Football Specials - the good old days

[Guest worth_the_wait]

A few seasons ago, EMT ran a football special to the Derby away FA Cup match on a Friday night.   

That got me thinking of the history of football special trains for Leicester fans ...

 
In the late 60/early 70's, football specials were pretty common and ran to most of the away games.
 
I thinked they stopped running specials for a while, after one was smashed up coming back from Ipswich Town (in the early 1970's).   At some point they started running them again for a few matches, but not as regularly ... and they seemed to be tailing off in the mid-late 70's.
 
(although I think ones were run to Hull City (Boothferry Park Halt) and Walsall (Bescot stn) for the 1977-78 FA Cup matches.)
 
I don't think any were run for our first season back in the 2nd Division (1979-80), but they did pick up again after that.  In the period 1980-1985 football specials were run to loads of grounds.   There seemed to be a special for most Saturday away matches, and even some night Cup matches.
 
What was also interesting, was some of the weird stations they took you to ... presumably nearer than the main station, or easier for the police to herd you to the ground.    In the period 1980-85, specials were run to all the places listed below:
 
Newcastle Utd  (Manors stn)
Sunderland  (Seaburn stn)
Liverpool  (Liverpool Lime Street + bus)
Manchester Utd  (Warwick Road stn)
Oldham Athletic  (Oldham Werneth stn?)
Leeds Utd
Sheffield Wednesday  (Wadsley Bridge halt)
Grimsby Town  (New Clee stn)
Stoke City
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Aston Villa  (Witton stn)
West Bromwich Albion  (Smethwick Rolfe Street stn)
Coventry City
Derby County / Nottingham Forest / Notts Count  (*see notes below*)
Hereford Utd
Norwich City
Ipswich Town
Luton Town
Orient  (Leyton Midland Road stn)
Crystal Palace  (Norwood Junction stn)
Tottenham Hotspur  (Northumberland Park stn)
Millwall  (New Cross Gate stn)
Cardiff City  (Ninian Park halt)
Southampton
 
Note(*): For Derby and Nottingham, there was usually at least one "official" football special.   But invariably 1000's just caught service trains there, and BR would lay on additional/relief trains back.
 
After 1985, special trains pretty much died a death.   Most fans went away by cars, vans, coaches or service trains.
 
There were occasional specials.   For example to Sheffield Utd (in 1989-90).   But not many after that until the Derby one (in 2016-17).
 
On the whole, football specials were cheap and cheery and got you to the ground in one piece.   The main downside was you got taken straight to the ground, so no sightseeing.   And alcohol was not allowed on them (in later years anyway), so they could be a bit boring on long trips.

 

It would be nice if they could run the odd one now and again, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Stadt]

It’d be nice if they ran for difficult fo get to away days or games that have been moved for TV on Friday or Mondays. I looked at trains for Norwich away and I think the last train back was before kick off.

[Guest Markyblue]

Cheap way to travel, but looking back the state of the trains were disgusting,  but being young and stupid you really didn't care, they were filled with hundreds and hundreds of young people,  the travelling fans nowadays would go nowhere near them.

[Spudulike]

They might've got you to a ground in one piece not always on the way back as those that went to Stoke City in '74 will testify. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

12 minutes ago, Stadt said:

It’d be nice if they ran for difficult fo get to away days or games that have been moved for TV on Friday or Mondays. I looked at trains for Norwich away and I think the last train back was before kick off.

There was talk of one for Norwich but it never materialised.

[Corky]

Not sure if it was a designated football special but I remember after a match at Scunthorpe we were bussed from the ground to a station outside the town (Althorpe I think) and caught a train from there. Seemed a sensible way of getting people together and out of the area.

 

For a few years Stoke fans had a football special train from Leicester after matches before they were relegated.

[Fox92]

Pretty sure there was something for Posh in the FA Cup the other year? We were ushered on one.

[Guest Markyblue]

13 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

They might've got you to a ground in one piece not always on the way back as those that went to Stoke City in '74 will testify. 

There were plenty of bad experiences in the mid 70s, changed near the end of the 70s and 80s as we took greater numbers away. 

[Remember Kember]

Living near Market Harborough i remember the cup final specials coming through when a northern team made the final. The trains went on the old mkt. Harboro to Northampton line even after it had closed to passenger travel as it went all the way to Wembley station. Remembering seeing Leeds fans coming back after being beaten by Sunderland in 1973. Happy days

[Stuntman_Mike]

I'd love for these to return (well any away day right now ) away days are so much better by train. 

[PAULCFC]

Went on one for the ZDS Semi v Notts County.Had the old coaches with radiators on and everyone was trying to dry out next to one.Also one up to Liverpool,met at Lime Street with busses with perspex windows!Any one remember the holding pen at nottingham station,Felt like a pig pen with spikes on the top of the fences.Happy times

[Voll Blau]

I've been lucky enough to experience two in Germany over the past few years and there's definitely a huge case for them to be brought back here, especially with how ridiculous kick-off times cause issues these days.

 

They're a great space where hundreds of fans can bond, lads who would be thought of as a nuisance on ordinary service trains can let off some steam (especially, if is the case on the ones I've been on to Munich with Bochum, there's a bar/disco carriage as part of the train) and it provides a safe and affordable way for fans to get to games. Better for the environment too.

 

Will try and dig some pics out of the ones I've been on. Would absolutely love to do something similar with Leicester one day! Imagine how much better it would make a pain of an awayday like Southampton or Swansea.

Edited 29 September 2020 by Voll Blau

[Guest worth_the_wait]

21 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

They're a great space where hundreds of fans can bond, lads who would be thought of as a nuisance on ordinary service trains can let off some steam (especially, if is the case on the ones I've been on to Munich with Bochum, there's a bar/disco carriage as part of the train) and it provides a safe and affordable way for fans to get to games. Better for the environment too.

 

That's reminiscent of the "LeagueLiner" that BR introduced in the early 70's.   It was an attempt to keep the fans entertained, instead of smashing up the train.  

 

 

I don't think the idea lasted very long, but interestingly we did get a taste of it for the last match in the 1972-73 season.   The LeagueLiner was used for our away match at Liverpool, who had just won the League.   I wouldn't have thought we took many that day, but it would be interesting if anyone was on that train, or knew anyone who was.

 

 

[Voll Blau]

28 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

That's reminiscent of the "LeagueLiner" that BR introduced in the early 70's.   It was an attempt to keep the fans entertained, instead of smashing up the train.  

 

 

I don't think the idea lasted very long, but interestingly we did get a taste of it for the last match in the 1972-73 season.   The LeagueLiner was used for our away match at Liverpool, who had just won the League.   I wouldn't have thought we took many that day, but it would be interesting if anyone was on that train, or knew anyone who was.

 

 

 

Think there's a famous pic of Shilton in his disco gear on that train?

 

The carriages look a bit posher than the ones I've been on mind! Was quite old stock with separate compartments, but again that was good for less rowdy fans who just wanted to travel and chill out with their mates/families.

 

Found a couple from the most recent one I went on, last away game of the 16-17 season at 1860 Munich. Sixteen-hour return journey!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 29 September 2020 by Voll Blau

[Stadt]

I got crowd surfed by coked up Bochum ultras on that train  

[MattFox]

Chelsea and Spurs have both chartered trains for fans back to London from Leicester after midweek/Sunday games in recent seasons

[Guest worth_the_wait]

20 hours ago, Stadt said:

It’d be nice if they ran for difficult fo get to away days or games that have been moved for TV on Friday or Mondays. I looked at trains for Norwich away and I think the last train back was before kick off.

It would be good, but with a few rare exceptions, it just doesn't seem to occur to the rail companies to put them on.

 

In fairness, it's a lot harder than it use to be.   Back in the 70/80's, league matches were pretty much fixed months in advance, giving them plenty of time to sort things out.   There were loads of empty coaches lying all over the place, so it was easy to find the rolling stock to put on special trains.    And the rail network wasn't as busy, so it was easier to shedule extra trains in.   

 

I suppose the main killer was privatisation, as rail companies are now only interested in running regular trains in their regions.   And they also only lease out the minimum number of trains, so they don't tend to have many spare trains lying around waiting to be used.

 

They might just about think about one where it falls within their area eg the Derby v Leicester match a few years ago was easy for EMT to stick a train on..   But anything with the slightest complexity seems beyond them.

 

Last season, I Emailed EMT and Cross Country asking them if there was any chance of putting on a special train to Witton, for the 2nd leg of the Aston Villa League Cup tie.   They said that they don't run trains to Witton ... it's not one of their stations.  Yes, I realised that.   The clue was in the phrase "special train".     Mind you, even running an extra late train back from Birmingham New Street would've done the trick.  But no, Cross Country hadn't thought of that either.    I wasn't expecting any joy, but no harm in trying!

 

[Voll Blau]

12 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

Last season, I Emailed EMT and Cross Country asking them if there was any chance of putting on a special train to Witton, for the 2nd leg of the Aston Villa League Cup tie.   They said that they don't run trains to Witton ... it's not one of their stations.  Yes, I realised that.   The clue was in the phrase "special train".     Mind you, even running an extra late train back from Birmingham New Street would've done the trick.  But no, Cross Country hadn't thought of that either.    I wasn't expecting any joy, but no harm in trying!

 

 

A mate of mine enquired a few years ago about the cost of chartering a train to Newcastle and back. EMT came back to him with a quote (think it was something like £6,000) and asked him what is was for. They turned him down flat when he replied saying it would be for football. Such a shame the rail companies can't see the bigger picture.

[Stoopid]

I believe the football special trains became less popular after one fan was run over on the track a while back. 

From what I heard though, he was chuffed to bits! 

[Foxes1]

Remember the Ipswich one that got smashed up. Think the train took the long way back to Leicester via London

 

[boots60]

21 hours ago, Spudulike said:

They might've got you to a ground in one piece not always on the way back as those that went to Stoke City in '74 will testify. 

I was on that train. Stoke fans bricked the windows as the train was pulling out of Stoke. Scary for this young lad!

Still have some of the tickets issued, 1/4" thick stubbies with the prices on them. Stoke away 50p, Sheffield Utd 70p, Leeds & St. Pancras 90p & the really expensive Newcastle away (5 hour journey on the special) an eye watering £1.80

The carriages used for the specials which at the time were very dated are now used for tourists on many steam railway lines.

The tracing paper loo roll was always nicked to throw  onto the pitch when we scored.

[CosbehFox]

Chelsea and Spurs have ran them to and from Leicester recently. They normally stick the first team in first class as well. 
 

I swear as a kid I once went on one from Witton in about 99 or 2000. 

[Guest Markyblue]

Definitely had a special to witton at villa, man utd used to be Warwick road, went on a special to Leeds and we had to walk to the ground because bus company was fed up with the buses being bricked on the way to the ground. 

[Finnegan]

4 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

lads who would be thought of as a nuisance on ordinary service trains can let off some steam

 

Tbh that sentence alone is why I can't ever really see it happening again en masse in this country. 

 

I read that sentence and I just hear "dickheads wrecking shit" and I AM a football fan. If you're some government health and safety exec, a chief of police or the CEO of a railway you're going to have nightmares about "lads letting off some steam" on your train. 

 

I know you've got some utopian vision where it's just you and your mates and the only antisocial thing you do is sing a bit loudly, leave a few beer cans in the aisle and piss on the toilet seat but you're in massive denial if you think that's all it would be. 

 

There's so many willy pullers in this country. I mean, christ, the state of the city centres on Saturday at 10. THAT is who'd be on your football specials. 

[Guest Markyblue]

Believe me the old football specials were a wreck before anyone got on board,shithole didn't do them justice.