Thursday 12 August 1993. We were in Paignton for the day during a week's camping holiday based in Sidmouth, Devon.
There's a famous railway that runs along the coast here - the Paignton and Dartmouth Railway. It had an unusual observation car at the rear of the train on certain days - the carriage can be seen here under the canopy.
We had seen notices in the town saying that the Flying Scotsman locomotive was there on that day and we had gone to see it. I was a bit taken aback. I was used to seeing the loco at Carnforth Steamtown museum in the 1980s in its LNER apple green livery and numbered 4472, but here it was in darker livery, numbered 60103 and with horrendous German-style smoke deflectors fitted to the front. I later found this was its British Rail livery and appearance. Built in 1923 it was the first locomotive to officially reach 100 miles per hour. In 1958 it had its single chimney replaced by a double one which tended to chuck smoke all over the place, obscuring the driver's view, hence the smoke detectors. It ended service running in 1963 and entered preservation status under a succession of owners and batting back and forth between the two liveries. At the time though, on this day, not knowing anything of its long history, I was doubting it was the same locomotive.
Dodging a far more modern and less interesting diesel Sprinter unit on the main line's level crossing, we went back to the seafront and had a walk along towards the pier.
The beach kiosks are a bit more like it today. Pasties and pies on offer, rather than your disgusting whelks and winkles. People were also sporting some bright summer colours as they tucked into some good old heart-warming foodstuffs! Never mind your cockles and mussels alive alive-oh, give us a carton of fish and chips a-fried a-fried-oh! I don't like any confusion over who's eating who...
The pier's amusements arcade didn't look exactly welcoming but closer inspection revealed there were lights on inside and one door slightly ajar.
Inside the arcade we found a Gorgar pinball from 1979 and an F14 Tomcat from 1986, both machines being very old for arcade use. I had a Gorgar in my own pinball collection at the time, it was the first ever talking pinball machine. It managed to make several phrases from its seven-word vocabulary of me; you; got; Gorgar; beat; speaks; hurt.
And we leave Paignton with a view of this intrepid pair at the start of their cross-Atlantic pedallo journey to America. Turn right once out of the harbour and mind that swell!
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