47403
Established Member
I was around 14 and I was now deemed old enough to go on trains unaccompanied by an adult along as there wax enough of us, safety in numbers our parents thought.
Summer Saturdays being the best of times, one Saturday 3 mates and I went out for the Summer loco hauled moves, all planned on the friday night down Tyne Yard, we tried unsuccessfully to get a TOPS report off the foreman, damn and drat, or words to that effect anyway.
Our best laid plans to be at Newcastle Central for 8.30 went out the window, when we had to wait for one of the lads Dad coming back from Nightshift for his money. We got to Central for half 9, the idea was to take the 10.20 Newcastle - Liverpool to Durham and wait for the Scarboro - Newcastle, however, the 47 was one we'd already had so we decided we'd take the 10.40 Glasgow - Scarboro, usually an NB 47, 47196 showed, result, off to Durham for the wait, however at Durham, the 37 booked service went from 15mins down, to 35 all the way to 75, with no gen sites or mobiles then, we were told 37079 had failed, I'm still at a loss to know how they found out, maybe a member of staff told someone, we wondered what was on it, was it going to be double headed? Imagine the gasps when a pair of 20's came round the corner, into Durham Station. Apparently the 37 came off at York and when the 20's came round the corner to back onto the stock, it caused quite a panic, bashers running for tickets, they certainly caused quite a stir among us at Durham thats for sure. A cracking start to the day, after a Peak to Durham
, it was a 37 back, this time on the Yarmouth - Newcastle, One of Gateshead's finest 47405 to Darlington for a NB 47305 on the Eastbourne from Darlington to Durham, the day wrapped up late, with a pair of 31's, 31230+271 on the Paignton - Newcastle, from Durham. It was a couple of weeks later, that someone advised us to get a weekends Northumbrian Ranger, that we done many other moves out of York and various other places.
Things started to look up when Heaton had a DMU shortage due to a fault on the 143's, there'd be 2 sometimes 3 loco hauled moves on the Middlesborough - Carlisle turn, in the Easter Holidays one of the lads said how did we fancy a days bashing, on these turns, we got to Central Station around half 9 and were busy looking for someone who might have some gen, when 37515 came round the corner, que panic amongst us, we legged it over the bridge and hopped on, paying the guard for our ticket to Sunderland, head out the window for the journey. We'd just got off when and 37515 was pulling away, when we got told 47291 was out too, it was on it's way from Boro as we speak, we had about 45mins or so to kill, our plan was to bash the Newcastle - Liverpool trains but one lad said I fancy Carlisle and another said, what about an overnight and do some Electric bashing to Penrith, up to Dumfies on the loco hauled and down to Settle on them too. The problem was convincing our parents, we hopped 47291 back to Newcastle, go home and try and convince our parents to, a)let us stay overnight in Carlisle and b) part with some extra cash. It took some convincing my dad on both accounts and a smile and puppy dog eyes to my gran and grandad for some cash but somehow we all managed, we tried our damndest to get back for the 1S15, 17.15 loco hauled Newcastle - Edinburgh, a turn that has mustered a 27(which I missed), 37'/4's and a multitude of ETH 47's, later it was a way to get the newly refurbished and new 47/7's back up to Scotland. However we missed 47442 by a whisker, the plan to take it to Morpeth for the DMU straight back was scuppered, huffed we went and watched HST's and the odd frieght go by as we waited for 37515 to Carlisle, however as we waited 31405 came in from Boro, apparently the 37 had been removed at Carlisle earlier in the day. 31405 was a huge result, my head out the window till just after Haltwhistle, the night in Carlisle was amazing. In the morning the move to Dumfries was planned, we saw 08690 bring the coaches in, to shunt into the bay platform at the North end of the Station, we asked the shunter, if we could hop on the coaches as he shunted them, he agreed as long as we got on the opposite side from him and kept out of his way, we promised to do so and as a result we got 08690 for a small haulage of sorts, we awaited the loco for the trip up to Dumfries, result 27057, more head out the window, for 47550 back, making sure we all had a good look as we went past Kingmoor both times, so we could compare notes when we got back. Quick hop to the ticket office, for tickets to Penrith, for a bit of Electric bashing we must have travelled half the day back and forth before our tickets eventually got gripped and we were still gutted
. After we'd been to Botchergate chippy, we pooled our money together to see if we had enough to get all of us to Settle on the S&C and then decided it might be a good idea to check to see if we had enough time to do so, however the move was dead in the water before it even started when 31285 pulled in on the Carlisle - Newcastle, we hopped on, stuck our heads out the window, till tiredness got the better of us, probably Hayden Bridge, however it was a great day/night, hauled by some decent loco's and we copped a boat load of stuff too
Summer Saturdays being the best of times, one Saturday 3 mates and I went out for the Summer loco hauled moves, all planned on the friday night down Tyne Yard, we tried unsuccessfully to get a TOPS report off the foreman, damn and drat, or words to that effect anyway.
Our best laid plans to be at Newcastle Central for 8.30 went out the window, when we had to wait for one of the lads Dad coming back from Nightshift for his money. We got to Central for half 9, the idea was to take the 10.20 Newcastle - Liverpool to Durham and wait for the Scarboro - Newcastle, however, the 47 was one we'd already had so we decided we'd take the 10.40 Glasgow - Scarboro, usually an NB 47, 47196 showed, result, off to Durham for the wait, however at Durham, the 37 booked service went from 15mins down, to 35 all the way to 75, with no gen sites or mobiles then, we were told 37079 had failed, I'm still at a loss to know how they found out, maybe a member of staff told someone, we wondered what was on it, was it going to be double headed? Imagine the gasps when a pair of 20's came round the corner, into Durham Station. Apparently the 37 came off at York and when the 20's came round the corner to back onto the stock, it caused quite a panic, bashers running for tickets, they certainly caused quite a stir among us at Durham thats for sure. A cracking start to the day, after a Peak to Durham
, it was a 37 back, this time on the Yarmouth - Newcastle, One of Gateshead's finest 47405 to Darlington for a NB 47305 on the Eastbourne from Darlington to Durham, the day wrapped up late, with a pair of 31's, 31230+271 on the Paignton - Newcastle, from Durham. It was a couple of weeks later, that someone advised us to get a weekends Northumbrian Ranger, that we done many other moves out of York and various other places.Things started to look up when Heaton had a DMU shortage due to a fault on the 143's, there'd be 2 sometimes 3 loco hauled moves on the Middlesborough - Carlisle turn, in the Easter Holidays one of the lads said how did we fancy a days bashing, on these turns, we got to Central Station around half 9 and were busy looking for someone who might have some gen, when 37515 came round the corner, que panic amongst us, we legged it over the bridge and hopped on, paying the guard for our ticket to Sunderland, head out the window for the journey. We'd just got off when and 37515 was pulling away, when we got told 47291 was out too, it was on it's way from Boro as we speak, we had about 45mins or so to kill, our plan was to bash the Newcastle - Liverpool trains but one lad said I fancy Carlisle and another said, what about an overnight and do some Electric bashing to Penrith, up to Dumfies on the loco hauled and down to Settle on them too. The problem was convincing our parents, we hopped 47291 back to Newcastle, go home and try and convince our parents to, a)let us stay overnight in Carlisle and b) part with some extra cash. It took some convincing my dad on both accounts and a smile and puppy dog eyes to my gran and grandad for some cash but somehow we all managed, we tried our damndest to get back for the 1S15, 17.15 loco hauled Newcastle - Edinburgh, a turn that has mustered a 27(which I missed), 37'/4's and a multitude of ETH 47's, later it was a way to get the newly refurbished and new 47/7's back up to Scotland. However we missed 47442 by a whisker, the plan to take it to Morpeth for the DMU straight back was scuppered, huffed we went and watched HST's and the odd frieght go by as we waited for 37515 to Carlisle, however as we waited 31405 came in from Boro, apparently the 37 had been removed at Carlisle earlier in the day. 31405 was a huge result, my head out the window till just after Haltwhistle, the night in Carlisle was amazing. In the morning the move to Dumfries was planned, we saw 08690 bring the coaches in, to shunt into the bay platform at the North end of the Station, we asked the shunter, if we could hop on the coaches as he shunted them, he agreed as long as we got on the opposite side from him and kept out of his way, we promised to do so and as a result we got 08690 for a small haulage of sorts, we awaited the loco for the trip up to Dumfries, result 27057, more head out the window, for 47550 back, making sure we all had a good look as we went past Kingmoor both times, so we could compare notes when we got back. Quick hop to the ticket office, for tickets to Penrith, for a bit of Electric bashing we must have travelled half the day back and forth before our tickets eventually got gripped and we were still gutted
. After we'd been to Botchergate chippy, we pooled our money together to see if we had enough to get all of us to Settle on the S&C and then decided it might be a good idea to check to see if we had enough time to do so, however the move was dead in the water before it even started when 31285 pulled in on the Carlisle - Newcastle, we hopped on, stuck our heads out the window, till tiredness got the better of us, probably Hayden Bridge, however it was a great day/night, hauled by some decent loco's and we copped a boat load of stuff too
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