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On the few times when I could have a Saturday evening off in winter, the three pals and I would decide to go to Blackpool, wrote Allan Huntingdon, who was living at Darwen, Blackburn at the time. We had discovered that the Winter Gardens were starting an Evening at Blackpool promotion which meant that for 7/6p one could be admitted to the gardens, given a luxurious 7 course meal with Silver Service and after that, one could enjoy the ballroom to complete the evening.
Needless to say, this became very popular indeed and we became regular patrons. All we needed to do was telephone the booking office in the morning and our tickets would be waiting when we arrived.
We always managed to enjoy ourselves as we were all pretty good dancers and we had a regular choice of partners, mainly local girls, but occasionally some from the same area as ourselves. Sometimes we would pair off going on the train home which left at midnight. Hence the phrase 'Midnight Passion Wagon'.
Let me explain: the train left Blackpool at midnight, then by some magical mystery, nearly all the lights would go out. It must have looked strange to people living near the line to see a train with almost all the lights extinguished, but that is what happened.
It took almost an hour to reach Blackburn, but be the time it arrived all the lights had mysteriously come back on. It was common knowledge that the phrase 'Getting off at Mill Hill' meant that it was time for all the light bulbs to be replaced.
There was never a light bulb missing or broken on that train. Unlike today when possibly all the lights would have been smashed. Bring back the GOOD OLD DAYS.
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