Great Yarmouth Drags Summer 09

[EltonRoad]

Now that the Great Yarmouth drags have started, can anyone enlighten me as to why there are empty stock movements at the beginning and end of each Saturday? Why don't they run them as through trains from London?

5V29 08:48 Norwich Crown Point - Great Yarmouth 09:20
1V29 10:08 Great Yarmouth to Norwich 10:44 (Liverpool Street 12:52)
1V18 (10:00 Liverpool Street) 12:06 Norwich to Great Yarmouth 12:38
1V41 13:10 Great Yarmouth to Norwich 13:44 (Liverpool Street 15:52)
1V26 (12:00 Liverpool Street) 14:18 Norwich to Great Yarmouth 14:50
5V26 15:40 Great Yarmouth to Norwich Crown Point 16:18

I can understand the point of the early morning ECS working, as to run it as a through train would mean starting at 0700 from Liverpool Street - perhaps not the demand at that time.

Is there any reason why can't the 1540 ex GYM be run through to Liverpool Street? Seems a waste of through journey opportunities.

 

[CCF23]

What rolling stock would these trains be formed of ?

 

[EltonRoad]

A rake of Mark 3s, a DVT and a "90" dead-in-tow.

Some good photos here:

http://www.milepost91.co.uk/drag-on-summer-saturdays-begin-on-nx

 

[CCF23]

ok thanks

 

[HSTChris]

I'm hopefully going to see these in early August! I'm staying in the railway station buildings at Acle, so I'll be there to see them! Thanks for the times

 

[EltonRoad]

Note that only 1V26 and 5V26 go via Acle, the rest are booked via Reedham.

 

[HSTChris]

Yup, already got that info. Thank you

 

[EltonRoad]

ScotRail finally makes it to Great Yarmouth!

See photos below, taken on Saturday 18 July.

 

[HSTChris]

Nice pics mate

 

[fgwrich]

ScotRail finally makes it to Great Yarmouth!

See photos below, taken on Saturday 18 July.

Oh the iriony...With Nat ex going the way they are, and with First Group still interested in taking over Nat Ex...

Nice pictures though...looking foward to doing this in 3 Weeks Wonder if ill still have the ex FGW 47832 or any other 47 from DRS...

 

[HSTChris]

Does anybody know what happened to the drags on Saturday the 1st and Saturday the 8th of August? Those where the ones I wanted to see during the holiday, but they never came through.

The one on the 1st never came through Acle at all, and neither did the one on the 8th. However, on the 8th, a class 156 and a 153 joined together went straight through the station, something I didn't notice the Saturday before. Is it possible this could have replaced the 47 drag?

 

[EltonRoad]

I was at Norwich on 8 August awaiting the 12.06 to Yarmouth (via Reedham). It arrived from Liverpool Street but was terminated.

The next one at 14.18 arrived from Liverpool Street and there was a lot of confusion as to whether it was going through to Yarmouth. People waited on the train for ages. There was no sign of a 47. Eventually the announcement came through that it was being replaced by the 156+3 that you saw, and there was a mass exodus from the London train to the DMUs ...

Someone on the platform said it was due to failure of the 47 but I'm not sure how accurate that was.

 

[EltonRoad]

This isn't the first time the loco-hauled service has been replaced by a DMU. See pictures below, taken on 6 June (1V26).

 

[HSTChris]

Thanks for all the information. It was a shame I didn't see them, but the week was still one of the best of my life anyway!

If anyone is interested in the videos of the week, or the railway station we stayed in and seeing the inside, take a look at my YouTube channel.