Breaking down following the Rams

[IslandExile]

We're all going through a lot of anguish at the moment but this isn't a mental health thread. 

To lighten the mood, I thought we could tell stories of the times when the transport to a Rams game let us down. Cars were once a lot less reliable than today.

Jan 81 FA Cup 3rd round replay at Bristol City.

Lost 2-0. On the motorway coming home in my £200 Spitfire (white with white patches), the car started changing lanes with no input to the steering wheel. Stopped at a services where the mechanic said we'd be nuts to go on. So on we went, after all, we had work the next day.

Differential then seized up and I managed to skid into the hard shoulder. Towed back to the same services. Managed to get a lift home from a Boots lorry returning to their factory site at Nottingham where I worked at the time.

Car was eventually fixed. But it wasn't the differential that had caused the lane swopping. The front axle had severed, wheel only kept on by the brakes. Differential seizing up saved my life and that of my friend (sorry mate).

Next...

Sep 81 Div 2 lost 4-1 at Shrewsbury.

Friend's Triumph 2500 petrol injection stopped injecting petrol on the way home. Onto the flat low loader tow truck. Too many of us to fit in the truck cab so we stayed in the car on the back of the truck.

[ilkleyram]

Can’t remember the match but a midweek evening game in the 80s. I lived in north Cheshire at the time and post match went back up the M6 in my old ford escort. Alternator packed up in a bit of the M6 that had no lights. Pitch black. Dark maroon car, poor headlights made worse by running on a fading battery, no indicators or wipers, M6 with no lights and then country lanes. 
Sensible thing was to stop at the next junction, only I wasn’t sensible. Made it home somehow. Put new brushes in the alternator next day. 

[Grumpy Git]

Not breaking down, but living up in the hills en-route to Buxton until the early 90's, there were more than a few times that we'd run into snow north of Tissington.

Sometimes made worse after stopping for a couple in the Blue Bell on the way back after a night match.

Great times.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

Reading away, Lampard's first game. The Roadrider (RIP) broke down about 5 miles from the ground. The other coach it came with had to drop people off at the ground then double back to pick us up.

Would have been fuming if I'd missed Tom Lawrence's header!

[Wistaston Ram]

Had a dead battery when I got back to my car after the game at Rotherham (the one where Lampard got sent off). Fortunately half the Rotherham u23 team were passing and gave me a push start. The alternator was shot, so had to make the long drive home without stopping or stalling!

[Ramrob]

Last minute goal vs QPR ?

 

 

 

…oh, you mean transport breaking down.

[2tups]

6 minutes ago, Ramrob said:

Last minute goal vs QPR ?

 

 

 

…oh, you mean transport breaking down.

Enhanced by a gig in Islington with @Inverurie Ram, taxi to Victoria from a Millwall fan and the ‘pleasure’ of the overnight Megabus to Aberdeen. With quality facilities and happy students returning to Central Lancs.
 

Some time on the A90 north of Forfar, twelve hours or so later, the elation was taken to new levels by blinding rain and, yes, the wipers on the bus stopped working. Dear diary, sod off.

[Mucker1884]

Not a breakdown in the traditional sense... but our minibus got broken down, flipped on it's side, and all 4 tyres let down, whilst we were in the local down the road from Abbey Stadium (Or whatever Cambridge's ground was called back then? ?‍♂️)

 

I assumed that was 1980 when we started with a 3-0 defeat there (and we never did come back in '81!), but I've just checked, and that was a Saturday, so the game I'm thinking of must have been a 1-2 win on 01/09/81, as it was most definitely a midweek night match...

Nigh on 1am before we were on the road... thickest freezing fog I have ever witnessed before or since (I wasn't driving, but bagged the last seat... next to the missing window... and it was absolutely freezing all the way home!), and we got home just in time to go straight to work!  

Still... we had a good time in the pub, oblivious to what was happening to the mini-bus 300 yards away!  ??

[I am Ram]

Not a breakdown, but Wigan away (boxing day) during our last promotion. Got stuck on the m6 for hours, never made the game, gutted.

[falconram]

Alfreton supporters bus in the late eighties running out of fuel on the way back from Millwall away, just as we reached the A52 turn off on the M1 , big Derek at the wheel.

[Chellaston Ram]

The 4-3 win at Norwich a few seasons ago, I went on the train and there was signal failure at a small village about 15 miles outside Norwich. We all had to get the local bus that took us all round the local villages so we didn’t get to the ground till half-time. But ended up a brilliant second half

[simmoram1995]

My fondest derby memory was when Seth accidentally ran full pelt into the ref and knocked him out ?? ended up having like 10 mins added tik for something.

 

closely followed by the funniest defender performance by Claude Davies vs Kuqi we were laughing so hard in north stand we nearly  fell several rows forward 

[Mucker1884]

Not a breakdown in the traditional sense (v2)...

Early 80/81 season.

After witnessing a mighty fine 0-0 draw at Loftus Rd in a League cup 1st leg, I was heading home from work a week or so later... 03/09/80... push bike... Celanese to Chad... via the A52 Dual Carriageway... looking forward to that evenings second leg at home...

Woke up in the back of an ambulance... with the motorbiker who had knocked me off lying on the other side, sighing a huge sigh that I was still alive!  The motorbike had hit me side on (Entering A52 from the Raynesway slip) and literally folded my bike in half, sending me skidding along the tarmac ahead of approaching traffic moving at full pelt!)  (Police Reports said I had to be pulled from under a Jag, that just about managed to stop in time!)  Just glad I was unconscious throughout, and don't remember a thing!

...Skin removed from half my face... shoulder bone broke (still sticks out to this day)... and a hole in my calf (Scarred for life), where the bone was sticking out!
(Luckily I resisted picking the scabs, and my face eventually healed scar free!)

As you might imagine, I didn't actually get to the game that evening (Half fan!), but we lost on pens anyway, so duck 'em!  ?

Made my return with leg in plaster, and on crutches, on the terrace at Grimsby on the 13th... 10 days later!

#ROCK 'ARD!   ? 

[SSD]

Away at Cardiff, think it was under Nige. As usual, got thumped at their ground. Me and my mate went back into Cardiff for a drink, caught a later train home. Train broke down near Birmingham. Stuck in this sweat box for what felt like a lifetime. Ended up on a replacement bus and decided to camp in Brummie land for the night. Saturday night in a Birmingham Travelodge, chaos!

[Ramrob]

1 hour ago, 2tups said:

Enhanced by a gig in Islington with @Inverurie Ram, taxi to Victoria from a Millwall fan and the ‘pleasure’ of the overnight Megabus to Aberdeen. With quality facilities and happy students returning to Central Lancs.
 

Some time on the A90 north of Forfar, twelve hours or so later, the elation was taken to new levels by blinding rain and, yes, the wipers on the bus stopped working. Dear diary, sod off.

None of the 'like' emojis were an appropriate response to your reply. 

What a day – in more ways than one! 

COYR

[CBRammette]

1 hour ago, Mucker1884 said:

Not a breakdown in the traditional sense... but our minibus got broken down, flipped on it's side, and all 4 tyres let down, whilst we were in the local down the road from Abbey Stadium (Or whatever Cambridge's ground was called back then? ?‍♂️)

 

I assumed that was 1980 when we started with a 3-0 defeat there (and we never did come back in '81!), but I've just checked, and that was a Saturday, so the game I'm thinking of must have been a 1-2 win on 01/09/81, as it was most definitely a midweek night match...

Nigh on 1am before we were on the road... thickest freezing fog I have ever witnessed before or since (I wasn't driving, but bagged the last seat... next to the missing window... and it was absolutely freezing all the way home!), and we got home just in time to go straight to work!  

Still... we had a good time in the pub, oblivious to what was happening to the mini-bus 300 yards away!  ??

In Cambridge - have never seen anything that exciting

[minesahartington]

9 hours ago, IslandExile said:

We're all going through a lot of anguish at the moment but this isn't a mental health thread. 

To lighten the mood, I thought we could tell stories of the times when the transport to a Rams game let us down. Cars were once a lot less reliable than today.

Jan 81 FA Cup 3rd round replay at Bristol City.

Lost 2-0. On the motorway coming home in my £200 Spitfire (white with white patches), the car started changing lanes with no input to the steering wheel. Stopped at a services where the mechanic said we'd be nuts to go on. So on we went, after all, we had work the next day.

Differential then seized up and I managed to skid into the hard shoulder. Towed back to the same services. Managed to get a lift home from a Boots lorry returning to their factory site at Nottingham where I worked at the time.

Car was eventually fixed. But it wasn't the differential that had caused the lane swopping. The front axle had severed, wheel only kept on by the brakes. Differential seizing up saved my life and that of my friend (sorry mate).

Next...

Sep 81 Div 2 lost 4-1 at Shrewsbury.

Friend's Triumph 2500 petrol injection stopped injecting petrol on the way home. Onto the flat low loader tow truck. Too many of us to fit in the truck cab so we stayed in the car on the back of the truck.

Moral of the story? Don’t buy a triumph!

[RadioactiveWaste]

13 minutes ago, minesahartington said:

Moral of the story? Don’t buy a triumph!

Was just thinking "why did the British sports car industry decline the way it did?"

Not rams related, but a good story:

Back in my days working in Cumbria, I did my bike test and got a Suzuki bandit 600 (loved that bike) and some of my mates from Wales were going up to an a metal gig in Leeds (Life of Agony and quite a few other bands were on) and I was going down to meet them...just about to drive down, I think sod it, I'll take the bike, it's more metal anyway.

Tipped down on me the whole way.

Ran out of petrol on the m61 near Bolton (I'd left the fuel reserve tap open). Pushing it along the hard shoulder a fellah and his kid in a van stop and give me a lift to the services.

The starter motor fails. It's ok to bump start the bike, pain, but no big deal. Still tipping down.

Getting into Leeds, the engine keeps stalling itself on idle, and I've had to bump start it a couple of times.

Then the next time it stalls, I'm trying to get it to go, the bugger is refusing to start, I keep trying, and, then, the motor does catch - but I don't get the clutch back in quick enough (with hilarious consequences). Smashed up the bars, tank and peg on the right side of the bike and couldn't realistically ride it with the damage. Parked it up for the night, walked the rest of the way to gig.

Fortunately, someone from work had borrowed the work van that weekend and came to rescue me and my motorcycle.

[Eatonram]

Not a breakdown......But, Charlton away when they played at Selhurst Park. Arrived in the area about 1.45. In the Pub for beers, asked locals how far to the ground, the answer "5 minutes drive". Left the pub at 2.45, got totally lost, could not find the place even when we could hear it. Got in at 3.25, we had already scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game (Steve Cross). Great day.

A lot of our away days were lake that BITD.

[Jimbo Ram]

Drove the 60 miles from Shropshire to Derby for a home game v Plymouth at the BBG in the early 90s. It was so foggy we kept coming across cars abandoned on roundabouts but somehow made it to Derby only to find out that it had been postponed….because of fog….