IN the 1960s and 1970s, people assumed a hi-tech future with flying cars and meals in pill form was just around the corner.

Exactly 43 years ago today, we ran a story about one of the reasons for that assumption: a prototype hovertrain.

RTV 31 rolled out of the Vickers plant at South Marston and sent on a huge truck for testing on a specially-built track in Cambridgeshire.

At 73 feet long and with a square cross section of about 10 feet to a side, the Government-funded Research Test Vehicle 31 was intended to revolutionise passenger and freight transport.

Its self-generated cushion of air, the theory went, would improve efficiency and minimise wear on both track and machine.

We wrote: “The prototype, which incorporates aircraft and structural engineering techniques in its construction, will weigh 21 tons once its engines have been fitted.

“With just over £3m of Government money already invested in the project, Tracked Hovercraft Ltd, who have had the responsibility of getting RTV 31 off the ground, feel justified in their conviction that the hovertrain will be the motorway of the future.”

YouTube has grainy images of RTV 31 in action, barrelling along a short section of track like something from science fiction. In 1973 it reached 104mph.

Sadly for the project, it was unable to compete financially against what became the Advanced Passenger Train, which was capable of running on existing tracks.

Whitehall pulled the plug, the project was abandoned and RTV 31 is now an exhibit at the Railworld museum in Peterborough.

In other railway news, Swindon Station warranted a page in The Sunday Telegraph Magazine, but not in a good way.

Next to a photograph of a shabby stretch of concrete we revealed that the image was used to go with an article about crumbling stations. We pointed out that the platform in question was only in temporary use while others were demolished and replaced, but some of the commuters we spoke to were less than impressed.

“We don’t use the station much anyway but it is dirty,” said one, while another added: “It’s too grubby for words – absolutely filthy.”

There was spectacle that week in Wroughton, including an appearance by an aerobatic display team which was then only a few years old but is now celebrating its 50th season.

“The Red Arrows,” we wrote, “roared low over RAF Wroughton to conclude the last open day held there by No 15 Maintenance Unit yesterday.

“It was a dramatic farewell to the base, which will be taken over by the Royal Navy next year.”

Other aircraft there to mark the occasion included a two-seat Spitfire trainer and a Canberra bomber.

From 1971 the Vietnam War would rage for another four years, and we had a war story with a local twist: “An American soldier who has spent almost four years in the horror of Vietnam has returned to his parents’ Lyneham home for a month’s leave.

“Chief Warrant Officer Barry Doick, 31, grew up in Wiltshire and went to school in Salisbury. He joined the Merchant Navy and decided to make the USA his home in 1958.

“He spent eight years in the US Air Force before switching to the Army, and became a US ctizen in 1966.

“He went to Vietnam in November, 1967, and has spent his time there as a signal technician, advising the Vietnamese army on communications.”

We named his parents as Mr and Mrs William Doick of Calne Road.

On a completely different note, on February 15 that year Britain had introduced decimalisation, with a new 100-penny pound replacing the old 240-penny one. A changeover period, during which the two currencies could be used side by side, was due to end on August 31, and the Decimal Currency Board was placing adverts to explain the process.

In early August those adverts warned people to spend their old pennies and three pence pieces – ‘thruppenny bits’ – while they were still legal tender.

Six old pennies were equal to two-and-a-half new ones, a dozen were worth a shilling and so were four thruppenny bits. A shilling, meanwhile, was worth five new pence, while a florin – or two-shilling piece – was worth 10 new pence. Shillings and florins would remain in circulation and so would sixpences, although florins and shillings would now be known as 5p and 10p pieces.

Sixpences would remain in circulation until 1980, and although the coins bore the legend ‘six pence’ they’d be worth only two-and-a-half.

An urban legend had it that an irate pensioner wrote to the Government in protest, saying: “Why couldn’t you have waited until the old people died before starting all this nonsense?”

IN OTHER NEWS...

MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 1971: “SWINDON girl Jeanette Bartlett, 20, goes to great lengths to show she’s fit. A length of 100 miles, in fact. Recently she took part in the long distance Nijmegen march in Holland. She was one of many British marchers in the 100-mile event organised by the Royal Netherlands League for Physical Culture. Jeanette is an aircraftwoman stationed at RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire. She went to Park Senior High School and her parents live at Ashbury Avenue, Nythe.” 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1971: “ASPIRING Swindon and district poets should by now have handed in their original verse for the borough’s annual competition. The closing date was last Sunday, but it is not yet known exactly how many people entered. Usually the contest draws about 100 entries from roughly 40 competitors. The poems, which must be no longer than 50 lines, can be written about any theme. A Civic Offices spokesman said that only in exceptional circumstances would a longer poem be considered. Entrants are competing for the Ibberson-Jones annual trophy and a book token. Mr W Ibberson-Jones was a Swindon author and was a member of Swindon Public Libraries Poetry Service.” 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1971: “A STAY of execution is possible for the 371 men officially declared redundant by British Rail Engineering Ltd at their Swindon works. For the axe that was due to fall on their jobs on September 24 may have to be held in suspension while the management work out exactly which men have to go. Having done that, the men’s Works Committee will have to take a look at ‘the books’ and not only agree the figures but possibly dispute the total.” 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1971: “AFTER 23 years as a Wootton Bassett fireman, Mr Arthur (‘Peter’) Taylor of St Ouens, Vale View, Wootton Bassett, retired yesterday. At 55 he has reached the compulsory retirement age, but although he has enjoyed his period of service he is not sorry to be stepping aside for younger men. ‘You don’t want too much rushing about you know,’ he said, ‘and there’s a fair amount of that at a fire.’ Mr Taylor’s job as a garage foreman at The Dairies has enabled him to be permanently ‘on call’ as a fireman. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1971: “HEAVY goods traffic should be diverted from the roads to the railways, says Mr David Stoddart, MP for Swindon. The carriage of heavy goods on the roads is on the increase, with consequent congestion, damage of roads and towns, air pollution and general injury to the environment. So strongly does Mr Stoddart feel about it that he has written to the Minister of Transport Industries, Mr John Peyton: ‘That this should be allowed to happen at all is incredible, but that it should be encouraged by actual subsidy is quite crazy.’”