Long, long ago, back in 1981, I had been a full time employee of British Rail for 6 or 7 months, a booking office clerk at Oakleigh Park station. That was a two-shifted job, early and late, but I was soon moved to Hadley Wood which was early shift only. I lived in Harringay, and commuted on class 313s. The benefits of railway employment included a limited number of free passes each year, and also the ability to buy season tickets at quarter rate. I knew somebody who commuted from Peterborough to Kings Cross every day, but he held a season ticket from March. It was exactly the same price as from Peterborough, but with the added bonus of validity out of Liverpool Street. I decided to copy him, so I bought a one month priv season ticket from Kings Cross to March, and – combined with a fairly liberal use of free passes – set about clocking up some haulage from my favourite classes of loco, namely 40s and Deltics, with a side helping of 37s. Here’s how I got on – required locos are underlined …
Friday 06/03/81
37099 1636 Liverpool St – Ely
37092 1810 Ely – Liverpool St
I picked up the season ticket after work and made immediate use of it out of Liverpool Street with a required 37 out to Ely for another one straight back. A nice start. I made no moves over the weekend, and worked early shift on the Monday before turning up at Kings Cross to cover the evening departures:
Monday 09/03/81
55017 1805 Kings Cross – Peterborough
55013 2051 Peterborough – Grantham
55002 2119 Grantham – Kings Cross
A nice Deltic evening out. Despite its later celebrity status, 55002 was always a bit elusive to me, and I still haven’t cleared it for 1000 miles. There’s still a chance I suppose.
Tuesday 10/03/81 – Wednesday 11/03/81
Most of us have favourite locos in a class. The reasons why a particular loco becomes a favourite are many and varied. In my case 55019 was my pet Deltic after a stunning high speed run from Darlington to York on the Up Aberdonian, with speeds which were almost off the clock. My pet 40 was 40069, a York boilered loco which was instantly recognisable by the savage butchering of the lower bodyside to install an additional oil drain pipe. It was always a good strong performer – a cut above the average. Earlier in the day I had witnessed 40069 work the Kings Cross – Cleethorpes and return, a class 47 diagram that occasionally produced a Deltic, but was rare for a 40. Remarkably it stuck to diagram and was allocated to 1S60 2000 Kings Cross – Aberdeen.
40069 2000 Kings Cross – Newcastle
The train was 6 minutes late start, waiting the loco from Finsbury Park after fuelling, dropped to 20’ late from York due to station overtime, then regained time to 14’ late into Newcastle. A cracking run with my machine, load 12, via Selby (of course).
At Newcastle the 1925 Aberdeen – Kings Cross was waiting to depart from the opposite side of the island platform as we pulled in, with my machine 55019 on the front. I was in Newcastle for less than a minute that night, before heading south back to Kings Cross, a memorable one-for-one move.
55019 0115 Newcastle – Kings Cross. … and straight into work!
Friday 13/03/81
There used to be departures from Kings Cross overnight to Leeds conveying seats, sleepers, post, and newspapers. They ran at 2300, 0110 and 0405. The 2300 divided at Doncaster, one portion to Leeds and Bradford Exchange and the other portion to Wakefield Kirkgate and Halifax. The idea of a through sleeper from London to Halifax seems rather quaint now, doesn’t it?
55019 2300 Kings Cross – Doncaster
Saturday 14/03/81
55008 0152 Doncaster – Kings Cross. Another fine overnight… and back to work.
On Saturdays the 2300 to Bradford was retimed to depart at 2315, and – in common with all other ECML overnight services – was subjected to all manner of weird and wonderful diversions which varied from week to week. I knew I had to be at work on Sunday afternoon, so I wasn’t planning on going very far. All that changed when 40069 dropped on the front of the 2315 departure!
40069 2315 Kings Cross – Leeds, via Peterborough, Sleaford avoider, Joint Lines, Doncaster, Hare Park, Wakefield Kirkgate, Wakefield Westgate.
An arrival at Leeds just before dawn was not a position of strength on a Sunday morning. I recall I took up residence in a DMU stabled with the heaters on full blast, and got some doss.
Sunday 15/03/81
I simply had to get back south in time for work, so my options were limited.
47487 0900 Leeds – Wakefield Westgate
43111 + 43091 1001 Wakefield Westgate – Kings Cross and so to work.
Monday 16/03/81
The most common overnight train to produce a 40 out of Kings Cross was 1S66 2015 to Edinburgh. This was a postal train conveying passenger accommodation, so there were lengthy station stops for post bags to be loaded and unloaded, and the train was slackly timed, although with 10 vehicles it was enough to make a 40 need to be worked flat out. Another overnight beckoned:
40068 2015 Kings Cross – York
Tuesday 17/03/81
55002 0105 York – Kings Cross. This was the balancing working of the 2015 northbound, but obviously with a Deltic on the front it was a much easier run. On arrival at Kings Cross there wasn’t time to go home to Harringay for a wash and brush up before going straight to work on early shift, so I decided on a quick fill-in move. I dossed in the stock of the 0550 Kings Cross – Aberdeen which I planned to do to Stevenage to pick up the 2035 Aberdeen – Kings Cross, which was a “set down only” stop there. As a morning fill in it had the attraction of keeping me warm, and covering two more locos.
A fine plan, slightly flawed in the execution. Firstly, the hoped-for Deltic on the 0550 Aberdeen turned out to be 47403. Then promptly at 0524, off we set. Que? I soon discovered that the stock I had been dossing in was not the 0550 Aberdeen but the 0524 ECS to Peterborough to form a Peterborough – Kings Cross commuter. Not a position of strength. On arrival at Peterborough I made a brief phone call to apologise for my delayed arrival at work, then had dud 31242 all the way back to Kings Cross.
47403 05+24 Kings Cross – Peterborough
31242 0750 Peterborough – Kings Cross
Thursday 19/03/81
There were a couple of boilered 40s on Finsbury Park, so I headed into Kings Cross to cover the 2015 Edinburgh. To my surprise this produced 55008, so I took this for a run to Peterborough, knowing that my machine 55019 was on the last Up York.
55008 2015 Kings Cross – Peterborough
55019 2149 Peterborough – Kings Cross
I hung around at Kings Cross to see if a 40 would work. By that time of night the options were the 2300 Bradford/Halifax, 2315 Aberdeen, and 0002 Newcastle. At last …
Friday 20/03/81
40085 0002 Kings Cross – Doncaster
Returning from Doncaster, the 2035 Aberdeen – Kings Cross was a good option, as (like the 2315 northbound) it was timed at a maximum speed of 75 mph, and therefore within the capabilities of a class 40. Not today however …
46016 0419 Doncaster – Kings Cross. Not my favourite type of traction. Back to work.
Saturday 21/03/81
I decided to make use of my free passes and escape from the ECML for a few days. I had a few days leave, combined with some rest days, so I set off to the West Country.
50026 0002 Paddington – Plymouth via Bristol Parkway.
50021 04xx pilot Newton Abbot – Plymouth
50006 0600 Plymouth – Birmingham New St via Weston super Mare
At Birmingham I got some gen, and decided to head north to do “The Bangor”.
83009 1120 Birmingham New Street – Crewe (I do like a good roarer)
47439 1229 Crewe – Chester
40034 1314 Chester – Manchester Victoria
40034 1540 Manchester Victoria – Warrington BQ
At Manchester Victoria I learned that 40113 had worked a Hull to Morecambe ADEX, and was allocated back this evening. Whilst 40113 was quite a common loco, the track was unusual, so I decided to abandon the Bangor diagram at Warrington and head to Morecambe to join the ADEX.
85001 1627 Warrington BQ – Preston
47546 1705 Preston – Lancaster
DMU Lancaster – Morecambe
40113 1758 Morecambe – Hull, via Carnforth, Skipton, Engine Shed Jn., Normanton, Calder Bridge, Skellow, Stainforth, Goole. I cleared 40113 for 1000 miles on this trip.
DMU Hull - Doncaster
Sunday 22/03/81
Doncaster station used to have an all-night Travellers Fare buffet, which was a welcome haven from the cold in the wee small hours. I headed south on the 2045 Edinburgh – Kings Cross, which I noted was “Ages late, as usual.”
55011 0218 Doncaster – Kings Cross via Joint Lines
I made my way across to Waterloo, with the intention of heading for Plymouth to visit my parents. The 0910 Waterloo – Exeter was my target, but the allocated class 50 had a fit of the sulks and refused to play nicely, so a 33 was produced instead.
33005 0910 Waterloo – Woking.
50003 0943 Woking – Waterloo
50032 1110 Waterloo – Exeter St Davids
I needed the 33, so I took it to Woking as a fill-in move, then covered the 1110 to Exeter which produced 50032. This was delayed at Salisbury awaiting a driver. We set off 15 minutes late from Salisbury, and ran like the wind, arriving at Exeter St Davids 2 minutes early.
50009 1437 Exeter St Davids – Plymouth.
On arrival at Plymouth I found my parents had gone to visit my sister in Looe, so I caught the next service to Liskeard, where they picked me up by car.
43141+43142 1609 Plymouth – Liskeard.
Monday 23/03/81
After a day with my parents, I set off on a long journey north – using one of my free passes to its full extent.
50014 1600 Plymouth – Paddington, 9 minutes early into Paddington.
86008 2150 Euston – Mossend
Tuesday 24/03/81
The Inverness / Fort William sleeper divided at Mossend. The splitting and joining location of the Fort William portion has been a moveable feast over the years. At this time it was one diesel loco from Mossend to Cowlairs (reverse), for a second one to drop on the rear and take it down the hill into Queen Street (reverse), where the day seating coaches were attached by a third loco to take the train through to Fort William (reverse), and another loco then worked from Fort William to Mallaig with the day coaches only. The locos from Mossend to Cowlairs and Cowlairs to Queen Street could be absolutely any available diesel, especially in summer when heating wasn't an issue.
47462 0422 Mossend – Cowlairs via Gartcosh, Springburn
27112 0444 Cowlairs – Glasgow Queen Street
37114 0600 Glasgow Queen Street – Fort William
37014 1024 Fort William – Mallaig
The West Highland Line in winter is a wonderful sight – especially with a required steam-heat 37 on the front. 37114 did the honours to Fort William, where 37014 – also required – dropped onto the other end.
After some time to enjoy the delights of Mallaig on a midweek day in March (no, me neither) it was time to return south. This time it was 37114 throughout to Glasgow.
37114 1603 Mallaig – Glasgow Queen Street.
Rather than sticking with this and continuing south, I decided to head across to Edinburgh, in the hope of some more 40 or Deltic action on the ECML.
47704 2300 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
Wednesday 25/03/81
Arriving so late in Edinburgh there was only one southbound ECML overnight I could cover, the 2035 from Aberdeen. As noted previously, being timed at 75 mph this was a good bet for a class 40. Or some other junk …
46004 0008 Edinburgh – Newcastle
Here things began to take a turn for the better:
55010 0341 Newcastle – Edinburgh
En route south behind 46004 I had passed 40101 on the 2000 Kings Cross – Aberdeen, which had worked from Kings Cross through to Edinburgh. On arrival at Edinburgh this loco was dispatched to Haymarket for fuel and water, and promptly turned out to re-engine the 2315 Kings Cross – Aberdeen.
40101 0702 Edinburgh – Aberdeen
At Aberdeen word reached me that a Deltic was on its way up from Edinburgh. I’d never had a Deltic out of Aberdeen before, so I hung about to see what happened. Sure enough:
55012 1240 Aberdeen – Dundee
I was feeling very pleased with myself until just north of Dundee the 0550 Kings Cross – Aberdeen roared by with my machine 55019 on the front. Some hurried consultation of the timetable had me taking a gamble. 55019 would return south on the 1630 from Aberdeen. The next northbound service was the 1335 from Glasgow Queen Street, scheduled to arrive Aberdeen at 1630. It is perfectly possible to have parallel arrivals and departures at Aberdeen – dependent on which platform was used for the departing service. I abandoned 55012 at Dundee and headed north. I was willing to take whatever loco appeared on the train from Glasgow, so it was a distinct bonus when 40113 (last seen at Hull on the ADEX from Morecambe) turned up.
40113 1506 Dundee – Aberdeen
Not my lucky day. We arrived outside Aberdeen station at a red signal, and were held there until the 1630 had departed southbound, with 55019 blasting past my despairing face at touching distance. To save shunting they had run the loco round on the through platform and departed the train from there instead of shunting it to one of the bay platforms as booked. Oh well. I never did get 55019 out of Aberdeen. At least I’ve got a decent fall-back move:
40113 1750 Aberdeen – Dundee
40148 1949 Dundee – Edinburgh
40148’s train was the 1820 Aberdeen – Edinburgh. It made the scheduled unadvertised stop at Burntisland. Once there was a Control office at Burntisland, and when that was amalgamated with Edinburgh Control, one of the arrangements for the displaced Control office staff was that the 1820 Aberdeen – Edinburgh would stop additionally at Burntisland to uplift Control Office staff on their way to a night shift in Edinburgh. The train stopped at Burntisland for years with the only person boarding the train being one of the local cranks.
At Edinburgh I viewed the locos working south on the ECML overnights and gave up that idea as a bad job. Instead I collapsed exhausted onto the Bristol overnight.
47517 2340 Edinburgh – Carstairs
Thursday 26/03/81
8xxxx 0041 Carstairs – Birmingham New Street
45130 0700 Birmingham New Street – Bristol Temple Meads
I was so exhausted I couldn’t summon up the energy to identify the electric which I had from Carstairs. It really was time to go home and have a rest – oh, and go back to work to earn some more money for my next trips.
50028 0813 Bristol Temple Meads – Birmingham New Street
87006 1318 Birmingham New Street – Euston
I couldn’t resist another trip to Peterborough:
40173 2015 Kings Cross – Peterborough
55002 2149 Peterborough – Kings Cros
Monday 30/03/81
After a few days of relative sanity – no trains – the madness encroached again.
40077 0002 Kings Cross – Doncaster
47412 0419 Doncaster – Kings Cross
Then after an early shift at work, I paid a visit to a friend in Audley End, then improvised a bash.
31191 1636 Liverpool St – Audley End
37011 1757 Audley End - Cambridge
37084 1832 Cambridge – Liverpool St
Tuesday31/03/81
The previous Cambridge line trip had been pretty effective at scooping up new locos, so I decided on an overnight to try for a few more.
31126 2314 Liverpool St – Cambridge
Wednesday 01/04/81
April Fool’s Day – I should have known better. I had a good plan – do the 0155 Cambridge – Kings Lynn to Ely, changing there into the 2300 Liverpool St – Peterborough via Ipswich (a fine obscure train). Things started off well – the 0155 Cambridge – Kings Lynn was 37044 on a single BSK – the highest power-to-weight ration I’ve encountered in the UK. I never found out what was on the connection from Ely to Peterborough, since I woke up just as we left Ely! Not a position of strength. On arrival at Kings Lynn I blundered bleary-eyed onto the platform and wondered what on earth I should do next. A railman was there to oversee the unloading of the newspapers (which was why the train ran in the first place). He invited me to get my head down in his (coal-fired!) cabin, which I did gladly. After he’d finished unloading he returned to the cabin with glad tidings. “That engine as brung your train in, e’s going back t’Cambridge. I’ve had a word with the guard, and as long as the driver don’t object, you can travel in the back cab to Cambridge.”
37044 0155 Cambridge – Kings Lynn
37044 0410 Kings Lynn – Cambridge (light engine)
From Cambridge I took the first available train to Liverpool Street, as I was due to attend a course at Ilford that morning.
47160 0653 Cambridge – Liverpool St
Thursday 02/04/81
The last day of my season ticket to March – and I realised I’d never been to March all month. Time to remedy that.
37110 1656 Liverpool St – Cambridge
DMU Cambridge – March
31229 1952 March – Peterborough
55014 2149 Peterborough – Kings Cross
The run with 37110 to Cambridge was a real catalogue of horrors, with an emergency stop due to an open door, and a prolonged halt due to an EMU failure at Bishop Stortford. We arrived at Cambridge 65 minutes late, so my only connection forward to March was a DMU.
55014 provided an excellent end to the month, departing Peterborough 4 minutes late and arriving at Kings Cross 2 minutes early, with speeds up to 112 mph en route.
I never bought another priv season ticket to March – it was just too exhausting! Even so, I managed to cram a huge amount into those 4 weeks.
Friday 06/03/81
37099 1636 Liverpool St – Ely
37092 1810 Ely – Liverpool St
I picked up the season ticket after work and made immediate use of it out of Liverpool Street with a required 37 out to Ely for another one straight back. A nice start. I made no moves over the weekend, and worked early shift on the Monday before turning up at Kings Cross to cover the evening departures:
Monday 09/03/81
55017 1805 Kings Cross – Peterborough
55013 2051 Peterborough – Grantham
55002 2119 Grantham – Kings Cross
A nice Deltic evening out. Despite its later celebrity status, 55002 was always a bit elusive to me, and I still haven’t cleared it for 1000 miles. There’s still a chance I suppose.
Tuesday 10/03/81 – Wednesday 11/03/81
Most of us have favourite locos in a class. The reasons why a particular loco becomes a favourite are many and varied. In my case 55019 was my pet Deltic after a stunning high speed run from Darlington to York on the Up Aberdonian, with speeds which were almost off the clock. My pet 40 was 40069, a York boilered loco which was instantly recognisable by the savage butchering of the lower bodyside to install an additional oil drain pipe. It was always a good strong performer – a cut above the average. Earlier in the day I had witnessed 40069 work the Kings Cross – Cleethorpes and return, a class 47 diagram that occasionally produced a Deltic, but was rare for a 40. Remarkably it stuck to diagram and was allocated to 1S60 2000 Kings Cross – Aberdeen.
40069 2000 Kings Cross – Newcastle
The train was 6 minutes late start, waiting the loco from Finsbury Park after fuelling, dropped to 20’ late from York due to station overtime, then regained time to 14’ late into Newcastle. A cracking run with my machine, load 12, via Selby (of course).
At Newcastle the 1925 Aberdeen – Kings Cross was waiting to depart from the opposite side of the island platform as we pulled in, with my machine 55019 on the front. I was in Newcastle for less than a minute that night, before heading south back to Kings Cross, a memorable one-for-one move.
55019 0115 Newcastle – Kings Cross. … and straight into work!
Friday 13/03/81
There used to be departures from Kings Cross overnight to Leeds conveying seats, sleepers, post, and newspapers. They ran at 2300, 0110 and 0405. The 2300 divided at Doncaster, one portion to Leeds and Bradford Exchange and the other portion to Wakefield Kirkgate and Halifax. The idea of a through sleeper from London to Halifax seems rather quaint now, doesn’t it?
55019 2300 Kings Cross – Doncaster
Saturday 14/03/81
55008 0152 Doncaster – Kings Cross. Another fine overnight… and back to work.
On Saturdays the 2300 to Bradford was retimed to depart at 2315, and – in common with all other ECML overnight services – was subjected to all manner of weird and wonderful diversions which varied from week to week. I knew I had to be at work on Sunday afternoon, so I wasn’t planning on going very far. All that changed when 40069 dropped on the front of the 2315 departure!
40069 2315 Kings Cross – Leeds, via Peterborough, Sleaford avoider, Joint Lines, Doncaster, Hare Park, Wakefield Kirkgate, Wakefield Westgate.
An arrival at Leeds just before dawn was not a position of strength on a Sunday morning. I recall I took up residence in a DMU stabled with the heaters on full blast, and got some doss.
Sunday 15/03/81
I simply had to get back south in time for work, so my options were limited.
47487 0900 Leeds – Wakefield Westgate
43111 + 43091 1001 Wakefield Westgate – Kings Cross and so to work.
Monday 16/03/81
The most common overnight train to produce a 40 out of Kings Cross was 1S66 2015 to Edinburgh. This was a postal train conveying passenger accommodation, so there were lengthy station stops for post bags to be loaded and unloaded, and the train was slackly timed, although with 10 vehicles it was enough to make a 40 need to be worked flat out. Another overnight beckoned:
40068 2015 Kings Cross – York
Tuesday 17/03/81
55002 0105 York – Kings Cross. This was the balancing working of the 2015 northbound, but obviously with a Deltic on the front it was a much easier run. On arrival at Kings Cross there wasn’t time to go home to Harringay for a wash and brush up before going straight to work on early shift, so I decided on a quick fill-in move. I dossed in the stock of the 0550 Kings Cross – Aberdeen which I planned to do to Stevenage to pick up the 2035 Aberdeen – Kings Cross, which was a “set down only” stop there. As a morning fill in it had the attraction of keeping me warm, and covering two more locos.
A fine plan, slightly flawed in the execution. Firstly, the hoped-for Deltic on the 0550 Aberdeen turned out to be 47403. Then promptly at 0524, off we set. Que? I soon discovered that the stock I had been dossing in was not the 0550 Aberdeen but the 0524 ECS to Peterborough to form a Peterborough – Kings Cross commuter. Not a position of strength. On arrival at Peterborough I made a brief phone call to apologise for my delayed arrival at work, then had dud 31242 all the way back to Kings Cross.
47403 05+24 Kings Cross – Peterborough
31242 0750 Peterborough – Kings Cross
Thursday 19/03/81
There were a couple of boilered 40s on Finsbury Park, so I headed into Kings Cross to cover the 2015 Edinburgh. To my surprise this produced 55008, so I took this for a run to Peterborough, knowing that my machine 55019 was on the last Up York.
55008 2015 Kings Cross – Peterborough
55019 2149 Peterborough – Kings Cross
I hung around at Kings Cross to see if a 40 would work. By that time of night the options were the 2300 Bradford/Halifax, 2315 Aberdeen, and 0002 Newcastle. At last …
Friday 20/03/81
40085 0002 Kings Cross – Doncaster
Returning from Doncaster, the 2035 Aberdeen – Kings Cross was a good option, as (like the 2315 northbound) it was timed at a maximum speed of 75 mph, and therefore within the capabilities of a class 40. Not today however …
46016 0419 Doncaster – Kings Cross. Not my favourite type of traction. Back to work.
Saturday 21/03/81
I decided to make use of my free passes and escape from the ECML for a few days. I had a few days leave, combined with some rest days, so I set off to the West Country.
50026 0002 Paddington – Plymouth via Bristol Parkway.
50021 04xx pilot Newton Abbot – Plymouth
50006 0600 Plymouth – Birmingham New St via Weston super Mare
At Birmingham I got some gen, and decided to head north to do “The Bangor”.
83009 1120 Birmingham New Street – Crewe (I do like a good roarer)
47439 1229 Crewe – Chester
40034 1314 Chester – Manchester Victoria
40034 1540 Manchester Victoria – Warrington BQ
At Manchester Victoria I learned that 40113 had worked a Hull to Morecambe ADEX, and was allocated back this evening. Whilst 40113 was quite a common loco, the track was unusual, so I decided to abandon the Bangor diagram at Warrington and head to Morecambe to join the ADEX.
85001 1627 Warrington BQ – Preston
47546 1705 Preston – Lancaster
DMU Lancaster – Morecambe
40113 1758 Morecambe – Hull, via Carnforth, Skipton, Engine Shed Jn., Normanton, Calder Bridge, Skellow, Stainforth, Goole. I cleared 40113 for 1000 miles on this trip.
DMU Hull - Doncaster
Sunday 22/03/81
Doncaster station used to have an all-night Travellers Fare buffet, which was a welcome haven from the cold in the wee small hours. I headed south on the 2045 Edinburgh – Kings Cross, which I noted was “Ages late, as usual.”
55011 0218 Doncaster – Kings Cross via Joint Lines
I made my way across to Waterloo, with the intention of heading for Plymouth to visit my parents. The 0910 Waterloo – Exeter was my target, but the allocated class 50 had a fit of the sulks and refused to play nicely, so a 33 was produced instead.
33005 0910 Waterloo – Woking.
50003 0943 Woking – Waterloo
50032 1110 Waterloo – Exeter St Davids
I needed the 33, so I took it to Woking as a fill-in move, then covered the 1110 to Exeter which produced 50032. This was delayed at Salisbury awaiting a driver. We set off 15 minutes late from Salisbury, and ran like the wind, arriving at Exeter St Davids 2 minutes early.
50009 1437 Exeter St Davids – Plymouth.
On arrival at Plymouth I found my parents had gone to visit my sister in Looe, so I caught the next service to Liskeard, where they picked me up by car.
43141+43142 1609 Plymouth – Liskeard.
Monday 23/03/81
After a day with my parents, I set off on a long journey north – using one of my free passes to its full extent.
50014 1600 Plymouth – Paddington, 9 minutes early into Paddington.
86008 2150 Euston – Mossend
Tuesday 24/03/81
The Inverness / Fort William sleeper divided at Mossend. The splitting and joining location of the Fort William portion has been a moveable feast over the years. At this time it was one diesel loco from Mossend to Cowlairs (reverse), for a second one to drop on the rear and take it down the hill into Queen Street (reverse), where the day seating coaches were attached by a third loco to take the train through to Fort William (reverse), and another loco then worked from Fort William to Mallaig with the day coaches only. The locos from Mossend to Cowlairs and Cowlairs to Queen Street could be absolutely any available diesel, especially in summer when heating wasn't an issue.
47462 0422 Mossend – Cowlairs via Gartcosh, Springburn
27112 0444 Cowlairs – Glasgow Queen Street
37114 0600 Glasgow Queen Street – Fort William
37014 1024 Fort William – Mallaig
The West Highland Line in winter is a wonderful sight – especially with a required steam-heat 37 on the front. 37114 did the honours to Fort William, where 37014 – also required – dropped onto the other end.
After some time to enjoy the delights of Mallaig on a midweek day in March (no, me neither) it was time to return south. This time it was 37114 throughout to Glasgow.
37114 1603 Mallaig – Glasgow Queen Street.
Rather than sticking with this and continuing south, I decided to head across to Edinburgh, in the hope of some more 40 or Deltic action on the ECML.
47704 2300 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
Wednesday 25/03/81
Arriving so late in Edinburgh there was only one southbound ECML overnight I could cover, the 2035 from Aberdeen. As noted previously, being timed at 75 mph this was a good bet for a class 40. Or some other junk …
46004 0008 Edinburgh – Newcastle
Here things began to take a turn for the better:
55010 0341 Newcastle – Edinburgh
En route south behind 46004 I had passed 40101 on the 2000 Kings Cross – Aberdeen, which had worked from Kings Cross through to Edinburgh. On arrival at Edinburgh this loco was dispatched to Haymarket for fuel and water, and promptly turned out to re-engine the 2315 Kings Cross – Aberdeen.
40101 0702 Edinburgh – Aberdeen
At Aberdeen word reached me that a Deltic was on its way up from Edinburgh. I’d never had a Deltic out of Aberdeen before, so I hung about to see what happened. Sure enough:
55012 1240 Aberdeen – Dundee
I was feeling very pleased with myself until just north of Dundee the 0550 Kings Cross – Aberdeen roared by with my machine 55019 on the front. Some hurried consultation of the timetable had me taking a gamble. 55019 would return south on the 1630 from Aberdeen. The next northbound service was the 1335 from Glasgow Queen Street, scheduled to arrive Aberdeen at 1630. It is perfectly possible to have parallel arrivals and departures at Aberdeen – dependent on which platform was used for the departing service. I abandoned 55012 at Dundee and headed north. I was willing to take whatever loco appeared on the train from Glasgow, so it was a distinct bonus when 40113 (last seen at Hull on the ADEX from Morecambe) turned up.
40113 1506 Dundee – Aberdeen
Not my lucky day. We arrived outside Aberdeen station at a red signal, and were held there until the 1630 had departed southbound, with 55019 blasting past my despairing face at touching distance. To save shunting they had run the loco round on the through platform and departed the train from there instead of shunting it to one of the bay platforms as booked. Oh well. I never did get 55019 out of Aberdeen. At least I’ve got a decent fall-back move:
40113 1750 Aberdeen – Dundee
40148 1949 Dundee – Edinburgh
40148’s train was the 1820 Aberdeen – Edinburgh. It made the scheduled unadvertised stop at Burntisland. Once there was a Control office at Burntisland, and when that was amalgamated with Edinburgh Control, one of the arrangements for the displaced Control office staff was that the 1820 Aberdeen – Edinburgh would stop additionally at Burntisland to uplift Control Office staff on their way to a night shift in Edinburgh. The train stopped at Burntisland for years with the only person boarding the train being one of the local cranks.
At Edinburgh I viewed the locos working south on the ECML overnights and gave up that idea as a bad job. Instead I collapsed exhausted onto the Bristol overnight.
47517 2340 Edinburgh – Carstairs
Thursday 26/03/81
8xxxx 0041 Carstairs – Birmingham New Street
45130 0700 Birmingham New Street – Bristol Temple Meads
I was so exhausted I couldn’t summon up the energy to identify the electric which I had from Carstairs. It really was time to go home and have a rest – oh, and go back to work to earn some more money for my next trips.
50028 0813 Bristol Temple Meads – Birmingham New Street
87006 1318 Birmingham New Street – Euston
I couldn’t resist another trip to Peterborough:
40173 2015 Kings Cross – Peterborough
55002 2149 Peterborough – Kings Cros
Monday 30/03/81
After a few days of relative sanity – no trains – the madness encroached again.
40077 0002 Kings Cross – Doncaster
47412 0419 Doncaster – Kings Cross
Then after an early shift at work, I paid a visit to a friend in Audley End, then improvised a bash.
31191 1636 Liverpool St – Audley End
37011 1757 Audley End - Cambridge
37084 1832 Cambridge – Liverpool St
Tuesday31/03/81
The previous Cambridge line trip had been pretty effective at scooping up new locos, so I decided on an overnight to try for a few more.
31126 2314 Liverpool St – Cambridge
Wednesday 01/04/81
April Fool’s Day – I should have known better. I had a good plan – do the 0155 Cambridge – Kings Lynn to Ely, changing there into the 2300 Liverpool St – Peterborough via Ipswich (a fine obscure train). Things started off well – the 0155 Cambridge – Kings Lynn was 37044 on a single BSK – the highest power-to-weight ration I’ve encountered in the UK. I never found out what was on the connection from Ely to Peterborough, since I woke up just as we left Ely! Not a position of strength. On arrival at Kings Lynn I blundered bleary-eyed onto the platform and wondered what on earth I should do next. A railman was there to oversee the unloading of the newspapers (which was why the train ran in the first place). He invited me to get my head down in his (coal-fired!) cabin, which I did gladly. After he’d finished unloading he returned to the cabin with glad tidings. “That engine as brung your train in, e’s going back t’Cambridge. I’ve had a word with the guard, and as long as the driver don’t object, you can travel in the back cab to Cambridge.”
37044 0155 Cambridge – Kings Lynn
37044 0410 Kings Lynn – Cambridge (light engine)
From Cambridge I took the first available train to Liverpool Street, as I was due to attend a course at Ilford that morning.
47160 0653 Cambridge – Liverpool St
Thursday 02/04/81
The last day of my season ticket to March – and I realised I’d never been to March all month. Time to remedy that.
37110 1656 Liverpool St – Cambridge
DMU Cambridge – March
31229 1952 March – Peterborough
55014 2149 Peterborough – Kings Cross
The run with 37110 to Cambridge was a real catalogue of horrors, with an emergency stop due to an open door, and a prolonged halt due to an EMU failure at Bishop Stortford. We arrived at Cambridge 65 minutes late, so my only connection forward to March was a DMU.
55014 provided an excellent end to the month, departing Peterborough 4 minutes late and arriving at Kings Cross 2 minutes early, with speeds up to 112 mph en route.
I never bought another priv season ticket to March – it was just too exhausting! Even so, I managed to cram a huge amount into those 4 weeks.
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