OK, so here we go again.
This time I went with 2 mates, 45135 and another bloke who spent some time with us and some time off on his own.
As usual, I'm grateful to 45135 for the HST and unit numbers.
Techniquest, I hear what you're saying about solo moves.
I can very much enjoy a move on my own and have no problem spending a week in my own company, however, I must admit I do prefer moves shared with mates.
We had so many laughs and still do when two or three of us get together.
On this move, I took with me a disposable camera that produced largely poor results, although I did get a couple of half decent shots.
Anyway, on with the show.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was June 1999 when I did my next all-liner. This time I was not alone, a couple of my mates were coming with me. It was nearly nine months since my last rover and I was itching to get out.
This move certainly scratched that itch, it was a mammoth nine day event starting with a bit of spinning around West Yorkshire and finishing with a bit of spinning on a multi-traction railtour.
Friday the 11th of June was the day we started and we began by doing a few 91s and the beast that is 89001 on runs to and from Leeds to fill the time before the move started properly.
This was when 1V67, the 18.03 Newcastle Bristol arrived behind 47844. We jumped aboard and we were off.
We planned to do the overnight Birmingham International to Holyhead service and the first stop after midnight was Stafford, so after arriving at New Street we purchased a single to there and awaited our steed.
This was the time of The Great North Wales Bogie Farce which had seen the usual 37/4s taken out of service after a piece of a bogie had fallen off one of them (37421 I think, but my memory might be playing tricks).
This was bad news for the railway but great news for cranks as numerous other 37s, many of them no heat, had to be drafted in to keep the trains running.
We were hoping for something exotic on the overnight and we got our wish.
37250 was the beast in question.
Sadly, this monster only worked as far as Crewe, where it came off.
What would replace it?
Another NB in the shape of 37675!
Dud, but very nice all the same.
The former William Cookworthy stayed with us for the rest of the night, working to Holyhead and then back to Birmingham.
More usual traction in the shape of 47822 followed for a run to Stafford.
My mate had recently invested in one of those new fangled mobile phone things and had immediately subscribed to something called Rail-Gen Id never heard of it and was very dubious when he received a message saying that massive 37040 was booked to put in an appearance on that afternoons Bristol Weymouth service.
Nevertheless, we decided to cover it.
From Stafford we headed South on 86212.
No missed mileage opportunity this time as it came off at New Street for 47828 forward to Taunton.
47848 was then taken back to Temple Meads and we waited to see what would happen.
The gen was that the morning out and back turn had been covered by a RES liveried 47 as the booked driver didnt sign 37s and so it was no surprise when the incoming service had such a machine on the front. Unfortunately, I didnt make a note of what it was.
We waited on tenterhooks for a while and let out a combined sigh of relief/ cheer when 37040 did indeed back on the train.
We were planning on dossing at my house that night, so we had to head back North.
This meant that we could only enjoy the growler as far as Westbury before bailing for a HST (43183/43142) to Reading.
Not massive mileage, but it was the only time I ever had 37040.
Traction to Coventry was provided by 47831, with 87002 taking us forward to New Street.
Here's 87002, wearing its Porterbrook livery, in 2004:
87002_2004.08.14_1_Crewe by philwood55013, on Flickr
From there it was another HST, 43090 & 43180 to Wakefield.
The next morning we drove to Wakefield and began the day as we had finished the previous one, with a HST, this time 43084 & 43103. We did this to New Street, via the seemingly common Sunday reversal at Sheffield that took in Woodhouse Junction.
As was often the case, Sunday was drags day and so we hoped to get a few EWS 47s in. There wasnt anything imminent direct to Nuneaton, so we reached it by going to Stafford on 86240 and then 90011.
The first drag loco of the day was 47739. This was dragging 90013 on a Wolverhampton service and was due to work the next departure back to Nuneaton, so we stayed on the skoda for a round trip to Wolves. When 90013 arrived back in New Street it was 47747 that was waiting to power the next leg and this was done to Nuneaton for 47565 back.
After this it was down to Reading for the sleeper and the bit from Birmingham to there was worked by 47851.
47830 was our travelling companion as we slept, but when we awoke we saw there must have been an issue as we were running late. Normally the sleeper arrived in Penzance with a few minutes to spare before an XC service was due to depart, but we had to bail at Truro in order to make it. 47828 was the traction and we took this to Exeter before going for some lunch.
Next up was another Northbound Cross Country service, this time worked by 47831.
We took this to Bristol and then it was a somewhat roundabout route, to say the least, as we headed back to Liskeard for the up sleeper.
We did 150249 Bristol Cardiff, 150279 Cardiff Taffs Well and back, presumably to score the track, 43133 & 43131 Cardiff Bridgend, followed by 153368 (I shall interrupt here to quote 45135 The dogbox was on something like a Swansea-Penzance and I remember seeing it coming round the corner at Bridgend in disbelief and horror!).
After deciding we werent going to suffer this as far West as we intended, we leapt at Bristol and then continued on 43029 & 43008 to Exeter, 43177 & 43182 to Plymouth and finally 153355 to Liskeard.
We were expecting 47830 again on the sleeper, but to our surprise it was 47832 that rolled in. Evidently something had been amiss with 47830. Maybe thats what had caused the delay the previous night.
We had done it that way as we planned to cover the Gatwick turns and so, after reaching Paddington, it was over to Victoria and 73203. As we arrived at Gatwick the previous diagram was just leaving and so we had a choice of doing 73203 back on the next turn or waiting to see what turned up after that.
Former Scottish shove duff 47702 had fairly recently been added to the Virgin Cross Country fleet and when that pulled in we decided to do it for old times sake and so it was off to East Croydon.
We followed that up with CIGs 1860/1864 into Victoria and 73205 to Gatwick, then it was back to East Croydon for the second, but not last, time that day. This time we went on 319434.
47831 took us from there to Brighton, where we had a short break before retracing our steps behind the same engine. East Croydon three times in one day, which was a first.
We were heading home for the night so it was 319427 to Kings Cross Thameslink.
At this time GNER were regularly hiring in freight 90s to cover for a loco shortfall.
We were mightily impressed to see that our haulage home would be behind 90038. Apart from the novelty value, it was a winner. One of only four 90s that I needed. I was as pleased as punch.
Here it is, waiting for the off:
90038_1999.06.15_Kings Cross by philwood55013, on Flickr
By this time all-liners were about enjoying the haulages, winners were few and far between. This was my third of the week, following 37250 & 37040.
Some of my last few all-liners produced no winners at all.
Anyway, I digress. It was still fairly early in the day and so we decided to get to Wakefield via the 47 on 1V67 rather than the 90. This meant bailing at Doncaster and doing 91010 to York. I figured, correctly as it turned out, that I would get 90038 again one day so the 20 miles between Doncaster and Wakefield were not a big loss.
47851 was the loco on V67 and this was duly taken to Westgate.
Next morning we were up bright and early, I met my mate aboard 1V39, the 06.40 York Bristol, which had 47826 at the helm.
47826 at Crewe Works open day in 2005:
47826_2005.09.09_1_Crewe by philwood55013, on Flickr
Rail-Gen had worked its magic again and we had received the news the North Wales Coast was playing host to something juicy and so we bailed off 47826 at Birmingham and did 47841 Northwards. The gen suggested that 37131 had worked to Holyhead and so we worked out a plan to meet it coming back. 47841 was on a Manchester service and so we could only do it as far as Stafford. Time was of the essence so we couldnt hang around for a loco and ended up doing 43178/43092 to Bangor. 37131 produced as expected and a good run was enjoyed as far as Crewe.
Winner number 4 of the week was in the bag.
One of the things we planned to cover was the Bedford Bletchley service. At the time, one diagram was being covered by top and tailed Fragonset 31s and this just had to be done, so it was 87018 from Crewe to Milton Keynes and 321435/321430 to Bletchley. We did a full round trip, 31452 working to Bedford and 31601 back. 31601 was another winner!
Five for the week, with two in one day. Not bad at all.
After 321407/321404 to Milton Keynes it was 87035 into Euston. We had a berth booked on the Edinburgh sleeper but had some time before it was due so it was a round trip to Milton Keynes using 87024 and 87009.
The move this time was an exact replica of one Id done the previous September.
Shortly after midnight 90021 left the London terminus, handing the Edinburgh portion over to 90029 at Carstairs. 91002 was then taken to Glasgow Central, obviously via Carstairs.
156462/156495 were then taken to Fort William (156462 coming off at Crianlarich).
The spectacular scenery going some way towards easing the pain of such long unit mileage
)
At Fort William we headed straight for a meal. We decided to play the tourist and both ordered Traditional Scottish Haggis with Neeps and Tatties.
Theres nothing traditional about it laughed our cheery waitress, but we went for it anyway.
37419 was the power for the sleeper and the journey to Edinburgh passed without incident.
This is a poor view of 37419 waiting to take us South:
37419_1999.06.17_Fort William by philwood55013, on Flickr
90021 returned us to London and it was over to Liverpool Street for some Anglia 86s. I still needed two of the fleet and so I had my fingers crossed.
I was also hoping that I wouldnt be accused of being a neer do well this time.
As luck would have it, both my wishes came true.
86215 was taken out to Ipswich and my first winner of the day, 86257 was on hand to whisk us back South. We only did it as far as Colchester as the timetable was such that by doing Ipswich Colchester and back you had a few minutes wait at each end and could get every loco that was working without too much hassle. We did a few round trips, involving 86215 (again), 86223 (twice), 86235 and 86238 before my final Anglia 86, 86230, appeared at Ipswich.
Seven winners for the week, an average of one a day. I was well pleased.
We did 86230 to Colchester as usual and then a late running 86246 as far as Manningtree. We bailed early as we expected 86257 was the next loco heading South and we fancied a bit more mileage, also we were heading home.
Sadly, there was no 90 sat at The Cross this time, so we took 91018 straight to York in order to meet 1V67. Tonight, this was worked by 47805 and I did it to Wakey, with my mate bailing at Leeds. 47805 was the last loco of the rover, but not of the week as we were out again the next morning.
Four of us were booked on Pathfinders Spinning Spectre and the plan was to pick it up at Birmingham. We set off, nice and early but we were travelling by car and so by the time the bloke who was driving had picked us all up we didnt have a lot of recovery time. We had never had a problem previously and had always made tours with plenty of time to spare, but heavy traffic on the M1 slowly ate up the minutes and conversation died as we all started to nervously eye the clock.
Then, one of us had a brainwave. Luckily, this tour was booked to pick up at Nuneaton.
We all agreed that getting into Birmingham, finding somewhere to park and getting to the station before the train was due to depart was now impossible.
It was time for plan B. We came off the A42 and headed into Nuneaton. Now we had plenty of time and we all visibly relaxed.
On arrival at Nuneaton we found out that the train was running 25 minutes late.
We might have made it after all. Still, better to be safe than sorry.
It was a very enjoyable tour. 37516 and 37679 worked to Toton where 56098 and 58001, in multiple, took over. Then it was 66005 from Worksop to Doncaster, 47315 to Goole and 60025 to Sheffield where 37516 and 37679 took over again for the run back to Nuneaton.
One benefit of our early morning trauma was that Nuneaton is considerably easier to drive out of than Birmingham!
So thats that, nine enjoyable days added to the memory banks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there we go, hope that hit the spot for one or two folk.
This time I went with 2 mates, 45135 and another bloke who spent some time with us and some time off on his own.
As usual, I'm grateful to 45135 for the HST and unit numbers.
Techniquest, I hear what you're saying about solo moves.
I can very much enjoy a move on my own and have no problem spending a week in my own company, however, I must admit I do prefer moves shared with mates.
We had so many laughs and still do when two or three of us get together.
On this move, I took with me a disposable camera that produced largely poor results, although I did get a couple of half decent shots.
Anyway, on with the show.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was June 1999 when I did my next all-liner. This time I was not alone, a couple of my mates were coming with me. It was nearly nine months since my last rover and I was itching to get out.
This move certainly scratched that itch, it was a mammoth nine day event starting with a bit of spinning around West Yorkshire and finishing with a bit of spinning on a multi-traction railtour.
Friday the 11th of June was the day we started and we began by doing a few 91s and the beast that is 89001 on runs to and from Leeds to fill the time before the move started properly.
This was when 1V67, the 18.03 Newcastle Bristol arrived behind 47844. We jumped aboard and we were off.
We planned to do the overnight Birmingham International to Holyhead service and the first stop after midnight was Stafford, so after arriving at New Street we purchased a single to there and awaited our steed.
This was the time of The Great North Wales Bogie Farce which had seen the usual 37/4s taken out of service after a piece of a bogie had fallen off one of them (37421 I think, but my memory might be playing tricks).
This was bad news for the railway but great news for cranks as numerous other 37s, many of them no heat, had to be drafted in to keep the trains running.
We were hoping for something exotic on the overnight and we got our wish.
37250 was the beast in question.
Sadly, this monster only worked as far as Crewe, where it came off.
What would replace it?
Another NB in the shape of 37675!
Dud, but very nice all the same.
The former William Cookworthy stayed with us for the rest of the night, working to Holyhead and then back to Birmingham.
More usual traction in the shape of 47822 followed for a run to Stafford.
My mate had recently invested in one of those new fangled mobile phone things and had immediately subscribed to something called Rail-Gen Id never heard of it and was very dubious when he received a message saying that massive 37040 was booked to put in an appearance on that afternoons Bristol Weymouth service.
Nevertheless, we decided to cover it.
From Stafford we headed South on 86212.
No missed mileage opportunity this time as it came off at New Street for 47828 forward to Taunton.
47848 was then taken back to Temple Meads and we waited to see what would happen.
The gen was that the morning out and back turn had been covered by a RES liveried 47 as the booked driver didnt sign 37s and so it was no surprise when the incoming service had such a machine on the front. Unfortunately, I didnt make a note of what it was.
We waited on tenterhooks for a while and let out a combined sigh of relief/ cheer when 37040 did indeed back on the train.
We were planning on dossing at my house that night, so we had to head back North.
This meant that we could only enjoy the growler as far as Westbury before bailing for a HST (43183/43142) to Reading.
Not massive mileage, but it was the only time I ever had 37040.
Traction to Coventry was provided by 47831, with 87002 taking us forward to New Street.
Here's 87002, wearing its Porterbrook livery, in 2004:
87002_2004.08.14_1_Crewe by philwood55013, on FlickrFrom there it was another HST, 43090 & 43180 to Wakefield.
The next morning we drove to Wakefield and began the day as we had finished the previous one, with a HST, this time 43084 & 43103. We did this to New Street, via the seemingly common Sunday reversal at Sheffield that took in Woodhouse Junction.
As was often the case, Sunday was drags day and so we hoped to get a few EWS 47s in. There wasnt anything imminent direct to Nuneaton, so we reached it by going to Stafford on 86240 and then 90011.
The first drag loco of the day was 47739. This was dragging 90013 on a Wolverhampton service and was due to work the next departure back to Nuneaton, so we stayed on the skoda for a round trip to Wolves. When 90013 arrived back in New Street it was 47747 that was waiting to power the next leg and this was done to Nuneaton for 47565 back.
After this it was down to Reading for the sleeper and the bit from Birmingham to there was worked by 47851.
47830 was our travelling companion as we slept, but when we awoke we saw there must have been an issue as we were running late. Normally the sleeper arrived in Penzance with a few minutes to spare before an XC service was due to depart, but we had to bail at Truro in order to make it. 47828 was the traction and we took this to Exeter before going for some lunch.
Next up was another Northbound Cross Country service, this time worked by 47831.
We took this to Bristol and then it was a somewhat roundabout route, to say the least, as we headed back to Liskeard for the up sleeper.
We did 150249 Bristol Cardiff, 150279 Cardiff Taffs Well and back, presumably to score the track, 43133 & 43131 Cardiff Bridgend, followed by 153368 (I shall interrupt here to quote 45135 The dogbox was on something like a Swansea-Penzance and I remember seeing it coming round the corner at Bridgend in disbelief and horror!).
After deciding we werent going to suffer this as far West as we intended, we leapt at Bristol and then continued on 43029 & 43008 to Exeter, 43177 & 43182 to Plymouth and finally 153355 to Liskeard.
We were expecting 47830 again on the sleeper, but to our surprise it was 47832 that rolled in. Evidently something had been amiss with 47830. Maybe thats what had caused the delay the previous night.
We had done it that way as we planned to cover the Gatwick turns and so, after reaching Paddington, it was over to Victoria and 73203. As we arrived at Gatwick the previous diagram was just leaving and so we had a choice of doing 73203 back on the next turn or waiting to see what turned up after that.
Former Scottish shove duff 47702 had fairly recently been added to the Virgin Cross Country fleet and when that pulled in we decided to do it for old times sake and so it was off to East Croydon.
We followed that up with CIGs 1860/1864 into Victoria and 73205 to Gatwick, then it was back to East Croydon for the second, but not last, time that day. This time we went on 319434.
47831 took us from there to Brighton, where we had a short break before retracing our steps behind the same engine. East Croydon three times in one day, which was a first.
We were heading home for the night so it was 319427 to Kings Cross Thameslink.
At this time GNER were regularly hiring in freight 90s to cover for a loco shortfall.
We were mightily impressed to see that our haulage home would be behind 90038. Apart from the novelty value, it was a winner. One of only four 90s that I needed. I was as pleased as punch.
Here it is, waiting for the off:
90038_1999.06.15_Kings Cross by philwood55013, on FlickrBy this time all-liners were about enjoying the haulages, winners were few and far between. This was my third of the week, following 37250 & 37040.
Some of my last few all-liners produced no winners at all.
Anyway, I digress. It was still fairly early in the day and so we decided to get to Wakefield via the 47 on 1V67 rather than the 90. This meant bailing at Doncaster and doing 91010 to York. I figured, correctly as it turned out, that I would get 90038 again one day so the 20 miles between Doncaster and Wakefield were not a big loss.
47851 was the loco on V67 and this was duly taken to Westgate.
Next morning we were up bright and early, I met my mate aboard 1V39, the 06.40 York Bristol, which had 47826 at the helm.
47826 at Crewe Works open day in 2005:
47826_2005.09.09_1_Crewe by philwood55013, on FlickrRail-Gen had worked its magic again and we had received the news the North Wales Coast was playing host to something juicy and so we bailed off 47826 at Birmingham and did 47841 Northwards. The gen suggested that 37131 had worked to Holyhead and so we worked out a plan to meet it coming back. 47841 was on a Manchester service and so we could only do it as far as Stafford. Time was of the essence so we couldnt hang around for a loco and ended up doing 43178/43092 to Bangor. 37131 produced as expected and a good run was enjoyed as far as Crewe.
Winner number 4 of the week was in the bag.
One of the things we planned to cover was the Bedford Bletchley service. At the time, one diagram was being covered by top and tailed Fragonset 31s and this just had to be done, so it was 87018 from Crewe to Milton Keynes and 321435/321430 to Bletchley. We did a full round trip, 31452 working to Bedford and 31601 back. 31601 was another winner!
Five for the week, with two in one day. Not bad at all.
After 321407/321404 to Milton Keynes it was 87035 into Euston. We had a berth booked on the Edinburgh sleeper but had some time before it was due so it was a round trip to Milton Keynes using 87024 and 87009.
The move this time was an exact replica of one Id done the previous September.
Shortly after midnight 90021 left the London terminus, handing the Edinburgh portion over to 90029 at Carstairs. 91002 was then taken to Glasgow Central, obviously via Carstairs.
156462/156495 were then taken to Fort William (156462 coming off at Crianlarich).
The spectacular scenery going some way towards easing the pain of such long unit mileage
)At Fort William we headed straight for a meal. We decided to play the tourist and both ordered Traditional Scottish Haggis with Neeps and Tatties.
Theres nothing traditional about it laughed our cheery waitress, but we went for it anyway.
37419 was the power for the sleeper and the journey to Edinburgh passed without incident.
This is a poor view of 37419 waiting to take us South:
37419_1999.06.17_Fort William by philwood55013, on Flickr90021 returned us to London and it was over to Liverpool Street for some Anglia 86s. I still needed two of the fleet and so I had my fingers crossed.
I was also hoping that I wouldnt be accused of being a neer do well this time.
As luck would have it, both my wishes came true.
86215 was taken out to Ipswich and my first winner of the day, 86257 was on hand to whisk us back South. We only did it as far as Colchester as the timetable was such that by doing Ipswich Colchester and back you had a few minutes wait at each end and could get every loco that was working without too much hassle. We did a few round trips, involving 86215 (again), 86223 (twice), 86235 and 86238 before my final Anglia 86, 86230, appeared at Ipswich.
Seven winners for the week, an average of one a day. I was well pleased.
We did 86230 to Colchester as usual and then a late running 86246 as far as Manningtree. We bailed early as we expected 86257 was the next loco heading South and we fancied a bit more mileage, also we were heading home.
Sadly, there was no 90 sat at The Cross this time, so we took 91018 straight to York in order to meet 1V67. Tonight, this was worked by 47805 and I did it to Wakey, with my mate bailing at Leeds. 47805 was the last loco of the rover, but not of the week as we were out again the next morning.
Four of us were booked on Pathfinders Spinning Spectre and the plan was to pick it up at Birmingham. We set off, nice and early but we were travelling by car and so by the time the bloke who was driving had picked us all up we didnt have a lot of recovery time. We had never had a problem previously and had always made tours with plenty of time to spare, but heavy traffic on the M1 slowly ate up the minutes and conversation died as we all started to nervously eye the clock.
Then, one of us had a brainwave. Luckily, this tour was booked to pick up at Nuneaton.
We all agreed that getting into Birmingham, finding somewhere to park and getting to the station before the train was due to depart was now impossible.
It was time for plan B. We came off the A42 and headed into Nuneaton. Now we had plenty of time and we all visibly relaxed.
On arrival at Nuneaton we found out that the train was running 25 minutes late.
We might have made it after all. Still, better to be safe than sorry.
It was a very enjoyable tour. 37516 and 37679 worked to Toton where 56098 and 58001, in multiple, took over. Then it was 66005 from Worksop to Doncaster, 47315 to Goole and 60025 to Sheffield where 37516 and 37679 took over again for the run back to Nuneaton.
One benefit of our early morning trauma was that Nuneaton is considerably easier to drive out of than Birmingham!
So thats that, nine enjoyable days added to the memory banks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there we go, hope that hit the spot for one or two folk.
- and if you missed it the first time round you had to wait for the whole message to finish scrolling before you could re-read it.
Shame i missed the 31 coverage but i was firmly up north when thye served my little station!