BR Adexes and Merrymakers

[AY1975]

Already mentioned in passing in numerous threads, though as far as I can see not in a dedicated thread as such, are the Adexes (short for advertised day excursion) and Merrymaker excursions that BR used to run in the 1970s and 80s.

Were Adexes and Merrymakers the same thing? If not, what was the difference?

When did the last such trains run?

 

[Gloster]

The last Merrymaker listed on Six Bells Junction was on 6 October 1990: this was one of only two listed that year, both starting in Carlisle. It is possible that the Merrymakers had largely ceased by then, but a last remnant remained under the Preston Division as you have to go back to May 1988 to find one starting outside the division. I think that Merrymakers was a brand name for general ‘day out’ excursions organised by BR: ADvertised EXcursions or ADEX in railway terminology. There would have been other types of ADEXs that were not Merrymakers.

This was not a complete trawl of Six Bells Junction.

 

[Harpo]

Merrymaker was the advertised brand. Adex is the old telegraphic code for ‘Advertised Excursion’.

(Edit - @Gloster covered this above.)

There were many more such as Halfex, Parspec, Footex etc.. Certain humorous types added ‘Ruggex’ in the early 80s.

 

[westernpunk]

also i believe crankex reffering to spotters/ bashers charters

 

[xotGD]

Merrymaker was the advertised brand. Adex is the old telegraphic code for ‘Advertised Excursion’.

(Edit - @Gloster covered this above.)

There were many more such as Halfex, Parspec, Footex etc.. Certain humorous types added ‘Ruggex’ in the early 80s.

The suffix "ex" can be applied to all sorts of things:

Nedex
Poshex
Popex
etc.


Even to a train frequently used by a certain individual. So the train that Dave usually commutes on becomes the Davex.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Even to a train frequently used by a certain individual. So the train that Dave usually commutes on becomes the Davex.

I wish that I'd known that ... my regular trains between Newport and Cardiff Central (or Cathays) would have been "Philex(es)" ... !

 

[Harpo]

also i believe crankex reffering to spotters/ bashers charters

Same origins as Ruggex.

 

[Sun Chariot]

The excursions which ran for the entire duration of a day.
DurEx?


Back OT, my parents often booked our family onto AdExes, in the latter 1970s and early 1980s.
I remember a Peak (45003) taking us along the Midland Main and across the Hope Valley, ending up in Blackpool.
We also - nearly - visited Perth Railfair, on another AdEx. Late running to Edinburgh (if I recall), plus my parents' decision to use the available time for Edinburgh shops instead, made for a damp squib of a day, to my young mind.

 

[75A]

We usrd to love seeing them come into Platform 3 @ Bognor, then coming up to the footbridge whilst they ran round.
The only class I can remember seeing was a 25 down from the Midlands but we're talking about 60 years ago!

 

[Helvellyn]

The last Merrymaker listed on Six Bells Junction was on 6 October 1990: this was one of only two listed that year, both starting in Carlisle. It is possible that the Merrymakers had largely ceased by then, but a last remnant remained under the Preston Division as you have to go back to May 1988 to find one starting outside the division. I think that Merrymakers was a brand name for general ‘day out’ excursions organised by BR: ADvertised EXcursions or ADEX in railway terminology.

I think these were advertised locally as Mystery Excursions, with the destination not known until part way through the trip. Tickets had to be bought at local stations.

A Lancaster start indicated a North East or Scottish destination (rare); a Carlisle start usually anywhere else. Interesting the October 1990 one was to Dundee.

 

[Bald Rick]

Even to a train frequently used by a certain individual. So the train that Dave usually commutes on becomes the Davex.

Yes, old Dave Tipp’s regular train home was the Tippex. The path had a litany of errors that needed correcting.

(Anyone know where I left my coat?)

 

[neilmc]

I recall the mystery excursions from Leeds in the late 60s/early 70s - these might be good value trips for a bit of spotting although of course you didn't know where they'd go! It was assumed they'd go to a seaside resort in the same way as the holiday preview excursions which went to specific resorts but not always - one turned up in Birmingham on a Sunday afternoon, much to the disappointment of families with buckets and spades in tow, but the spotters were pleased at the opportunity for a cheap bunk of Tyseley, Saltley and Bescot!

 

[Gloster]

I recall the mystery excursions from Leeds in the late 60s/early 70s - these might be good value trips for a bit of spotting although of course you didn't know where they'd go! It was assumed they'd go to a seaside resort in the same way as the holiday preview excursions which went to specific resorts but not always - one turned up in Birmingham on a Sunday afternoon, much to the disappointment of families with buckets and spades in tow, but the spotters were pleased at the opportunity for a cheap bunk of Tyseley, Saltley and Bescot!

I think that after one of the managers in the section accompanied a Mystex and found himself pursued around, I think, York by families with buckets and spades, they started to give some idea of the sort of destination. You live and learn…

 

[eastwestdivide]

I think these were advertised locally as Mystery Excursions, with the destination not known until part way through the trip. Tickets had to be bought at local stations.

Only some Merrymakers were advertised as mystery destinations (mystex). Others had an advertised destination (adex).

 

[Harpo]

There were also sleeper Adexs. A GN sleeper set was an odd sight in Thornton Fields circa 1977 before forming a weekend trip (from Southend Vic?) to Edinburgh.

The Blackpool lights trips were more of an endurance trip often returning overnight on whatever route was available. Blackpool to GE land via Healey Mills & Lincoln for example. Although the return Edinburgh to Treherbert with 2x26 to Preston via Settle trumps most.

 

[Whisky Papa]

Only some Merrymakers were advertised as mystery destinations (mystex). Others had an advertised destination (adex).

I travelled on a good number of Merrymakers from the Manchester area in my teens, and generally ignored the few that were mystery destinations. However, some spotting friends and I risked one that was obviously (from its pick-up stations) heading south onto the WCML, which turned out to be for Southampton.

 

[CW2]

It's worth remembering that the BR Regions were sub-divided into Divisions, and arranging any special trains e.g.Adexes was very much a Divisional initiative. For that reason, the originating point and all pick ups would all be in the same Division. For example, an Adex from York might call at stations to Keighley via Leeds (if heading north), but you wouldn't find one doing York, Thirsk, Northallerton, Darlington, or York, Selby, Doncaster, Sheffield, as the latter two crossed Divisional boundaries.

 

[SargeNpton]

The attached photo shows the telegraphic codes for excursions, as they were in 1958...

The "Parspec" would be a charter train, with the rest being organised by the railway itself.

No Footex back then, but it was certainly in use by the 1970s.

 

[Alfie1014]

There were also sleeper Adexs. A GN sleeper set was an odd sight in Thornton Fields circa 1977 before forming a weekend trip (from Southend Vic?) to Edinburgh.

The Blackpool lights trips were more of an endurance trip often returning overnight on whatever route was available. Blackpool to GE land via Healey Mills & Lincoln for example. Although the return Edinburgh to Treherbert with 2x26 to Preston via Settle trumps most.

Oh happy days did many Liverpool Street Division trips in the 1970s/80s. Highlights include Edinburgh for the tattoo in 1978, 5 different locos 37,47,40,40, same 47,37. Reversals at Liverpool Street the via WAML, joint line to Doncaster, complete with Gresley buffet car doing a roaring trade on the overnight journey back. Similar fun to Blackpool for the illuminations back overnight only for there to be a lightning strike by signallers in the Liv St division on the way home that curtailed us at Ipswich in the early hours, we got home in a fleet of Ipswich corporation buses our one overheated on the A12! And a mystex to Cardiff and Barry Island on a Bank Holiday (my parents were not impressed with the latter) but a wander around Woodham Bros made my day! Our loco broke down on the Brent Curve on the way back and we had to wait a couple of hours for a rescue loco to come over from Stratford! That was the final straw for my parents they vowed never to do one again!

 

[alholmes]

The Blackpool lights trips were more of an endurance trip often returning overnight on whatever route was available. Blackpool to GE land via Healey Mills & Lincoln for example. Although the return Edinburgh to Treherbert with 2x26 to Preston via Settle trumps most.

Blackpool illuminations really were a test of endurance. I did those trips from Hitchin a few times in late-70s / early-80s when I was a teenager. Arrival in Blackpool would typically be around 2pm-3pm, but departures were very late. Effectively there’d be a train from Blackpool North every 10 minutes for a 2-3 hour period between about 10pm and 1am, with the train then weaving through Lancashire and Yorkshire, trying to plot a route where all the relevant signal boxes were still open on a Saturday night. And then inevitably diverted away from the ECML before arriving Hitchin around 7am Sunday morning. Good for anyone wanting to travel over rare curves and spurs, but not great for my parents with two irritable teenage sons!

I vaguely recall on one of them were were delayed (possibly between Preston & Blackburn, or beyond) as a signalbox had already closed for the night, not realising we hadn't passed through. We were told that we had to wait while the signalman was contacted and had returned back to the box - no idea how true that was, but I guess it was possible in those days.

 

[Magdalia]

The attached photo shows the telegraphic codes for excursions, as they were in 1958...

The "Parspec" would be a charter train, with the rest being organised by the railway itself.

My understanding of these is rather different, based on extensive research.

Parspec is an abbreviation of party special. It is a special train to convey a party, that has booked through the normal party travel arrangements, but is too big to accommodate on timetabled services.

Guaranteed Excursions (Garex) were the nearest equivalent to a charter train. Here the customer was usually a company or other organisation, notably Working Men's Clubs and Miners' Welfare, and British Railways guaranteed to run the train on their behalf.

 

[65477]

Not all Merrymakers were ADEX, I travelled on a one in the 1970's that was on a scheduled EMU to Northampton with a coach to the waterways museum at Stoke Bruerne. Also Liverpool Street division did a similar transfer to Bressingham but I cannot recall if that was under the Merrymaker brand.

 

[D6130]

I have described on an earlier thread a memorable Southern Region, South-Western Division Blackpool Illuminations ADEX on which I travelled from and/to Petersfield in November 1974, hauled throughout in both directions by 47 484 "Isambard Kingdom Brunel".

The outward journey - which had started at Portsmouth Harbour and ran via Reading, Oxford, Leamington, Coventry, Aston, Bescot, Stafford, Crewe and Preston - was uneventful and reasonably punctual.

The overnight return journey - leaving Blackpool North just after midnight - was a marathon bash of epic proportions, due to numerous engineering work sites around the network. The route was via Chorley, Bolton, Manchester Victoria, OAGB Junction, Denton, Stockport, Stoke, Stafford, Bescot, Perry Bar Junctions, Smethwick, Stourbridge Junction, Worcester Shrub Hill, Honeybourne, Gloucester Eastgate, Stroud, Swindon, Reading and Guildford. There were numerous stops and long waits for crew relief, conductor drivers/pilot guards, etc. and arrival back in Petersfield was at about 13 00 on the Sunday.

I suspect that we may have been one of the last - if not THE last - passenger trains to traverse what is now the Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Railway as, a couple of weeks later, there was a serious freight train derailment which brought about its premature demise.

 

[Beebman]

In the early 70s I did a couple of Blackpool Illuminations ADEXes from Reading with my parents, both with Class 47s as haulage. The first in September 1971 returned overnight via Manchester Victoria and Northampton with a reversal at Kensington Olympia, however the main interest for me was the inclusion of declassified Met-Camm Cravens prototype FO W3082 in the formation (although we travelled in a bog-standard Mk1 SK).

We then did another two years later which returned via a similar route except I think it went direct from the WCML to the GWML via Acton Canal Wharf. My main memory from that though was encountering very rude staff at Blackpool North who were constantly shouting at queuing passengers on the concourse. Maybe nothing has changed there in 52 years?

 

[6Gman]

It's worth remembering that the BR Regions were sub-divided into Divisions, and arranging any special trains e.g.Adexes was very much a Divisional initiative. For that reason, the originating point and all pick ups would all be in the same Division. For example, an Adex from York might call at stations to Keighley via Leeds (if heading north), but you wouldn't find one doing York, Thirsk, Northallerton, Darlington, or York, Selby, Doncaster, Sheffield, as the latter two crossed Divisional boundaries.

The Stoke Division often started from Goostrey (if heading south).

Which is why one day in Brighton, after the train had been announced as "the return excursion to Goostrey", I heard a broad cockney voice asking "Where the bleedin' 'ell's Goostrey?"

 

[KeithMcC]

We did a few Merrymakers starting from the NE Coast in the 70s. I remember an excellent one to Keighley via the S&C for a trip on the Worth Valley about 1975. Blackpool Illuminations ones were a marathon that usually went via Normanton and the Copy Pit line.
The sets were of course Mk 1s and a Gresley buffet car was often included.
Family trips to the illuminations always involved a tram ride to Fleetwood in the afternoon.
Earlier childhood vague memories are of the Northern Venturer to Scarborough - coffee being served from silver jugs at each table and changing engines and direction at York.

 

[Western 52]

I remember joining a Mystex at Cardiff and we sat in a compartment with 3 others who had joined the train at Swansea. When we started talking about where the mystery destination might be, they looked puzzled. The train had been advertised as an Adex to Paignton at Swansea!

 

[CW2]

Although the return Edinburgh to Treherbert with 2x26 to Preston via Settle trumps most.

There's a story behind that one, although forgive me if the details are hazy with the passage of time.

Amongst the power controllers in Edinburgh (and later Glasgow) was an individual who was a crank, and who took a great delight in sending locos to usual places. Having a WR steam heat 47 turn up that's booked to sit at Millerhill for 24 hours, and it would next be seen at Inverness, for example. Bonus points if it was a namer, and especially if a photo was published in Railway Magazine.

So it came to pass that when the return Ruggex (?) from Edinburgh to Treherbert was being allocated, the diagrammed class 47 was mysteriously nowhere to be seen. Conveniently there was a pair of steam-heat 26s though. They were duly allocated, as the only steam heat locos available.

On arrival at Carlisle, everyone expected the 26s would be replaced, but it was Sunday morning, and Carlisle men signed 26s, so they refilled the boiler water tanks, and set off over the S&C to Farington Jn.

The Crewe Controller was not very impressed with having to re-engine a Ruggex from Scotland to Wales

Some of my mates managed to do the train out of Edinburgh. I wish I had been there!

 

[Falcon1200]

Another type of excursion was the Holiday Preview train, run in Spring to allow potential holidaymakers to check out a destination. We (teenage spotters) took one around 1974 from Oxford to Blackpool, and on arrival at Blackpool immediately returned to Preston to spot!

 

[Gloster]

Having started a thread on this subject on another forum, a couple of points of interest have emerged,

Merrymaker as a widespread brand seems to have disappeared around early 1986. There had been announcements the previous year that it would go and this lead to a considerable number of complaints. The reason was simply the lack of (Mark 1) stock available for such a marginal operation. Odd trips still seem to have operated for a few more years, but it looks as though they were local initiatives.

A few trips continued to operate out of Carlisle until 1990 or 1991 as it had an Upperby-based rake of Mark 1 that could be used. They seem to have mostly been operated as Mystex, but not under the Merrymaker brand; the manager who organised them doesn’t remember the name being used.

It may be that some of those listed on Six Bells Junction were of ‘Merrymaker‘ type, but not so branded.