Back in the day...

[xotGD]

That's quite the 90 minutes @xotGD. As much as the green 37s and the Cat look great, 37218 is my fave pic out of those. It looks tired, worn and dirty but it also looks real just as these workhorses should

218 appears to have gone into semi-retirement at York. I would suggest that it isn't far from York to the KWVR, if anyone is thinking of what might visit for the Diesel Gala!

 

[The_Train]

218 appears to have gone into semi-retirement at York. I would suggest that it isn't far from York to the KWVR, if anyone is thinking of what might visit for the Diesel Gala!

An interesting thought. I suppose it all depends if Gala's go ahead considering the current worldly situation

 

[xotGD]

An interesting thought. I suppose it all depends if Gala's go ahead considering the current worldly situation

Sticking your head out of the window reduces the risk of infection from fellow passengers

 

[The_Train]

Sticking your head out of the window reduces the risk of infection from fellow passengers

Not if the person at the next droplight is salivating from the noise up front......

 

[xotGD]

Not if the person at the next droplight is salivating from the noise up front......

Sorry about that - but I did need the 37 at the Great Central last year!

 

[The_Train]

Sorry about that - but I did need the 37 at the Great Central last year!

 

[Cowley]

Excellent stuff chaps. Love those Crewe photos...

 

[xotGD]

Excellent stuff chaps. Love those Crewe photos...

Cheers. Expect to see more 33s and 37s in the next installment...

 

[Cowley]

Yes please!

 

[The_Train]

218 appears to have gone into semi-retirement at York. I would suggest that it isn't far from York to the KWVR, if anyone is thinking of what might visit for the Diesel Gala!

It seems it had much more important work than a gala after all. Worked the Tesco train from Tees Dock to Daventry today.....

(Not my video)

 

[xotGD]

It seems it had much more important work than a gala after all. Worked the Tesco train from Tees Dock to Daventry today.....

(Not my video)

Thanks for the link. Although after over a minute of looking at a lamppost on the platform I thought it might be a wind-up!

 

[The_Train]

Thanks for the link. Although after over a minute of looking at a lamppost on the platform I thought it might be a wind-up!

Yeah people seemed to have forgotten about editing with videos of this yesterday. The original video of it I saw was over 6 minutes long with all of the action occurring in the last 30 seconds

Either way, nice to see this beast working something like this. I wonder if it was just in the right place at the right time to replace something else? I imagine the 'anti diesel' brigade were seething to see a 'heritage' machine working a mainline freight

 

[Techniquest]

Not if the person at the next droplight is salivating from the noise up front......

Sorry about that - but I did need the 37 at the Great Central last year!

Holy frejoles the above posts made me laugh! Made my day already, definitely needed a good laugh going into another long day at work!

 

[The_Train]

Holy frejoles the above posts made me laugh! Made my day already, definitely needed a good laugh going into another long day at work!

Haha we've only got laughter left right now with everything that's going on out there. Stay safe mate

 

[Techniquest]

Haha we've only got laughter left right now with everything that's going on out there. Stay safe mate

Indeed, there's not much left in the shops! People are now panic-buying booze...

I'm weeping for humanity...Never known such insanity, and especially never seen such disrespect for retail colleagues as I have lately.

I'm hearing there's likely to be a block on transport by the end of the week, oh joy, I'm supposed to be off to London on Sunday and jetting off to Iceland on Monday!

 

[The_Train]

Indeed, there's not much left in the shops! People are now panic-buying booze...

I'm weeping for humanity...Never known such insanity, and especially never seen such disrespect for retail colleagues as I have lately.

I'm hearing there's likely to be a block on transport by the end of the week, oh joy, I'm supposed to be off to London on Sunday and jetting off to Iceland on Monday!

Yeah, I wouldn't like to be working in retail of any sort right now but especially anywhere that sells food and drink. I'm planning to try and do some sort of shop tomorrow and already I'm imagining that I will have to visit a multitude of shops to try and get what I want. I had little faith in humanity before this, I now just see it as very selfish and very self centered (obviously that doesn't include everyone) and just reflects badly on society that is becoming more about 'me, me, me' by the day.

When you hear stories of the war, you hear how neighbourhoods came together and help, supported and looked after each other. Every life was as important as the next. Now, people will literally take things out of your trolley if they've been unable to get it on the shelves.

As for your travel, I'm pretty sure I saw a headline earlier regarding non-essential travel to Europe and that we shouldn't be doing it for the next 30 days. Not sure what things are like in Iceland as it's not a nation we ever hear much about (except when that volcano goes up) but either way, carefully consider any long distance moves you have to make

 

[xotGD]

Yes, I think any international travel is now a non-starter and any train journey purely because 'I need the loco' ought to be avoided.

Stay safe everyone.

 

[The_Train]

Yes, I think any international travel is now a non-starter and any train journey purely because 'I need the loco' ought to be avoided.

Stay safe everyone.

Spot on mate, I wont be making any journeys to chase trains until this is done with. Surprising that so many are still doing the hobby to be honest, although there didn't seem to be any at Stafford when I ran past earlier

 

[Techniquest]

Yes, I think any international travel is now a non-starter and any train journey purely because 'I need the loco' ought to be avoided.

Stay safe everyone.

Same to you and indeed everyone else in the hobby. I did, whilst out and about unwinding earlier, pop by the station to see which IET came up on the 1734 from Paddington. If it had been a winner I'd have gone for it, but sadly it was dud 802107. Obviously I've now seen the gov.uk page and everyone's advice about not going anywhere. So I'll very much be trying my best to put the red pen away for a while, thankfully I still have plenty of Beryl bikes to red-pen for the time being!

The more I think about it, the more I'm actually going to ring my boss tomorrow and see what he says about just sacrificing the holiday time and going to work instead. I might as well, given I can't really go anywhere! As long as my shifts get paid and I can still get paid my holiday pay of course...

Mr Train, yep I've seen first-hand too much lately how nasty and self-centred people are being. Fortunately, for the *most* part, the retail world seems to be having a ceasefire and binning the cliques. Different squadrons seem to be supporting each other more, not as much as they should but there's progress. Sunday there was plenty of the 'them versus us' attitude going on, but the last couple of days it seems to be a lot better. Long may that last, a fully unified team would be lovely...

 

[xotGD]

The Two Faces of Blackpool

I used a Northern delay repay free ticket to go to Blackpool in April last year. Never been before, so yellow pen time once I got past Preston. I spent all day travelling on assorted dmus and emus, so nothing of interest there, but there was a slight contrast regarding what I saw at the two Blackpool stations.

Blackpool North had these:




Meanwhile Blackpool South had this:



I will let readers decide for themselves which was the more interesting!

I then had to board the 142 for the journey back to Preston

OK, so last year doesn't really count as "Back in the Day", but I will be uploading something from slightly further back over the weekend...

 

[47403]

Them green 37s do look the nuts mind, i believe it was a Crewe to Tyne Yard turn. I'm not sure why they were going to Tyne Yard. If I'd have knew they were running I'd have got the bus along to see em.
Bit of a shock to see 37218 on the Tees to Daventry turn. Guess it was the nearest DRS loco to Tees Yard and saved a Kingmoor driver going all the way over too.
The cats over the Pennines are still high on my railway agenda. I only wish at this present time a) we could get out with causing a major health incident and b) I had the dosh to do it. If they'd ran from the Boro liked they'd been mooted to do, at least I could snag a few on a Tyne Tees Day Ranger.
However that was an exciting 90mins regardless you had at York n Leeds.
Seemed like a decent day at Blackpool, well it was till you ended up on a Bouncing Bomb. I must admit I'm more for the Can than the Kettle, however I'm not that ignorant where I can't understand the romance that kettles add to the scene but I'm of a different era.

 

[xotGD]

Them green 37s do look the nuts mind, i believe it was a Crewe to Tyne Yard turn. I'm not sure why they were going to Tyne Yard. If I'd have knew they were running I'd have got the bus along to see em.
Bit of a shock to see 37218 on the Tees to Daventry turn. Guess it was the nearest DRS loco to Tees Yard and saved a Kingmoor driver going all the way over too.
The cats over the Pennines are still high on my railway agenda. I only wish at this present time a) we could get out with causing a major health incident and b) I had the dosh to do it. If they'd ran from the Boro liked they'd been mooted to do, at least I could snag a few on a Tyne Tees Day Ranger.
However that was an exciting 90mins regardless you had at York n Leeds.
Seemed like a decent day at Blackpool, well it was till you ended up on a Bouncing Bomb. I must admit I'm more for the Can than the Kettle, however I'm not that ignorant where I can't understand the romance that kettles add to the scene but I'm of a different era.

The 37s had gone up to TY the previous day with the barrier vehicles and then took the Tram coaching stock to Crewe. I believe they've now gone to Newport for disposal.

Grabbing a random 37 off a stabling point to work some outrageous service is definitely a blast from the past. Of course back then they used to drop onto the front of failed units and the like, but we can't have everything.

I share your frustration over the lack of 68s to Boro. Every time I go there on a 185 I feel like I'm being cheated out of mileage! Although if it had been a 68 coming back from Boro I wouldn't have baled at York and would have missed all the action.

 

[xotGD]

Wiltshire '93

Me and a couple of mates had a few days staying in Cardiff in March 1993. While there, we used rovers to get about a bit.

Westbury

A session with the camera at Westbuty was quite productive in the spring sunshine. First up, a Baby Deltic on the stabling point! OK, not yet it wasn't, but 37372 (159 in real money) should soon be a Class 23:



What I expected to see at Westbury was Class 59s, and sure enough here is 59101 on a loaded train of aggregates:



Next up, a 66? Well 2x33=66, put a pair of Cromptons is much, much better. 33101 and 33026 approach the station; 101 was withdrawn 2 months later, and both are long gone:



The sun wasn't ideal for stuff coming the other way, but I wasn't going to ignore a rather smokey 37504 (formerly 039, now 603) on tanks. This syphon is still with DRS, although it has been in store since April '17:



And finally another 59. On a looooong train of empties is 59002:



I then headed to Swindon, where 09001 was the most interesting thing to see, before yellow-penning the line through Melksham.

 

[xotGD]

Westbury Again - Spot the Difference!

Always liking to try something different, I went to Westbury again the next day. Some of the images below may look remarkably similar to those in the previous post, but there are subtle differences...

No bagpipes this time - 33030 and 33051 with the same dmu stabled in the background. 30 is the WCRC spares donor at Carnforth while 51 is long gone:



OK, this really, really is a different photo, and a different loco - 59005 this time:



So this clearly is something different. 33025 and 33201 on loaded ballast hoppers. 025 is still in action with WCRC while 201 is preserved at the Swanage Railway:



And finally in this selection, the loco is the same, the working is the same, although this time 37504 was pathed on a different track:

 

[xotGD]

Salisbury

Prior to the second session at Westbury in the previous post, we spent some time at Salisbury. This was the period when former Scottish shove-duffs were deployed to the Waterloo - Exeter route, and I felt obliged to take some piccies.

First up, 47708 in full toothpaste livery:



Strumming out of the station, 47704 complete with a couple of duff neds:



Still carrying 'Lady Di' nameplates and with subtle Network South-East branding, 47712:



To make the Scottish exiles feel at home, the Southern Region provided someone playing the bagpipes. Something like that anyway - 33116, in a striking colour scheme. This Crompton is now part of the National Collection, resident at the Great Central Railway - where I had it last year:



That's it for now. I think there will be fewer duffs and more syphons in my next dip into the old photo albums. Cheers!

 

[The_Train]

The Two Faces of Blackpool

I used a Northern delay repay free ticket to go to Blackpool in April last year. Never been before, so yellow pen time once I got past Preston. I spent all day travelling on assorted dmus and emus, so nothing of interest there, but there was a slight contrast regarding what I saw at the two Blackpool stations.

Blackpool North had these:
View attachment 75606

View attachment 75607

Meanwhile Blackpool South had this:

View attachment 75608

I will let readers decide for themselves which was the more interesting!

I then had to board the 142 for the journey back to Preston

OK, so last year doesn't really count as "Back in the Day", but I will be uploading something from slightly further back over the weekend...

The 86 is clearly the standout there but the pacer is not too far behind

Out of all of this, I'm most impressed that you managed to get pictures at Blackpool North

 

[The_Train]

More great blasts from the past there mate, and particularly enjoyed the detail regarding the current situation regarding the locos in the pics.

Also, very impressed with the 2 phots of the 59's on the empties - you pretty much got them both in the same spot. Was that intentional?

 

[xotGD]

The 86 is clearly the standout there but the pacer is not too far behind

Out of all of this, I'm most impressed that you managed to get pictures at Blackpool North

I had no problems at all at Blackpool North. Maybe because there was a railtour in the staff were being more lenient.

 

[xotGD]

More great blasts from the past there mate, and particularly enjoyed the detail regarding the current situation regarding the locos in the pics.

Also, very impressed with the 2 phots of the 59's on the empties - you pretty much got them both in the same spot. Was that intentional?

I was just checking for the proper number of the 37 and then realised it is the Baby Deltic to-be. Interesting to check what became of the various 33s too.

Yeah, those two shots of the 59s are uncannily similar. Just a fluke that I clicked at the same moment.

 

[47403]

I loved reading about them 2 days in Westbury. First time I went there, was with a coach party doing depots and stabling points in the South West, 47901 caused mayhem when it came off the depot, not only because my mates and I copped it but the graphers were tear arsing up the platform to get shots of it too.
I love them shots of the 47/7s but it broke my heart to see em leave Scotland and though I like the Network South East livery on them, it kinda felt, that it rubbed my nose in it too. Had many good times behind them, thrashing through the tunnels at Waverley and Queen St, sadly bloody units replaced the loco hauled turns, sad day indeed.
Mr xot, your a native of the North East you must've done a few turns on the evening loco hauled Newcastle - Edinburgh stopper? the infamous 1S15. Done a few of the refurbed 47/7s on that turn, as they were sending them homeward, after coming up on the 1st morning Trans Pennine turn off Liverpool. My mates n I normally took em as far as Morpeth, odd occasion to Berwick and Edinburgh.
Theres a classic pic I may have shared before of 47715 by Martin S Vos of it shunting the stock out the middle road at Newcastle into what's now platform 1(below).
I look forward to more, recollections, sorry if I've hijacked the thread. Just so bored with this lock down, I thought I'd try and inspire you to share a bit more.
Thank you for sharing.