On Dec 14, 8:45*pm, allantracy wrote:
It's getting noisier at Marylebone now! Tonight both 67 018 "Keith Heller"
and 67 014 "Thomas Telford" were sitting on the stops, at platforms 1 and 3
respectively and at the head of the 18:06 Banbury (blue and greys) and the
18:30 Wrexham (WSMR). The real trains return!

Who would have thought Marylebone would ever end up being the place to
be for cranks?

In my younger trainspotting days, the first time we ever visited
London (for Deltics, Hydraulics and much else all in the same town), I
received great derision from my colleagues after including Marylebone
in our itinerary.

The place was dead, no sign of any retail outlets and no staff
whatsoever in sight, just a couple of DMU sets parked up in one of the
platforms.

“What the **** have we come here for this is worse than Lichfield
City” I never heard the last of it, even months after it was still a
standing joke.

At its low point, off peak, there couldn’t have been more than a
couple of departures an hour and 100% suburban DMUs.

There’s a Video 125 cab-ride production of those pre-privatisation
days that I pretty much ignored when it came out that is now looking,
with the passage of time and all that’s changed, like an absolutely
fascinating must buy – single track, semaphores and a class 50 over
the Paddington bit.

Even in those days I had a soft spot for Marylebone. Its concourse
built for ten platforms and portico link to the GC Hotel spoke of a
company with vision. It was awful seeing the goods yards disappear.

Perhaps worse was the loss of the original platforms 3 and 4 when the
cab road was removed. Now they have been rebuilt but are much
shorter. We would be better off today if the original platforms had
been kept and renumbered 5 and 6.