Trawling back through my old moves, I came across a week in March 1987 when I did an all line rover, extended a bit by using free passes.
I worked in Glasgow at the time, so had covered all the scenic Scottish routes many times over. My aim was to head south to sample some different traction, and get a few of those hard-to-do sections of track. Locos new for haulage are underlined. Here we go …
Saturday 14/03/87
87018 13:10 Glasgow Central – London Euston. Straight out from work for this (13:00 changeover time on a Saturday and a swift jog to the Central). Probably the best run I ever had with an 87, arriving Euston 11 minutes early. At the booked arrival time of 18:31 I was just stepping onto the platform at Victoria Underground station, having made an immediate connection at Euston.
73106 18:45 London Victoria – Gatwick Airport. This was still in the early stages of Gatwick Express operation, when any 73/1 could work the trains – i.e. before the creation of a dedicated 73/2 subfleet with modified spark guards etc. This was an obvious route to target for new 73s for haulage.
47588 20:11 Gatwick Airport – Newhaven Marine (16:15 from Manchester Piccadilly). Required track for haulage, and the only time I ever visited Newhaven Marine. Walk to Newhaven Harbour station, then EMU 7796 to Seaford, and back to Gatwick Airport via Brighton.
Sunday 15/03/87
Do you remember when newspapers were carried by train? Road vehicles carrying newspapers (literally) hot off the press transhipping into Brute trollies which were hauled to the doors of the waiting trains. Often the trains also conveyed newspaper sorters, who would sort them into bundles for individual newsagents for each stop along the route. Some of these trains also conveyed (very limited) passenger accommodation. They also had to run on Saturday nights, when sections of the route would be closed for engineering works, so all manner of diversions came into reckoning. Various trains ran from the London termini in the wee small hours. Since I was already in the area I decided to head for Victoria, to chance my luck.
73132 01:10 Gatwick Airport – London Victoria, via Crystal Palace, Balham.
33027 + 33010 03:50 London Victoria – Ashford via Herne Hill, Crystal Palace, Beckenham Jn, Orpington, Tonbridge. Double stamps. I was expecting a single 73, so I guess it might have been booked for diesel traction on Saturday nights to allow for 3rd rail maintenance. It was load 8 from Victoria, reducing to 5 at Ashford, where both locos were removed, and replaced by …
33035 05:37 Ashford – Deal via Dover Priory (03:50 ex London Victoria). Having been chucked out at Deal, along with the last of the newspapers, I had a cold wait until I caught EMU 1541 08:00 Deal – Waterloo East. Snooze in the warm, to recover from the overnight.
50040 11:10 London Waterloo – Tisbury (- Exeter St Davids). I never could resist a class 50. I alighted at Tisbury for lunch, sampling the wares of the Tisbury Brewery, before continuing the bash.
50030 14:04 Tisbury – Salisbury (12:25 Exeter St Davids – London Waterloo). After only a short journey I alighted at Salisbury to sample some more of the indigenous Southern locos.
33209 14:34 Salisbury – Trowbridge (13:15 Portsmouth Harbour – Cardiff Central). I always found the Hastings gauge 33/2s a little more elusive, so I was pleased to nab this one.
33037 15:38 Trowbridge – Fareham (15:05 Bristol Temple Meads – Portsmouth Harbour)
33113 17:32 Fareham – Eastleigh (17:08 Portsmouth Harbour – Reading)
73135 18:02 Eastleigh – Southampton (16:44 London Waterloo – Bournemouth). So in four successive journeys I managed one of each 33 subclass and a 73/1. I’d plotted an interesting overnight move, so it was time to head for Bristol.
33062 19:01 Southampton – Bristol Temple Meads (18:15 Portsmouth Harbour – Bristol Temple Meads).
47575 21:25 Bristol Temple Meads – Birmingham New Street (- Glasgow Central). The Bristol – Glasgow sleeper, 1S19, was a wonderful train, much missed. Load 14, and a right old totter. We ran the normal route via Cheltenham and Lickey. This was the only passenger train that always required the assistance of the Lickey banker. In this case:
37690 22:xx Bromsgrove – Blackwell, banking 1S19. I’d not had this loco previously as 37690, but only as 37171 before refurbishment. 37690 lives on as Europhoenix 37611 today.
86403 23:55 Birmingham New Street – Crewe (21:25 Bristol Temple Meads – Glasgow Central). Unexpected bonus of a required electric forward to Crewe.
Monday 16/03/87
37428 02:04 Crewe – Shrewsbury (00:42 Manchester Piccadilly – Cardiff Central). In any group of locos there always seems to be one which plays hard to get. In the case of the Cardiff 37/4s (37426 – 37431) it was 37428 which was my “rare” loco, being the only one of this group that I failed to clear for 1,000 miles. This was my first run with it.
On any other day of the week, alighting at Shrewsbury in the wee small hours would have been a mad idea. However on a Monday morning there was an 04:08 Shrewsbury – Aberystwyth to get the loco and stock to Aberystwyth to form the 07:22 to Euston, the Cambrian Coast Express. It was one of those workings only ever used by insomniac cranks and the occasional pissed-up squaddy. In this instance I had the five coaches pretty much to myself, and another new 37/4.
37427 04:08 Shrewsbury – Aberystwyth
37427 07:22 Aberystwyth – Shrewsbury. I was surprised to find the driver on this was a former Gourock driver who I knew well when he lived in Gourock. He’d moved south to get something other than EMU work – he certainly achieved that, and demonstrated it to some fine order!
47597 09:33 Shrewsbury – Wolverhampton. The train was strengthened to load 10 at Shrewsbury, and I had this required 47 to Wolverhampton before going for a spin with some electrics:
87035 10:23 Wolverhampton – Crewe (07:35 Cardiff Central – Glasgow Central).
86101 12:21 Crewe – Preston (10:15 London Euston – Stranraer). I always had a soft spot for the 86/1s, referring to them as “wolf in sheep’s clothing” as they were effectively class 87s in the body of an 86. I was glad to see 86101 survive to work again for Caledonian Sleepers, before sale to Locomotive Services Limited, so I hope to see it active again on Railtours in future.
85022 13:34 Preston – Crewe (10:50 Glasgow Central – Penzance). Nice to have a run with a Roarer.
47610 16:48 Crewe – Abergavenny (14:08 Holyhead – Cardiff Central).
At this point I paused proceedings and visited the in-laws for a couple of nights.
Wednesday 18/03/87
I assume I did a DMU from Abergavenny to Cardiff, but I don’t have any record of it. It was the season of Rugby internationals, with Wales playing a match in Edinburgh, so there were some Ruggexes scheduled to run. I thought I’d cover them at Cardiff, in the (vain) hope that a class 37 might work.
47561 07:46 Cardiff Central – Birmingham New Street (06:15 Swansea – Edinburgh Waverley). Ruggex. Ran via Chepstow, Gloucester, and Lickey. With load 11 there was no need for a banker.
85013 09:50 Birmingham New Street – Crewe (06:15 Swansea – Edinburgh Waverley). Ruggex. It was usual that any additional services on the WCML stood a good chance of producing a Roarer, so I wasn’t disappointed.
The 11:16 Crewe – Holyhead was often used – particularly on a Wednesday – as a test run for ex-works locos. I didn’t have any advanced gen as to which loco it would be (if any), but I struck lucky.
37685 (+47488 providing train heating) 11:16 Crewe – Holyhead. At the time this felt like a very rare working, but subsequently locos from the Buxton pool (376xx) were used in pairs on the Cambrian on summer Saturdays, and then later still 37685 was one of four refurbished 37s dedicated to the Scottish sleeper services. Occasionally the test loco would also work back on the passenger train from Holyhead, but that wasn’t the case today.
47488 14:08 Holyhead – Crewe.
There followed a prolonged fester at Crewe whilst I waited for something worth doing. This is the best I could come up with:
47631 19:53 Crewe – Stafford (19:05 Liverpool Lime Street – London Paddington).
86224 20:19 Stafford – Nuneaton (19:15 Liverpool Lime Street – London Euston). Note there are two services from Liverpool to two different London termini just 10 minutes apart.
31414 21:06 Nuneaton – Leicester (20:30 Birmingham New Street – Cambridge)
43045 + 43090 22:21 Leicester – Sheffield (21:05 London St Pancras – Sheffield) via Derby.
My chosen overnight is:
45103 23:55 Sheffield – London St Pancras via Derby. A good doss.
Thursday 19/03/87
Time for another spin on the Gatwick Express:
73129 06:00 London Victoria – Gatwick Airport
73106 06:35 Gatwick Airport – London Victoria
EMU Victoria – Clapham Jn for another EMU back into Waterloo.
50016 09:10 London Waterloo – Exeter St Davids
Withdrawal and scrapping of class 50s had already begun, so getting some decent long runs in the book was a priority for me. As it happens, this was my last ever run with Barham. And my next move was also my last ever run with Leviathan:
50040 13:10 Exeter St Davids – Westbury (10:00 Penzance – London Paddington).
The plan now was to head for Bristol. In recent weeks there had been the occasional steam-heat class 37 deputising for 33s and 47s on the Cardiff – Portsmouth diagrams, usually between Bristol and Cardiff. Also the 16:18 Bristol – Weymouth was a “chuck-out” from Bath Road depot, which had also produced 37s. So I aimed for that.
33063 15:00 Westbury – Keynsham. This ran late, so I baled at Keynsham fearful of missing the 16:18 Bristol – Weymouth at Temple Meads. I needn’t have worried – it was the same set of stock which came back (also running late). The traction wasn’t quite what I expected …
31406 16:26 Keynsham – Weymouth (16:18 Bristol Temple Meads – Weymouth)
31406 19:33 Weymouth – Westbury (19:33 Weymouth – Bristol Temple Meads)
31406 was very familiar to me from my time living in York. It was frequently seen on portion work around the North East. It was a surprise to see any class 31 on this train (booked a 33) let alone an Eastern Region example, but I took it anyway for the novelty value. I’ve never had a 31 to Weymouth before or since.
I settled on the idea of doing the Southampton overnight tonight, so with that in mind I alighted from the returning 31406 at Westbury for:
33062 21:03 Westbury – Salisbury (20:15 Bristol Temple Meads – Portsmouth Harbour).
33102 22:23 Salisbury – Basingstoke (21:22 Yeovil Junction – London Waterloo).
The 22:52 Waterloo – Weymouth and 22:38 Weymouth – Waterloo were mail / postal trains including passenger coaches. They were booked for class 73 haulage from London to Eastleigh and return, and class 33 onward to / from Weymouth. This diagram was one which sometimes produced one of the early “JA” subclass 73/0 locos, which I’d never had for haulage, so I decided to give it a go.
Friday 20/03/87
73120 00:08 Basingstoke – Eastleigh (22:52 London Waterloo – Weymouth).
Oh well, not the hoped-for 73/0, just a dud 73/1. Now to see which 33 I get from Eastleigh …
47532 00:49 Eastleigh – Southampton (22:52 London Waterloo – Weymouth). Oh hell, what’s this thing doing here. That’s totally uncalled for.
33101 01:20 Southampton – Eastleigh (22:38 Weymouth – London Waterloo).
73120 01:38 Eastleigh – London Waterloo (22:38 Weymouth – London Waterloo).
What a rancid overnight – no new locos, but at least some doss to be had. I continued the bash by finding the first available EMU from Waterloo to Reading and getting my head down for a bit longer.
47609 07:26 Reading – Kensington Olympia (07:26 Reading – Dover Western Docks), via North Pole Jn. I targeted this train specifically to do the track via North Pole Junction. I’d done it once previously on an excursion many years previously, but the details had long since been lost. To access the West London Line an Up train had to run on the Up Main Line to Old Oak Common, and then at very low speed cross the Down Main Line and access the sharply curved line through the archway and up a gradient to join the West London Line. This route closed in the early 90s when North Pole became the Eurostar depot, although the line still links from the depot to the West London Line, just not through the fence onto the GWML. Such a bizarre move could only take place when there was comparatively little traffic running, hence the 07:26 start from Reading. Track completed, I caught a DMU from Kensington Olympia on the shuttle service to Clapham Junction for an EMU to Waterloo.
50045 09:10 London Waterloo – Salisbury (- Exeter St Davids). Another fine run with a 50. Again, this turned out to be my final run with Achilles. I decided to have another crack at the 16:18 Bristol – Weymouth, to see what that might produce. I set about getting into position to cover it thus:
33013 11:29 Salisbury – Bristol Temple Meads (10:10 Portsmouth Harbour – Swansea)
33006 12:50 Bristol Temple Meads – Cardiff Central (10:10 Portsmouth Harbour – Swansea)
I couldn’t turn down the required 33 to take me to Cardiff as a fill-in move. The return traction was less appealing:
47503 14:05 Cardiff Central – Bristol Temple Meads (- Portsmouth Harbour).
There I waited patiently to see what the 16:18 Weymouth would produce. Surely not a 31 again? There were some 37s on Bath Road – could it be one of those please?
50001 16:18 Bristol Temple Meads – Weymouth
50001 19:33 Weymouth – Westbury (- Bristol Temple Meads).
Well that was unexpected. Just like the 31 the day before, I’ve never had a 50 to Weymouth before or since. Very agreeable. I decided to repeat the Southampton overnight moves, as my last hope of getting one of the elusive JA class 73/0s. So in a step-by-step repeat of the previous night’s moves:
33039 21:03 Westbury – Salisbury (20:15 Bristol Temple Meads – Portsmouth Harbour).
33107 22:23 Salisbury – Basingstoke (21:22 Yeovil Junction – London Waterloo).
Saturday 21/03/87
73001 00:08 Basingstoke – Eastleigh (22:52 London Waterloo – Weymouth).
Success at last, the doyen of the class. After that I don’t care if it’s another 47/4 from Eastleigh …
33111 00:49 Eastleigh – Southampton (22:52 London Waterloo – Weymouth). That’s more like it.
33116 01:20 Southampton – Eastleigh (22:38 Weymouth – London Waterloo).
73001 01:38 Eastleigh – Basingstoke (22:38 Weymouth – London Waterloo). I was glad to see the 73/0 stuck to diagram for the return working.
Having done the North Pole move, there was no need to replicate my previous morning’s moves any further, so I alighted at Basingstoke for some more 50 mileage:
50025 02:32 Basingstoke – Exeter St Davids (01:40 London Waterloo – Exeter St Davids).
50026 06:43 Exeter St Davids – London Waterloo.
Once back at Waterloo I decided on another run on the Weymouth line. Some of the 4-REP sets were out of use for rebuilding, their place being taken by 73/1s. (It couldn’t be 73/0s because of their lower maximum speed).
73126 10:44 London Waterloo – Bournemouth.
33117 1316 Bournemouth – Wool (11:32 London Waterloo – Weymouth).
33119 1358 Wool – Bournemouth (13:32 Weymouth – London Waterloo).
73141 15:00 Bournemouth – London Waterloo. Just as we prepared to depart Basingstoke on the Up Slow, 50018 (which was my class favourite) pulled in on the Up Fast on the 13:35 Exeter to Waterloo. Subsequently we ran parallel with it for much of the way from Basingstoke to Woking, with the 50 gradually overhauling us then pulling ahead because of the lower maximum permitted speed on the slow lines. It was a tremendous spectacle, 50018 at speed, on full power, just an arm’s length away “There’s gonna be a Resolution” as somebody nearly sang.
By this stage of the week I needed to be thinking about heading back to Scotland. There was dragging booked Birmingham – Nuneaton on Sunday morning, so I decided to cover that. There wasn’t any particularly nice way of covering the dragging turns other than being at New Street first thing on Sunday morning. A night in the waiting room at New Street beckoned. I decided to intercept the Bristol – Glasgow sleeper to see what banking loco it got up Lickey.
47404 1812 London Paddington – Worcester Shrub Hill (- Hereford). I’ve an idea that the 18:12 Hereford was one of the few Paddington services which then ran non-stop through Reading. Less of a novelty was 47404. What was that doing here? I took a DMU to Cheltenham Spa for:
47564 22:22 Cheltenham Spa – Birmingham New Street (21:25 Bristol Temple Meads – Glasgow Central). Inevitably the Lickey banker was unaltered:
37690 (again) 22:xx Bromsgrove – Blackwell, banking 1S19.
Sunday 22/03/87
On arrival at New Street I took an EMU (probably an AM10 I guess) to Rugby for:
87016 01:08 Rugby – Nuneaton (23:25 London Euston – Wolverhampton).
47471 (+87016 dead) 01:33 Nuneaton – Birmingham New Street (23:25 London Euston – Wolverhampton). If that’s the calibre of loco to expect on the drags, I may as well give up now. I got my head down in one of the waiting rooms on New Street station and snoozed the night away.
In the morning, the gen was that 37426 would be one of the locos allocated for dragging. There wasn’t much else on offer, so that’s my target then.
37426 (+86409 dead) 09:23 Birmingham New Street – Nuneaton (09:03 Wolverhampton – London Euston). This was load 11 plus a dead electric, so plenty for 37426 to get its teeth into. The Train Heat index of a 37/4 is only 30, so it was fortunate that the 86/4 had preheated the stock from Wolverhampton. As it was, the 37/4 was thrashing heavily at a standstill. It must have come close to tripping out. We learned that there would be no further work for 37426 on the drags until late afternoon, so I took this as my cue to head home. Naturally, you travel from Nuneaton to Glasgow via Euston, don’t you?
86409 10:21 Nuneaton – London Euston (09:03 Wolverhampton – London Euston).
87025 12:45 London Euston – Glasgow Central.
That concludes my rover. Highlights for me were the parallel running with 50018 from Basingstoke to Woking, the 31 and 50 on consecutive days to Weymouth, and the sheer diversity of motive power that was then available to us. Such overnight trains as well. Happy days!
I worked in Glasgow at the time, so had covered all the scenic Scottish routes many times over. My aim was to head south to sample some different traction, and get a few of those hard-to-do sections of track. Locos new for haulage are underlined. Here we go …
Saturday 14/03/87
87018 13:10 Glasgow Central – London Euston. Straight out from work for this (13:00 changeover time on a Saturday and a swift jog to the Central). Probably the best run I ever had with an 87, arriving Euston 11 minutes early. At the booked arrival time of 18:31 I was just stepping onto the platform at Victoria Underground station, having made an immediate connection at Euston.
73106 18:45 London Victoria – Gatwick Airport. This was still in the early stages of Gatwick Express operation, when any 73/1 could work the trains – i.e. before the creation of a dedicated 73/2 subfleet with modified spark guards etc. This was an obvious route to target for new 73s for haulage.
47588 20:11 Gatwick Airport – Newhaven Marine (16:15 from Manchester Piccadilly). Required track for haulage, and the only time I ever visited Newhaven Marine. Walk to Newhaven Harbour station, then EMU 7796 to Seaford, and back to Gatwick Airport via Brighton.
Sunday 15/03/87
Do you remember when newspapers were carried by train? Road vehicles carrying newspapers (literally) hot off the press transhipping into Brute trollies which were hauled to the doors of the waiting trains. Often the trains also conveyed newspaper sorters, who would sort them into bundles for individual newsagents for each stop along the route. Some of these trains also conveyed (very limited) passenger accommodation. They also had to run on Saturday nights, when sections of the route would be closed for engineering works, so all manner of diversions came into reckoning. Various trains ran from the London termini in the wee small hours. Since I was already in the area I decided to head for Victoria, to chance my luck.
73132 01:10 Gatwick Airport – London Victoria, via Crystal Palace, Balham.
33027 + 33010 03:50 London Victoria – Ashford via Herne Hill, Crystal Palace, Beckenham Jn, Orpington, Tonbridge. Double stamps. I was expecting a single 73, so I guess it might have been booked for diesel traction on Saturday nights to allow for 3rd rail maintenance. It was load 8 from Victoria, reducing to 5 at Ashford, where both locos were removed, and replaced by …
33035 05:37 Ashford – Deal via Dover Priory (03:50 ex London Victoria). Having been chucked out at Deal, along with the last of the newspapers, I had a cold wait until I caught EMU 1541 08:00 Deal – Waterloo East. Snooze in the warm, to recover from the overnight.
50040 11:10 London Waterloo – Tisbury (- Exeter St Davids). I never could resist a class 50. I alighted at Tisbury for lunch, sampling the wares of the Tisbury Brewery, before continuing the bash.
50030 14:04 Tisbury – Salisbury (12:25 Exeter St Davids – London Waterloo). After only a short journey I alighted at Salisbury to sample some more of the indigenous Southern locos.
33209 14:34 Salisbury – Trowbridge (13:15 Portsmouth Harbour – Cardiff Central). I always found the Hastings gauge 33/2s a little more elusive, so I was pleased to nab this one.
33037 15:38 Trowbridge – Fareham (15:05 Bristol Temple Meads – Portsmouth Harbour)
33113 17:32 Fareham – Eastleigh (17:08 Portsmouth Harbour – Reading)
73135 18:02 Eastleigh – Southampton (16:44 London Waterloo – Bournemouth). So in four successive journeys I managed one of each 33 subclass and a 73/1. I’d plotted an interesting overnight move, so it was time to head for Bristol.
33062 19:01 Southampton – Bristol Temple Meads (18:15 Portsmouth Harbour – Bristol Temple Meads).
47575 21:25 Bristol Temple Meads – Birmingham New Street (- Glasgow Central). The Bristol – Glasgow sleeper, 1S19, was a wonderful train, much missed. Load 14, and a right old totter. We ran the normal route via Cheltenham and Lickey. This was the only passenger train that always required the assistance of the Lickey banker. In this case:
37690 22:xx Bromsgrove – Blackwell, banking 1S19. I’d not had this loco previously as 37690, but only as 37171 before refurbishment. 37690 lives on as Europhoenix 37611 today.
86403 23:55 Birmingham New Street – Crewe (21:25 Bristol Temple Meads – Glasgow Central). Unexpected bonus of a required electric forward to Crewe.
Monday 16/03/87
37428 02:04 Crewe – Shrewsbury (00:42 Manchester Piccadilly – Cardiff Central). In any group of locos there always seems to be one which plays hard to get. In the case of the Cardiff 37/4s (37426 – 37431) it was 37428 which was my “rare” loco, being the only one of this group that I failed to clear for 1,000 miles. This was my first run with it.
On any other day of the week, alighting at Shrewsbury in the wee small hours would have been a mad idea. However on a Monday morning there was an 04:08 Shrewsbury – Aberystwyth to get the loco and stock to Aberystwyth to form the 07:22 to Euston, the Cambrian Coast Express. It was one of those workings only ever used by insomniac cranks and the occasional pissed-up squaddy. In this instance I had the five coaches pretty much to myself, and another new 37/4.
37427 04:08 Shrewsbury – Aberystwyth
37427 07:22 Aberystwyth – Shrewsbury. I was surprised to find the driver on this was a former Gourock driver who I knew well when he lived in Gourock. He’d moved south to get something other than EMU work – he certainly achieved that, and demonstrated it to some fine order!
47597 09:33 Shrewsbury – Wolverhampton. The train was strengthened to load 10 at Shrewsbury, and I had this required 47 to Wolverhampton before going for a spin with some electrics:
87035 10:23 Wolverhampton – Crewe (07:35 Cardiff Central – Glasgow Central).
86101 12:21 Crewe – Preston (10:15 London Euston – Stranraer). I always had a soft spot for the 86/1s, referring to them as “wolf in sheep’s clothing” as they were effectively class 87s in the body of an 86. I was glad to see 86101 survive to work again for Caledonian Sleepers, before sale to Locomotive Services Limited, so I hope to see it active again on Railtours in future.
85022 13:34 Preston – Crewe (10:50 Glasgow Central – Penzance). Nice to have a run with a Roarer.
47610 16:48 Crewe – Abergavenny (14:08 Holyhead – Cardiff Central).
At this point I paused proceedings and visited the in-laws for a couple of nights.
Wednesday 18/03/87
I assume I did a DMU from Abergavenny to Cardiff, but I don’t have any record of it. It was the season of Rugby internationals, with Wales playing a match in Edinburgh, so there were some Ruggexes scheduled to run. I thought I’d cover them at Cardiff, in the (vain) hope that a class 37 might work.
47561 07:46 Cardiff Central – Birmingham New Street (06:15 Swansea – Edinburgh Waverley). Ruggex. Ran via Chepstow, Gloucester, and Lickey. With load 11 there was no need for a banker.
85013 09:50 Birmingham New Street – Crewe (06:15 Swansea – Edinburgh Waverley). Ruggex. It was usual that any additional services on the WCML stood a good chance of producing a Roarer, so I wasn’t disappointed.
The 11:16 Crewe – Holyhead was often used – particularly on a Wednesday – as a test run for ex-works locos. I didn’t have any advanced gen as to which loco it would be (if any), but I struck lucky.
37685 (+47488 providing train heating) 11:16 Crewe – Holyhead. At the time this felt like a very rare working, but subsequently locos from the Buxton pool (376xx) were used in pairs on the Cambrian on summer Saturdays, and then later still 37685 was one of four refurbished 37s dedicated to the Scottish sleeper services. Occasionally the test loco would also work back on the passenger train from Holyhead, but that wasn’t the case today.
47488 14:08 Holyhead – Crewe.
There followed a prolonged fester at Crewe whilst I waited for something worth doing. This is the best I could come up with:
47631 19:53 Crewe – Stafford (19:05 Liverpool Lime Street – London Paddington).
86224 20:19 Stafford – Nuneaton (19:15 Liverpool Lime Street – London Euston). Note there are two services from Liverpool to two different London termini just 10 minutes apart.
31414 21:06 Nuneaton – Leicester (20:30 Birmingham New Street – Cambridge)
43045 + 43090 22:21 Leicester – Sheffield (21:05 London St Pancras – Sheffield) via Derby.
My chosen overnight is:
45103 23:55 Sheffield – London St Pancras via Derby. A good doss.
Thursday 19/03/87
Time for another spin on the Gatwick Express:
73129 06:00 London Victoria – Gatwick Airport
73106 06:35 Gatwick Airport – London Victoria
EMU Victoria – Clapham Jn for another EMU back into Waterloo.
50016 09:10 London Waterloo – Exeter St Davids
Withdrawal and scrapping of class 50s had already begun, so getting some decent long runs in the book was a priority for me. As it happens, this was my last ever run with Barham. And my next move was also my last ever run with Leviathan:
50040 13:10 Exeter St Davids – Westbury (10:00 Penzance – London Paddington).
The plan now was to head for Bristol. In recent weeks there had been the occasional steam-heat class 37 deputising for 33s and 47s on the Cardiff – Portsmouth diagrams, usually between Bristol and Cardiff. Also the 16:18 Bristol – Weymouth was a “chuck-out” from Bath Road depot, which had also produced 37s. So I aimed for that.
33063 15:00 Westbury – Keynsham. This ran late, so I baled at Keynsham fearful of missing the 16:18 Bristol – Weymouth at Temple Meads. I needn’t have worried – it was the same set of stock which came back (also running late). The traction wasn’t quite what I expected …
31406 16:26 Keynsham – Weymouth (16:18 Bristol Temple Meads – Weymouth)
31406 19:33 Weymouth – Westbury (19:33 Weymouth – Bristol Temple Meads)
31406 was very familiar to me from my time living in York. It was frequently seen on portion work around the North East. It was a surprise to see any class 31 on this train (booked a 33) let alone an Eastern Region example, but I took it anyway for the novelty value. I’ve never had a 31 to Weymouth before or since.
I settled on the idea of doing the Southampton overnight tonight, so with that in mind I alighted from the returning 31406 at Westbury for:
33062 21:03 Westbury – Salisbury (20:15 Bristol Temple Meads – Portsmouth Harbour).
33102 22:23 Salisbury – Basingstoke (21:22 Yeovil Junction – London Waterloo).
The 22:52 Waterloo – Weymouth and 22:38 Weymouth – Waterloo were mail / postal trains including passenger coaches. They were booked for class 73 haulage from London to Eastleigh and return, and class 33 onward to / from Weymouth. This diagram was one which sometimes produced one of the early “JA” subclass 73/0 locos, which I’d never had for haulage, so I decided to give it a go.
Friday 20/03/87
73120 00:08 Basingstoke – Eastleigh (22:52 London Waterloo – Weymouth).
Oh well, not the hoped-for 73/0, just a dud 73/1. Now to see which 33 I get from Eastleigh …
47532 00:49 Eastleigh – Southampton (22:52 London Waterloo – Weymouth). Oh hell, what’s this thing doing here. That’s totally uncalled for.
33101 01:20 Southampton – Eastleigh (22:38 Weymouth – London Waterloo).
73120 01:38 Eastleigh – London Waterloo (22:38 Weymouth – London Waterloo).
What a rancid overnight – no new locos, but at least some doss to be had. I continued the bash by finding the first available EMU from Waterloo to Reading and getting my head down for a bit longer.
47609 07:26 Reading – Kensington Olympia (07:26 Reading – Dover Western Docks), via North Pole Jn. I targeted this train specifically to do the track via North Pole Junction. I’d done it once previously on an excursion many years previously, but the details had long since been lost. To access the West London Line an Up train had to run on the Up Main Line to Old Oak Common, and then at very low speed cross the Down Main Line and access the sharply curved line through the archway and up a gradient to join the West London Line. This route closed in the early 90s when North Pole became the Eurostar depot, although the line still links from the depot to the West London Line, just not through the fence onto the GWML. Such a bizarre move could only take place when there was comparatively little traffic running, hence the 07:26 start from Reading. Track completed, I caught a DMU from Kensington Olympia on the shuttle service to Clapham Junction for an EMU to Waterloo.
50045 09:10 London Waterloo – Salisbury (- Exeter St Davids). Another fine run with a 50. Again, this turned out to be my final run with Achilles. I decided to have another crack at the 16:18 Bristol – Weymouth, to see what that might produce. I set about getting into position to cover it thus:
33013 11:29 Salisbury – Bristol Temple Meads (10:10 Portsmouth Harbour – Swansea)
33006 12:50 Bristol Temple Meads – Cardiff Central (10:10 Portsmouth Harbour – Swansea)
I couldn’t turn down the required 33 to take me to Cardiff as a fill-in move. The return traction was less appealing:
47503 14:05 Cardiff Central – Bristol Temple Meads (- Portsmouth Harbour).
There I waited patiently to see what the 16:18 Weymouth would produce. Surely not a 31 again? There were some 37s on Bath Road – could it be one of those please?
50001 16:18 Bristol Temple Meads – Weymouth
50001 19:33 Weymouth – Westbury (- Bristol Temple Meads).
Well that was unexpected. Just like the 31 the day before, I’ve never had a 50 to Weymouth before or since. Very agreeable. I decided to repeat the Southampton overnight moves, as my last hope of getting one of the elusive JA class 73/0s. So in a step-by-step repeat of the previous night’s moves:
33039 21:03 Westbury – Salisbury (20:15 Bristol Temple Meads – Portsmouth Harbour).
33107 22:23 Salisbury – Basingstoke (21:22 Yeovil Junction – London Waterloo).
Saturday 21/03/87
73001 00:08 Basingstoke – Eastleigh (22:52 London Waterloo – Weymouth).
Success at last, the doyen of the class. After that I don’t care if it’s another 47/4 from Eastleigh …
33111 00:49 Eastleigh – Southampton (22:52 London Waterloo – Weymouth). That’s more like it.
33116 01:20 Southampton – Eastleigh (22:38 Weymouth – London Waterloo).
73001 01:38 Eastleigh – Basingstoke (22:38 Weymouth – London Waterloo). I was glad to see the 73/0 stuck to diagram for the return working.
Having done the North Pole move, there was no need to replicate my previous morning’s moves any further, so I alighted at Basingstoke for some more 50 mileage:
50025 02:32 Basingstoke – Exeter St Davids (01:40 London Waterloo – Exeter St Davids).
50026 06:43 Exeter St Davids – London Waterloo.
Once back at Waterloo I decided on another run on the Weymouth line. Some of the 4-REP sets were out of use for rebuilding, their place being taken by 73/1s. (It couldn’t be 73/0s because of their lower maximum speed).
73126 10:44 London Waterloo – Bournemouth.
33117 1316 Bournemouth – Wool (11:32 London Waterloo – Weymouth).
33119 1358 Wool – Bournemouth (13:32 Weymouth – London Waterloo).
73141 15:00 Bournemouth – London Waterloo. Just as we prepared to depart Basingstoke on the Up Slow, 50018 (which was my class favourite) pulled in on the Up Fast on the 13:35 Exeter to Waterloo. Subsequently we ran parallel with it for much of the way from Basingstoke to Woking, with the 50 gradually overhauling us then pulling ahead because of the lower maximum permitted speed on the slow lines. It was a tremendous spectacle, 50018 at speed, on full power, just an arm’s length away “There’s gonna be a Resolution” as somebody nearly sang.
By this stage of the week I needed to be thinking about heading back to Scotland. There was dragging booked Birmingham – Nuneaton on Sunday morning, so I decided to cover that. There wasn’t any particularly nice way of covering the dragging turns other than being at New Street first thing on Sunday morning. A night in the waiting room at New Street beckoned. I decided to intercept the Bristol – Glasgow sleeper to see what banking loco it got up Lickey.
47404 1812 London Paddington – Worcester Shrub Hill (- Hereford). I’ve an idea that the 18:12 Hereford was one of the few Paddington services which then ran non-stop through Reading. Less of a novelty was 47404. What was that doing here? I took a DMU to Cheltenham Spa for:
47564 22:22 Cheltenham Spa – Birmingham New Street (21:25 Bristol Temple Meads – Glasgow Central). Inevitably the Lickey banker was unaltered:
37690 (again) 22:xx Bromsgrove – Blackwell, banking 1S19.
Sunday 22/03/87
On arrival at New Street I took an EMU (probably an AM10 I guess) to Rugby for:
87016 01:08 Rugby – Nuneaton (23:25 London Euston – Wolverhampton).
47471 (+87016 dead) 01:33 Nuneaton – Birmingham New Street (23:25 London Euston – Wolverhampton). If that’s the calibre of loco to expect on the drags, I may as well give up now. I got my head down in one of the waiting rooms on New Street station and snoozed the night away.
In the morning, the gen was that 37426 would be one of the locos allocated for dragging. There wasn’t much else on offer, so that’s my target then.
37426 (+86409 dead) 09:23 Birmingham New Street – Nuneaton (09:03 Wolverhampton – London Euston). This was load 11 plus a dead electric, so plenty for 37426 to get its teeth into. The Train Heat index of a 37/4 is only 30, so it was fortunate that the 86/4 had preheated the stock from Wolverhampton. As it was, the 37/4 was thrashing heavily at a standstill. It must have come close to tripping out. We learned that there would be no further work for 37426 on the drags until late afternoon, so I took this as my cue to head home. Naturally, you travel from Nuneaton to Glasgow via Euston, don’t you?
86409 10:21 Nuneaton – London Euston (09:03 Wolverhampton – London Euston).
87025 12:45 London Euston – Glasgow Central.
That concludes my rover. Highlights for me were the parallel running with 50018 from Basingstoke to Woking, the 31 and 50 on consecutive days to Weymouth, and the sheer diversity of motive power that was then available to us. Such overnight trains as well. Happy days!
Last edited:
