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Hello everyone - Reg's mate here. I've just had a meeting about railway heritage etc and I think I'm going to be given quite a lot of leeway on what I want to do (the GWR Heritage bid has been successful) about Swindon and its railway past, present and future. I think 'Football Specials' would be something I'd like to cover: collecting stories, memories etc and converting them into a sort of performative history. (Obviously, I wouldn't reveal names and so on unless contributors wanted me to.) I can conjure up a couple of my own from the sixties but it would be great if TEF members could contribute too. Fingers crossed (Reg would love this btw). Once collated, I envisage a walk from STEAM to the railway station (via the Gluepot) to the CG with performance hopefully at the CG. Obviously, this successful GWR heritage bid will see me covering far more than football specials but I reckon this is a forgotten bit of Swindon heritage and worth recovering.

Hopefully a few of the older posters on here will talk about the football special to Wrexham in the mid 70's. I've heard a few stories but it's best coming from anyone who was on it.

Also if the interest was there any reason why we couldn't run a football special again as Bristol City run one to Swansea last week.

Not being a local and being a little younger than the football special really anyway I'd love to see whatever is discussed here, never even been on a supporters coach.

You lucky bastard.  They are very different I imagine - on one trip in the 90's, when young enough to not afford other modes of transport, they put Brother Bear on as the film.  A coach of fans going to a match get to watch a familty film, lovely.

Remember going to Southampton on a few occasions and the lads used to take pockets full of coppers,  just before we arrived at Southampton there used to be rows and rows of greenhouses, yes, you can guess what the coins were for !!.
Can’t remember a special that ever had any toilet rolls after the first couple of minutes into a journey - light bulbs too !!.
Seemed like all part of the day out in them days.

Many a good trip on Rimes coaches in the late 70's & early 80's

Iris was our leader ..    iris was our leader la, la, la, la.
Bless her.   RIP Iris.

Not so much regarding a train but remember our mini bus getting bricked on the way out of Birmingham after the 6-4 win.   

Great memories😀
Shag your women and drink your beer :pint:

Carlisle was mental, Burnley was mental.
Witnessed some daft things happening on the train the stuff getting chucked out of the windows as it went through small stations could have seriously injured or killed someone.

Always had the local welcoming committee waiting at the station, never realised the volume of the away fans breaking through the Police escort out of the station.

Have a soft spot for the Northern outposts. Much prefer them to the Southern games.

A mate of mine is a retired police officer and was on the Burnley special (Cup game) under cover and doing surveillance!

Late 70s / early 80s went to Aldershot, Exeter, Blackpool, Liverpool, Wimbledon, Torquay, Slave Traders. Might have been others. Virtually everyone on the specials were young lads, pissed or glued up. Stewards taking booze of everyone and then drinking it with their mates. Lots of money won or lost in card games. People up scaffolding were particular targets as trains pulled in and out of stations. Stopping at stations was just dumb. The rolling stock was the absolute dregs as it had a good chance of getting trashed.
Liverpool was fun. The walk to and from Lime Street. A little reception committee waiting for us after the game that didn't last long. Pulling into Wimbledon and loads getting off only for the train to go on to Wimbledon Green. The Slave Trade one was when we beat them 3-0, that was fun but when you've got 500 lads you're not really giving much of a fuck.
I missed the Wrexham one, that was supposed to have been the one to be on.

I done the Aldershot and Wimbledon games both in the FA Cup. I missed the Liverpool cup when the bastard scousers raided the train during the game and stole possessions from supporters luggage.

 One that sticks in the memory was the special train to Millwall (old Den) for the night game on Saturday 7 April 1970. It had a 7pm KO to avoid clashing with the Grand National (FFS!). I was a teenager and went on my own. One thing that was memorable was that the scruffy old train went all the way to New Cross or New Cross Gate (forget which). Then it was a short walk to the ground. A very scary place in the pre-crowd segregation days. I stood behind the goal with other Town fans at the opposite end to the home end. At 2-0 down in the second half, Don Rogers scored and the town fans were spotted by the home fans who you could then see moving from the home end, heading for where we were. I went and stood somewhere else before they arrived. I headed back to the station before the end of the game and as I was walking down the road, a Millwall fan started talking to me about the game and how good the Lions had been when there was a roar from the ground. Millwall had scored a late 3rd goal. The Millwall fan was delighted and I tried hard not to give the game away that I wasn’t a home fan. A memorable trip for a callow youth.

Wrexham, Aldershot and Exeter.

Thanks everyone for the contributions. Much appreciated - thanks for giving up your time. When I've completed my piece (probably within a month) then I'll share the link. My sixties memories include Yeovil, Aldershot, Aston Villa (cup replay v Notts F), Sheffield W, Burnley at WBA, and Arsenal etc.
It sounds as though the trip to Wrexham was a key one - anyone got a few words about that excursion?

K&B coaches in the 80s. Parked at rugby ground for Leicester game (where Foley got sent off, Hammond was brilliant until last 5 mins when we conceded several times to lose 3-2). Interesting walk back to the coach!

Saw coach with smashed windows before a Birmingham game. Our coach got kicked by a police horse. Don’t remember it being the 6-4 win though.

Have a chat with Aud I'm pretty certain he was on the Wrexham special

Sad to have missed out on these. I've heard tales of the famous Wrexham trip!

Even now it is great when you get a critical mass of fans on the trains. Coming back from Hartlepool after the 3-0 win in the Garner season was brilliant.

Getting to the ground and missing most of the first half wasn’t much fun. Losing to top off an absolutely shit day out took the biscuit.

Which game was that?

Wrexham away in the mid 70's

Jesus! Now that was a day out!

Off the top of my head I remember goin on these specials.

Liverpool and Wrexham in 76/77.
Arsenal in 79, Spurs in 80.
Reading in 82.
Burnley in 83.
Carlisle in 84.
Bristol City and Rovers at least 3 times each in the 80's and early 90's.
Newport 3 times in the late 70s early 80s.
Crystal Palace in 89 for the play off.

I am sure there are a couple I have forgotten in there too, but they were great days out, the Burnley special when the window was broken in the front carriage when a passing trains door was left open was an experience.

If anyone fancies messaging me their Wrexham memories then all will obvs be treated with confidentiality ... My Scouser walking football mate tells me that when he lived in London 1971-76, he used to phone Euston and reserve three carriages for the trip north and back to the capital. Imagine!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIbvNV5F-w&pp=ygUaQnJpc3RvbGNvdHkgdiBzd2luZG9uIDE5ODI%3D
Super footage of Town fans’ day out to Ashton Gate on the train in ‘82 here.

Not seen that before I was in the middle of those being escorted to and from Parson Street.

As a teenager in the seventies I visited Ashton Gate regularly via the train to Temple Meads and then the delightful 2.5 mile walk to the ground. I can recall hundreds of us marching along singing a song etc. One year we arrived and found the perimeter fencing etc adorned with STFC graffiti particularly “STAB” which was our calling card in those days. Attempts to pay a visit to the East End was always short lived although we did manage to actually get on the terraces one year. As for the football the first game I saw we drew 3-3. I recall the ref gave a penalty against Rod Thomas for handball when the ball hit the bar not his hand ! That’s the only time I have seen us get a point at Ashton Gate. The rivalry was far more intense with Bristol City than it ever was with Oxford in my “naughty” days as a Town fan. Still have an intense dislike for them even now.

Thanks to everyone for their memories. I've nearly finished writing everything up and I'll share in a week or two and then people can message me etc if they want anything added etc. Had a meeting yesterday with GWR Heritage funding representatives and there is great official enthusiasm for this strand of what I am doing. Much more to follow about what will happen with the Football Specials walk and talk and performance (from the STEAM Museum to the CG) by the end of the year ready for 2024 - I'm also hoping to arrange a walking football tournament with my crew from Stroud and Swindon WFers for 'oral history bantz' etc. I feel chuffed (sic): official backing for what might be a unique general and specific history of 'Football Specials". So, thanks again everyone - hope to meet you in 2024 for a trip down memory rails.

Great work can’t wait to read the finished article.

I can verify the goings on on the Carlisle and Burnley specials !

Here's the temporary link to my piece on Football Specials. I've used a variety of voices ranging from the performative to the near academic in writing a general history of football specials with particular reference to the memories at STFC. I've waiting on one more person (not on this group) to contribute and then synthesise. So it's not the finished article yet.Please message me if you wish about anything to do with the piece. It's designed to be flexible: for page, stage and a walk from STEAM to the CG. It can also be edited to fit. I've a meeting with the GWR Heritage people in a couple of weeks. I suspect this might be a unique history atm. https://sootallures.wixsite.com/topographersarms/post/football-specials