Back in the day...

[CW2]

Saturday 05/04/80
I was on a "visit the girlfriend's family" trip to Abergavenny. I took her for a day out to investigate the delights of Hereford, Worcester, and Great Malvern. Any cranking taking place was entirely coincidental (or that's what I tried to persuade her in any case …)
25063 1221 Abergavenny – Hereford
DMU Hereford – Great Malvern
50018 1737 Great Malvern – Hereford
(The appearance of my pet class 50 just might have led me to suggest a quick trip to Worcester) …
50018 1845 Hereford – Worcester Shrub Hill
47103 2023 Worcester Shrub Hill – Hereford
25061 2144 Hereford - Abergavenny

Sunday 05/04/81
86224 0050 Euston – Crewe
47517 04xx Crewe – Manchester Piccadilly
The nice thing about the Manchester portion of The Splitter was that you could doss in the stock on arrival at Piccadilly.
47182 0915 Manchester Piccadilly – Birmingham New Street via Crewe
47324 1145 Birmingham New Street – Wolverhampton, 30' late
47485 1237 Wolverhampton – Birmingham New Street, 20' late
45147 1335 Birmingham New Street – York via Nuneaton Flyover, Leicester, Derby (reverse) Trent, Toton, Sheffield, Moorthorpe
This was the Sunday equivalent of the Plymouth – Edinburgh, which at this time of year started from Swindon. It was scheduled to change locos at York:
55016 1722 York – Dunbar
This was dragged back out from York station to Holgate Junction by 08525 (gronkage!) then proceeded via York Yard, avoiding the station.
46051 2053 Dunbar – Newcastle
This 46 seemed to be running fine when I alighted, but subsequently failed, blocking the ECML for a very long time.
(Monday 06/04/81)
55017 0056 Newcastle – Kings Cross, 115' late, due to failure of 46051, and points failure Newark.

Friday 05/04/85
37267 0950 Glasgow Queen Street – Arrochar & Tarbet
37051 1115 Arrochar & Tarbet – Glasgow Queen Street

Tuesday 05/04/94
43124 +43136 0744 Reading – Paddington
86102 0850 Euston – Crewe
This was the 0850 Euston – Glasgow Central, and ran from the (then rare) platform 16 at Euston, as it conveyed Motorail vans on rear.
Marshalled 86102 + 8 Mk 3s + DVT + 3 GUVs on rear (behind the DVT).
80080 + 5029 1130 Crewe – Worcester Shrub Hill via Shrewsbury, Maindee Curve, Chepstow, Gloucester
166 209 Worcester Shrub Hill – Reading

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Thursday 5th April 1990. In a previous post I mentioned I only have one surviving notebook from my extensive travels around the UK and Europe in the 70’s and 80s and into 1990. That final Euro trip has already been documented on here (12th September 1990) and now the date of the penultimate trip has come around, I can detail a weekend trip to pick up new routes and football grounds (and teams) in the nearer parts of Europe.

Thursday 5th April 1990
18.00 Man Picc. To Euston – 10 coach Mk3 DVT set with 90015 on rear
Northern Line to Charing Cross
21.25 Charing Cross to Dover Priory – 2 x 4 CEP rear set detached Ashford
Walk to Eastern Docks

Friday 6th April 1990
01.00 Dover to Ostend – Prins Laurent
06.34 Ostend to Ghent St P – 1804 load 10
07.28 Ghent St P to Roosendaal – 8 car EMU – 4 cars detached Antwerp
08.53 Roosendaal to Dordrecht – 8 car EMU (2+2+4)
09.21 Dordrecht to Geldermalsen – 3 car DMU
10.16 Geldermalsen to Tiel – 2 car EMU
10.35 Tiel to Arnhem - 2 car DMU
11.42 Arnhem to Zutphen – 4 car EMU
12.13 Zutphen to Hengelo - 3 car DMU
14.00 Hengelo to Rheine – 1624 with load 6 to Bad Bentheim / 110 463 7 forward with load 4 (this was a Schipol to Hannover train)
15.03 Rheine to Munster - 3 car silberling with 141 166 9 on rear
15.42 Munster to Essen – 110 3119 5 with load 14 (Rostock to Cologne train). Found myself a hotel.
18.22 Essen to Bochum – 110 335 7 / load 7
Tram to Ruhr Stadion
Bochum 3 St Pauli 3 – Bundesliga 1
Tram back to Hbf
22.06 Bochum to Essen – 110 148 4 / load 5

Saturday 7th April 1990
10.10 Essen to Dusseldorf Hbf – 111 113 4/. load 3
11.19 Dusseldorf to Duisburg – 110 129 4 / load 9
12.11 Duisburg to Gelsenkirchen – 141 450 7 – no record of load
12.49 Gelsenkirchen to Dortmund Hbf – 141 159 4 / load 3
13.54 Dormund to Essen – 110 429 8 / load 5
Rott Weiss Essen 0 Wattenscheid 2 - Bundesliga 2
Wattenscheid were promoted that season and I saw them play at home in Bundesliga 1 on my Sept 1990 trip during which I collected my 18th (Wattenscheid) and 19th German stadia and took my mainland Europe stadium total to 43 across 46 matches, all except the first two (1974) between November 1981 and September 1990

Sunday 8th April 1990
09.28 Essen to Oberhausen – 111 180 6 / load 3
10.05 Oberhausen to Utrecht 103 160 8 / load 9 including sleeper and couchettes from Ventimiglia and couchette from Vienna.
Forward from Emmerich behind 1652
12.17 Utrecht to Rotterdam CS - 3 car EMU
13.10 Rotterdam CS to Schiedam – 3 car EMU
Sparta Rotterdam 5 Fortuna Sittard 1
16.41 Schiedam to Rotterdam CS
17.31 Rotterdam CS to Mechelen – unidentified class 11xx on rear of 7 car Benelux set
19.47 Mechelen to Leuven – 4 car Emu
20.26 Leuven to Ostend – 1607 / load 11
23.00 Ostend to Dover Eastern Docks – Rheine Astrid

Monday 9th April 1990
After walking to Priory station (too early for bus connections)
04.45 Dover priory to Victoria – 4 VEP
Victoria line to Euston
07.30 Euston to Man Picc - Robbie Burns (870xx) on 11 car DBSO set
And back to work for a 10.00 (ish) start

That concludes my European entries to ‘Back in the Day’ – maybe the odd domestic one still to come, but I am working on collating some other explorations albeit less detailed in terms of exact dates and timings and traction but some may find my routings of interest. I plan in due course to put these on a thread of their own.

 

[Falcon1200]

Tuesday 5th April 1983
47002 0815 Penzance-Paddington relief (from Reading)
47152 1752 Paddington-Newbury (to Reading)
50036 1803 Paddington-Oxford (from Reading)

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 5th April 1980

I presume I went for a day spotting at New Street, maybe with trips out to Bescot and Saltley. I wouldn't have fully appreciated the motive power home...

87028 Warrington BQ to Crewe
83009 Birmingham NS to WBQ

Tuesday 5th April 1983

40004 Blackpool N to Preston, 1A55 12.33 Blackpool to Euston
87025 Preston to Crewe, 1A55 12.33 Blackpool to Euston
85008 Preston to Crewe

Friday 5th April 1985

87024 WBQ to Euston (via Northampton), 1A18 06.30 Carlisle to Euston
HST Paddington to Slough, 12.50 Paddington to Swansea

Wednesday 5th April 1989

47589 Oxford to Reading, 06.41 Wolves to Poole
50033 Reading to Oxford, 1F38 15.15 Paddington to Oxford

My antipenultimate day of Hoover haulage.

 

[D6130]

A quick catch-up after a couple of days away:

TUESDAY 4th APRIL 1978:

Another after-work Crompton bash out of Waterloo:

7800/7735/7813 Petersfield-Waterloo (06 23 from Portsmouth Harbour)
5119/5263 08 12 Waterloo-Wimbledon (to Effingham Junction)
4650/4664 Wimbledon-Waterloo (17 56 from Shepperton)
33 023 19 00 Waterloo-Woking (to Exeter SD. Consist: W5464/5453/5361/5471/14063/5452/1987/5371 Load 8 AB/EH)
7389/5111 Woking-Guildford (18 52 from Waterloo)
7819/7705 Guildford-Petersfield (19 20 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour)


SATURDAY 4th APRIL 1981:

Having travelled up from Glasgow the previous evening to visit my girlfriend in London, it was now time to visit my friends in Hampshire:

33 016 10 10 Waterloo-Woking (to Salisbury. Consist: S16210/16198/4901/4905/34953/4904/80893. Load 7 VB/DH)
7743/7820 Woking-Petersfield (10 20 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour)
7837 Petersfield-Portsmouth & Southsea (13 22 from Waterloo)
1128 Portsmouth & Southsea-Fareham (to Southampton)
33 007 Fareham-Havant (13 40 Exeter SD-Brighton. Consist: S25913/25909/1806/13395/21270/4059/25920/25942 Load 8 AB/EH)
7353/7055/7407 Havant-Waterloo (16 53 from Portsmouth Harbour)


MONDAY 4th APRIL 1983:

Not quite sure what this quick Easter Monday trip through to Edinburgh was all about. Maybe to have a look at some new signalling on the Shotts line?

303 025 Hyndland-Glasgow QS LL (08 45 Helensburgh Central-Airdrie via Singer)
47 707 10 00 Glasgow QS HL-Edinburgh via Falkirk Grahamston (Consist: SC12024/12016/12006/12019/11010/9709 Load 6 AB/EH)
SC51537/59559/51455 10 52 Edinburgh-Glasgow Central via Shotts and Bellshill
303 008 Argyle Street-Partick (12 xx Motherwell-Dalmuir)


TUESDAY 4th APRIL 2019:

Returning from our place in Italy after an overnight stop in Torino:

TGV 4506 Torino Porta Susa-Paris Lyon via Aix-les-Bains (EC9252, 12 10 from Milano Centrale)


SUNDAY 5th APRIL 1981:

86 212 17 25 Euston-Glasgow Central via Holytown and Bellshill (Consist: M9442/5368/5369/5352/5596/5529/13533/14132 Load 8 AB/EH)


MONDAY 5th APRIL 2010:

E444 076 11 40 Firenze Rifredi-Milano Centrale via Prato and Piacenza (IC 586, 08 30 from Roma Termini)
TGV 4505, EC 9248, 16 10 Milano Centrale-Chambery (to Paris Lyon)


FRIDAY 5th APRIL 2019:

374 030/029 ES 9009, 07 57 Paris Nord-London St Pancras International
43 xxx + 43xxx 10 00 Kings Cross-Dundee

 

[CW2]

Friday 06/04/79
55019 0022 York – Newcastle
(2015 Kings Cross – Edinburgh terminating at Newcastle due to Penmanshiel collapse).
47428 0246 Newcastle – York
This was the 1930 Aberdeen – Kings Cross, retimed from 0112 ex Newcastle due to diversion via Carlisle. Actual departure time 0341, or 55' late on the retimings.
47461 0705 York – Doncaster via Selby
47402 0806 Doncaster – Leeds
DMU Leeds – Harrogate to go to college, and then …
43082 + 43086 1613 Harrogate – Leeds
46056 1707 Leeds – York
40069 1733 York – Leeds
55007 1850 Leeds – Doncaster
47459 2030 Doncaster – York via Selby

Friday 06/04/84
I had worked night shift in Leeds Control, so I was in a position to pick up the gen on any unusual movements. Today "celebrity" 40122 needed to be worked one way from Carlisle to Leeds to position it for a railtour the following day. To achieve this repositioning move, the 1040 Carlisle – Leeds was allocated 40057 + 40122 in multiple. It would be churlish to refuse (even if common sense was screaming that I should go home and sleep).
DMU Leeds – Manchester Victoria
47518 0750 Manchester Victoria – Preston, which then attached a Liverpool portion and re-engined to:
87028 0846 Preston – Carlisle
40122 + 40057 1040 Carlisle – Leeds
45149 1400 Leeds – York … and home to bed!

 

[Harvester]

Saturday 6th April 2002

First journey on a Voyager.

220??? 13:38 Darlington-Derby

Hard to believe this was 20 years ago. The end of the few remaining loco hauled XC trains was just months away.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Sunday 6th April 1986

86222 WBQ to Wolves, 1V99 17.20 Glasgow to Bristol

 

[Falcon1200]

Friday 6th April 1984
50017 0820 Liverpool Lime St-Paddington (Oxford-Reading)
33037 1246 Portsmouth Harbour-Leeds (Reading-Oxford)

 

[D6130]

TUESDAY 6th APRIL 1976:

86 261 Euston-Birmingham New Street
310 091 Birmingham New Street-Birmingham International
86 243 Birmingham International-Birmingham New Street
1048 "Western Lady" Paddington-Reading
DEMU Reading-Guildford
EMU Guildford-Petersfield


WEDNESDAY 6th APRIL 1983:

Following the split with my ex-girlfriend in London, I was starting to take interest in a young lady in Ireland, whom I had met on an earlier visit:

86 323 Glasgow Central-Lancaster (07 23 to Birmingham New St, attaching Edinburgh portion at Carstairs. Consist: SC3249/14141/5756/M5935 /SC1678 Edinburgh portion: SC14172/5841/5883/5828/5825 Load 10 AB/EH)
87 019 Lancaster-Crewe: 09 37 Carlisle-Euston (Consist: M81471/81060/11017/11027/10019/12079/12050/12116/12052/12134/9502 Load 11 AB/EH)
47 441 Crewe-Holyhead: 10 00 from Euston (Consist: M5419/9501/5966/6178/5980/6053/5787/1965/3422/3296/3339/81506 Load 12 AB/EH)
M.V. "St Columba" 15 00 Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire
181 Dun Laoghaire-Bray: 18 12 Howth-Greystones


TUESDAY 6th APRIL 2010:

After an overnight stop in Chambery while returning from our place in Italy:

TGV 76 + 54 TGV 6968, 10 24 Chambery-Paris Lyon via St Andre-le-Gaz
RER Line 'D' Gare de Lyon-Gare du Nord
373 231/232 ES 9039, 15 13 Paris Nord-London St Pancras International
91 xxx Kings Cross-Leeds
EMU Leeds-Skipton

 

[xotGD]

6th April 1985

47450 Newcastle - Durham 1M73
45123 Durham - Newcastle 1E08

6th April 1991

Footy trip...

47834 New St - Derby

Notts County 3 Newcastle 0

6th April 1993

86212 Cov - New St

Don't know why!

6th April 2000

I had been on a work trip to Cardiff Uni, and decided to yellow pen the Cardiff Bay branch after work. This gave the chance for a desperate Ned leap...

37412 Cardiff Central - Cardiff Queen St.

Tomorrow features some more South Wales ETH Syphon action...

 

[Jamesrob637]

Six years ago today I took a train from Barcelona airport to the centre. I don't know how I got to Manchester airport however I have a sneaky feeling that may have been by train also.

 

[CW2]

Saturday 07/04/79
47419 0022 York – Newcastle
37091 0235 Newcastle – Kings Cross via High Level Bridge, Selby.
This was a relief to the 1925 Aberdeen – Kings Cross, which had sunk without trace. 37091 was just ex-works, and had worked through from Edinburgh over Beattock. This relief train was announced as "York and Kings Cross Only". At York it was "Doncaster and Kings Cross" so I stayed on board. At Doncaster it was "Grantham and Kings Cross", so again I stayed on board, intending to pick up the 0405 Kings Cross – Leeds from Grantham. I woke up leaving Grantham, then we stopped at Peterborough too. So I stuck with it all the way to Kings Cross. The delayed Aberdeen service eventually arrived at Kings Cross at 1005 behind 55002, running One Engine Only.
50014 1250 Paddington – Reading
DMU Reading – Tilehurst … and home to visit my parents.
50050 2028 Reading – Paddington
The traction to take me home to York was a lot less exciting …
47421 2230 Kings Cross – York via Lincoln, Selby

Monday 07/04/80
After a couple of days visiting my girlfriend’s family, I set off on a marathon trip chasing (mainly) class 40s. The next couple of weeks were going to be busy, constant overnights, no hotels, and a vast amount of mileage covered.
25043 1756 Abergavenny – Hereford
50035 1845 Hereford – Worcester Shrub Hill
46014 2105 Worcester Shrub Hill – Birmingham New Street via Lickey
Due to the Easter holidays this Bristol – Newcastle train wasn't conveying any TPOs, so we arrived 15' early into New Street.
87002 2200 Birmingham New Street – Crewe, 20' late.

Saturday 07/04/84
It was a Rugby 6 Nations day in Cardiff, with various additionals in the offing. Straight off night shift in Leeds Control, I headed over the Pennines to Manchester to see what was about …
45148 0744 Leeds – Manchester Victoria
86318 0920 Manchester Piccadilly – Crewe
While waiting at Crewe, NB 40135 arrived on an 0959 Manchester Piccadilly – Swansea FOOTEX, conveying Manchester City supporters. To my sorrow, 40135 was immediately unhooked … but was then promptly replaced by 40044! I negotiated with the Manchester City stewards who granted me a one-way priv fare to Swansea, and off we went:
40044 1045 Crewe – Cardiff
We stopped middle road at Cardiff, where 40044 (which was every bit as No Heat as 40135 had been) was itself replaced by the unlovely 47511:
47511 1345 Cardiff – Swansea
The football fans would have been hard pushed to make it to Vetch Field in time for kick-off! I just had to head back towards Cardiff to cover the additionals from there that evening.
43043 + 43033 1530 Swansea – Cardiff
50015 had worked in a RUGGEX from Carmarthen that morning, and I hoped it might work back that evening, as I'd never had a 50 west of Swansea, but it wasn't to be. Some 47 worked back to Carmarthen, but I still had an alternative 50-hauled outlet:
50039 1655 Cardiff – Hereford RUGGEX
33057 1828 Hereford – Crewe
86238 2119 Crewe – Carlisle

Tuesday 07/04/87
86225 1310 Glasgow Central – Crewe
Not my first choice of motive power, but I was on my way to Crewe for an interview working as a Speedlink Performance Assistant. This was still a 3-shift job, like in the Control offices, but was dealing with all the wagonload traffic on the Western LM and Scottish regions. It was a promotion to the management grade, and every weekend was off. It was also much closer to my wife's family. I had a good interview, and a few days later I learned I had got the job. So my time living in Scotland would soon be coming to an end.

Sunday 07/04/91
Coming back home after visiting my parents, I found a better way of travelling with wife and two toddlers than HST all the way:
50050 1455 Plymouth – Basingstoke via Exeter St Davids
205 029 Basingstoke – Reading

Wednesday 07/04/99
A work visit to Wolverton to visit a customer:
87003 1300 Euston – Milton Keynes Central
321 414 Milton Keynes Central – Wolverton
90014 1730 Milton Keynes Central – Euston

 

[NorthWestRover]

Thursday 7th April 1983

81021 Crewe to WBQ
25123 Chester to Flint, 1D21 15.45 Man Vic to Bangor
87018 WBQ to Crewe, 1K33 18.40 Blackpool to Crewe
87030 Crewe to Preston, 1P79 18.05 Euston to Blackpool
81021 Preston to WBQ

Monday 7th April 1986

Off to sunny Blackpool for a week of student politics at NUS Conference

86432 Wolves to Preston, 1S61 07.47 Cardiff to Glasgow
47623 Preston to Blackpool N, 1P18 08.55 Euston to Blackpool

 

[D6130]

FRIDAY 7th APRIL 1978:

Yet another after-work Crompton bash from Waterloo to Woking. I didn't need many of the Eastleigh 33s for haulage by this time:

7837/7810/7816 Petersfield-Waterloo (06 23 from Portsmouth Harbour)
5123/5116 08 12 Waterloo-Wimbledon (to Effingham Junction)
5910/5927/5930/5941 Wimbledon-Waterloo (18 05 from Chessington South)
33 001 19 00 Waterloo-Woking (to Exeter SD. Consist: W5489/5492/5457/14080/14069/1772/3087/5363 Load 8 AB/EH)
7389/7812 Woking-Petersfield (19 20 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour)


THURSDAY 7th APRIL 1983:

Having arrived in Ireland the previous day for a ten day holiday, I headed for Wexford, after which I had several days without any rail travel:

133+121 Bray-Wexford (09 35 Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Harbour)

 

[xotGD]

7th April 1989

A work trip to South Wales. Mainly Trams and DMUs, but one highlight...

37407 Cardiff - Newport 1M48

7th April 1990

Football trip...

47820 New Street - Stoke

Port Vale 1 Newcastle 2

86234 Longport - Stoke
87029 Stoke - New Street

A loco-hauled service stopping at Longport was a bit of a surprise. I don't know if this was a regular thing after Vale home games.

7th April 1991

87014 New Street - Wolverhampton (via Bescot)
47624 Wolverhampton - New Street (via Bescot)

 

[CW2]

7th April 1990

Football trip...

47820 New Street - Stoke

Port Vale 1 Newcastle 2

86234 Longport - Stoke
87029 Stoke - New Street

A loco-hauled service stopping at Longport was a bit of a surprise. I don't know if this was a regular thing after Vale home games.

I suspect that was a "Control Arrangement" on the day, as very few teams visiting Port Vale would bring many fans with them. A match against Newcastle was probably the high point of their season.

When the Crewe - Derby locals got hauled due to DMU shortages, that would give you a loco-hauled stop at Longport. Also during Potteries Holiday Fortnight there would be Blythe Bridge to Llandudno or Blackpool additionals running, usually with pairs of 20s, which would stop there too.

 

[xotGD]

I suspect that was a "Control Arrangement" on the day, as very few teams visiting Port Vale would bring many fans with them. A match against Newcastle was probably the high point of their season.

When the Crewe - Derby locals got hauled due to DMU shortages, that would give you a loco-hauled stop at Longport. Also during Potteries Holiday Fortnight there would be Blythe Bridge to Llandudno or Blackpool additionals running, usually with pairs of 20s, which would stop there too.

Thanks. I'd rather have had a pair of 20s than the Can!

 

[Techniquest]

7th April 1989

A work trip to South Wales. Mainly Trams and DMUs, but one highlight...

37407 Cardiff - Newport 1M48

I have to confess, I was hoping for something a bit more exciting when you mentioned yesterday that today would have more 37 action in it!

It has dragged up some pleasant loco-hauled memories for me though, so that's quite nice. Good gravy, it's just hit me in September it will have been 17 years since my Freedom of the South West rover trip. 17 years, oh my how things have changed, and are continuing to do so! I still haven't been back down the St Ives, Falmouth Docks or Looe branch lines since that rover, maybe something to finally rectify this year!

 

[CW2]

Tuesday 08/04/80
86258 0011 Crewe – Stockport
47406 0050 Stockport – York via Denton Jn., OA&GB Jn
Home for a few hours' doss, then:
40078 1302 York – Darlington relief, 25' late.
At Darlington I purchased a 3D ticket. This was a ticket designed to allow three return trips within a week to a variety of destinations, aimed at the impoverished holidaymaker. They sold a similar ticket at York, but the Darlington version had a better range of destinations, notably Dundee, which opened up most of central Scotland to the keen (i.e. desperate) basher. The tickets were like a standard NCR ticket, but with tear-off strips at the bottom, so as you completed each of your three days you were supposed to tear off the used ticket. Very few guards or ticket inspectors understood what they were, and tended to just hand the ticket back ungripped. My omission in forgetting to remove the "used" portion of the tickets only added to the confusion. So this "3-day in 7" ticket functioned very nicely as a 7 day rover ticket covering pretty much anywhere between London, Lincoln, Bangor, and Dundee. It's fair to say I got very good value for money over the coming week out of that ticket (and apologies in advance to those of you reading this thread, as the next couple of weeks are quite intensive) …
55016 1553 Darlington – Kings Cross via Selby. Relief
40065 2015 Kings Cross – Edinburgh via Selby
All was going well until just north of Berwick, where the loco sprung a control air leak, causing the engine revs to drop to a low level. We took 30 minutes for the 9 miles to MP48, then suddenly the problem was cured, and we blasted along at full power to Edinburgh, where we arrived 45' late.

Sunday 08/04/84
47203 0030 Carlisle – Newcastle via Norwood
Re-engined at Newcastle to:
47404 0206 Newcastle – Huntingdon via Stockton, Leeds, Viaduct
At Huntingdon the station buffet was open so I treated myself to kippers, tea and toast for breakfast. I had to get to work in Leeds:
43111 + 43097 0933 Huntingdon – Peterborough
43xxx + 43118 1047 Peterborough – Leeds
… and so to work …

Monday 08/04/85
I lived in Gourock, and the was a Gourock to Aviemore ADEX running. It was allocated 37267, which had only recently been transferred to Eastfield from Cardiff Canton, so it was still quite an exotic interloper:
37267 0830 Gourock – Paisley Gilmour Street
I didn't have a ticket for the ADEX, so I just did it for the rare track (for 37s) as far as Paisley, then headed in to Glasgow for the next step of the plan:
DMU Paisley Gilmour Street – Glasgow Central
37011 1005 Glasgow Queen Street – Inverness. Relief
37011 wasn't working back from Inverness that day, so the obvious way home was to go to Aviemore and insinuate myself onto the return Gourock ADEX with 37267.
47414 1630 Inverness – Aviemore
At Aviemore the traincrew were having some difficulty starting the boiler on 37267 (which hadn't seen a lot of use in South Wales). The roof vents produced a thick black pall of oily smoke, followed by a minor explosion and a jet of flames three feet long emerging from the 37's roof. At that point it was decided to shut down the boiler!
37267 1730 Aviemore – Perth
At Perth a loco change took place, with 37267 being replaced by 37012 (with a working boiler) which had recently arrived with the 1805 from Glasgow Queen Street.
37012 1925 Perth – Gourock via Cowlairs, Springburn, High Street Jn., City Union Line, Shields Jn.
A fine day for 37s, with some rare track, and runs both ways over the Highland Main Line.

Wednesday 08/04/87
After my job interview, I had to head back to Glasgow. First I covered the 1116 Crewe – Holyhead, as that sometimes produced ex-works locos on test. Sadly, in this instance a common ETH 47 was the loco in question:
47664 (+ 47560 not powering) 1116 Crewe – Chester
47629 1205 Chester – Crewe
86410 1518 Crewe – Glasgow Central

Wednesday 08/04/92
I assume this was some sort of meeting or convention / exhibition at the NEC:
47851 0747 Reading – Coventry
86206 0916 Coventry – Birmingham International
47826 1217 Birmingham International – Reading
47423 1458 Reading – Paddington
47478 2120 Paddington – Reading

 

[Harvester]

Saturday 8th April 1989

Afternoon trip to Leamington Spa

43190+43??? 13:49 Derby-Birmingham NS
50050 14:41 Birmingham NS-Leamington
47478 15:27 Leamington-Birmingham NS (Poole-Newcastle)
47558+47589 New Street-Derby (Poole-Newcastle after reversal)

 

[NorthWestRover]

Friday 8th April 1983

85037 Crewe to Liverpool LS
87008 Liverpool LS to Crewe, 1V41 (anyone know what service that was?)
87030 Crewe to Preston, 1S59 09.35 Euston to Inverness
87020 Preston to Lancastee, 1S68 09.32 Nottingham to Glasgow
87014 Lancaster to Preston, 1M27 11.15 Glasgow to Birmingham
87012 Preston to Crewe, 1M34 12.10 Glasgow to Euston
85002 Crewe to Preston
87014 Wigan NW to WBQ, 1M35 14.10 Glasgow to Euston
81010 Preston to Lancaster
87013 Preston to Crewe, 1M52 17.10 Glasgow to Euston

 

[xotGD]

I have to confess, I was hoping for something a bit more exciting when you mentioned yesterday that today would have more 37 action in it!

It has dragged up some pleasant loco-hauled memories for me though, so that's quite nice. Good gravy, it's just hit me in September it will have been 17 years since my Freedom of the South West rover trip. 17 years, oh my how things have changed, and are continuing to do so! I still haven't been back down the St Ives, Falmouth Docks or Looe branch lines since that rover, maybe something to finally rectify this year!

17 years? That's nothing! The only time I have travelled on the St Ives and Falmouth branches was in 1976!

Hopefully I'll be serving up some more interesting days before the month end.

 

[D6130]

Nothing from me today I'm afraid. More tomorrow.

 

[CW2]

Wednesday 09/04/80
Having arrived at Edinburgh behind the ailing 40065, it was now the case of finding something decent to chase – preferably with the first two digits being 40 – and sticking with it. It was always tricky to get information at Edinburgh, but the TOPS offices at Glasgow Queen Street and Dundee as well as the Train Crew Supervisors at Perth were usually pretty amenable to handing out the gen. I planned to be in Scotland for a few days, mainly hunting 40s, with whatever overnights to Newcastle or Carlisle presented themselves. So:
47707 0615 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk Grahamston
47207 0740 Glasgow Queen Street – Dundee
27037 banker to Cowlairs
27017 0938 Dundee – Perth
27111 1012 Perth – Dundee
40057 1115 Dundee – Glasgow Queen Street
47272 1335 Glasgow Queen Street – Dundee
40057 banker to Cowlairs
40057 1709 Dundee – Aberdeen
40057 1949 Aberdeen – Perth
40063 2220 Perth – Mossend

Saturday 09/04/83
45054 1051 York – Newcastle
This was a positioning move for the main business of the day:
40057 1303 Newcastle – Kings Cross via Selby
50001 1741 Paddington – Banbury via High Wycombe
50032 1937 Banbury – Oxford
50024 2105 Oxford – Paddington
86250 2345 Euston – Crewe via Stechford, Bushbury

Sunday 09/04/89
A Sunday afternoon 90 bash:
90019 1551 Crewe – Nuneaton
90016 1657 Nuneaton – Crewe
That was my first run with 90016.

Monday 09/04/90
For a period, class 73s were working in place of 4REP units on the Southern, whilst the latter were being gutted of their electrical equipment to go into the class 442s. Class 73s were normally restricted to Gatwick duties and overnight newspaper trains (plus the odd boat train to Weymouth) so the chance of a run in daylight wasn't to be shunned:
47555 1206 Reading – Basingstoke
Well, that's a fine way to start!
73130 1311 Basingstoke – Southampton
73130 1425 Southampton – Wareham
73130 1602 Wareham – Southampton
2416 Southampton – Southampton Parkway
73109 1749 Southampton Parkway – Southampton
73109 1825 Southampton – Eastleigh
2404 Eastleigh – Basingstoke
DMU Basingstoke – Reading

 

[D6130]

SUNDAY 9th APRIL 1978:

Bournemouth line and cross-country services were being diverted via Netley and Guildford due to engineering works, so I took the - then rare - opportunity for non-stop loco-haulage over the Portsmouth Direct and Guildford-Reading lines. The cross-country trains stopped at Havant and Guildford for crew change purposes:

7051/7379 Petersfield-Havant (11 20 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour)
47 490 Havant-Reading via Guildford (11 32 Poole-Newcastle. Consist: E81232/5295/5333/5324/1771/1062/13472/14056/5346/5347/5345 Load 11 AB/EH)
W51355/59507/51397 16 24 Reading-Guildford (to Redhill)
7390/7054/7807 Guildford-Petersfield (16 50 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour)

 

[xotGD]

9th April 1983

A circular trip with a couple of Ned leaps added for good measure...

47523 Newcastle - Waverley 1S08
47708 Waverley - Haymarket 1O16
27017 Haymarket - Waverley 2G31
27021 Waverley - Haymarket 2L34
47710 Haymarket - Waverley 1O15
47412 Waverley - Carstairs 1C87
87002 Carstairs - Carlisle 1M27
46026 Carlisle - Newcastle 1S15

A Generator on the Carstairs portion was not the highlight of the day! They used to get everywhere.

9th April 1989

My regular Sunday move when staying in Slough...

50026 Slough - Paddington 1F35
50035 Paddington - Slough 1F42

 

[Graeme.Hutchis]

9th April 1983

47540 Barrhead - Glasgow 06.10 Carlisle - Glasgow
86243 Glasgow - Carlisle 10.10 Glasgow - London Euston
47542 Carlisle - Glasgow 12.50 Carlisle - Glasgow
Nothing noted about getting to Edinburgh but HST Edinburgh - Dunbar 18.00 Edinburgh - Kx
46026 Dunbar - Edinburgh 15.50 Carlisle Edinburgh

 

[xotGD]

46026

Kx
46026 Dunbar - Edinburgh 15.50 Carlisle Edinburgh

So we were on the same service for different parts of its journey.

 

[NorthWestRover]

So we were on the same service for different parts of its journey.

Funny you should say that...

Saturday 9th April 1983

87023 WBQ to Crewe, 1A58 08.23 Preston to Euston
87011 Crewe to Preston, 1S53 08.10 Birmingham to Glasgow
87004 Preston to WBQ, 1A35 09.20 Blackpool to Euston
87006 WBQ to Crewe, 1A40 10.18 Blackpool to Euston
87019 Crewe to Preston, 1S59 09.35 Euston to Inverness
87002 Lancaster to Preston, 1M27 11.15 Glasgow to Birmingham (@xotGD)
86035 Preston to Oxenholme
40143 Poulton-le-Fylde to Preston, 1A32 15.14 Blackpool to Euston
87010 WBQ to Preston, 1P70 15.00 Euston to Blackpool
40080 Preston to Poulton-le-Fylde, 1P70 15.00 Euston to Blackpool
40080 Preston to Poulton-le-Fylde, 1P79 18.05 Euston to Blackpool

Saturday 9th April 1988

86212 Wolves to WBQ, 08.34 Poole to Glasgow

Saturday 9th April 2022

Almost like going back in time today at Preston...