Back in the day...

[D6130]

That was the default setting for 27014, in my experience.

By strange co-incidence, on another trip up the West Highland Line about a year later, close sister 27 015 was sitting failed in the siding at Corrour!

 

[NorthWestRover]

Thursday 24th June 1982

@CW2's two locos of the week come together...I wouldn't be surprised if he was on all these (bar the unit).

Unit from Warrington BQ to Newton-le-Willows
40138 Newton-le-Willows to Holyhead, 1D29 10.45 off Man Vic
40138 Holyhead to Flint, 15.17 to Man Vic
40046 Flint to Bangor, 1D21 15.45 off Man Vic "The Bangor"
40046 Bangor to Warrington BQ, 1J31 19.25 to Man Vic "The Bangor"

Friday 24th June 1983

All electric, although 40029 appears to have done a Blackpool, so I either missed it or didn't have ticket.

81019 Warrington BQ to Wigan NW, relief Euston to Glasgow - required roarer
86223 Wigan to Preston
87021 Preston to Lancaster
87007 Lancaster to Preston
86238 Preston to Crewe
86256 Crewe to Warrington BQ

Dismal end to the evening.

 

[CW2]

Saturday 24/06/78
My regular Saturday afternoon jaunt to Selby to see if there is some massive class 40 on the Yarmouth – Newcastle:
47527 1413 York – Selby
40194 1441 Selby – York
Yes, that’ll do nicely.
DMU York – Huddersfield (probably of the Trans Pennine variety) to pick up the 1344 Llandudno – York, which was another regular 40 working. However a required 47/3 arrived first, so I split the journey at Leeds:
47357 1635 Huddersfield – Leeds
40152 1734 Leeds – York
Back at York, a required 37 on the Scarborough – Sheffield caught my eye, so I took it to the limit of my Zone F Bullseye ticket.
37165 1939 York – Pontefract Baghill
DMU Pontefract Baghill – York
There were some engineering blocks in place at Doncaster due to signal commissioning, so there was an unusual diversion on offer:
55015 2235 York – Stainforth & Hatfield via Selby, Joan Croft Jn, Applehurst Jn.
Here I was expecting the Deltic to run round, but they had provided a turnover loco, so each incoming loco was working the second train out. Hence:
46037 23xx Stainforth & Hatfield – Doncaster
(Sunday 25/06/78)
47272 0024 Doncaster – York
(Incidentally the station was called “Stainforth and Hatfield” back then. It was originally called “Stainforth”, then “Stainforth and Hatfield” then in the 1990s with Hatfield being the larger population they made it “Hatfield and Stainforth”).

Thursday 24/06/82
After another painful overnight at the “Holyhead Hilton” it was time to see if 40138 and 40046 were both still performing, before heading south to London for a long overdue wash and sleep:
47533 0625 Holyhead – Bangor
40138 0709 Bangor – Chester
40046 0857 Chester – Bangor
40046 1157 Bangor- Manchester Victoria
86219 1515 Manchester Piccadilly – Euston

Tuesday 24/06/86
I had to head to Birmingham for a job interview with Cross Country. I didn’t get the job (in fact I had a memorably crap interview) but at least I managed a decent paid day out of the office:
86212 0720 Glasgow Central – Birmingham New Street
31418 1420 Birmingham New Street – Nuneaton
86236 1520 Nuneaton – Crewe
87030 1737 Crewe – Glasgow Central

Wednesday 24/06/87
At this time I was lodging in Crewe, but still had a flat in Scotland. My wife and 1 year old son were visiting her parents, so I joined them, stayed overnight, then escorted them back to Scotland.
37431 1719 Crewe – Abergavenny
(Thursday 25/06/87)
37427 1126 Abergavenny – Crewe
86434 1818 Crewe – Carlisle
Here I left them to continue north alone, as I was to do a night shift with the Yard Supervisor at Kingmoor, as part of my induction as Speedlink Performance Assistant based at Crewe.

Saturday 24/06/89
85035 1413 Crewe – Liverpool Lime Street
I can only assume the WCML was in a state for locos today, since this was a 75 mph restricted freight loco with the ETH supply isolated, hauling air conditioned stock at speeds in excess of 100 mph.
31418 + 31467 1600 Liverpool Lime Street – Stockport via Warrington Central
90008 1726 Stockport – Crewe

 

[xotGD]

This didn't get posted yesterday for some technical reason...

23rd June 1984 - A summer Saturday, so there must be a few 37s and 40s to get...

31242 Newcastle - Darlo 1P98 (I wonder if it made it all the way to Norwich?)
45101 Darlo - Newcastle 1E52
47305 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N35
45101 Newcastle - Durham 1M76
47064 Durham - Newcastle 1N13
47454 Newcastle - Durham 1M32
45017 Durham - Newcastle 1E33
47503 Newcastle - Darlo 1M19
47017 Darlo - Newcastle 1E12

Marvelous!

 

[D6130]

Friday 24th June 1977:

The second day of our Freedom of Scotland tour:

47 439 Inverness-Perth (10 35 Inverness-Euston, the Clansman)
25 013 Perth-Dundee (12 10 Glasgow Queen Street-Dundee)
47 053 Dundee-Aberdeen (13 35 Glasgow Queen Street-Aberdeen)
SC51784/SC59681/SC51793+SC55011/SC59684/SC51782 17 50 Aberdeen-Inverness

Note the class 122 'bubble car' standing-in for a non-available class 120 Swindon cross-country MBSO.

Locos seen en route:

Inverness Depot: 08 568/728, 25 064, 26 017/019/027/037/039, 40 184/191.
Inverness Station: 26 010, 47439.
Inverness Millburn Yard: 08 882, 26 020 (condemned)/034.
Aviemore: 47 141 (on 08 10 Glasgow-Inverness)
Dalwhinnie: 26 018 (on P. Way train)
Dalnacardoch: 47 464 (on 09 35 Glasgow-Inverness)
Dunkeld: 26 025 (failed in siding)
Perth: 08 276/424/712, 20 115, 25 011/013, 26 030, 40 123/184.
Dundee Depot: 06 006, 08 428/725, 25 050/084/238.
Dundee Station: 08 725, 25 084, 40 123, 47 053/268.
Craiginches Yard: 08 828.
Aberdeen: 08 817/855, 20 100/117, 40 004/100.
Inverness Depot: 08 882, 26 022/24/26/033/035/046.
Inverness Station: 08 568/728, 26 017/019, 47 439.

Wednesday 24th June 1981:

.....and in Switzerland:

SBB (narrow gauge) 905 Luzern-Giswil
SBB (narrow gauge) 1991 "Meiringen" Giswil-Meiringen
SBB (narrow gauge) 912 Meiringen-Interlaken Ost
SBB (narrow gauge) 912 Interlaken Ost-Meiringen-Alpnachstad
PB 24 Alpnachstad-Pilatus Kulm
PB 22 Pilatus Kulm-Alpnachstad
SBB (narrow gauge) 913 Alpnachstad-Luzern

.....with a sudden and very scary thunderstorm while at the summit of Mount Pilatus!

 

[xotGD]

Dundee Depot: 06 006

I never saw an 06 in service. I had the Gateshead "Flower Pots" (03s) to keep me happy.

 

[D6130]

I never saw an 06 in service. I had the Gateshead "Flower Pots" (03s) to keep me happy.

Well into the 'seventies there were a pair of 06s at Dundee, one to shunt the sharply-curved dock lines and one spare, as well as one at Kirkcaldy to work the harbour branch. There were also a couple at Eastfield, but I can't remember exactly where they were used, so perhaps someone with a better memory could enlighten us? Certainly by this time there were fewer than ten left out of the original class of 35 locos (D2410-44).

 

[xotGD]

Well into the 'seventies there were a pair of 06s at Dundee, one to shunt the sharply-curved dock lines and one spare, as well as one at Kirkcaldy to work the harbour branch. There were also a couple at Eastfield, but I can't remember exactly where they were used, so perhaps someone with a better memory could enlighten us? Certainly by this time there were fewer than ten left out of the original class of 35 locos (D2410-44).

I remember in the early 80s someone telling me how he had stayed on the ecs of a terminating train at Dundee so that he could get the 06 for haulage on the stock shunt, so presumably they were still being used as station pilot through to their demise?

 

[Tryfan]

This didn't get posted yesterday for some technical reason...

23rd June 1984 - A summer Saturday, so there must be a few 37s and 40s to get...

31242 Newcastle - Darlo 1P98 (I wonder if it made it all the way to Norwich?)
45101 Darlo - Newcastle 1E52
47305 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N35
45101 Newcastle - Durham 1M76
47064 Durham - Newcastle 1N13
47454 Newcastle - Durham 1M32
45017 Durham - Newcastle 1E33
47503 Newcastle - Darlo 1M19
47017 Darlo - Newcastle 1E12

Marvelous!

45101 that far north! Quite unusual I’d have thought. I had all of the eth Peaks and probably did more miles behind 45101 than any of them, I’d had it as D96 too. If I needed to be on a particular train on the midland mainline I could almost guarantee that 45101 would show up, it was spooky.

 

[barrowjack]

That deserves a 'Dreadful!'

Missed a 26 the week before so this one just HAD to be done!

24/06/1989
A Summer Saturday so guess i was freeing a few more destination labels!

1564xx Barrow In Furness - Stockport
47471 Stockport - Birmingham New Street
50023 Birmingham New Street - Coventry
86424 Coventry - Birmingham New Street
31448 Birmingham New Street - Coventry
EMU Coventry - Birmingham New Street
90012 Birmingham New Street - Coventry
47522 Coventry - Birmingham New Street
86428 Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International
50035 Birmingham International - Birmingham New Street
86424 Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International
86414 Birmingham International - Birmingham New Street
87017 Birmingham New Street - Wigan North Western
90011 Wigan North Western - Preston
90006 Preston - Lancaster
1420xx Lancaster - Barrow In Furness



24/06/92

My last day at Wigan and Leigh college so with sort of a plan in mind I took the early train to hand in my final assignments meaning the first two moves were necessary evils. Formalities were very quickly completed it was back to Wallgate to carry on

15534x Barrow In Furness - Preston
1420xx Preston -Wigan North Western
1420xx Wigan Wallgate - Walkden
37417 Walkden - Preston
37358 Preston - Blackpool North
37358 Blackpool North - Liverpool Lime Street (My highest mileage 37)
158xxx Liverpool Lime Street - Manchester Piccadilly
47812 Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport
150xxx Stockport - Manchester Piccadilly
47249 Manchester Victoria - Poulton Le Fylde
150xxx Poulton Le Fylde - Preston
1564xx Preston - Barrow In Furness

 

[xotGD]

45101 that far north! Quite unusual I’d have thought. I had all of the eth Peaks and probably did more miles behind 45101 than any of them, I’d had it as D96 too. If I needed to be on a particular train on the midland mainline I could almost guarantee that 45101 would show up, it was spooky.

Oh, we used to get plenty of 45/1s in the north east. They became regulars on Trans-Pennine services together with cross-country services that were air con stock.

 

[CW2]

45101 that far north! Quite unusual I’d have thought. I had all of the eth Peaks and probably did more miles behind 45101 than any of them, I’d had it as D96 too. If I needed to be on a particular train on the midland mainline I could almost guarantee that 45101 would show up, it was spooky.

Yes by 1984 a lot of the trans Pennine services were booked for 45/1s, which had been released from their Midland Main Line home by the delivery of HSTs. As a result they could be found anywhere from Holyhead and Liverpool to Scarborough and Newcastle. They also put in occasional guest appearances on ECML overnight services. Curiously 45101 is my joint lowest mileage 45/1, with just a single York to Leeds journey (25.5 miles).

 

[NorthWestRover]

A 45 might even turn up on THE Bangor quite soon, not always a 45/1...

 

[Peter Sarf]

I found this view of Oban in the summer of '74 with a couple of 27s...

RCTS | Stations and Station Buildings (LMSR) (zenfolio.com)

Thankyou for that photo and the one from the station looking at the same road two frames to the right in the "menu". That road very much must have been where I saw the locos from as we drove along it towards the station. The wall is the right height to see over. It is a very vivid memory I have of it - minus the numbers !.

 

[Tryfan]

Oh, we used to get plenty of 45/1s in the north east. They became regulars on Trans-Pennine services together with cross-country services that were air con stock.

Yes by 1984 a lot of the trans Pennine services were booked for 45/1s, which had been released from their Midland Main Line home by the delivery of HSTs. As a result they could be found anywhere from Holyhead and Liverpool to Scarborough and Newcastle. They also put in occasional guest appearances on ECML overnight services. Curiously 45101 is my joint lowest mileage 45/1, with just a single York to Leeds journey (25.5 miles).

Thanks for clarifying that. By 1984 I’d stopped bashing. I never really thought where had the Peaks gone. Train travel for me around that time had declined to very occasional.

 

[NorthWestRover]

A 45 might even turn up on THE Bangor quite soon, not always a 45/1...

Friday 25th June 1982

Not a bad Friday evening and look! The Bangor was a Peak - the evening improved considerably after that poor start.

45007 Warrington BQ to Chester, 1D21 The Bangor - was required
40121 Chester to Warrington BQ, 1J53 15.17 Holyhead to Man Vic (the "138" diagram)
87012 Warrington BQ to Lancaster
40012 Lancaster to Liverpool LS, 1F32 18.30 Barrow to Liverpool
303041 Lime St to Allerton (makes a change from the DMU)
Unit rest of the way home to Padgate

I had the weekend off in 1983.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Sat 25 June 1983, with some unusual summer Saturday trains.

Starting from Leicester again, watched 45023 on Mk1s for Paignton*, then
20157+20135 at a delayed 0854 Leicester-Loughborough 0909 (Leicester-Skegness train, Mk1s)
saw 45103 go north on the Luton-Scarborough (Mk1s), then
47354 at 0931 Loughborough-Leicester* 0945 (possibly the Bradford-Weymouth train, Mk1s)
31405 at 1032 Leicester-Nuneaton 1100 (early Mk2s)
watched a few electrics pass by, including 86007 on "Ford" containers
31417 at 1202 Nuneaton-Birmingham NSt 1234 (in a Mk1)
Bit of spotting, including 45149 with WR Mk2 aircons on a Newcastle train, 47148 on ER Mk1s to Paignton, 50007 with Mk1s Paignton-Manchester, 47146 with Mk1s Tenby-York, but caught:
47203 at 1357 BNSt-Leicester* 1508 via the Camp Hill line (mixed-up rake of M, E and W Mk1s, but I've no note of what the service was). I did note that we took the up main line at Nuneaton non-stop, overtaking a DMU that was due into Leicester before us - 47203 didn't depart Leicester until 1534, so definitely an early arrival.
Later that evening, saw 45052 with headboard "The Pennine Peak" at Leicester on a returning railtour (St Pancras-Carlisle and back, https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/830625c4.htm)

*Summer Sats, there were a few services for the West Country that ran via Leicester-Nuneaton-Birmingham

 

[CW2]

Monday 25/06/79
Alas the afternoon Harrogate – Kings Cross service has been “improved” and is now an HST:
43084 + 43085 1710 Harrogate – Leeds
47702 1808 Leeds – Settle (Unusual route for a push-pull 47/7 in those days)
40080 1956 Settle – Leeds
DMU Leeds – Micklefield
31264 2137 Micklefield – Leeds
This arrived a couple of minutes late at Leeds, meaning I just missed the 2200 departure to Kings Cross with an unidentified class 40 on the front. I gave up and went home.
47052 2234 Leeds – York

Friday 25/06/82
Word reaches me that required 40128 has done a charter from Birmingham New Street to Llandudno this morning, and is expected to work back this evening.
87019 1055 Euston – Crewe
87031 1314 Crewe - Warrington Bank Quay
47452 1416 Warrington Bank Quay – Llandudno Jn
40121 1604 Llandudno Jn – Flint
45007 1707 Flint – Rhyl
40128 1810 Rhyl – Birmingham New Street via Bushbury, Perry Barr, Aston
Well I had to suffer more than my fair share of Sulzer mileage to get it, but that’s another one ticked off.
81008 2120 Birmingham New Street – Crewe
87023 2225 Crewe – Manchester Piccadilly
86213 2330 Manchester Piccadilly – Stafford via Crewe
Meanwhile a sub-plot was emerging, with another tempting ADEX over required class 40 track. A rancid overnight beckoned …

Saturday 25/06/83
A summer Saturday, so time to get moving …
47415 0710 York – Leeds
45042 0801 Leeds – Sheffield
That puts me in position for the main event of the day:
40152 0933 Sheffield – Norwich via Retford, Peterborough, Ely Avoider
The train re-engined at Norwich:
31327 1305 Norwich – Great Yarmouth
37173 1338 Great Yarmouth – Norwich
40152 1511 Norwich – Peterborough
43084 + 43040 1707 Peterborough – Newark Northgate
43161 + 43069 1755 Newark Northgate – York

Tuesday 25/06/85
After a holiday in France:
SNCF Turbo 1501 Caen – Cherbourg
Prins Phillippe 1725 Cherbourg – Weymouth
33112 2238 Weymouth – Eastleigh

Sunday 25/06/89
47445 1043 Crewe – Liverpool Lime St via Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Eccles
31450 + 31408 1253 Liverpool Lime Street – Stockport via Eccles, Manchester Piccadilly
156 466 Stockport – Manchester Piccadilly
97561 1430 Manchester Piccadilly – Crewe (middle road)
87001 1527 Crewe (middle road) – Stafford
86242 1533 Stafford – Crewe
97561 was formerly 47561, and was painted in Midland Railway maroon.

Tuesday 25/06/91
I’ve no real recollection as to the reason for this move. I think I was attending some sort of half-day course.
91023 0800 Kings Cross – Darlington
43091 + 43172 1607 Darlington – Kings Cross

 

[xotGD]

25th June 1983 - this Summer Saturday was not as fruitful for me as for those posting above:

46046 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N35
47185 Durham - Newcastle 1N13
45149 Newcastle - Durham 1V96
45132 Durham - Newcastle 1E74

25th June 1986:

81011 New St - Wolves (via Bescot) 1P70 - the regular Roarer turn produced
47422 Wolves - New St 1O46

25th June 1988 - my final Summer Saturday as a student in Brum. I presume I overdossed for the Cambrian Coast, but managed to salvage something:

85022 New St - Wolves 1S87
37215 + 37029 Shrewsbury - Wolves 1A34

Here they are:

Class37.co.uk

 

[D6130]

Saturday 25th June 1977:

Freedom of Scotland - Day 3:

26 041 06 15 Inverness-Georgemas Junction
26 029 xx xx Georgemas Junction-Thurso
26 029 xx xx Thurso-Georgemas Junction
26 026 xx xx Georgemas Junction-Wick
26 026 17 37 Wick-Inverness

Locos seen en route:

Inverness Station: 26 028/041.
Inverness Depot: 26 024/033/035, 40 048.
Lairg: 26 015 (on early morning Wick/Thurso-Inverness)
Georgemas Junction: 26 026/029.
Wick: 26 026/039.
Brora: 26 015 (on 17 15 Inverness-Wick/Thurso)
Dingwall: 25 301 (on Northbound P. Way train)
Inverness Depot: 08 568/728, 26 011/024/027/033/041, 40 048.
Inverness Carriage Sidings: 08 882.
Inverness Station: 40 036.

This was in the days when arrivals at Inverness from the North still ran past the depot and carriage sidings on the avoiding line to Welshes Bridge box and then reversed into the South side platforms (1-4).

Thursday 25th June 1981:

SBB 11687 "Bischofzell" Luzern-Chiasso
SBB 11612 "Regensdorf" Chiasso-Lugano
Lugano Funicular car no. 1 Station-City Centre
Lugano Funicular car no. 2 City Centre-Station (Cleared entire fleet for sight and haulage....desperate!!!)
SBB 11631 "Dulliken" Lugano-Bellinzona
SBB 10011 Bellinzona-Locarno

On arrival in Locarno for our overnight stop, we were mildly amused to see the acronym for the local transport operator emblazoned on the side of trams and buses, on tram and bus stops, on tourist posters, outside shops which sold their tickets....just about everywhere really. It was - and I believe still is - FART. In Italian this stands for "Ferrovie e Autotrasporti Regionali Ticinesi".......which translates roughly into English as "Ticino Regional Rail and Bus Transport".

 

[xotGD]

26 029 xx xx Thurso-Georgemas Junction
26 026 xx xx Georgemas Junction-Wick

That's rather hard core, baling at Georgemas. Can you recall how long you had to fester?

I've had a 26 to Kyle, but not on the Far North.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 26th June 1982

And so we arrive at my last day out in 1982 for over three weeks as the rail strike pretty much closed the network. Bit of a Trans Pennine thrash - better Eastward than Westward.

40121 Warrington BQ to Man Vic, 1J10 07.09 off Bangor
40068 Man Vic to York, 1E34 10.20 to Newcastle
47555 York to Man Vic, 1M?? 12.00 off Scarborough (I had a particular dislike for this loco)
40086 Man Vic to York, 1E82 13.53 off Llandudno
31306 York to Leeds, 1L20 18.40 off Scarborough - required Goyle
47447 Leeds to Man Vic, 1M80 19.25 Scarborough to Liverpool
40121 Man Vic to Warrington BQ, 1D77 22.40 to Holyhead

Thursday 26th June 1986

A visit to my girlfriend in Slough...

31453 Warrington Central to Manchester Piccadilly - lots of Goyle action on this route over summer 1986, but this one was a particularly interesting journey. I was due to get the following service, but this (09.45 Liverpool to Hull) was still in the platform when I got there. We left about 40 late but only went about 100 yards before reversing into the Liverpool platform at Central. We then ran wrong line all the way to Glazebrook Jct which was necessary as the Goyle on the previous service had failed.

87025 Man Picc to Euston
Tram Paddington to Slough.

 

[xotGD]

26th June 1982 - I confined myself to 5p bashing moves:

46032 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N04
31402 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N35

So I missed out on 40068

26th June 1989:

47536 Newcastle - Man Pic

 

[NorthWestRover]

I wondered if you'd have joined it in the NE...

 

[CW2]

Tuesday 26/06/79
47411 1547 York – Huddersfield
47486 1729 Huddersfield – Leeds
At last a class 40:
40070 1807 Leeds – Carlisle
I decided to stick with this loco right through to Carlisle, as I was enjoying the run so much. If I had bailed out at Settle to cover the usual southbound move, I would have scored split-box 40136! The long journey home at least produced a required duff:
(Wednesday 27/06/79)
47206 0043 Carlisle – York via Newcastle

Saturday 26/06/82
83005 0031 Stafford – Carlisle
Word was that there was a Maryport to Shrewsbury ADEX running that morning, and the chances were very strong that it would be a class 40.
DMU (Mail train, unadvertised) Carlisle – Maryport
Maryport at 04xx is not a very welcoming place. For a while we huddled in the bus shelter on the platform, then – having failed to get any more sleep, and getting ever colder – we went for a walk into the village, and around the harbour. It was all very scenic, but we were cold and hungry. We decided to go to Workington for breakfast.
DMU Maryport – Workington and return.
Eventually the main event:
40192 0754 Maryport – Shrewsbury via Barrow in Furness, Warrington Bank Quay, Chester
Superb new class 40 track for me. This being a summer Saturday, the Cambrian was in full swing, so on arrival at Shrewsbury I had a little sample:
25194 + 25235 1306 Shrewsbury – Caersws
25296 + 25320 1510 Caersws – Shrewsbury
After a meal in Shrewsbury, it was time to head back north – but for reasons unknown 40192 has been swapped for 40013:
40013 1830 Shrewsbury – Carnforth via Chester, Warrington Bank Quay
I couldn’t face the prospect of an overnight on Maryport station, so I alighted at Carnforth and headed south:
47409 2141 Carnforth – Preston
86219 2231 Preston – Warrington Bank Quay
40121 2319 Warrington Bank Quay – Bangor
(Sunday 27/06/82)
47532 0146 Bangor – Crewe
At Crewe I kept an eye on the dragging taking place, waiting for a required loco:
47336 0601 Crewe – Stafford
86006 0640 Stafford – Euston

Sunday 26/06/83
A lot of HST mileage today, but with a purpose, my first ever visit to Skegness:
43162 + 43073 1438 York – Newark Northgate
43153 + 43058 1531 Newark Northgate – Grantham
DMU Grantham – Skegness
20188 + 20077 1800 Skegness – Derby
43183 + 43xxx 2054 Derby – York

Wednesday 26/06/85
Travelling back to Scotland with my wife after a holiday in France:
33025 0138 Eastleigh – London Waterloo
Night bus Waterloo – Euston
EMU Euston – Northampton, Northampton – Coventry
Here the plan was to catch the 0726 Coventry – Glasgow Central. However there was a bomb scare, which delayed the ECS from Oxley, so the train was amended to start from Birmingham International.
EMU Coventry – Birmingham International
85014 0736 Birmingham International – Carlisle
We took a break at Carlisle, for a late breakfast, then struck lucky with another Roarer:
81009 1201 Carlisle – Glasgow Central
I had to go straight into work at 1500, but first there was a required 25 to scoop in:
25285 1345 Glasgow Central – Barrhead
DMU Barrhead – Glasgow Central

Friday 26/06/87
After spending the night in Kingmoor Yard, learning from the AYM, I was due to head north to Glasgow some time after 7 in the morning. However I got wind of the fact that there was a big Western Region 37 on the 0555 Carlisle – Glasgow via Dumfries, so I negotiated an early exit and a lift back to the station in the chippy wagon:
37185 0555 Carlisle – Glasgow Central via Dumfries. Winner!

Sunday 26/06/88
87025 2121 Crewe – Euston via Birmingham New Street

 

[D6130]

That's rather hard core, baling at Georgemas. Can you recall how long you had to fester?

No baling....no fester - at least not on the first train. We were travelling in the Thurso portion of the train. On arrival at Georgemas, 26 026 coupled onto the rear, the train was split. 26 041 carried on to Wick with the front two coaches and 26 026 hauled the rest of the train - including several newspaper vans - into Thurso (which always had far more traffic than Wick, due to the Orkney ferry connection from Scrabster). this was standard practice at Georgemas back in the (loco-hauled) day. However, IIRC we seemed to have a longish fester in Thurso at lunchtime, during which the Northernmost real ale pub on the mainland was visited, followed by a couple of hours back at Georgemas in the afternoon, which we occupied with a sunny - but windy - circular walk taking in the nearby village of Halkirk. I think the midday trains must have crossed at Helmsdale in those days.

Saturday 26th June 1976:

A day out to the Manchester area, having stayed over the previous night with my friend's relatives in North-West London. We had permits for Longsight and Reddish depots, but the day was my usual mixture of haulage, track-bashing and spotting:

86 261 Euston-Manchester Piccadilly via Stoke
M59608M/M59508M/M59408M Manchester Piccadilly-Hadfield direct
M59406M/M59506M/M59606M Hadfield-Manchester Ashburys via Glossop
M50537/M56180 Ashburys-Reddish North
Walk Reddish North-Reddish Depot
Bus Reddish-Ardwick
Walk Ardwick-Longsight
Bus Longsight-Manchester Piccadilly
87 017 Manchester Piccadilly-Euston via Crewe

Locos seen:

Euston: 25 189, 81 015, 85 014/038, 86 001/025/213/235/261.
Queen's Park: 86 026.
Willesden Depot: 08 684/904/934, 85 016, 86 101/103.
Willesden/Sudbury/Wembley Yards: 08 683, 25 265/315/324, 37 044, 47 365.
Watford Junction: 08 886.
Tring: 45 103, 85 012.
Bletchley: 25 067, 86 039.
Rugby: 08 629/667, 25 030, 82 004, 85 009/011, 87 028.
Nuneaton: 25 176, 47 098.
Lichfield TV: 86 009.
Armitage Junction: 87 014.
Rugeley: 24 052.
Colwich Junction: 87 030.
Stoke-on-Trent: 87 032.
Cockshute Depot: 08 125/395.
Etruria: 08 132/635.
Stockport: 08 914.
Longsight Depot: 08 906, 83 014.
Manchester Piccadilly: 08 686, 81 013, 86 240/242.
Ashburys: 08 602/687/820.
Guide Bridge: 08 283/298, 25 054/150, 40 028/129/171, 47 228, 76 001/002/038/039.
Godley Junction: 47 214.
Broadbottom: 76 017.
Reddish Depot: 24 005/020/021/022/024, 25 139, 40 004/021/029/106/109/115/118/178, 76 003/004/016/023/029/031/036/042/043/046 /049/054/056. (plus several DMUs and EMUs)
Longsight Depot: 08524/604/611/906/915, 25 027/113/150/186/198/318, 40 034/045/191, 47 166/187/214/294, 83 014/015, 86 024/034, 87 013.
Manchester Piccadilly: 24 081, 25 027/031, 40 020, 47 294, 81 013, 86 024, 87 017.
Longsight Depot: 83 007/014.
Crewe: 08 329/631/694/737/843, 24 020/025/026/031/034/040/044/057/076/080, 25 042/055/200/207/219/327, 40 133, 50 005, 83 012, 85 008, 86 032.
Stafford: 08 289, 85 033, 86 001.
Nuneaton: 08 134/476, 25 176/259, 47 098.
Rugby: 08 667, 82 004, 85 011/014, 86 250/255.
Bletchley: 08 221, 25 308/309.
Watford Junction: 08 886.
Wembley/Sudbury/Willesden Yards: 08 683, 25 071/072.
Willesden Depot: 25 324, 81 012, 83 002, 85 016/021/031/040, 86 101/259.
Camden: 08 921, 86 037.
Euston: 08 903, 86 025/026/038/205/210/239/249. 87 016/026.
Waterloo: 09 015, 73 116.
Clapham Junction: 33 012/018.

Sunday 26th June 1977:

Freedom of Scotland Day 4:

Not many Sunday trains in the North of Scotland in those days....so there was only one possible move - the Lairg papers, which carried a BSK next to the loco, followed by no less than eight BGs for the papers and mail, most - if not all - of which had come on one of the overnights from Euston.

26 041 (again) 08 10 Inverness-Lairg
26 041 11 20 Lairg-Inverness

Followed by a leisurely afternoon and evening exploring Inverness and its watering holes!

Friday 26th June 1981:

Last day in Switzerland, another brief incursion into Italy and a long (pre-TGV) journey through France to Paris on the way home:

FART ABe6/6 EMU 34 Locarno(CH)-Domodossola(IT)
SBB 11650 "Schonwerd" Domodossola(IT)-Vallorbe(CH) (Euro-City "Lutetia" Milano-Paris)
SNCF BB25678+BB25682 Vallorbe(CH)-Dole(FR)
SNCF BB7319 Dole-Paris Lyon

Overnight amongst the bright lights of Clichy - in a small, slightly dodgy, hotel round the corner from the Moulin Rouge!

 

[MDB1images]

Me and my Dad had for a number of years been making a trip to Preston on a Friday night for a couple of hours watching the comings and goings on the(at that time)busy WCML, its fair to say a lot of other people also did the same..
With interests turning to haulage it provided a good night out with a chance of scratching the odd winner as we also took advantage of the NB locos occasionally chucked out on the PM Nottingham to Blackpool and the last Glasgow to Manchester Victoria(1M40).

26/06/87.
31296 18:35 Bolton-Preston 1M26 (Nottingham-Blackpool North)
47474 22:19 Preston-Bolton 1M40 (Glasgow Central-Manchester Victoria)

I thought I’d share what was noted between riding the two trains (so roughly over a 3 hour period)to give an idea of what was operating at that time.
08744
20032 / 20188
31296
47113 / 47190 / 47333 / 47334 / 47434 / 47441 / 47447 / 47474 / 47485 / 47488 / 47649
81011 / 81020
85003 / 85005 / 85006 / 85012 / 85021 / 85029 / 85038
86216 / 86227 / 86230 / 86232 / 86241 / 86414 / 86417 / 86419 / 86427
87009 / 87015 / 87021 / 87033
M53942 & M51567
M51924 & M52038
M55971 & M55981
142009 / 142034 / 142044 / 142046 / 142051 / 142055 / 142063 / 142069 / 142070
150203 / 150207 / 150209 / 150211 / 150217 / 150227 / 150229 / 150233 / 150237/ 150245 / 150253 / 150266.

31296 was a winner for haulage and being a NB named loco it always seemed that bit better!
I didn’t put what operated which services but noted 86216 had 2 sleeping cars so presume on the Euston to Barrow and 47441 had a TPO so presume on the Workington to Huddersfield TPO.

 

[D6130]

I thought I’d share what was noted between riding the two trains (so roughly over a 3 hour period)to give an idea of what was operating at that ti

That was a good haul compared with what you would see in an evening at Preston nowadays. Can you remember what the two 20s were on? IIRC, M55971 and M55981 were Cravens Motor Parcels vans. I wonder which service they were working?

 

[MDB1images]

That was a good haul compared with what you would see in an evening at Preston nowadays. Can you remember what the two 20s were on? IIRC, M55971 and M55981 were Cravens Motor Parcels vans. I wonder which service they were working?

I can't remember what the 20's was on, I suspect a freight/light engine.
The Cravens had arrived from Manchester Victoria on the parcels run.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Monday 27th June 1983

40079 St Helens Jct to Liverpool Lime Street, 1M22 16.20 off Glasgow and unit back to Padgate. Presumably bike to St Helens.

That's it for this day in history (without my 1984 moves book which may have had something).