Unexpected trains as substitute traction.

[philthetube]

Sorry guys, I can beat you all, March 6th this year I was waiting a Clone and a refurbished 158 arrived, never seen such luxury

 

[The Crab]

Clone?

 

[philthetube]

Sorry, Colne

 

[plugwash]

I have vauge memories of being very surprised to see a 2-car DMU turn up for a stockport to brokenhurst journey (I think this was in the british rail era, the full route of the train was presumablly manchester to bournmouth).

 

[yorksrob]

I have vauge memories of being very surprised to see a 2-car DMU turn up for a stockport to brokenhurst journey (I think this was in the british rail era, the full route of the train was presumablly manchester to bournmouth).

Ouch. Bet that was fun (not).

 

[Scotrail84]

Once worked a 4 car 156 on an Edinburgh to Glasgow express during the bad snow of 2010 when ScotRail were struggling with 170 availability due to the weather, they had no alternative, this was a rare working. Struggled to keep to time being limited to 75mph.

Also took a 156/158 combo to Dundee on a stopper, during the same year, 156/158 combos were rare and even rarer at Dundee and you definitely won't see one at Dundee now. I think only Motherwell and Glasgow Central men sign them since now the 385s came in and took over most of the central belt services.

 

[Dave W]

Once worked a 4 car 156 on an Edinburgh to Glasgow express during the bad snow of 2010 when ScotRail were struggling with 170 availability due to the weather, they had no alternative, this was a rare working. Struggled to keep to time being limited to 75mph.

In a similar vein, I travelled on a London Midland 170 from Birmingham Snow Hill to Stourbridge Junction in the snow of that year. Turbostars weren't that uncommon through Stourbridge, but from Snow Hill they were - Tyseley must have chucked out whatever they could manage - I vividly remember that trip over any other because the saloon lights failed throughout shortly before departure. I fully expected a cancellation but they just got on with it, which was quite the adventure.

 

[D2007wsm]

About 4-5 years ago maybe more (I cannot remember exactly how long ago), I was waiting for a service from Worle to Bristol Temple Meads to change for an onward service to Bath Spa. I was expecting the usual 2 carriage 150/1 or 150/2 and a right assortment arrived on the platform. If I remember correctly, it was a 150/2 at the front, with a 153, then a 158 and a 143 coupled behind. All carriages were open for passengers except the 143 being non gangway fitted at the cab ends. I of course headed straight for the 158!

Another journey, again Worle to Bristol but this time on a weekday morning. The 08:48 service to Cardiff Central was cancelled and out of the blue, a CrossCountry 220 stopped on the platform rather than passing straight through at speed. That was the quickest journey I’ve ever made between the two stations. 14 minutes I think it was non stop.

Now it seems weird when a 150/2 turns up as a substitute on a local service as these are now all 158, 165, 166 or a mini HST.

 

[Marton]

I seem to remember a steam loco + support coach move somewhere in North Yorkshire/the North East picking up passengers left stranded by a cancelled service train a few years ago?

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...sbrough-steam-loco-works-service-train.94970/

 

[Class195]

The 144 that did the York to Blackpool last year.

 

[73001]

I'm sure there's a story knocking about on here somewhere of a loco and coaches being rescued from just north of Preston by a 104 dmu. As it's downhill I presume they just needed something that would provide braking for a few hundred yards or so.

 

[Scotrail84]

I also remember working a 2 car 170 (402) as the centre car had been removed repairs, on an Edinburgh to Glasgow Central and return running non stop during engineering works one day maybe 2008/9. That thing went like a rocket. Very rare to see a 170 in Central other than diversions for engineering works.

 

[Masborough]

Class 222 on a Liverpool Nottingham special for the Grand National. Not a substitution as such but unexpected for this route.

Whether such a unit should be 'unexpected' on an express route between 4 major cities is another matter...

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Class 222 on a Liverpool Nottingham special for the Grand National. Not a substitution as such but unexpected for this route.

Whether such a unit should be 'unexpected' on an express route between 4 major cities is another matter...

Happens often on such events, I’ve caught it a few times. Always fun in declassified first class! I believe Meridians have popped up on the Crewe-Derby line too, when there have been events at Uttoxeter.

As for unexpected stock changes, I’ve seen or heard of a few.

• Class 142 on a Manchester - Crewe back in 2011.
• Class 350s covering on Milton Keynes - East Croydon services around 2009.
• Class 156’s have deputised on Liverpool - Norwich runs fairly often.
• I’ve heard (I don’t recall where) of a set of London Midland 323’s making it to Crewe once.
• I saw an article once that a pair of Chiltern Railways 168’s substituted for a Wrexham & Shropshire (RIP) loco-hauled set.
• I saw on Facebook a picture of an XC Class 170 at Manchester Piccadilly working a Manchester - Birmingham service.
• Used to travel regularly on the Chester - Manchester line on the loco-hauled set when I was working in Manchester. Often, it would be subbed for a Class 150. Not fun!
  
• Regularly seen Class 158s on Manchester - Milford Haven runs.

 

[vlad]

Happens often on such events, I’ve caught it a few times. Always fun in declassified first class! I believe Meridians have popped up on the Crewe-Derby line too, when there have been events at Uttoxeter.

I've found they're pretty much guaranteed for the Midland Grand National and there's a possibility you'll get them for other race meetings as well. They're definitely a step up from the 153s that normally use (used?) that line.

The conductor has his work cut out with the announcements, however, given that pretty much all the intermediate stations don't have a platform long enough for a 222 and he has to say which doors will open. One time I travelled, the conductor also announced frequently that first class was declassified - it's as if he wanted us all to go there!

 

[Masborough]

Happens often on such events, I’ve caught it a few times. Always fun in declassified first class! I believe Meridians have popped up on the Crewe-Derby line too, when there have been events at Uttoxeter.

As for unexpected stock changes, I’ve seen or heard of a few.

• Class 142 on a Manchester - Crewe back in 2011.
• Class 350s covering on Milton Keynes - East Croydon services around 2009.
• Class 156’s have deputised on Liverpool - Norwich runs fairly often.
• I’ve heard (I don’t recall where) of a set of London Midland 323’s making it to Crewe once.
• I saw an article once that a pair of Chiltern Railways 168’s substituted for a Wrexham & Shropshire (RIP) loco-hauled set.
• I saw on Facebook a picture of an XC Class 170 at Manchester Piccadilly working a Manchester - Birmingham service.
• Used to travel regularly on the Chester - Manchester line on the loco-hauled set when I was working in Manchester. Often, it would be subbed for a Class 150. Not fun!
  
• Regularly seen Class 158s on Manchester - Milford Haven runs.

I remember 156s on Liverpool Norwich being relatively rare about 10 years when I used to commute on part of the route. 153 + 158 was a real rarity. I remember choosing to sit in the 153 for the novelty value of both a 153 on the Hope Valley and a 153 on an express service.
Fairly recently I've seen a few 153 or 156 and 158 combos though.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I remember 156s on Liverpool Norwich being relatively rare about 10 years when I used to commute on part of the route. 153 + 158 was a real rarity. I remember choosing to sit in the 153 for the novelty value of both a 153 on the Hope Valley and a 153 on an express service.
Fairly recently I've seen a few 153 or 156 and 158 combos though.

Yes, a while ago they seemed to be rare. Since 2016, when I was working between Liverpool and Manchester, often I was catching the xx:37 MAN-LIV which was the EMT/EMR service. Probably 10 times it was a 156 and 158 consist. On a few occasions it was a 156 on its own.

I am yet to see a 153 myself though, but for some reason want to see one on that route, just for the hell of it.

 

[TheSel]

...
I am yet to see a 153 myself though, but for some reason want to see one on that route, just for the hell of it.

And as if by magic.


Not uncommon to be 2 x 153 + 156 - at least until the CV crisis. Example above 22/1/20 on the 1051 Lime St - Norwich.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

And as if by magic.

View attachment 76344
Not uncommon to be 2 x 153 + 156 - at least until the CV crisis. Example above 22/1/20 on the 1051 Lime St - Norwich.

Top stuff, mate! Cheers!

 

[SeanG]

Apparently, there were 3x153s on a Swansea to Manchester yesterday, vice a 175

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Apparently, there were 3x153s on a Swansea to Manchester yesterday, vice a 175

Well, there certainly were 3 x 153's on a Carmarthen to Manchester Piccadilly service, shown in this Tweet I spotted yesterday.



And then there was also this interesting consist yesterday too.

 

[Derbyshire Gra]

And I was waiting at Salisbury for my late-running train to Templecombe in 1965 when into the station came 34001 Exeter (though nameless, I think) taking over from a failed Warship. Mind you, that probably happened about seven days a week back then.

Same year, I watched D823 arrive at Yeovil Junction on an Exeter working, being dragged in by two pannier tanks. The train went forwrad behind a standard five.

 

[Romsey]

I did read of a class 74+TC combination, which had somehow ended up back to front at Waterloo, and was put right way round by deputising for the more usual rolling stock on a Kingston Loop service.

During a strike in the early 1980s, I saw an 8-car formation of class 114s (more normally found in Lincolnshire) at Kings Cross, about to set off on a stopper to Finsbury Park, Hatfield, Welwyn GC and all stations to Doncaster.

Recently mentioned on another thread a class 419 on battery power pressed into service as a (standing room only) shuttle between Dover Marine and Priory as the result of a power failure on the branch

That was in the mid 1980's and was a semi regular Sunday afternoon trick to turn the boat train stock on a Kingston roundabout.

 

[47827]

1. Must have been 1980s or early 1990s. Arrived at Euston one morning, and found a 31/4 on the buffer stops of a nearby platform, having arrived earlier on a service from Wolverhampton or Birmingham. Got a (poor) photo of it somewhere.
2. Labour dispute at Allerton (1975) created shortage of dmus. Class 40s + Mark 1 stock on some Liverpool area locals to Wigan, Manchester & elsewhere.

Around winter 1993 there were similar issues around Liverpool again, usually utilising class 31s as traction. As well as booked loco hauled trains to Blackpool I recall an odd dmu substitution on the Manchester line and indeed both Liverpool to Crewe diagrams (all stations via Runcorn) being loco hauled the entire day generally running into platform 12 at Crewe for run rounds and having a fresh loco at Liverpool. The unit cover jobs tended to use Edge Hill Intercity liveried Mk1 stock in sets of load 4 normally. Lime Street was a mass of noisy 31s and very smokey for weeks while all that went on with 1-2 arrivals and departures pretty much every hour from 6am to midnight and the shunters being worked hard!

 

[delt1c]

That was in the mid 1980's and was a semi regular Sunday afternoon trick to turn the boat train stock on a Kingston roundabout.

Are you sure that you are not thinking of 73's as 74's were all withdrawn in 1976

 

[xotGD]

A few outrageous workings described in this thread. Great stuff!

The one I regret missing was the 26 that arrived into Newcastle towing a failed unit from Carlisle. It then did a return trip to Durham.

Other 26 passenger turns to and from Newcastle were via the ECML. I remember a pair arriving one morning on a set of Mark 1s in place of an HST and a 26 also arrived one Saturday on the Glasgow - Scarborough after a 37 had failed. A mate of mine also managed to have a pair up to Edinburgh I think on an additional from Kings Cross. Presumably they had arrived on an equivalent southbound working.

 

[AJM580]

Not sure if this has been posted before, but in the summer of 1990, I had a pair of 20s top and tailing 4 coaches between Matlock and Derby vice the usual DMU

 

[Enthusiast]

I used to spend some days "spotting" at Kings Cross in the 1960s. I would return home to Finsbury Park usually on board one of the early Craven DMUs. On one occasion we shuffled round to the suburban side of Kings Cross to go home and there was a set of suburban carriages in the platform with something whisping steam at the far end. We quickly had a look and there stood a gleaming A4, straining at the leash to haul its five or six coaches on a stopper to Welwyn Garden City! A quick chat with the driver and we discovered it was just ex-works and was "seasoning" some new bearings. The perfect end to the day.

 

[Scotrail84]

I once worked a 322 from Waverley to Newcraighall and back empty on a special on a Sunday night (this was when there was no Sunday service to Newcraighall) due to an event taking place in the city centre.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Sometime in the mid 1960's , a good friend as a young assistant power controller at Kings Cross , slipped a "spare" Deltic onto a non corridor "block ender"set on a late evening all stations service to Hertford North. The crew took it.

Good job no-one in authority checked the running / allocation sheets the next day.