Exeter-Waterloo was typically 9 Mk2s with a class 50 at the front.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40172673@N03/8479031106/in/photostream
Waterloo-Salisbury was usually six coaches or sometimes a class 438 with a 33 at the front.
The nine coach takes on Waterloo to Exeter were formed
3TSO-BFK-TSO(T)-BFK-3TSO
but short formations don't appear to have been uncommon.
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The thread about what used to operate Thames Valley services pre-Turbo days has got me thinking. Under NSE there were four principal routes that saw loco-hauled services: -
- Liverpool Street - Cambridge
- Euston - Northampton
- Paddington - Oxford
- Waterloo - Exeter St Davids
How many sets operated on each route, and what were the typical formations? I know that there weren't fixed formation sets but I'd imagine that the number and types of vehicle in each set were fairly consistent.
When NSE was formed in 1986, the Thames Valley services were shared between Mark 1 corridor coaches and Mark 2 open vehicles. Neither fleet received refurbishment.
As the 321s arrived in 1989/90, the Cambridge and Northampton fleets which had received refurbishment replaced all of the Thames Valley stock. The Mark 1s from Northampton had the L&SE striped moquette and the Mark 2s from the Cambridge line had Intercity 80 seats which I think had been retrieved from the APT programme. The Thames Valley corridor Mark 1s went for scrap and the Mark 2s went to other parts of the country.
I think that the theory was that the formations should have been something like 3TSO-CK-BSK-FK-3TSO for the Mark 1 sets and 3TSO-FK-BSO-FK-3TSO for the Mark 2 sets but it didn't work like that.
To illustrate the variability, these are the formations I have recorded from my teenage travels in the early 1990s.
16 Aug 1990 1756 Slough to Reading
47547-4945-*4985*-7153-7165-35447-7167-13308-4913-4955-4862
Loco-2TSO-2CK-FK-CK-FK-3TSO
29 Sep 1990 1138 Reading to Newbury
47702-*5105*-4992-7213-13437-35290-4873-5039-4853
Loco-2TSO-CK-FK-BSK-3TSO
29 Sep 1990 1635 Newbury to Reading
47598-4853-5039-4873-35290-13437-7213-4992-4950-*5105*
Loco-3TSO-BSK-FK-CK-2TSO
5 Aug 1991 0709 Pangbourne to Reading
47712-13444-7232-7168-35329-7153-7213-*4990*-4854
Loco-FK-2CK-BSK-2CK-2TSO
10 Aug 1991 1620 Paddington to Reading
47710-*4854*-4990-7153-35329-7168-5222-7232
Loco-2TSO-CK-BSK-CK-TSO-CK
30 Aug 1991 1806 Paddington to Reading
47446-4945-4913-9396-13444-7158-4895-*5113*
Loco-2TSO-BSO-FK-CK-2TSO
23 Oct 1991 1806 Paddington to Reading
47581-7237-7172-9396-13437-7232-13331-*5141*
Loco-2CK-BSO-FK-CK-FK-TSO
25 Oct 1991 1258 Reading to Oxford
47423-*13474*-7190-7213-13329-9391-5024-4951
Loco-FK-2CK-FK-BSO-2TSO
11 Jan 1992 1000 Reading to Paddington
47581-5216-5220-5104-35290-13447-7235-*5136*
Loco-3TSO-BSK-FK-CK-TSO
25 Feb 1992 1756 Slough to Reading
47423-*4992*-4867-4884-13436-9409-4905-4913-4945
Loco-3TSO-FK-BSO-3TSO
22 Apr 1992 1808 Paddington to Reading
47547-7172-5085-*4876*-13435-5090-35309-7165-13331
Loco-CK-2TSO-FK-TSO-BSK-CK-FK
26 May 1992 1312 Reading to Newbury
47431-*5200*-5175-5222-35455-13444-4867-5171-5220-4910
Loco-3TSO-BSK-FK-4TSO