying I had a ball at the time, playing with a ball. And the ball, my ball went onto the track.

And her father said don’t expect him to go down on the track because the train will be shortly. The train will be coming shortly. But I said well, I’ll just make it in time.

Why I love ‘em is. I don’t know it just seems so, it seems alive. It’s moving parts and it’s alive. The slowness of them and the valleys and the hills. I mean you used to see people courting in the coaches you know. If it’s empty coaches you’d see them kissing and cuddling and all relaxed and the seats was beautiful to sit on you know it was well padded, you know you felt as if you were home because they had little pictures on them of you know painters and you know you just felt comfortable.

Credits