Back in the day...

[xotGD]

I was watching a couple of YouTube videos of yesterday's action at the ELR and spotted myself at a droplight behind the Syphon. Fame at last!

 

[NorthWestRover]

Friday 4th July 1980

This was really a spotting trip but it had two haulage highlights. My notebook has the day headed as York 3D which from @CW2's reports appears to have been a sort of rover ticket.

Day started at Warrington Central where I saw 08291, 40112 and various units. Took the 09.02 2-car unit to Manchester Piccadilly passing 08463 at Glazebrook, 08915 and 40104 at Trafford Park, 304010 at Oxford Road and 87012 and 85015 at Piccadilly. Walked to Victoria.

Spotted various units, 25187, 47481, 08129, 25093 before boarding 1E06 at 09.54 behind 47511. Took this to Huddersfield where we changed onto a unit for the run down to Sheffield passing an unidentified 76 at Barnsley Junction and through Deepcar where 08335, 08033, 20023 and 20035 were spotted. 20035 was my first loco cop of the day. Wadsley Bridge saw 08022, Sheffield Victoria 45139, 08880, 47472 before our arrival in Sheffield Midland at 11.24.

Sheffield Midland brought lots of units plus 47543, 45019, 40074, 45047, 45113, 47115, 45019 before another unit took us onto Doncaster. En route we saw 08244 (Attercliffe Road), 08 866, 31315, 31146 (Rotherham). A brief 3 minutes at Doncaster (spotted 08128) where we boarded an Edinburgh bound service at 12.34 behind 55006 which we took to York passing 50035 light engine at Selby (why? Out of Doncaster Works?) .

Arrived at York at 13.07 where in 100 minutes we spotted on the station and at the depot seeing the following.

Station - 37143, 08769, 08707, 08339, 46027, 47502, 55016, 47428, 55013, 47521, 47401, 40020, 40116 plus various units and HSTs.
Depot - 08453, 47549, 55004, 31327, 31196, 08062, 31290, 31266, 37127, 31301.

47428 took us on 1M75, I presume a Liverpool service, to Leeds . 40 163 was on Neville Hill. Leeds threw up a few more units along with shunters 08369 and 08497 before we set off for Morecambe on another unit. En route we saw 45030 at Shipley, 25110 and 40120 at Skipton, 25142 and 40082 at Carnforth before arriving at Morecambe (not via Lancaster). We left Morecambe at 6pm on a unit to Lancaster where we changed on to another unit to Preston but not before spotting 86219 and 86205. Preston threw up 47539, 47476, 08356, 40178, 85016 and 86017 before we boarded 40130 to Manchester Vic on 1J24 (departure 19.15 on what I assume was a Barrow or Blackpool train, I think most of the Blackpools were 2J64). We passed 87012 at Leyland, 08475 and 40092 at Bolton. More units at Victoria and then another walk over to Picc where we saw 82006, 86247, 40007, 86217, 08906, 304024, 304034 before our final unit took us home passing 47266 at Trafford Park.

Monday 4th July 1983

Post-College bash...

87033 Warrington BQ to Lancaster, 1P63 14.00 Euston to Carlisle
86234 Lancaster to Preston, 1M87 15.20 Glasgow to Nottingham
Then it got good. 1F32, the 18.23 Barrow to Liverpool has featured previously on this thread. Today it was 47512 but bang it goes and we have the joy of...
40131, Preston to Liverpool LS, 1F32
Unit back to Padgate

Thursday 4th July 1985

I mentioned on 22nd June the diversions via the Crewe Independent Lines when I'd finished my first year at Poly. Today was the day to go to Wolves to pick up my first year results.

87010 Warrington BQ to Stafford via Crewe Independents, 1A18 06.20 Carlisle to Euston
86102 Stafford to Wolves, 1015 09.00 Manchester to Poole
87016 Wolverhampton to Warrington BQ via Crewe Independents, 07.30 Penzance to Glasgow/Aberdeen.

Here are some photos of photos on the diversion...

 

[CW2]

Wednesday 04/07/79
After a day back home, it was time to get my money’s worth out of the Darlington 3D ticket once more:
55007 0011 York – Edinburgh via Carlisle, 35 minutes late, shunting vans at Newcastle.
27202 + 27203 0615 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street
40065 0740 Glasgow Queen Street – Dundee
27043 0938 Dundee – Perth
40159 1041 Perth – Dundee
27027 1138 Dundee – Perth
40101 1241 Perth – Dundee
40103 1507 Dundee – Perth
With four different class 40s out on Queen Street – Aberdeen services, you might expect the rest of the day to consist of a succession of class 40 moves as I hopped happily to and fro between my chosen locomotives. It seems somebody waved a magic wand and made them all evaporate:
27026 1624 Perth – Gleneagles
47469 1642 Gleneagles – Perth
47206 1633 Perth – Dundee running out of sequence, 47 minutes late
47269 1758 Dundee – Edinburgh
47248 2005 Edinburgh – Dundee
47211 2214 Dundee – Edinburgh
Here’s hoping for a decent overnight and better luck tomorrow …

(Friday 03/07/81)
40064 2015 Kings Cross – York
The beginning of an unusual weekend …
Saturday 04/07/81
40052 0341 York – Kings Cross
Doing a round trip to York and back with 40s overnight was always a little special. The arrival time at Kings Cross was critical as I was booked on the Joint Line Venturer railtour.
40013 0820 Kings Cross – March via Syston, Nottingham, Bottesford – Newark (since closed), both stations in Lincoln, Spalding – March (also since closed).
08242 was involved in shunting the train between Pyewipe Junction and the Lincoln stations.
37086 1512 March – Liverpool Street via Ely curve, Wensum Curve, Lowestoft, Ipswich, and Cambridge.
An excellent railtour with decent motive power, covering some rare track, and with the locos having been bulled up specially for the occasion. This was an initiative by the Kings Cross Division, so hats off to the people responsible.
After all that excitement it was time to head north:
55015 2230 Kings Cross – Edinburgh via Stockton, Carlisle Kingmoor Yard.

Monday 04/07/83
After the Menai Marauder railtour of the previous day, I had to get home to York, then back to work:
47203 0005 Kings Cross – Newcastle
43194 + 43109 0630 Newcastle – York
Work, then another evening out:
40135 1710 York – Stalybridge
45111 1904 Stalybridge – York

Wednesday 04/07/84
Still “Working As Required” at Leeds, I decided I’d take the scenic route to the office today:
43090 + 43079 0647 York – Newcastle
DMU Newcastle – Carlisle
40181 1040 Carlisle – Leeds
Attended the office “as required” then
40181 1555 Leeds – Carlisle
87015 1834 Carlisle – Lancaster
31444 1945 Lancaster – Cross Gates
DMU Cross Gates – York

Tuesday 04/07/89
34027 1013 Crewe – Holyhead via Llandudno
47323 12xx Llandudno – Llandudno Junction draw back loco
34027 1505 Holyhead – Crewe via Llandudno
47323 17xx Llandudno Junction – Llandudno draw back loco
The aim was to run a steam hauled service from Crewe to both Llandudno and Holyhead, so 47323 was provided to do the necessary draw back moves from Llandudno to Llandudno Junction and vice versa.
Back at Crewe there was more excitement to be had, as there were Potteries holiday fortnight special trains running with pairs of 20s on them:
20218 + 20099 2004 Crewe – Longport (1842 Blackpool North to Blythe Bridge)
20141 + 20169 2023 Longport – Stoke on Trent (1810 Llandudno – Blythe Bridge)
150 140 Stoke on Trent – Crewe.

 

[MDB1images]

04/07/84
47408 Southampton-Bournemouth.

04/07/87
47456 09:55 Bolton-Preston (1M22 Nott-Bpl N)
85013 10:39 Preston-Crewe
85003 18:45 Crewe-Wigan NW(Relief, looks like I put 1L30).

Crewe Works open day, The day started bad as an ETH Class 47 produced on the Notts-Blackpool but falling onto a Class 85 on a Euston service softened the blow.

A excellent day was had at a packed Crewe works open day before jumping on a relief which was again Class 85 hauled-the railways really did have the ability to cater for passenger loads back then.

Others noted today…..
37097 Relief Crewe-Derby
47220 1M44 19:44 Blackpool N-Derby.

 

[xotGD]

4th July 1987 - heading home for the summer, taking the scenic route:

87030 New St - Carlisle 1S59

Alas, no 37 on Mark 1s to take me to Newcastle!

 

[barrowjack]

04/07/1987 Crewe Works Open Day
108xxx Barrow In Furness - Lancaster
310xxx Lancaster - Crewe (ON the Lancaster to Birmingham about 9.30?)
86245 Crewe - Stafford
87021 Stafford - Crewe
87005 Crewe - Lancaster
150xxx Lancaster - Barrow In Furness

The Stafford move was a mistake - In theory had plenty of time to get there for the 47 back to Preston but crawled most of the way, eventually arrived as 638 was pulling out.

04/07/1992 North West Day Ranger
47299 Barrow In Furness - Manchester Victoria
158xxx Manchester Piccadilly - Crewe
31432 Crewe - Chester
1564xx Chester - Crewe
47812 Crewe - Liverpool Lime Street
37128 Liverpool Lime Street - Blackpool North
37065 Blackpool North - Preston
87024 Preston - Lancaster
1533xx Lancaster - Barrow In Furness

 

[xotGD]

37128 Liverpool Lime Street - Blackpool North
37065 Blackpool North - Preston

Very nice!

 

[86247]

was 37128 on the 17.12 Liverpool to Blackpool North as I had that to Prescot but can't remember the date when I had it .

 

[xotGD]

was 37128 on the 17.12 Liverpool to Blackpool North as I had that to Prescot but can't remember the date when I had it .

On that day 128 worked:

2N97 1033 Manchester V - Blackpool
2F32 1325 Blackpool - Liverpool LS
2N87 1712 Liverpool LS - Blackpool
2J94 1915 Blackpool - Manchester V

So that fits.

 

[86247]

Thank you so much for your reply my memory is a bit shot seeing it was 29 years ago again thanks.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Tuesday 5th July 1983

No 40s today on post-College bash.

86230 WBQ to Preston
86102 Preston to Crewe
87027 Crewe to Preston
86216 Preston to WBQ

 

[CW2]

Thursday 05/07/79
Still on the Darlington 3D ticket. The overnight from Aberdeen re-engined to another 47 at Edinburgh, so I snoozed my way south to Carlisle:
47208 0020 Edinburgh – Carlisle
My usual move at Carlisle was to wait for one of the diverted ECML overnights with either a Deltic or a 40. However a required 85 arrived on the Kensington Olympia to Perth Motorail train, which had some spare empty first class compartments, ideal for a good long doss …
85033 03xx Carlisle – Mossend
47701 05xx Mossend – Perth
This put me in Perth just in time for the serious business of the day, namely chasing more class 40s.
40006 0705 Perth – Edinburgh via Stirling
47271 0850 Edinburgh – Dundee
A required 47 to Dundee to visit the TOPS office to get some gen, and then:
47206 1048 Dundee – Stirling
40065 1206 Stirling – Dundee
40064 1315 Dundee – Perth
25005 1414 Perth – Dundee
40161 1507 Dundee – Perth
40080 1642 Perth – Dundee
40184 1915 Dundee – Perth
40161 2041 Perth – Dundee
40192 2115 Dundee – Perth
A very successful day for 40s so far. At Perth there was a choice of two southbound overnights, the Inverness – Euston and the Perth – Euston, and they both produced class 40s.
40101 2216 Perth – Stirling
40103 2314 Stirling – Mossend
Ten different class 40s for haulage during the day, and only one repeat. (Mind you, I did also repeat the Perth – Dundee line a few times. Some of the anglers fishing in the Tay must have thought I was mad, as they kept seeing me going back and fore past their fishing grounds. At least I wasn’t spending my day voluntarily standing up to my waist in cold water, like they were).

Saturday 05/07/80
Another day out with the Trolley. This time I decided to alight at Chester rather than going right through to Llandudno, for two reasons. Firstly Chester station buffet could provide me with some more hot water for my urns, and secondly that gave me the chance to work another couple of trains (thus boosting my meagre commission payment) and – purely coincidentally of course – those (carefully chosen) trains might produce class 40s.
86232 1025 Euston – Crewe
47348 1242 Crewe – Chester
At least the 47 was required.
40009 1456 Chester – Warrington Bank Quay
40107 1619 Warrington Bank Quay – Chester
… and then back onto booked diagram …
47348 1717 Chester – Crewe
86222 1809 Crewe – Euston

Sunday 05/07/81
After the overnight from Kings Cross I started a Scottish Rover for a week:
47708 0900 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk Grahamston, Cumbernauld, Cowlairs (reverse)
47403 1020 Glasgow Queen Street – Dundee via Cowlairs (reverse), Cumbernauld
37011 1020 Glasgow Queen Street – Cowlairs
47705 1258 Dundee – Montrose
40150 1346 Montrose – Glasgow Queen Street via Cumbernauld, Cowlairs (reverse)
37027 16xx Cowlairs – Glasgow Queen Street
40006 1710 Glasgow Queen Street – Montrose via Cowlairs (reverse), Cumbernauld
37112 1710 Glasgow Queen Street – Cowlairs
47210 2018 Montrose – Edinburgh
47702 2340 Edinburgh – Carstairs
One of those days when there were only a couple of 40s working, but at least I managed decent long runs with them.

Thursday 05/07/84
Still in “Work As Required” limbo, I turned up at the Leeds office, then discovered there was a 37 working to Sheffield, so after a decent interval I made my excuses and left …
31438 0804 York – Leeds
37036 1222 Leeds – Sheffield via Moorthorpe
43146 + 43149 1339 Sheffield – York

Friday 05/07/85
I was working early shift, so came out for a little play after work:
47712 1500 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
37191 1610 Edinburgh – Carstairs
81010 1650 Carstairs – Carlisle
85031 1814 Carlisle – Carstairs
37097 1923 Carstairs – Edinburgh
That was a nice way to spend the evening. Now, what’s on offer for the overnight?
37093 2315 Edinburgh – Carstairs
86234 2359 Carstairs – Carlisle …

Saturday 05/07/86
When working as a power controller, it was considered “very bad form” to “fix” locos for oneself. However there were occasions when I – how can I put this – “made full use of the circumstances to my benefit” (and those of several other bashers too). This is one such tale.
I was working night shift on the East Side power control job, covering Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Fife. Taking over at 2200, one of the first jobs (after making a strong mug of coffee) was to scan through the special notices to see what I had to provide locos for the following day, in addition to the normal services. This being the height of summer, there were two additional Edinburgh – Kings Cross passenger services running, with locos to be provided off Millerhill. A lengthy furtle through the short term planning diagrams showed the locos were supposed to be ETH 47s, stabled on Millerhill. Further investigation showed that these locos were supposed to have worked specials north into Edinburgh the previous weekend, and then sat spare at Millerhill for a week. That simply didn’t happen. There was no bottomless pit of spare ETH 47s at Millerhill – or anywhere else in Scotland for that matter. I told the boss that I’d have to find something other than ETH 47s to work the two Kings Cross services, and spoke to my counterpart in York to warn him too. That set alarm bells ringing, and soon there was an inter-regional slanging match going on at a senior level (some way above my pay grade)! About 2 in the morning I noticed on TOPS a Speedlink service departing Tyne Yard for Millerhill hauled by 37168, which was two days overdue a pre-assignment for a “B” exam at Colchester – of all places. I did the obvious thing, and told my boss I’d found the ideal loco to work one of the Kings Cross additionals, the other being covered by a no-heat 47 off repairs. York Control were not best pleased, but couldn’t say too much as they shouldn’t have sent 37168 my way in the first place – they should have put it on a southbound service from Tyne Yard to get it nearer to Colchester for its (overdue) exam. 37168 was duly allocated to the relief to Kings Cross, and a few early morning phone calls made, as that was one rare beastie of a 37. As for how to get to Edinburgh, well the Glasgow – Scarborough was also a 37 that morning (nothing to do with me Guv, honest!).
37188 0748 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
37168 1040 Edinburgh – Newcastle
I recall 37168 worked as far as Doncaster.
Meanwhile I had to get home for a few hours’ sleep before a 12 hour Saturday night shift:
DMU Newcastle – Carlisle
86209 1545 Carlisle – Glasgow

 

[NorthWestRover]

Those 1979 40 moves are madness.

 

[Falcon1200]

Wednesday 03/07/85
The Haymarket DMU fleet was often in a bit of a pickle, especially when temperatures were warm. A regular move was to take the set off an incoming Poole portion from Carstairs that wasn’t needed again until next morning, and use it for one of the peak hour Cardenden services. For traction it would be whatever Millerhill or Haymarket could provide, usually a Type 2.

Part of my role as a Grade C Controller at Glasgow in 1986 was, thanks to the then-new POIS, to allocate the loco and stock off the Carstairs portion onto the (booked DMU) Fife service.... Suffice it to say the process could consume a fair part of the back shift ! IIRC by that time the loco (usually a 47) which had worked in from Carstairs remained with the stock to Fife and back.

 

[CW2]

Part of my role as a Grade C Controller at Glasgow in 1986 was, thanks to the then-new POIS, to allocate the loco and stock off the Carstairs portion onto the (booked DMU) Fife service.... Suffice it to say the process could consume a fair part of the back shift ! IIRC by that time the loco (usually a 47) which had worked in from Carstairs remained with the stock to Fife and back.

Then you and I must know one another.
I don't think the 47 went for a run round Fife as it was needed to work back to Carstairs. Usually the Cardenden vice turn ran unheated with a 26 or 37.

 

[Falcon1200]

Then you and I must know one another.
I don't think the 47 went for a run round Fife as it was needed to work back to Carstairs. Usually the Cardenden vice turn ran unheated with a 26 or 37.

I'm sure you're right, I had enough hassle allocating the coaches to the working to worry much about the loco !

I moved to Glasgow Control in March 1984 (and retired from there in August 2016 !)

 

[CW2]

I'm sure you're right, I had enough hassle allocating the coaches to the working to worry much about the loco !

I moved to Glasgow Control in March 1984 (and retired from there in August 2016 !)

Initials MM?

 

[xotGD]

5th July 1986 - while the 37s were heading south, I was heading north up the ECML on a slightly dog-leg journey home at the end of my first year as a student:

47322 New St - Peterborough 1E66 (To Yarmouth - often a 47/3)
47633 Peterborough - Newcastle 1N13 (Not what I was hoping for on the Ex-Yarmouth!)

5th July 1998 - East Lancs Railway

D2062 + D3232 Bury - Ramsbottom
D345 Ramsbottom - Bury
D345 + D200 Bury - Rawtenstall - Bury
50033 Bury - Rawtenstall - Bury
50015 + 50033 Bury - Rawtenstall - Bury
D9019 Bury - Rawtenstall - Bury

Some of the action:

 

[Falcon1200]

Initials MM?

Yes indeed !

 

[CW2]

Yes indeed !

Then we worked on opposite shifts for some time until I got the Grade D RDR job when Glasgow took over Inverness Control. JH.

 

[Falcon1200]

Then we worked on opposite shifts for some time until I got the Grade D RDR job when Glasgow took over Inverness Control. JH.

Yes, great to know you are alive and well and to read your recollections.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Wednesday 6th July 1983

Simple, but effective, move...

86313 WBQ to Preston, 1P70 14.40 Euston to Blackpool
Quite a long fester...
40034 Preston to Lime St, 1M22 16.20 Glasgow to Liverpool
Unit home.

 

[xotGD]

6th July 1985 - an interesting Summer Saturday.

The day started with 37021 on an Adex (or similar) having to detach a defective coach at Newcastle, so we jumped on for a bit of dubious yellow-penning into the parcels sidings behind the former Platform 10 (now the site of Platform 5/6):

37021 Newcastle - Newcastle 1F92
47207 Newcastle - Ouston Junction 1E28

Here, the duff went pop. We received assistance from the rear:

31188 Ouston Junction - Durham Loop 1E28 (A bit more yellow penning!)

A replacement loco was found, but a bit of a disappointment:

47238 Durham Loop - Darlo 1E28 (Some folk jumped off at Durham for a quick dash across for 37200 on the Scarborough - Newcastle; I didn't need it, so took my chances on the Yarmouth...)

37199 Darlo - Newcastle 1N13 (Yay!)
45111 Newcastle - Darlo 1M32
37021 Darlo - Newcastle 1S51 (Nice that the 37 was returned to Scotland, rather than the duff!)

 

[CW2]

Friday 06/07/79
Still on my Darlington 3D ticket …
My train re-engined to an 86/2 at Mossend, so I got my head down and snoozed to Carlisle
86257 00xx Mossend – Crewe
… and woke up approaching Crewe! That is not what one would call a position of strength when one is intent upon bashing class 40s around Scotland. I took the first northbound train to try to salvage something from the day.
86237 0737 Crewe – Preston
From Preston I had a choice of two services northbound, the 0753 Manchester to Glasgow Central or the 0737 Liverpool to Edinburgh. They both arrived behind ETH 47s, then there was a slight delay before the forward electrics arrived. The Manchester – Glasgow was supposed to depart second, but it left first with an 86/2. There didn’t seem to be an electric for the Edinburgh service …
40164 0838 Preston – Carstairs
Ex works 40164 was put on this train to get it to its home depot of Haymarket. My overdoss has dropped me onto a class 40 over Shap and Beattock in daylight – superb! Naturally with the late start and the slower loco we were 30 minutes late by Carstairs. I headed off towards Edinburgh – but what I didn’t find out until later was that there was no spare electric at Carstairs to work back, so 40164 was later sent straight back south to Preston vice electric as well.
47526 1105 Carstairs – Edinburgh
26024 1247 Edinburgh – Perth via Ladybank
40142 1441 Perth – Dundee
I was particularly pleased by this, as 40142 was the only split-box 40 fitted with a boiler, and was one of the most elusive and least reliable of Scottish locos on passenger for some reason. I decided to have a longer run with it on its return journey, but there were other attractions in sight at Dundee:
40192 1507 Dundee – Glasgow Queen Street
Mistakenly I thought 40164 might work south on the 1805 Edinburgh – Liverpool service, so I went to cover it just in case:
87030 1730 Glasgow Central – Carstairs
86237 1853 Carstairs – Carlisle (1805 Edinburgh – Liverpool)
At Carlisle 83009 was waiting to re-engine the 1605 Nottingham – Glasgow Central, so I had to have that:
83009 2041 Carlisle – Motherwell
There were only a few minutes at Motherwell before the famous 1S81 2050 Carlisle – Perth arrived:
86252 2220 Motherwell – Mossend
26044 22xx Mossend – Larbert
At Larbert all the southbound services were in chaos. It had been triggered by the failure of the notorious 40142 (of course) on the 1749 Aberdeen – Glasgow Queen Street. That had been rescued by 40158, which had then itself failed in the middle of nowhere. Then a drunken fight broke out onboard, and the police attended. By the time I saw it, the train was being hauled by 25005, and was running many hours late, with all other services stacked up behind it, including …
40161 2328 Larbert – Mossend (35 minutes late)

Sunday 06/07/80
47525 0005 Kings Cross – Selby
47416 0546 Selby – Chester via Leeds, Normanton, Healey Mills, Huddersfield, Manchester Victoria
40192 09xx Chester – Aberystwyth via Shrewsbury
An ADEX from York to Aberystwyth. It had been hoped to get a class 40 on it throughout, but a 47 to Chester for a 40 forward was the best that could be managed. During the loco change at Chester, the inexperienced shunter caused some amusement by trying to plug the coach ETH cable into the class 40’s multi working socket, and wondering why it didn’t fit.
40192 1725 Aberystwyth – Chester
47416 20xx Chester – York, route reverse of above.
After which, I had to get back to London:
(Mon 07/07/80)
47519 0338 York – Kings Cross

Monday 06/07/81
Scottish Rover
86236 0053 Carstairs – Carlisle
It seems there wasn’t anything attractive in prospect on the ECML overnights, so I took the scenic route back to Glasgow by means of the Fort William portion from Euston:
81019 0232 Carlisle – Mossend
37039 0422 Mossend – Cowlairs
37027 05xx Cowlairs – Glasgow Queen Street
I wasn’t about to lose a day on the West Highland Line timewarp, so I breakfasted in Queen Street, got some gen, and headed off for the day:
47271 0740 Glasgow Queen Street – Stirling
25244 banker to Cowlairs
40073 0846 Stirling – Glasgow Queen Street
47040 0935 Glasgow Queen Street – Stirling
25244 banker to Cowlairs (again)
40150 1015 Stirling – Glasgow Queen Street
40073 1244 Glasgow Queen Street – Dundee
27033 banker to Cowlairs
40150 1510 Dundee – Aberdeen
There used to be a parcels train from Aberdeen which conveyed a passenger coach which was used by commuters from Stonehaven. Now all the parcels traffic has been lost – as the vast rows of surplus BRUTE trolleys at Aberdeen can testify. Thus the former 1712 departure from Aberdeen now runs just to Stonehaven with 3 coaches for the commuters, returning ECS to Aberdeen.
40149 1712 Aberdeen – Stonehaven
47141 1751 Stonehaven – Aberdeen
55004 1823 Aberdeen – Arbroath (only my second Deltic out of Aberdeen)
47210 1931 Arbroath – Montrose (40052 had been in diagram for this)
40148 2018 Montrose – Edinburgh
Whatever took over from 40148 at Edinburgh was obviously not to my liking, as I resorted to the Edinburgh – Bristol portion …

Wednesday 06/07/83
Working in the offices in York, I had the sudden urge to take a half day’s leave:
40181 1154 York – Bangor
40181 1710 Bangor - York

Friday 06/07/84
I’m still “Working As Required” at Leeds. I have arranged a visit to Inverness for myself and my wife, as there are a couple of vacancies in the Control office there, so I have to be back in York at a sensible time to pick her up and head north.
31436 0804 York – Leeds
47456 1200 Leeds – York
37002 1430 York – Sheffield
This was a relief train to Plymouth which the 37 worked as far as Birmingham New Street. According to https://www.class37.co.uk/fleet.aspx?strnumber=37351 the following day it worked a Poole – York relief from Reading to York in multiple with 37192! Can’t be everywhere at once, I suppose. Meanwhile I had to head back to York …
47599 1634 Sheffield – York
43045 + 43xxx 2007 York – Edinburgh
47550 2330 Edinburgh – Inverness (sleepers)

Saturday 06/07/85
86211 0328 Carlisle – Glasgow Central … and straight back into work until …
47701 1400 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
27023 1520 Edinburgh – Kirkcaldy
47193 1618 Kirkcaldy – Edinburgh
Today’s star prize is:
37062 1712 Edinburgh – Berwick upon Tweed
The return traction was a little out of the ordinary:
45120 1837 Berwick upon Tweed – Edinburgh
27054 2200 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street
This was the 1520 Scarborough to Glasgow Queen Street running over 2 hours late, having been delayed by class 47 failures as Cowlairs on the outward journey and Ferryhill on the return. Fortunately (for me) its delayed arrival at Edinburgh neatly solved another problem. The 2030 Glasgow – Edinburgh push pull had failed, blocking the 2100 from Glasgow behind it, so there had been no 2130 Edinburgh – Glasgow, and there was no stock for the 2200 departure either, so the late running Scarborough fitted neatly into that slot. On arrival at Glasgow Queen Street 37088 dropped on the other end, and the train formed the 2300 back to Edinburgh, running via Cowlairs triangle so 27054 went through to Edinburgh.

Monday 06/07/87
85020 0850 Glasgow Central – Crewe

Thursday 06/07/89
Potteries holiday fortnight in full swing, with pairs of 20s running additionals from Blythe Bridge to Llandudno and Blackpool each day.
20218 + 20099 1023 Crewe – Blackpool North
47527 1300 Blackpool North – Preston
87007 1345 Preston – Crewe

Friday 06/07/90
I don’t usually include commuting moves in these posts, but I make an exception here.
I had a meeting to attend in Crewe:
50035 0759 Reading – Paddington
86260 0945 Euston – Crewe
90023 1527 Crewe – Euston
50023 1808 Paddington – Reading

Saturday 06/07/96
A very long day out on a railtour:
86417 0725 Birmingham New Street – Carlisle
46229 1115 Carlisle – Polmadie via Dumfries
47572 1520 Polmadie – Glasgow Central
37401 1645 Glasgow Central – Braidhurst Down Loop via Bellshill
46229 1721 Braidhurst Down Loop – Carlisle
86417 2010 Carlisle – Birmingham New Street

 

[SuspectUsual]

37017 Darlo - Newcastle 1N13 (What was an Eastfield 37 doing in Norwich?)

It liked to spread its wings didn’t it? Wasn’t it the one that smashed through the stops at Thurso?

 

[xotGD]

45120 1837 Berwick upon Tweed – Edinburgh
27054 2200 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street
This was the 1520 Scarborough to Glasgow Queen Street running over 2 hours late, having been delayed by class 47 failures as Cowlairs on the outward journey and Ferryhill on the return.

See my post above regarding the fun and games with the Glasgow - Scarborough.

 

[CW2]

See my post above regarding the fun and games with the Glasgow - Scarborough.

Ah yes, that sheds some more light on the subject.
Edit - I suspect my trip to Edinburgh was with the aim of having 37021, but it must have been replaced at Edinburgh by the 27.

It liked to spread its wings didn’t it? Wasn’t it the one that smashed through the stops at Thurso?

If I recall correctly 37017 wasn't fitted with train air brakes, but was boilered. So it was relatively common on secondary passenger services in Scotland, but if it should stray south of the border it was of no use on the class 6 airbraked freight services that would otherwise be used to return it north. Hence it would disappear from view onto all manner of pway trains or secondary passenger services until it was due a major exam.

 

[NorthWestRover]

37017 must have been common as even I had it and my 37 haulage is pitiful. Coming up next month (in Scotland).

 

[MDB1images]

06/07/84
47444 Bournemouth-Basingstoke
47603 Basingstoke-Bournemouth

 

[xotGD]

It liked to spread its wings didn’t it? Wasn’t it the one that smashed through the stops at Thurso?

Yep...

Class37.co.uk