On this day in history.

[55013]

Having posted my moves from the 23rd of August in my "Contemporary trip reports" thread, then seeing Keith's reply, I thought I'd open a new thread for folk to post their reminiscences from, well, this day in history.

I'll get the ball rolling with some choice moves from the 24th of August.

1991:
Unrecorded HST Wakefield - Birmingham
47813 Birmingham - Coventry
86424 Coventry - Birmingham
47245 Birmingham - Nuneaton
DMU Nuneaton - Coventry
87013 Coventry - Wolverhampton
86206 Wolverhampton - Stafford
47479 Stafford - Crewe
DMU Crewe - Chester
47304 Chester - Manchester Victoria
37419 Manchester Victoria - Preston
86254 Preston - Edinburgh
47672 Edinburgh - Carlisle

I was on an all-liner and didn't record the units or HSTs that I did.

1998:
An after-an-early-shift move.
91019 Wakefield - Doncaster
47848 Doncaster - Newcastle, 1E33 12.10 Bristol - Newcastle
47848 Newcastle - Wakefield, 1V67 18.05 Newcastle - Bristol

2002:
Another all-liner.
47815 Plymouth - Bristol
47811 Bristol - Paddington
86217 Liverpool St - Norwich
47714 Norwich - Great Yarmouth
47714 Great Yarmouth - Norwich
86209 Norwich - Colchester
86234 Colchester - Ipswich

47815 & 47811 were on the up Night Riviera, I got on the former at Plymouth and was most surprised to see it had morphed into the latter somewhere whilst I slept - a request on one of the, then new, gen groups saw my bafflement ended with the information that the loco change had taken place at Temple Meads.

2013:
Three round trips at the ELR behind 40135.

For comparison, my most recent 24th of August (until today), 2017:
150119 Low Moor - Halifax
142053 Halifax - Low Moor

So, I'm hoping a few people can chuck their historical moves in for me to sob over

 

[Far north 37]

Some classic traction there see you got inverness allocated 47672 to carlisle from waverley was that on a sleeper.

 

[55013]

47672 was indeed on a sleeper - a Saturday night one at that.
It was absolutely wedged - I slept sat on the floor of a vestibule.
I was on that move with a mate and as the train progressed South we had various loco changes due to engineering work.
This meant one of us had to leap off and run to the front to ID the new engine.
five different machines worked that service.

That segues nicely into the 25th of August 1991, so here goes:

86210 Carlisle - Preston
47835 Preston - Stockport
90011 Stockport - Bletchley
47976 Bletchley - Watford Junction
86251 Watford Junction - Nuneaton
47828 Nuneaton - Birmingham
47812 Birmingham - Reading
47810 Reading - Basingstoke
50030 Basingstoke - Woking
47709 Woking - Salisbury
33116/33102 Salisbury - Basingstoke
DEMU Basingstoke - Reading
HST Reading - Exeter

Other 25th of August moves:

1998:
91009 Wakefield - Doncaster
47841 Doncaster - Newcastle
47841 Newcastle - Wakefield

2002:
86217 Ipswich - Colchester
86215 Colchester - Norwich
86215 Norwich - Colchester
86257 Colchester - Liverpool Street.
Underground to Paddington.
180103 Paddington - Reading
47811 Reading - Paddington
43036/43165 Paddington - Reading
43136/43018 Reading - Paddington
47815 Paddington - Plymouth (The Night Riviera)

2014:
A bit of railtour action with 45135 of this parish.
60059 Leeds - Stratford Upon Avon

Rather than do some Shakespeare heritage bashing (dud with Mrs 13), we filled in the time by doing a few trains, thus:

172343 Stratford - Birmingham Moor Street
67013 Moor Street - Leamington Spa
67027 Leamington Spa - Solihull
172334 Solihull - Widney Manor
172213 Widney Manor - Stratford

Back to the tour:
60059 Stratford - Leeds

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Con
tinuing on from where I left off on the other thread
The clock had ticked past midnight by the time I had bailed from 81001 at Preston so here's the moves from 24th August 1980
40079 Preston - Crewe via Manchester Victoria, Ashton Moss, Denton Junction, Stockport
82008 Crewe - New Street
25089+25110 New Street - Wolverhampton
47049 Wolverhampton - New Street
47328 New Street - Nuneaton
47329 Nuneaton - New Street
87033 New Street - Woilverhampton
47459 Wolverhampton - New Street
47332 New Street - Leamington
47081 Leamington - New Street
47018 New Street - Nuneaton
47192 Nuneaton - Hinckley
31313 Hinckley - New Street
81009 New Street - Wolverhampton

By which time it was now August 25th

86421 Wolverhampton - Stafford
86030 Stafford - Crewe
82007 Crewe - New Street
87018 New Street - Wolverhampton
47335 Wolverhampton - New Street
86016 New Street - Wolverhampton
86249 Wolverhampton - New Street
47140 New Street - Leamington
47348 Leamington - New Street
86224 New Street - Wolverhampton
47358 Wolverhampton - New Street
47282 New Street - Leamington
47509 Leamington - New Street
47276 New Street to Rugby via Nuneaton
81007 Rugby - Euston
Phew! That was some Bank Holiday weekend. I'd been on the road solid since 12:00 on Friday 22nd and had amassed 47 winners in total - 8 of them falling on Friday 22nd. The Glory Days!

 

[55013]

Glory days indeed.
Fabulous stuff and just what I was hoping for.

Plenty in that lot that I never got - as with the 83 you had on the 23rd, I never sampled an 82.
There are a few old friends in there to give me a warm, fuzzy, feeling though

 

[The_Train]

More great moves there.

Reading through some of them has triggered something in my mind that I'm not sure if I'm imagining happened or it actually did. 47s were obviously predominant on XC routes and I remember the joy of them doing runarounds when reversals were required (I seem to remember Gloucester being somewhere that happened regularly) but did long distance XC routes ever switch from diesel to electric traction anywhere along the route?

 

[55013]

They did indeed.
Some changed from a 47 to an 86 at New Street, whilst those services that went via Bolton swapped locos at Preston.

 

[The_Train]

They did indeed.
Some changed from a 47 to an 86 at New Street, whilst those services that went via Bolton swapped locos at Preston.

It was New Street that came to mind. I think I doubted myself because of that and wondering if it was possible to make such a change at a major station. Glad I wasn't just imagining it.

So was this the first known use of bi-mode traction then?

 

[Keith Jarrett]

And diesel / electric changes would have taken place at Carstairs with Edinburgh portions. Plus Carlisle for anything to/from the Glasgow and South Western. I'm also young enough to remember traction changes at Preston with Liverpool and Barrow portions

 

[barrowjack]

On from me from 25/08/1993. Didn't record unit numbers back then but oh how I wish I had, as the 14x. 15x and 175's at least would have been cleared long ago! Must have been on one of the old 'North West Day Rangers' as these weren't valid Wigan NW to Warrington BQ as far as I can remember hence going via Manchester to Crewe

31432 Barrow In Furness to Preston
1501xx Preston to Manchester Piccadilly
90010 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport
87010 Stockport to Crewe
1533xx Crewe to Chester
31465 Chester to Manchester Victoria
37414 Manchester Victoria to Poulton Le Fylde
1501xx Poulton Le Fylde to Preston
1564xx Preston to Barrow In Furness

 

[55013]

Good stuff, Barrowjack.
That's a move that looks very similar to sort of thing I was doing in the early 90s.
37414 was a monster

 

[Cowley]

Chaps: This thread looks excellent.
I’m away on my best behaviour with the in-laws in Ireland this weekend and far far out of range of my bashing books at home.
Really enjoyed reading what’s been posted so far though, and I’ve got a question for Keith (if you’re reading still Keith?) - How come there were so many 47/3s out on the 24/25th August 1980?
I found them quite difficult to score when I started bashing in 1987ish. Yet you scored 6 in a day!
Great thread 55013. I can see this one running and running... Seems obvious now, but nobody else’s had thought of starting one.
You are clearly the king of original thinking here.

 

[55013]

Cowley, I think there were many more summer dated services in the early 80s than the later part of the decade.
Long rakes of Mark 1s with no need for any heating in August.
To be fair, I've seen this sort of thread elsewhere in the past, so I can't claim to be an original thinker

It's now the 26th of August, so I'll continue with some of my moves from that date.

1991, the all-liner continues:
47824 Exeter - Paddington (up Night Riviera)
47811 Paddington - Reading
DEMU Reading - Basingstoke
50030/50033 Basingstoke - Waterloo
33102/33116 Waterloo - Salisbury
47710 Salisbury - Exeter
47808 Exeter - Birmingham
90013 Birmingham - Manchester Piccadilly
Various DMUs back home as the week was over.

1996, a railtour that I daresay 47403 wasn't on
46035 Crewe - Holyhead
46035 Holyhead - Crewe

1999.
A visit to Peak Rail
Three high speed round trips on 44008
Followed by a drive to Stockport, calling in at Peak Forest on the way.
A few "Stockport leaps" done, with the following:
87034 Stockport - Piccadilly
86206 Piccadilly - Stockport
87007 Stockport - Piccadilly
323228 Piccadilly - Stockport
86245 Stockport - Piccadilly
47849 Piccadilly - Stockport
87017 Stockport - Piccadilly
87019 Piccadilly - Stockport

2000.
A visit to the Churnet Valley Railway with the following in action:
20154, 25912 & 33102.

2002.
Another all-liner continues.
47813 Plymouth - Paddington
86245 Euston - Birmingham New Street
86254 New Street - Wolverhampton
86254 Wolverhampton - New Street
Then an early night at my hotel.

 

[Cowley]

Cowley, I think there were many more summer dated services in the early 80s than the later part of the decade.
Long rakes of Mark 1s with no need for any heating in August.
To be fair, I've seen this sort of thread elsewhere in the past, so I can't claim to be an original thinker

It's now the 26th of August, so I'll continue with some of my moves from that date.

1991, the all-liner continues:
47824 Exeter - Paddington (up Night Riviera)
47811 Paddington - Reading
DEMU Reading - Basingstoke
50030/50033 Basingstoke - Waterloo
33102/33116 Waterloo - Salisbury
47710 Salisbury - Exeter
47808 Exeter - Birmingham
90013 Birmingham - Manchester Piccadilly
Various DMUs back home as the week was over.

1996, a railtour that I daresay 47403 wasn't on
46035 Crewe - Holyhead
46035 Holyhead - Crewe

1999.
A visit to Peak Rail
Three high speed round trips on 44008
Followed by a drive of to Stockport, calling in at Peak Forest on the way.
A few "Stockport leaps" done, with the following:
87034 Stockport - Piccadilly
86206 Piccadilly - Stockport
87007 Stockport - Piccadilly
323228 Piccadilly - Stockport
86245 Stockport - Piccadilly
47849 Piccadilly - Stockport
87017 Stockport - Piccadilly
87019 Piccadilly - Stockport

2000.
A visit to the Churnet Valley Railway with the following in action:
20154, 25912 & 33102.

2002.
Another all-liner continues.
47813 Plymouth - Paddington
86245 Euston - Birmingham New Street
86254 New Street - Wolverhampton
86254 Wolverhampton - New Street
Then an early night at my hotel.

Some great stuff there 55013.
You seem to have kept very good records, have you ever been tempted to tally the total mileage up for all of the years together?

 

[The_Train]

Some great stuff there 55013.
You seem to have kept very good records, have you ever been tempted to tally the total mileage up for all of the years together?

Before he does maybe we should hold a sweepstake with regards to how many times 55013 could have travelled round the world with the mileage he's covered on the rail network

 

[Cowley]

Before he does maybe we should hold a sweepstake with regards to how many times 55013 could have travelled round the world with the mileage he's covered on the rail network

Intergalactic levels of mileage.

 

[55013]

I'm afraid you'll be very disappointed with my totals.
I started spotting in 1980 but didn't record any haulages (other than by putting "PB", indicating pulled by, next to the number) for quite a while.
Sadly, that means that I've no record of many early moves.

I use Locotrack to record all my moves, but prior to buying that in 2004 I made very few records of units.
Additionally, I only started actively chasing DMUs in 2012 and EMUs in 2015; that plus my lack of decent records from the 20th Century mean my unit mileage is not impressive at all.

Anyway, my current totals stand at:
Locos: 301597.91 miles
DMUs: 57216.80
EMUs: 24195.3

Total recorded mileage, as at 26.08.18: 383010.1

I know there are people out there who've had over half a million miles on a single class (I believe there are even one or two in the "million mile club"

 

[47403]

Before he does maybe we should hold a sweepstake with regards to how many times 55013 could have travelled round the world with the mileage he's covered on the rail network

Mr Train don't underestmate Mr KJ EiTHER. Our 2 elder statesman of the bashing fraternity. Between Mr KJ and Mr 13, they probably have enough miles to circum navigate the moon and back. Cowley and 40065 figures would probably give a substantial push towards another planet too. I sincerely wish I had the documentation to join in with this thread.

 

[55013]

I need almost ninety-five thousand miles to equal a journey to the moon and back.
Something else for me to aim for

I'm sure you have some great moves to put on here - your contributions were amongst the ones I looked forward to the most.
Some of those summer Saturday jaunts have me salivating.

 

[Cowley]

To the moon and halfway back is not to be sniffed at.
I’m in a similar boat to 47403 in some ways. I kept my ‘For the Year’ Platform 5 book for 1988 (actually I transferred it into a 1990 book but I know it’s right).
I lost some of my moves books with mileages in years ago though. Thankfully I’ve still got some from the early 1990s and I’ve got a few scraps of records from earlier, plus photos and what I’ve pieced together since being on here.
If I had a time machine I’d go back and tell my 25 year old self to look after things properly.
Away at the moment but looking forward to seeing what I’ve got when I get back.

Edit - and I didn’t record units or HSTs properly either...

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Thankfully since the late 1970s, everything has been accurately recorded in my part of town - only noted down the month before then.
Anyway, back to the time machine ... 26th August 1979 and there was only one place to go when you lived in Nottingham. Why, Skeggy of course!
20147+20195 Nottingham- Boston
37087 Boston - Skegness
Plan was a pub crawl but news came through of a required 37
Class 114 (Power Car 50047) Skegness - Grantham
37102 Grantham - Peterbrough
31291 Peterborough - Hinckley
31322 Hinckley - Leicester
45149 Leicester - Sheffield
37101 Sheffield - Rotherham
37040 Rotherham - Sheffield
45118 Sheffield - Nottingham

As for mileage - I'll tot it up some day but my highest mileage class is 50s with over 179k on the clock with one certain member of the class sitting on 8k and only one not cleared for 3k. Highest mileage units are the 319s with 164k on the clock, all cleared for at least 1k and 25 of them over 2k.

 

[Cowley]

Thankfully since the late 1970s, everything has been accurately recorded in my part of town - only noted down the month before then.
Anyway, back to the time machine ... 26th August 1979 and there was only one place to go when you lived in Nottingham. Why, Skeggy of course!
20147+20195 Nottingham- Boston
37087 Boston - Skegness
Plan was a pub crawl but news came through of a required 37
Class 114 (Power Car 50047) Skegness - Grantham
37102 Grantham - Peterbrough
31291 Peterborough - Hinckley
31322 Hinckley - Leicester
45149 Leicester - Sheffield
37101 Sheffield - Rotherham
37040 Rotherham - Sheffield
45118 Sheffield - Nottingham

As for mileage - I'll tot it up some day but my highest mileage class is 50s with over 179k on the clock with one certain member of the class sitting on 8k and only one not cleared for 3k. Highest mileage units are the 319s with 164k on the clock, all cleared for at least 1k and 25 of them over 2k.

What a day. Really enjoying reading this stuff.

 

[55013]

Four 37s in one day!
Smashing stuff, Keith.
Luckily, all those 37s are unrequired for me, just the pair of 20s and 31322 to make me sob

As it's now the 27th I'll post the pick of my moves.

1985 was the year when I lost my mojo.
No moves at all were done prior to August when I had a brief flurry of activity.
Some of that activity was on the 27th, thus:
45132 Leeds - Huddersfield
45144 Huddersfield - Dewsbury
45020 Dewsbury - Huddersfield
45134 Huddersfield - Leeds
45139 Leeds - Huddersfield
47536 Huddersfield - Leeds
47223 Leeds - Dewsbury
47508 Dewsbury - Leeds
HST or DMU Leeds - Wakefield Westgate
45110 Wakefield - Leeds
47069 Leeds - Huddersfield
45131 Huddersfield - Leeds

I had one more move a few weeks later, just a Huddersfield - Leeds and back, but that was pretty much it for me and railways.
I didn't so much as look at a train for the next couple of years.

Once I did come back, it was with renewed vigour.

Other 27th August moves include:

1995:
37412/37275 Crewe - Shrewsbury
DMU Shrewsbury - Crewe
My mates and I were in the area for the Basford Hall open day and a mini railtour on the 28th, we walked onto Crewe station to have a butcher's at what was occurring.
Once the pair of Tractors caught our attention there was only one thing to do

2002, more all-line shenanigans:
86401 Birmingham - Euston
90009 Euston - Crewe
90012 Crewe - Euston
86212 Euston - Birmingham International
87009 International - Euston
90040 Euston - Edinburgh; the down Highland sleeper

When 86212 was withdrawn it stood on 997.15 miles - I wonder if it was possible to stay on it to New Street or if I had to make the 87 in order to ensure I didn't miss my booked berth.
As this was the last time I had it and I would have known its mileage status, my guess is that I had no choice.

2005:
57309 Chester - Holyhead
57309 Holyhead - Chester

 

[47403]

I remember going for a weeks North Eastern Ranger, I was staying at my Grans in Sunderland and even though I was nigh on 17, she pleaded with me not to go by myself. I calmed her down and said I'll be OK.
Without records I can only remember a few moves
Sunderland-Newcastle DMU (101)
Newcastle-York 47484
York-Leeds 47558
Leeds-Stalybridge 47446
Stalybridge-Leeds 47513
Leeds Hull 31444
Hull-Leeds 31444,
Leeds-Newcastle 31405
Newcastle-Carlisle 31405
Carlisle-Newcastle DMU(101)
Newcastle-Seaburn DMU(101)
One summer saturday
Newcastle-Sunderland 143xxx
Sunderland-Newcastle 37289
Newcastle-Durham 451xx
Durham-Newcastle 37042(have to check that one)
Newcastle-Darlington HST
Darlington-Newcastle 37305
Newcastle-Darlington 45041/47194
Newcastle-Darlington 47422
Darlington-Durham 47305
Durham-Newcastle 31237/31271
Not sure if they're in the right order but that was one Summer Saturday.

 

[433N]

Great thread - I'll enjoy reading.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to contribute much since, having lived on various continents, I have travelled light through life and had a warehouse fire obliterate much of my past. To be honest, I didn't mind so much that no records existed of my 75-78ish rail misadventures until the other day when I was looking through the stuff about the Baby Deltic project. When I saw this at Barrow Hill a couple of years ago, I though meh .... but then I suddenly remembered when I first started spotting, my dad took me to Doncaster shed and some kindly railworker gave us a tour including a cabbing of (what must have been) D9501 whilst in its death throws - my overriding memory being the number of asbestos warnings present. Since I'm mid-50s, I guess there aren't so many people around with any experiences of Baby Deltics any more.

This got me (a) busting to see the Baby Deltic project completed and (b) wanting to have a butchers at my old, now with the angels, spotting books to see what other oddities were in there.

Also, seeing the Deltic Retro Scot III on Saturday didn't half bring back some memories.

and seeing 56031 at Leicester LIP in May reminded me of the time that I saw it when it was nowt but sheet metal in the twinkle of a Doncaster Plant welder's eye.

 

[47403]

I was walking home after work, I thought I'd missed D9009 going back, I was about to walk under the bridge when I heard a familiar napier growl, so whipped my mobile out, 30 seconds later it passed. I'm afraid it's as good as I could get. Certainly a very moody sky.

 

[The_Train]

That's a superb pic, vastly helped by the eerie looking sky.

Unfortunately I never noted mileage when I was younger, it was all about spotting for me back then. I never even realised people did so until I found this place. As I've only just returned to the game, I won't be able to join in this thread for another 10 months or so at which point I can compete with all of your 37s, 47s, 50s, 87s etc with my journeys on 220s, 221s and 350s. How lucky am I?

 

[Keith Jarrett]

OK here's my offering for the 27th of August. But you'll all be bored of me leaping around the Midlands so here's what happened in 1982 when I was travelling back from London to my parents for the weekend
47227 Paddington to Reading
50038 Reading to Paddington
50033 Paddington to Oxford
47361 Oxford to Reading - absolutely massive with 361 being a Thornaby loco
50039 Reading to Bristol TM
And of course that gave me another 181 miles with Class 50s as an added bonus

 

[NorthWestRover]

My old books are all hidden away right now. Will have to dig them out. Three years of 40 bashing (82-84) will be the highlight with some 87 stuff towards the end of that period. There will be 31, 37, 50 in there too. Avoided 47 and 45/46 if I could. LOL.

 

[AJM580]

Great idea for a thread. My contribution from summer of 88

Aug 27

47613 Llandudno Jn - Crewe
155307 Crewe - Shrewsbury
37677 + 37684 Shrewsbury - Wolverhampton
86433 Wolverhampton - Birmingham NS
87031 Birmingham NS - Coventry
47633 Coventry - Leamington Spa
47512 Leamington Spa - Coventry
87003 Coventry - Wolverhampton
86256 Wolverhampton - Crewe
150108 Crewe - Llandudno Jn

The intended move on the Cambrian was scuppered by a power failure near Coventry, which meant that I missed 37197+37254.
Still it is nice to look back at some moves for traction which have disappeared now