randyrippley
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I read somewhere that it was a spare Oxted line set, which may account for the occasional HG loco turning upThe 16.38 Was Mk1's and class 33 until its very last day.
I read somewhere that it was a spare Oxted line set, which may account for the occasional HG loco turning upThe 16.38 Was Mk1's and class 33 until its very last day.
I read somewhere that it was a spare Oxted line set, which may account for the occasional HG loco turning up
When I was a guard at Brighton in the mid-1980s, 33/2s would turn up from time-to-time on the Brighton-Cardiff and Exeter jobs. I still have my guard's log books with the loco/unit/carriage numbers of all the trains that I worked recorded in them....together with the scheduled and actual timings.Not at all common on the Central either, occasionally used see one at Redhill
OK - thanks. Thought that may be the case.
33/2s were Hither Green examples, weren't they? Very rare on the SWD, if I remember right.
When I was a guard at Brighton in the mid-1980s, 33/2s would turn up from time-to-time on the Brighton-Cardiff and Exeter jobs. I still have my guard's log books with the loco/unit/carriage numbers of all the trains that I worked recorded in them....together with the scheduled and actual timings.
Not at all common on the Central either, occasionally used see one at Redhill
056, another HG loco. As alluded to by others above HG loco's were pretty rare on SW metals back then, although they did pop up now and again. Will dig out my records, see what I can find."The Burma Star"
056, another HG loco. As alluded to by others above HG loco's were pretty rare on SW metals back then, although they did pop up now and again. Will dig out my records, see what I can find.
Must admit having looked at the old GBTT's available via TT World, the years when I first started commuting in to London (70's) the pattern of main line arrivals in to Waterloo was some what sparse in the overall sense, when compared to more recent times (pre covid). Is it any wonder that Waterloo's capacity (in terms of day in, day out, reliability) was maxed out long before the somewhat over ambitious TT bid put forward by the latest incumbents prior to the change of hands in 2017 !Interesting that prior to the 1980s there was little opportunity for commuting into London from anywhere beyond Basingstoke on the line, with no morning peak arrivals.
IIRC the original idea was a full-width (pedantic correction) DEMU, though I suspect that might have been whittled down to a REP-TC solution (or certainly something involving a lot of Mk1 conversions).I do wonder if the West of England Line hadn't been transferred to the WR whether the SR might have ditched loco-hauled services, either for additional REPs/TCs (possibly electrification to Salisbury), or possibly a standard gauge version of Hastings DEMUs. Having to use off-route depots for locos and stock can't have helped the economics of the route, and how much traffic was carried West of Salisbury anyway?
Waterloo had a lot of Whitehall civil servant commuters, and some big industrial companies had large HQs around Westminster. What are now Thames House and Millbank Tower, near to Lambeth Bridge, were originally HQs for ICI and Vickers.Work patterns were different in those days: I would think that the changes mainly took took place in the early 1980s. Those who had to be in the office at 09.00 lived fairly close in: with a few exceptions, places like Basingstoke, Sevenoaks or Reading were the limit. Those who lived further out were the ‘gentlemen commuters’ (and most were probably male) who didn’t need to come in so early and could leave before the rush: the extra travelling time and cost didn’t really worry them. Although there were some who lived further out, the number just did not make earlier commuter services worthwhile: on the Salisbury line they had to get a stopper and change at Basingstoke or, from Salisbury, they had the option of changing at Southampton, or they drove to Basingstoke or Winchester.
Waterloo had a lot of Whitehall civil servant commuters, and some big industrial companies had large HQs around Westminster. What are now Thames House and Millbank Tower, near to Lambeth Bridge, were originally HQs for ICI and Vickers.
And of course Sunshine Desserts was near Waterloo, from which we know that everything arriving at Waterloo was 11 minutes late.
The event that really changed commuting was financial deregulation in 1986. The biggest direct effect was on commuting to the City of London, which affected Waterloo less than most other London termini. But there was an indirect effect that changed working patterns in the Civil Service and big corporations too.
Here are a few observations I made back in the day, and I will try to keep it West Of England or South West Main line (route) orientated and Hither Green (HG) Crompton related. I can vouch for all these, and have my own photos of many. Some of these may be recorded on the 'Railgen' website, but I haven't checked.
15-6-85: 33045 worked 22.10 Waterloo-Salisbury.
3-8-85: 33054 worked 20.30 Waterloo-Yeovil.
28-7-85: 33035 hitched a lift with 47292 on the 19//00 (Light eng) move from Woking to Eastleigh depot.
23-1-86: 33202 worked 17.30 Salisbury to Waterloo.
7-6-86: 33057 worked Down 'Bournemouth Belle' Pullman.
5-7-86: 33205 stabled in Hurdles Sidings at Woking.
11-10-86: 33045 spent the evening in Woking Up Yard with a few vans.
11-10-86: 33048 noted with Eastleigh's 33009 & 026 in the West Carriage siding at Salisbury.
18-4-87: 33048 worked 09.13 Brighton to Exeter and return 1417 Exeter to Brighton.
20-4-87: 33044 worked 18.20 Salisbury to Waterloo.
25-4-87: 33059 noted in Woking Down yard.
2-5-87: 33206 passed Woking Light engine in Down direction.
8-5-87: 33204 worked the final 16.38 Waterloo to (West of England) train.
?-2-88: 33211 noted in Woking Down Bay.
26-3-88: various withdrawn Crompton's noted on Eastleigh depot. HG examples were: 034, 037, 043, 044, 049, 062, 065, 210 & 212.
28-5-88: 33209 arrived Woking Down yard with exhibits for the 'Woking 150' event. In tow were Lord Nelson 850, M7 245 and a 4 COR DM from unit 3131.
29-5-88: 33206 displayed in Woking Down yard (for 'Woking 150') in Railfreight livery....(ugh.....no offence to anyone else, but we all have our favourites!)
There are a number of other observations I made relating to (in particular) the Pompey-Cardiff route, which I can add if anyone is interested?
It worked the 08.10 Pompey to Cardiff on 1-2-86, returning with the 12.05 Bristol TM to Pompey. Also paired with 027 on a tour to Coalville (open day?) on 31-5-87, both observed personally, although likely also noted elsewhere I am sure?no "Burma Star" by the looks of it but plenty of others.
It worked the 08.10 Pompey to Cardiff on 1-2-86, returning with the 12.05 Bristol TM to Pompey. Also paired with 027 on a tour to Coalville (open day?) on 31-5-87, both observed personally, although likely also noted elsewhere I am sure?
Were there any significant changes to peak service patterns from 1986 though? I do remember improved off-peak frequencies in the late 80s on some lines under NSE, but there seemed to be little change in the peak.
Thanks for those - no "Burma Star" by the looks of it but plenty of others.
I did pick up 056 on a working somewhere back then (my notes from 1987/88 are long since lost unfortunately) and I have a feeling it was on a Portsmouth - Cardiff working. However it and 33052 Ashford were always fairly rare in Exeter. The other three original named ones (008,025 and 027) were regulars down here, all being Eastleigh machines.
Ah nice memories!
11 April 1987 was a NSE day, so there would have been plenty of reliefs running right across the NSE network
Later, by 1990 at least, they gave holders of Network Cards the ability to choose their own 'Network Days', presumably to spread the loads.I think that there were one or two after this that I did not have any involvement with
Sorry, nothing much done (or survived) for that month, or for much of '83 as a whole to be honest.Big Jumby 74. If you have any info related to Friday 11-02-83
How quickly did the NSE class 50 rundown happen? And were there any appearances of a 50 on a regular service after May 1992?
Not at all common on the Central either, occasionally used see one at Redhill
Once they moved to Stewart’s Lane and the Hastings line tunnels were singled, they became almost as common as the Standards, and an SL loco was just as likely to turn-up on passenger work as Eastleigh.OK - thanks. Thought that may be the case.
33/2s were Hither Green examples, weren't they? Very rare on the SWD, if I remember right.