BR in the 1980s Coventry Station on 29th June 1988

Enjoyed that, thanks. Never realised there were so many 85s still in top link service. Had an amazing run behind 033 stockport-coventry early 80s. Definitely no slouch. The 33 from Leamington direction was a nice touch at the end.

My home station and especially the 08805 doing the lift replacement service as they had just started to update the lifts to each of the platforms. I did that shuttle many times and what's even better my old man was the signaller at Coventry during that time. A superb video of how it was back in the day.

Superb video, and bought back many happy memories of my time working at this station.  The 08+BG as already commented on below, was to facilitate the lift replacement work to enable people who could non manage stairs to get from one platform to another.But also to get parcels and royal mail bags from the P1 to the the other platforms. 'Brutes' were used to convey the parcel/mail traffic into the BG and get them over to the platforms as the 4 wheel barrows would not fit into the BG. It was very hard work at times especially evenings as we would take 10+ brutes a at a time sometimes two trips were needed to meet the trains. At that time Coventry was a significant Royal Mail distribution hub and a lot of mail traffic was transported from the station to Bagginton Airfield to transfer to aircraft. The BG had to be changed every 2-3 days to ensure it got maintenance. Towards the end you see a Cl85 and a rake of mixed passenger/sleeper and parcel vans pass through P2 heading south/ This was a Doncaster - Wolverton ECS train that picked up and dropped off vehicles at all the carriage depots along that route, with vehicles off repair or needing repair at the locations.

Excellent film of Coventry station and the trains that passed through atb the time of filming. Love seeing the 85's

Gotta love those old AC leccies. I'd forgotten how loud the 86/87s would scream at you as they slowed down with the rheostatic brake blowers howling away, blasting hot air out the top like a diesel! - A very evocative sound. The 310s also looked rather nice with their original wrap around screens, though I don't recall ever seeing them this way myself. Most were on the GEML with flat screens by the time I got to see them.

Excellent video, many thanks for posting. Still enjoy the sound of those AC electrics. Brings back many fond memories. As you say, still a significant number of 85's around and also a variety 47's before the 47/8's took over the cross country workings.

Superb. Thanks for posting. This takes me right back to such wonderful days.

Absolutely magic. Will we ever hear a roarer roar again? 😢

Love seeing and hearing all those 85s. Caught a few at Carlisle towards their end. The 92s are noisy when the blowers are on but they cant beat an 85 for character.

Strange seeing 08805 there in that livery, i am on the train most days between telford and brum and that very same shunter in that very same livery is parked up at Soho depot !!!

Excellent- such variety in everything in those days, locos, coaches and station furniture

Superb again, never seen an O8 at Cov! Loads of Roarer action too. Presume the 33 came off there for an 85? Mate of mine was a trainman at Reading around then and told me about that train, I never saw it there

Used to love catching the old 86/87 hauled trains down to London most weeks during the football season in the 80s from Stafford to Euston, and the 310s from home to work during the summers. Lovely memories.

A great video. I lived up the road in Kenilworth, the roller-coaster line, and spent many happy days there and have many fond memories of my times there. I live in Australia now and it's great to take a look down memory lane. Maybe I'll get round to posting all my videos one day.

Thanks for a really good video of everyday workings. The 47 is simply majestic in my opinion. The 33 was such a good all rounder. 85s 86s and 87s pulling 12 carriages. Is it me, but I swear trains ran better, had more space and were more frequent back then.

Thanks for the film. I was local to Nuneaton and preferred watching there for the freight workings and the action in the engineering sidings. Do you have any footage of Nuneaton in the 80s? The Gronk is running heavy items between platforms while the goods lifts where out of action. I remember hearing one of the last Class 03s did this duty for a while, don’t know if anyone can verify.

Absolutely fantastic...

My home town where my youthful years as a spotter began. I remember seeing a lot of things there, including a Class 44 Peak a couple of times in the late 70's but I never saw a 33....

Brilliant memories of trainspotting in the late 1980s

Excuse my French... but bloody hell....310's & 317's!!. Absolute hellfire traction ...and the sound of those 87's 😀😀😀 What do we have now... wall to wall 350's and 390's. They call it progress, really 😢😢😢