Back in the day...

[xotGD]

16th September 1988

Returning from my week of training in Salford:

47452 Man Vic - Newcastle 1E65

16th September 1989

Yet another of those days flitting about in the West Midlands. First move of the day (OK, third, after a bus and a unit) was:

50026 Birmingham International - Wolves (Same Hoover as turned up the previous Saturday on the same diagram)

Followed by:

86410, 87015, 90022, 47456, 85031, 85023, 86255, 90016, 87019, 90019, 86431, 85015, 85019

Four Roarers - nice enough.

16th September 1990

86259 New St - Wolves
47808 Wolves - New St (via Perry Barr)

16th September 1995

A Diesel Day on the East Lancs. No silly double headers today. Indeed, everything was single headed. A diverse range of traction:

1501, D5518, D5054, 50015, 40135, 832, D9019, D1041, 40145, D7076

I shan't be visiting this weekend, unfortunately. Would you believe I'm having to attend a garden show instead!

 

[barrowjack]

16th September 1995

“It’s the final countdown!!!!....” - The Last Bash

Having not been out on a bash in 12 months (this one is coming tomorrow!) and with nothing recorded since then either I had obviously lost all interest, however for some reason decided to go out one final time

1564xx Barrow In Furness - Preston

37408 Preston – Prestatyn (I assume!)

37414 Prestatyn – Crewe

At this point my records end (I assume I was out for the 37’s as I liked that run to Prestatyn from Preston behind one. Think it went over to a 156 the following year) but I do know that I took the 09:20 Weymouth to Liverpool into its destination, and also the 12:02 Paignton to Liverpool as one of the window labels from both services are preserved in my collection!

So I would guess it was 478xx (definitely wasn’t 555!!!)on the Weymouth and something sparky on the Paignton,

From there it would be some form of unit Liverpool to Preston, the Preston to Barrow.

If anyone can please fill in the 2 blanks on the known trains that would be great. After that, didn’t record anything until the 37’s came back to the Cumbrian coast in 2015.

 

[Harvester]

Saturday 17th September 1977

DMU Long Eaton-Derby
46018 08:20 Derby-Birmingham NS
84001 09:30 Birmingham NS-Crewe (09:30 B’ham-Llandudno)
My first and only Class 84 haulage, and I stood throughout as the train was absolutely crammed.
86 013 12:00 Crewe-Nuneaton
31251 13:14 Nuneaton-Leicester
45??? Leicester-Long-Eaton

 

[NorthWestRover]

Great stuff on the 84.

Tuesday 17th September 1985

The previous day I'd returned from my Interrail by EMU on the 14.55 Folkestone Harbour to Victoria Boat Train and then a DMU from Paddington to Slough.

50004 Slough to Paddington, 1A26 08.57 Cardiff to Paddington
86325 Euston to Crewe, 1F?? 13.00 Euston to Lime St
86319 Crewe to WBQ, 1P63 Euston to Carlisle

 

[CW2]

Monday 17/09/79
50023 1436 Plymouth – Exeter St Davids
50008 1604 Exeter St Davids – Plymouth

Wednesday 17/09/80
Still trolleying on IPEX80 …
86217 0939 Euston – Birmingham International, 15’ late
87019 1053 Birmingham International – Birmingham New Street, 45’ late
86101 1314 Birmingham New Street – Manchester Piccadilly via Crewe
81013 1623 Manchester Piccadilly – Birmingham New Street
50034 1821 Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International
86101 1858 Birmingham International – Euston
All pretty decent traction apart from 86217.

Friday 17/09/82
Having just returned from my honeymoon (a trip around Europe by train, of course) we owed my parents a visit:
43054 + 43xxx 2053 York – Kings Cross via Selby
50019 2359 Paddington – Plymouth via Bristol Temple Meads

Saturday 17/09/83
A day out on the NYMR:
31102 0852 York – Malton
Bus Malton – Pickering
24032 1100 Pickering – Grosmont
24032 1250 Grosmont – Goathland
31 “Meteor” 1310 Goathland – Grosmont
31 “Meteor” 1450 Grosmont – Pickering
This chunky industrial loco was severely thrashed on load 7 on the 1 in 49 climb out of Grosmont, to such an extent that one of the “meteors” set fire to my hair!
Bus Pickering – Grosmont
45026 1724 Malton – Leeds
My wife alighted at York, but I was in the hunt for a class 40 …
45109 1903 Leeds – York
40126 1950 York – Scarborough
40126 2115 Scarborough – York

Monday 17/09/84
The Blackpool Hallucinations were on, and several additional weekend specials had run from various parts of Scotland to Blackpool North. Naturally the guards in the Preston area decided this was an ideal opportunity to stage a 24 hour strike, so all the specials were retimed to depart Blackpool North after midnight for their return journeys to Scotland and elsewhere. Naturally it was going to be a bit of a scramble to find locos to work the trains for Edinburgh and Fife forward from Carstairs, so I set off south to Carlisle hoping to intercept one on the return:
81021 2350 Glasgow Central – Carlisle
(Continued tomorrow)

Monday 17/09/90
Continuing the family trip to Scotland …
47711 04xx Carstairs – Inverness via Edinburgh, Stirling
47642 1030 Inverness – Elgin
47562 1434 Elgin – Inverness
(It does improve a bit later, I promise …)

 

[xotGD]

17th September 1983

45122 Newcastle - Durham 1M75
47705 Durham - Newcastle 1E79 (Presumably returning to Scotland from Crewe works)
47145 Durham - Newcastle 1N13 (Disappointed faces at Durham as a 37 does not come round the corner!)
46025 Newcastle - Durham 1M79
45130 Durham - Newcastle 1E74

That's all for today

 

[47403]

My life in a single quote

My Granny used to say to me, lad if there's a hard way to do it, you always find it. I think this also refers to CW2, either that or his compass is bust

 

[barrowjack]

17th September 1994

1564xx Barrow In Furness Preston
37414 Preston Chester
158xxx Chester Crewe
90011 Crewe Runcorn
87032 Runcorn Crewe
47850 Crewe Liverpool Lime Street
87027 Liverpool Lime Street Crewe
86259 Crewe Liverpool Lime Street
1564xx Liverpool Lime Street Wigan North Western
1564xx Wigan North Western Barrow In Furness

 

[xotGD]

After that, didn’t record anything until the 37’s came back to the Cumbrian coast in 2015.

There seem to be quite a few of us here who lost interest but have drifted back in some shape or form. 20 years is quite a while to be away. Quite a thing that after such an interval 37s were still doing their thing in the north west!

 

[NorthWestRover]

26 years out for me (1992 to 2018) recording anything. More like 32 years of not really chasing anything (1986 to 2018), although to call what I do now "chasing" is a bit of a misnomer.

 

[xotGD]

This was the last thing I did before me 13 year gap:

Class37.co.uk

 

[47403]

This was the last thing I did before me 13 year gap:

Class37.co.uk

Canny way to say see you later though.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 18th September 1982

Another one of my days recreated from my class listings...

25035 WBQ to Prestatyn
31253 York to Leeds
46047 Leeds to Man Vic

Now, 25035 was on The Bangor diagram and the bail at Prestatyn was the usual leap for 1E86 09.00 Llandudno to York. The fact that I ended up in York suggests the missing move was 40049 Prestatyn to York...

 

[CW2]

Tuesday 18/09/79
43034 + 43035 1255 Plymouth – Exeter St Davids
43032 + 43033 1359 Exeter St Davids – Plymouth
50014 1515 Plymouth – Totnes
46018 1555 Totnes – Plymouth
50034 1714 Plymouth – Liskeard
50038 1750 Liskeard – Plymouth
Consecutively numbered pairs of HSTs over the Devon banks.

Thursday 18/09/80
More trolleying for IPEX80.
83009 0939 Euston – Birmingham International
85028 was originally on this, but it had to be removed at the last moment with a chipped pantograph. The 83 was a very welcome substitute.
47491 1407 Birmingham International – Birmingham New Street
86323 1518 Birmingham New Street – Birmingham International
I had a choice of several services heading for Euston. I stuck with the 83 once more:
83009 1555 Birmingham International – Euston

Friday 18/09/81
83006 2055 Euston – Carlisle
I alighted at Carlisle to await the arrival of the “Ayr Aberdonian” F&W railtour …

Tuesday 18/09/84
I had placed myself at Carlisle to cover the returning Blackpool to Scotland excursions, which had all been retimed many hours later due to a guard’s strike at Preston.
86253 0250 Carlisle – Carstairs
Whatever dropped on the other end of this to work to Edinburgh didn’t meet with my approval, so I alighted and waited for one of the later additionals…
20208 + 20067 0508 Carstairs – Edinburgh
That’s more like it!
47701 0610 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street

Friday 18/09/87
Travelling with wife and son from Crewe to Plymouth to visit my parents …
47590 1135 Crewe – Newport
47434 1415 Newport – Bristol Temple Meads
43009 + 43186 1453 Bristol Temple Meads – Plymouth

Sunday 18/09/88
86259 1535 Crewe – Wigan North Western
5407 1700 Wigan Wallgate – Southport
5407 1830 Southport – Manchester Victoria via Daisy Hill, Windsor Link
156 413 Manchester Piccadilly – Crewe

Monday 18/09/89
90013 1005 Crewe – Euston

Tuesday 18/09/90
The family trip to Scotland continues …
37418 1015 Inverness – Kyle of Lochalsh
From here, the plan was ferry to Kyleakin, bus to Armadale, ferry to Mallaig, then train to Fort William. Unfortunately a storm blew up, and the ferries were suspended, so we ended up getting a bus all the way from Kyle to Fort William direct.

 

[MDB1images]

Fri 18th Sep 87
31271 18:35 Bolton-Preston(1M26 Nottingham-Blackpool)
47213 22:19 Preston-Bolton(1M40 Glasgow-Manchester Vic)

Others noted….
47443 2P62 Manchester Vic-Blackpool
47588 1M12 Harwich PQ-Blackpool
47641 1J27 Edinburgh-Manchester V


Nothing new for Haulage or sight today

 

[xotGD]

18th September 1982

37036 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N04

18th September 1988

After a couple of weeks attending training courses, it was time to head to Brum to start work properly:

47488 Newcastle - York 1V59
47427 York - New St 1V59
47645 New St - International 1V96

 

[Harvester]

Monday 19th September 1977

47187 11:11 Derby- Birmingham NS
EMU Birmingham NS-Bescot (B’ham-Walsall)
EMU Bescot-Birmingham NS (Walsall-B’ham)
87013 14:18 Birmingham NS-Coventry
87012 14:48 Coventry-Birmingham NS (late running)
47520 15:50 Birmingham NS-Derby

 

[CW2]

Friday 19/09/80 – the final day of IPEX 80 (thank goodness)
85014 0939 Euston – Birmingham International
I alighted at Birmingham International and managed to get a look inside the exhibition on its final day, picking up a few free posters to brighten up my drab bedsit.
47451 1407 Birmingham International – Birmingham New Street
86257 1518 Birmingham New Street – Birmingham International
85008 1658 Birmingham International – Euston
Another fine fiasco to end the week. The 1630 Wolverhampton – Euston was cancelled ex Wolverhampton for some reason, so the train was started from New Street using the 85 + stock which should have formed the 1654 relief from International.

Saturday 19/09/81
40024 0315 Carlisle – Cowlairs
F&W “Ayr Aberdonian” railtour, via Kilmarnock, Troon, Stranraer, Larkfield Jn, Newton, Hamilton, Motherwell, Mossend, Springburn
37026 1406 Cowlairs - Aberdeen
F&W “Ayr Aberdonian” railtour, via Perth, Forfar, Perth, Ladybank, Cowdenbeath, Inverkeithing, Dundee

Sunday 19/09/82
40025 1720 Plymouth – Birmingham New Street
Western Whistler railtour, via Bristol Temple Meads, Gloucester, Worcester Shrub Hill, Lickey
45126 2324 Birmingham New Street – York via Sheffield, Moorthorpe, Leeds

Monday 19/09/83
A slight variation on the after-work move:
47292 1710 York - Manchester Victoria
40126 1952 Manchester Victoria – York
I even needed the 47.

Saturday 19/09/87
50041 1445 Plymouth – Newquay
50005 1628 Newquay – Par
DMU Par – Luxulyan
50041 1759 Luxulyan – Plymouth
Stops at the intermediate stations on the Newquay line were pretty much suspended during summer Saturdays, to help keep the traffic moving. The 1717 Newquay – Plymouth was the first train of the day at most local halts, and was booked to be loco hauled, so I doubled back with a DMU to Luxulyan for the novelty of flagging down a class 50 at a request stop.

Monday 19/09/88
37426 1558 Crewe – Liverpool Lime Street
37426 1714 Liverpool Lime Street – Crewe

Friday 19/09/97
(I’ve granted myself an exception to the “no commuting moves” rule):
43124 + 43009 0754 Reading – Paddington
This first arrived at Paddington at 0824, and was (wrongly) signalled into platform 12 via the crossover approaching platform 11. We came to a stand straddling platforms 11 and 12, both of which already had a Turbo unit in them at the blocks, waiting to depart. After a fair bit of faffing about, we set back again to Royal Oak, and arrived for the second time at 0850 into platform 10!
My journey home was a little different too:
3468 + 3480 Waterloo – Reading
(GWML blocked due to Southall crash).

 

[xotGD]

19th September 1987

A bit of a play on the Sunderland line.

47425 Heworth - Newcastle 2M35
47418 Newcastle - Sunderland 2B05
47413 Newcastle - Sunderland 2E36
47418 Sunderland - Newcastle 2B10

I had finished my summer job the previous day, and still had a week's validity on my travelcard. Therefore expect to see a few more similar moves in the next few days...

 

[CW2]

19th September 1987

A bit of a play on the Sunderland line.

47425 Heworth - Newcastle 2M35
47418 Newcastle - Sunderland 2B05
47413 Newcastle - Sunderland 2E36
47418 Sunderland - Newcastle 2B10

I had finished my summer job the previous day, and still had a week's validity on my travelcard. Therefore expect to see a few more similar moves in the next few days...

I just spent some time looking at the beginning of this thread, and in particular the splendid selection of photos posted by a number of people, but by @xotGD in particular. Any more please?

 

[xotGD]

I just spent some time looking at the beginning of this thread, and in particular the splendid selection of photos posted by a number of people, but by @xotGD in particular. Any more please?

Well I'm off work this week so should have some time to get some sorted. It's a bit of a faff having to take photos of the prints and then edit them, but it's worth the effort if people are enjoying the end results.

I'm also enjoying finding photos on the 37 site of trains I was on back in the 80s. I still haven't had a 'that's me!' moment but one or two heads poking out of windows might have been mine.

 

[CW2]

Well I'm off work this week so should have some time to get some sorted. It's a bit of a faff having to take photos of the prints and then edit them, but it's worth the effort if people are enjoying the end results.

I'm also enjoying finding photos on the 37 site of trains I was on back in the 80s. I still haven't had a 'that's me!' moment but one or two heads poking out of windows might have been mine.

Ta, excellent. I'll look forward to it.

 

[MDB1images]

Sat 19th Sep 87
47588 08:20 Bolton-Sheffield(1E86 Blackpool-Harwich PQ)
47522 10:33 Sheffield-Chesterfield(1V61 York-Tenby)
47572 11:22 Chesterfield-Sheffield(1M87 Harwich PQ-Manchester Piccadilly)
47648 15:05 Chesterfield-Sheffield(1E61 Poole-Bradford Interchange)
47234 16:31 Chesterfield-Sheffield(1E65 Newquay-Newcastle)
47156 17:27 Chesterfield-Sheffield(1E32 Penzance-Leeds)
47572 18:23 Sheffield-Stockport(1M12 Harwich PQ-Blackpool)
47094 19:25 Stockport-Manchester Piccadilly(1M23 Poole-Manchester Piccadilly)

Others noted….
45052 1Z39 Sheffield-St Pancras, Millwall Footex
45121 1V67 Scarborough-Paignton
47144 1M51 Blackpool-Nottingham
47321 1M40 Glasgow-Manchester Vic
47490 1M87 Glasgow-Manchester Vic
47521 1M26 Nottingham-Blackpool
47521 1M27 Blackpool-Derby
47549 1E60 Tenby-York
47587 Newcastle-Liverpool
47600 1E22 Portsmouth-York
47612 1J27 Edinburgh-Manchester Vic
47662 Poole-Newcastle

Another good day out!
Haulage wise 47572 Ely Cathedral awoke the red pen, the first of 2 trips behind the SF Class 47 today, by now my ETH Class 47 needs was minimal so I suspect this was gratefully accepted, It was then a succession of non ETH winners as 47234, 47156 & 47094 troubled the scorers.
Sight wise a couple of renumbered Class 37’s on steel at Chestefield was taken into the needs book in 37507 & 37509 and Sheffield had new 150282 in its environs to make this a very profitable day out.

 

[CW2]

Wednesday 20/09/78 – further travels with the Zone F Bullseye …
47433 1126 York – Leeds
47188 1205 Leeds – York
46052 1733 York – Huddersfield
47433 1834 Huddersfield – York
40084 1927 York – Leeds
DMU Leeds – York

Thursday 20/09/79
50005 1436 Plymouth – Paddington
47416 2015 Kings Cross – York
I had hoped for something a little better than an alternator duff on the 2015 from Kings Cross, but I couldn’t hang around for anything less rancid, as I had to get my stuff together ready to go to Uni in London.

Sunday 20/09/81
F&W “Ayr Aberdonian” railtour:
37026 0030 Aberdeen – Edinburgh via Cowdenbeath
40034 0406 Edinburgh – Carlisle via Carstairs Avoider, Carlisle Goods Lines
40150 0614 Carlisle – York via Scotswood, King Edward Bridge, Newcastle, Leamside.
At York they removed the 40 and replaced it with a 47 for the run back to Plymouth. I took that as my cue to leave …
55009 1150 York – Kings Cross via Selby
Back in London, the main line from Liverpool Street to Cambridge is closed for the day, with diversions via Finsbury Park and Hitchin:
37174 1738 Liverpool Street – Cambridge via Finsbury Park, Hitchin
37115 1920 Cambridge – Finsbury Park via Hitchin
37174 wasn’t a regular performer on the GE, so that was a bonus. I alighted at Finsbury Park on the way back, as it was handy for my flat. It was a scheduled crew change there, so a simple matter to open the door and alight.

Monday 20/09/82
43079 + 43054 0615 York – Kings Cross
1522 + 1578 + 1527 + 68003 (MLV) 0958 Victoria – Dover Western Docks
This was scheduled to run to Folkestone, but was diverted to Dover Western Docks due to a French seamen’s dispute. This was the start of my 2-week honeymoon, taking my wife around Europe using her new-found Continental travel facilities for the first time. (“Yes Dear, and this is what we term a rancid overnight” …)

Thursday 20/09/84
85001 2350 Glasgow Central – Carlisle

Thursday 20/09/90
Returning from the family holiday …
5305 1030 Fort William – Mallaig
5305 1335 Mallaig – Fort William
37406 2025 Fort William – Glasgow Central via Dalmuir, Partick, Glasgow Central Low Level, Rutherglen North – West curve (safely dossed out in our sleepers)

Sunday 20/09/92
321 436 + 321 428 Bletchley – Milton Keynes
86225 0810 Milton Keynes – Crewe
80080 1016 Crewe – Talerddig
80080 1541 Talerddig – Crewe
86259 1916 Crewe – Birmingham New Street
47815 2021 Birmingham New Street – Reading via Coventry
The Standard Tank did well on load 7, even arriving back at Crewe 20 minutes earlier than scheduled.

 

[Falcon1200]

Tuesday 20th September 1983

47476 0640 Paddington-Birmingham New St [BHM] (from Oxford)
86222 0750 Swansea-Manchester Picc (BHM-Crewe)
86216 1320 Liverpool-BHM(from Crewe)
47147 1639 BHM-Paddington (to Oxford)

I cannot for the life of me recall why I went on a day trip to Crewe - Possibly for a job interview, obviously unsuccessful as I never worked on the LMR !

 

[xotGD]

20th September

A total blank for me today. Tomorrow is different.

It was a scheduled crew change there, so a simple matter to open the door and alight.

I like the fact that you now need to clarify that the train had actually stopped, rather than it being another of your flying leaps!

 

[NorthWestRover]

He hasn't confirmed it was at a platform though.

 

[CW2]

<snip - see below>

 

[CW2]

Oh, it was. (Edit - sorry, getting a few days ahead of myself there).

 

[MDB1images]

Sunday 20th Sep 87
47490 09:30 Manchester Piccadilly-Stockport(Manchester Piccadilly-London Euston)
47438 11:17 Manchester Piccadilly-Stockport(Manchester Piccadilly-London Paddington)
47621 13:04 Manchester Piccadilly-Stockport(1V04 Manchester Piccadilly-Penzance)
47517 14:18 Manchester Piccadilly-Stockport(1A26 Manchester Piccadilly-London Euston)
47147 15:25 Manchester Piccadilly-Stockport(1E87 Manchester Piccadilly-Harwich PQ)
47543 17:43 Stockport-Manchester Piccadilly
87014 18:00 Manchester Piccadilly-Stockport
31427 18:47 Stockport-Manchester Piccadilly

Others noted….
47442(with 8621?)WCML Diversion
47446(with 87004)WCML Diversion
47449(with 87016)London Euston-Glasgow(WCML Diversion)
47454 Blackpool-London Euston(WCML Diversion)
47533(with 86422)London Euston-Glasgow(WCML Diversion)

Haulage wise another cracking day for winners, having made an ETH Class 47 for haulage on Saturday I certainly didn’t expect another so quickly but Inverness had somehow allowed 47517 Andrew Carnegie to end up on Longsight so I was keeping an eye on it as it was parked on the fuel road, eventually it was chucked out on a Euston, 47147 was rarely the No Heat power for 1E87 and was gratefully received!

Sight wise it was a blank.