Back in the day...

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 22nd October 1983

I'm not sure what this was all about...I know I liked Goyles, but I can't imagine I went all that way for this.

Unit WBQ to Man Vic, 1J10 07.10 Bangor to Man Vic
47559 Man Vic to Leeds, 1E06 09.05 Lime St to Scarborough
47033 Leeds to York, 1E99 11.15 Bangor to Scarborough
That was a long fester at Leeds!
31406 York to Scarborough, 1L?? 16.18 York to Scarborough
31406 Scarborough to York, 1L36 17.40 Scarborough to York
47485 York to Man Vic, 1M79 17.18 Newcastle to Lime St
Unit Man Vic to WBQ, 2D61 20.44 Man Vic to Chester

Weird. Didn't require any of the above either.

 

[D6130]

THURSDAY 22nd OCTOBER 1981:

Another evening visit to Helensburgh for a pint or two with old schoolfriends and a required 37 haulage thrown-in for good measure:

08 01 Milngavie-Springburn: 303 038 Hyndland-Glasgow QS LL
SPTE Subway (Outer Circle): 127 + 125 Buchanan Street-Partick (just for a change!)
17 22 Airdrie-Helensburgh Central: 303 044/056 Hyndland-Dumbarton Central via Yoker
18 23 Glasgow QS HL-Oban: 37 050 Dumbarton Central-Helensburgh Upper (Consist: SC4438/4747/4213/14000 Load 4 VB/SH)
21 22 Helensburgh Central-Airdrie: 303 027 Helensburgh Central-Hyndland via Yoker

MONDAY 22nd OCTOBER 2012:

Returning from our first trip to Italy following my early retirement - with an overnight stop in Torino.

TFT R 1161, 08 44 Pratovecchio Stia-Arezzo: ETR 22
RV 2306, 09 51 Arezzo-Firenze SMN: E464 105
RV 3151, 11 00 Firenze SMN-Pisa Centrale: E464 125
IC 510, 12 52 Pisa Centrale-Torino Porta Nova via Genova: E444 082

While waiting for the InterCity at Pisa I got chatting with the relieving crew about my recently-finished railway career and about the similarities and differences between rail salaries and conditions of service in Italy and the UK....and the Train Manager very kindly allowed my wife and I a free upgrade, so we had a first class compartment, next to the loco, to ourselves for the entire journey!

 

[xotGD]

I've just had a run from KX to Leeds behind 91119 on 1D10, the 10:33 from London. Not exactly exciting, but better than the plastic I had on the way down yesterday. 91110 was on the 10:03, just set off back south on 1A30. Anyone trying to make the -3 at Leeds would have missed it.

 

[xotGD]

Three day catch up...

21st October 1983

37022 Hexham - Newcastle 2E72

Keep them coming!

21st October 1989

West Midlands hops with 90019, 86236, 47623, 90007 and 86425

20th October 1990
90028 New St - Crewe
86236 Wolves - New St

21st October 1990

West Mids again with 47838, 87101 and 87025

And of course

22n October 2021

91119 King's Cross - Leeds 1D10

 

[CW2]

Tuesday 23/10/79
Back to University after a quick trip home …
55015 1215 York – Kings Cross

Friday 23/10/81
This was the day of the last Motorail train from Kensington Olympia. I was working night shift at Willesden PSB, so I turned up at Kenny O hoping to cadge a lift as far as Willesden on the last train:
25117 + 25209 2050 Kensington Olympia – Willesden Low Level Goods Lines
I was invited to ride in the back cab of the leading 25 – entirely illegally of course. Upon departure from Kensington I glanced into the front cab of the second 25, to see the familiar face of David Simpson, the Willesden Area Manager, looking back at me!. I alighted at Willesden and made my way across the WCML and into the PSB to start my night shift. Nothing was ever said about my illegal ride on the last Motorail from Kenny O.

Saturday 23/10/82
47171 1210 York – Darlington
DMU Darlington – Saltburn, Eaglescliffe, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.
As I passed through Middlesbrough I noted 40028 stabled on a rake of Mk 1s forming a return Middlesbrough – Kings Cross Footex for Arsenal supporters. Well, it would be rude not to … I spoke to the guard, and was invited to sit in a compartment that had been put aside by the BTP in case they needed to confine any troublemakers.
40028 1730 Middlesbrough – Kings Cross
The loco was not in the best of health. It sported a large gash along the side of one nose end, and was covering the train in a fine film of oil.

Wednesday 23/10/85
47406 2225 Glasgow Queen Street – Stirling
This was the Fort William – Euston portion, which ran via Stirling to avoid the ongoing issue of the train being held up and hi-jacked when running via the bad-lands of Springburn.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 23rd October 1982

I've just about pieced this day together. Just what I presume is a Can from Preston to Crewe missing. Not a bad day.

25221 WBQ to Flint, 1D34 07.45 Man Vic to Bangor "The Bangor"
40197 Flint to Crewe, 1K28 08.15 Holyhead to Crewe
87011 Crewe to Preston, 1S59 09.35 Euston to Inverness "The Clansman"
87020 Preston to Lancaster, 1S57 10.05 Euston to Glasgow "The Royal Scot"
40050 Lancaster to Preston, 1K09 13.05 Barrow to Crewe
Mystery train back to Crewe
40197 Crewe to Llandudno J, 1D63 17.27Crewe to Holyhead
25221 Llandudno J to WBQ, 1J31 19.25 Bangor to Man Vic "The Bangor"

The Rat was required.

Wednesday 23rd October 1991

I was commuting most days around this time from Oxford to Reading on a diet of duffs and the occasional tram (I've not bothered reporting them here) . This day I appeared to have gone to Newbury with a double-headed Duff, so thought I'd add it.

47825 Oxford to Reading, 05.40 Wolverhampton to Padd
47587/47431 Reading to Newbury (on a Padd to Newbury service)
Unit back to Reading
47841 Reading to Oxford, 14.20 Brighton to Man Picc

Needed both the duffs in the double header and the other two as 47/8s.

 

[Falcon1200]

I was commuting most days around this time from Oxford to Reading on a diet of duffs and the occasional tram (I've not bothered reporting them here) .

I also commuted from Oxford to Reading, in my case from October 1980 to March 1984; Annoyingly I no longer have my records pre-83. The traction then was a little more interesting, overwhelmingly Classes 47 and 50 (which I don't report here other than non-ETH 47s), but with appearances too from 31, 33, 40 and 45.

 

[D6130]

TUESDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2012:

Returning from another trip to Italy after a night in Torino:

EC 9240, 07 46 Torino Porta Susa-Paris Lyon via St Andre-le-Gaz: TGV 4504
RER Line D: Gare de Lyon-Gare du Nord
ES 9039, 15 13 Paris Nord-London St Pancras Int: 373 208/207

 

[xotGD]

23rd October 1988

Travelcarding around the West Midlands again. This time behind 90009, 86424, 47559, 86226, 47535, 87011.

Then things got more interesting:

85032 New St - Wolverhampton 1H47
85021 Wolverhampton - Stafford 1S39
Unit back to Wolverhampton
85024 Wolverhampton - New St 1A74

That's all for me today.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 22/10/83

I was happy enough with a long mileage run off 37099:
37099 0940 Leeds – Bristol Temple Meads via Cudworth, Sheffield, Birmingham New Street
Meads – Bristol Parkway

37099 lives on to this day, working for Colas.

Indeed it does live on. Here it is right now in the Southern stabling bay at Warrington Bank Quay.

 

[CW2]

Ooh, thanks for that.
I don't think the Colas livery suits the class 37s very well, but it is great to see one of the old timers still in action.

 

[Techniquest]

I don't know, it works well enough for my liking. That said, I prefer Load Haul on a 37, and was it Mainline Freight blue on 37203? That was a nice and simple livery, but worked so well.

37099 is also seen in this photo from last week's adventure, with 37057 on the other end, with an OHLE test train at Cambridge. Split box 37s were a little before my time (my first 37 was October 2004 with 37203) so I don't have the huge attachment to them some do, but I do like a split box 37

 

[CW2]

Sunday 24/10/82
Having arrived at Kings Cross behind 40028, I now had to find my way home …
47420 0005 Kings Cross – York
As we passed through Finsbury Park I heard a bang, and there was a sudden strong breeze. Looking through the window I could see that the door at the end of our carriage had flown open, and was now foul of gauge. I pulled the cord, and as the train came to a halt I secured the door, then reported to the guard what I had done. The door would have been on the non-platform side at Kings Cross, so the fact it wasn’t closed properly wouldn’t have been obvious. After giving the guard my name and details, we got going again, and I headed home to York.
In the afternoon I came out for some more track bashing:
43057 + 43116 1232 York – Newcastle
DMU Newcastle – Prudhoe and return via Norwood
Metro Newcastle – Tynemouth – South Gosforth – Bank Foot – Heworth – Newcastle
45148 1815 Newcastle – Darlington
45121 1911 Darlington – Newcastle
47420 2130 Newcastle – York

Monday 24/10/83
50028 0030 Plymouth – Paddington via Bristol Parkway
50007 pilot Plymouth – Exeter St Davids
50031 0550 Paddington – Birmingham New Street via Coventry
86251 0900 Birmingham New Street – Crewe
87011 1045 Crewe – Warrington Bank Quay
47561 1114 Warrington Bank Quay – Leeds
47536 2102 Leeds – York
After my trip to the West Country I had to return to work the late shift in Leeds. Of course, going direct on a Cross Country service was an option, but I preferred to travel by a more meandering route with superior traction. I got as far as Warrington Bank Quay before Herr Dr Sulzer intervened, so not a bad trip.

Thursday 24/10/85
47442 0011 Stirling – Inverness
37035 0635 Inverness – Thurso
37035 1205 Thurso – Georgemas Jn
37184 1231 Georgemas Jn – Inverness
47617 1630 Inverness – Perth
37413 1934 Perth – Glasgow Queen Street
This turned out to be the last time I did steam-heat 37s on the Far North Line.

Saturday 24/10/87
Some form of Network Day, with all manner of unusual traction occurring …
86101 0752 Crewe – Watford Junction
33102 1051 Watford Junction – St Alban’s Abbey
Walk to St Albans City, EMU to Luton
43095 + 43054 1253 Luton – Kettering
47626 1350 Kettering – Corby
58002 1420 Corby – Kettering
43079 + 43059 1520 Kettering – Leicester
31407 1638 Leicester – Nuneaton
86408 1731 Nuneaton – Crewe
The Corby branch was new for me, and this was only the second time I’d had a 58 for haulage. The 33/1 on the St Albans Abbey branch was a bit chaotic. Apparently the PW engineer set a blanket speed limit of 20 mph on it only the day before, so the timetable was torn to shreds. I watched it depart from Watford, surprised it was apparently leaving early, but in fact I was watching the previous departure running very late!

 

[NorthWestRover]

Sunday 24th October 1982

The only move I have recorded on this day is...

85023 Preston to Wigan NW

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Having ceased recording details of domestic journeys in the late 1970s, notebooks continued to be used on my increasingly frequent European excursions through the 1980s. Sadly only one of these notebooks survives and my final solo trip on 12/9/90 has already been recorded on this thread. A second trip is detailed below, picking up some ‘new’ routes and ‘new’ football grounds and teams. Again for continuity I have covered the full trip in one entry to save interested parties having to piece it together day by day, and as before I did not note unit numbers and in some cases whilst the loco class is identified the actual number is not.

Tuesday 24th October 1989
18.00 Manchester Piccadilly to Euston 90005 load 10
Victoria Line Euston to Victoria
21.40 Victoria to Newhaven Marine -4 VEP 4 VEP 4 CEP – VEPs on a Boat train hardly the image to impress any foreign visitors (or indeed me).
23.30 Newhaven to Dieppe – ‘Chartres’. Despite the boat train having arrived 20 mins early, the ferry departed 20 min late, presumably due to rubber tyred non classic cross channel traffic.

Wednesday 25th October 1989
04.38 Dieppe Maritime to Paris St Lazare
Metro to Paris Est via Opera
07.52 Paris Est to Strasbourg – 15038 load 10
12.10 Strasbourg to Basel -15050 load 9
14.22 Basel to Moutier -100xx load 8 – 11xxx from Delemont
15.13 Moutier to Solothurn – 2 car EMU
16.01 Solothurn to Herzogenbuchsee – 11140 load 3
16.25 Herzogenbuchsee to Langenthal 11334 load 12
16.34 Langenthal to Wolhusen – 2 car EMU
17.31 Wolhusen to Langnau – 11185 load 8

Thursday 26th October 1989
08.00 Langnau to Luzern - 11130 load 7
09.25 Luzern to Engelberg – 7 car formation – 2 x 3 car with Motor cars numbered 8 & 7 plus one coach on the rear
10.39 Engelberg to Luzern – 3 car set with motor car 8 + Post Office van on rear + freight wagons attached en route
12.58 Luzern to Lenzburg - 4 car set with motor coach 1405 on rear
14.33 Lenzburg to Zurich - 11267 load 14
15.07 Zurich Hbf to Zurich Oerlikon – 2 x 6 car sets each with one motor coach
15.20 Zurich O to Aarau - 4 car set with motor coach 1470 leading
17.01 Aarau to Basel – 11378 load 10
18.00 Basel to Delemont – 11xxx load 13

Friday 27/10/89
08.02 Delemont to Belfort- 10045 load 2 SNCF provided 67370 & 67353 from Delle
10.05 Belfort to Strasbourg – 5 car RTG
12.10 Strasbourg to Lauterbourg – 67510 load 3
Managed to cadge a lift to the outskirts of Karlsruhe then tram to Hbf.
16.01 Karlsruhe to Mannheim – 103 208 5 load 12
17.06 Mannheim to Darmstadt – 141 186 7 on rear of 3 coaches
Darmstadt 2 Rott Weiss Essen 1 - Bundesliga 2 – memorable only for 3 red cards & 2 missed penalties
22.22 Darmstadt to Frankfurt - 111 106 1 load 8
12 minute late arrival meant 17 minute connection was now just 5 mins (no time to record the cl181)
22.58 Frankfurt to Paris Est – 181 xxx x load 11

Arriving Paris behind 15030 on Saturday 28th Oct 1989
Metro to Montparnasse
07.50 Paris Montparnasse to Angers – TGV set 302 – my first and only trip on LGV Atlantique – to digress, my first ever TGV trip was on 11th December 1981 from Lyon Perrache to Paris 'on my way home’ from SV Hamburg 3 Aberdeen 1 (UEFA Cup 3rd round second leg 9/12/81 (agg. 5-4))
11.09 Angers to Lyon PD – 25209 load 8 arriving Lyon behind 2 x 67xxx
Metro to Jean Mace, bus to Stade Gerland - Lyon 0 Bordeaux 0 - Ligue 1, metro Jean Mace - Perrache

Sunday 29th October 1989
06.59 Lyon PD to Torino PN – 6509 load 11 to Modane, 633 050 load 5 forward
Juventus 1 Sampdoria 0
17.53 Torino PN to Novara – 632 065 load 11
21.44 Novara to Paris 633 077 load 7 (3 sleeper, 3 couchette, 1 van)

Monday 30th October 1989
Arrived Paris L behind 6552
RER Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord via Chatalet
08.02 Paris N to Boulogne Maritime- 22325 load 8 – 67589 forward from Amiens
11.30 Boulogne to Folkestone – ‘Hengist’ (departed 40 min late despite on time boat train arrival)
12.55 Folkestone Harbour to Victoria – 2 x 4CEP (arrived 45min late)
Victoria Line to Euston
16.00 Euston to Stockport – 86xxx load 12 (Pullman set including 2 x RFB, also BFO and BG)

 

[NorthWestRover]

That's a fantastic week!

 

[Cheshire Scot]

That's a fantastic week!

More to come in early November then the final extract from that notebook in April.

 

[NorthWestRover]

I've not been as adventurous as that in going to football games, although in early 2000s, I went from Chester to Dumfries to watch Queen of the South vs Forfar Athletic. 0-0 score and that flattered it. It rained almost all the day. No idea on the haulage.

 

[D6130]

TUESDAY 24th OCTOBER 1978:

08.02 Delemont to Belfort- 10045 load 2 SNCF provided 67370 & 67353 from Delle

Wow! That must have been some acceleration with a pair of BB67300s from Delle!....or did SNCF add more coaches there?

17.53 Lyon PN to Novara – 632 065 load 11

Presumably Torino PN - Novara. Don't worry, I do it all the time!

Meanwhile:

TUESDAY 24th OCTOBER 1978:

06 23 Portsmouth Harbour-Waterloo: 7811/7831/7818 Petersfield-Waterloo
08 08 Waterloo-Woking: 7385/7340 Waterloo-Wimbledon
17 00 Guildford-Waterloo: 7732/7807 Wimbledon-Waterloo
18 10 Waterloo-Salisbury: 33 114 + 425/417 Waterloo-Woking
18 20 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour: 7384/7049/7386 Woking-Petersfield

SATURDAY 24th OCTOBER 1981:

06 52 Helensburgh Central-Airdrie: 303 061/015 Hyndland-Glasgow QS LL
07 35 Glasgow QS HL-Aberdeen: 47 707 Glasgow QS-Dundee(Consist: SC1857/12023/12051/12007/12008/3284/9710 Load 7 AB/EH)
09 20 Dundee-Edinburgh: 27 007 Dundee-Leuchars (Consist: SC4746/4104/4741/14095 Load 4 VB/SH)
Bus: Leuchars-St Andrews
Bus: St Andrews-Leven via Crail, Anstuther & Elie
Bus: Leven-Kirkcaldy
17 45 Kirkcaldy-Edinburgh: SC51469/59686/51536 Kirkcaldy-Haymarket
18 30 Edinburgh-Glasgow QS HL: 47 704 Haymarket-Glasgow QS via Falkirk High (Consist: SC9701/11010/12017/04/12. Load 5 AB/EH)
19 07 Airdrie-Milngavie: 303 046 Glasgow QS LL-Hyndland
19 22 Airdrie-Helensburgh Central: 303 056 Hyndland-Helensburgh Central via Yoker
21 52 Helensburgh Central-Airdrie: 303 018 Helensburgh Central-Hyndland via Yoker

A long day out with a tour of the East Neuk of Fife, followed by a couple of pints in Helensburgh with an old school friend. Sadly I didn't make it back into Glasgow in time to catch the 18 23 to Oban!

WEDNESDAY 24th OCTOBER 2007:

Making our way home from a beery break in Bamberg, with an overnight stop in Koeln....for more beer!

RE 4786, 13 25 Bamberg Hbf-Schweinfurt Hbf: 146 243
RE 34688, 13 59 Schweinfurt Hbf-Wuerzburg Hbf: 612 060/560 + 612 594/094
ICE 626, 14 56 Wuerzburg Hbf-Koeln Hbf via FFM Sud and NBS: 403 530/030

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Wow! That must have been some acceleration with a pair of BB67300s from Delle!....or did SNCF add more coaches there?

Just the two SBB compartment coaches throughout.

Presumably Torino PN - Novara. Don't worry, I do it all the time!

Now corrected thank you!

 

[xotGD]

24th October 1982

First day of a Northumbrian Ranger for half term week...

47545 Newcastle - York via Leamside 1M69
45112 York - Darlington 1E41
45119 Darlington - York 1O25
Tram back home.

The traction gets immeasurably better by the end of the week...

24th October 1987

86401 New St - Coventry 1A36

Coventry 1 Newcastle 3 (Yay!)

Unit back

24th October 1990

90023 New St - Carlisle
87020 Carlisle - Carstairs
47633 Carstairs - Waverley

This was another midweek trip to Edinburgh to take in a UEFA Cup game, followed by an overnight back to Brum.

Hearts 3 Bologna 1

Alas the Italian side won the second leg 3-0 and went through.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

I've not been as adventurous as that in going to football games, although in early 2000s, I went from Chester to Dumfries to watch Queen of the South vs Forfar Athletic. 0-0 score and that flattered it. It rained almost all the day. No idea on the haulage.

An effort worthy of note.

Digressing from the main topic (abeit all of these did take place 'back in the day')

I managed 13 trips across four seasons from 1986 to 1990 to attend matches as a neutral at 34 different grounds in eight European countries, Tromso being both the most northerly and furthest east and Madrid being both the most southerly and furthest west - also fitting is a good number of domestic matches in this period.

This followed 12 matches which I had a personal interest to attend at nine venues in earlier years - Gothenburg (twice) furthest north, Budapest furthest east and Porto being both furthest west and furthest south although available time dictated three of these trips (to Poznan, Gothenburg (the first time) and Porto) were by air rather than by rail.

 

[Bald Rick]

I managed 13 trips across four seasons from 1986 to 1990 to attend matches as a neutral at 34 different grounds in eight European countries, Tromso being both the most northerly

Presumably part of the trip to Tromsø was not by train!

 

[Harvester]

Durham station Saturday 24th October 1964

My only notes from that day are on the slides I took of the four steam workings observed. I went there to photograph the A4.

V2 60929 southbound light engine
A4 60009 The Jubilee Requiem railtour (Kings Cross-Newcastle)
V2 60877 northbound freight
9F 92038 southbound freight

 

[barrowjack]

Half term break to Butlins at Minehead, would be a bus rather than onto the WSR from Taunton

150xxx Barrow In Furness Preston
86101 Preston Crewe
86245 Crewe Birmingham New Street
43035 / 43145 Birmingham New Street Bristol Parkway
43017 / 43187 Bristol Parkway Taunton

Biggest surprise to me here is I recorded the numbers of al the HST power cars!

 

[D6130]

Half term break to Butlins at Minehead, would be a bus rather than onto the WSR from Taunton

Which year would that have been?

 

[barrowjack]

Which year would that have been?

Doh! Post edited for the record but it was 25/10/1987.

Will try and do better tomorrow!

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Presumably part of the trip to Tromsø was not by train!

Good spot.
I got off the train in Bodo and after covering hundreds of miles off the rails which involved using three other forms of transport I finally got back on track at Andalsnes. But that is a story for another day.

 

[CW2]

Sunday 25/10/81
47117 1440 Liverpool Street – Harwich Parkeston Quay
EMU Harwich Parkeston Quay – Manningtree
47582 1740 Manningtree – Ipswich, 20’ late
37023 1820 Ipswich – Liverpool Street, 40’ late, usual Sunday engineering works.

Thursday 25/10/84
A little after-work bash on Type 2s on the G&SW:
27056 1545 Glasgow Central – Dumfries
27023 1819 Dumfries – Glasgow Central
In theory this was a “plus” at Annan, but it didn’t always make, so alighting at Dumfries for refreshments was the safer move.

Sunday 25/10/92
After the joys of a team building weekend, it was time to head home …
DMU Llandudno – Llandudno Junction
43181 + 43173 1431 Llandudno Junction – Crewe
47832 1551 Crewe – Reading via Birmingham New Street, Coventry. 30’ -> 60’ late.
The HST set was exactly the same one which had taken us all to Llandudno Junction the previous Thursday.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Monday 25th October 1982

40034 WBQ to Bangor, 1D34 The Bangor
40034 Bangor to WBQ, 1J30 The Bangor
Got to Liverpool somehow
46050 Lime St to St Helens Junction
Got to Earlestown somehow
40034 Earlestown to Bangor, 1D21 The Bangor
40034 Bangor to WBQ, 1J31 The Bangor

Scored 034 that day. And the Wagon.