Indeed Keith, it was nice to get all 6 into my book to save returning to Manchester next year to try and hunt any remaining ones down
16th December – The Jolly Grid Summary
I was in 1st class as the original plan was to go from Westbury, and with it being a long day I decided the extra cost was worth it. However that changed when the BLS came out with the Grand Central HST tour on the Sunday so after a quick play around I changed my plans. Annoyingly the tour was originally going to pick up at Oxford but instead the closest would have been Banbury, so it was to Banbury (159004, 166204 & 220010 all featuring), before required
66122 rolled in. I was in the rearmost passenger carriage (with the generator behind) so there would be no repeat of the trip a few months ago with a 56 where I was right at the front.
66122 arrives into Banbury
I took my seat in a warm carriage for the trip to the rear of Bescot yard (required track I think), via Coventry, the 66 was detached and required
56094 was attached for the nice run towards the Freightliner Terminal at Trafford Park, via Walsall, Colwich before a short break in a loop south of Stoke and in a loop north of Stoke due to various faster services. A quick visit to the Down Goods line at Stockport, before another couple loops (something around Longsight depot and the Mayfield loop) before going nonstop past Piccadilly, Oxford Road & Deansgate turning onto the world’s most unreliable line for a short distance before heading into the large container terminal at Trafford Park for the coaches to be rewatered and dud 60017 to attach itself onto the rear for a little drag back.
Next stop was Piccadilly, before heading towards Longsight depot, pausing before starting again before pausing and starting again heading to one of the reception lines next to the main lines (giving an excellent view of passing trains, including this random 156:
The 56 was back in charge for a weave back across Piccadilly before once more going past platform 14, Oxford Road (platform 1), Deansgate and onto the recently opened Ordsall Chord (First 56 hauled passenger service anybody?
), pausing for a moment at Victoria before carrying on towards the Philips Park line towards Ashburys before heading into darkness via Reddish North, a brief stop at New Mills Central (where a few passengers doing the tour on the Sunday got off) before a longer wait at the junction for a late running TPE service (pick a part that’s new!).
To be honest by this point it was dark so I didn’t pay much attention to the darkness around the Valley of Little Hope making use of the time to get dinner, before the train took the Dore South Junction for a run towards Chesterfield, losing time caught behind a late running Steam service, before heading down the Nottingham line, making use of a loop before Alfreton and the goods line which goes behind the platforms at Langley Mill (required track). Into Toton depot going around the rear where the train arrived 25 minutes late, so time was ticking down as the 56 was detached and another 66 was attached (required
66051.
Eventually the train got going around 10 minutes late, crossing over the Trent junction onto the Castle Donington line, running into the goods line passing Burton On Trent where it managed to regain some of the lost time as a 170 droned past us around the junction with the Coalville line, the last loop was by Elford for a late running Voyager to roar past before arriving into Tamworth around 9 minutes late. Sadly at this time of night there is nothing around Tamworth so I joined the rest of a large crowd on platform 3 for 220022 to take me to York via Doncaster, with a semi-busy 43318/43312 finishing the day taking me to Newcastle, where I played a game of avoiding the drunks and headed to the Euro Hostel for a 4-bed dorm room to grab some sleep.
A bit of new track with a trio of new locos into my book, so a good day out.
View from Orsall Chord
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17th December – The Grand Farewell Tour Summary
Happy Birthday Grand Central!
Sadly after 10 years the GC HSTs are getting retired, replaced by 180s (just won’t be the same), so to celebrate the end of the HSTs on Grand Central, there was a BLS tour from Newcastle, the route changing slightly due to engineering works, so after a quick supply raid from a Co-Op on the route from the hostel to the station, I was greeted by 43480 & 43423 on platform 4, not an unusual sight due to them passing daily to reach the depot, but an unusual sight in passenger service
43423 at Newcastle
I was in coach D, which is a coach with all table seating and excellent legroom, and I had a private table until York (where the train did fill up). Anyhow departure from Newcastle was heading south crossing the bridge to use the lesser used sides of the triangles to reach the Sunderland line, a couple little loops featured on route to Sunderland before heading into one of the sidings at Ryhope Grange for a reversal before carrying on heading south (where I admit to falling asleep at the point, waking up after Hartlepool).
Nothing unusual on the route towards Northallerton before some good speed for the run to York, after York it was another short bit of speed before coming off the ECML at Hambleton North to use the route taken by some of the York – Hull services, before taking the Selby Canal Curve (required track, tick) to rejoin the ECML once more to run towards Doncaster for another pick-up. Next up was a trip to the goods lines south of Doncaster before another reversal around the south facing curve (another bit of required Baker Track) towards the Sheffield lines, reversing once more to head into Roberts Road EMD depot.
After paying a visit to the depot (many 66s), it was back to the main-line and for a speedy run to Sheffield, no unusual routings as it was main-line all the way, pausing for a 20 minute break at Sheffield, enough time to grab something to eat for later before resuming the tour.
43423 at Sheffield
Departure was back heading north taking the curve towards the Woodhouse line before using the chord down to the Sheffield avoiding “Old Road” line, going via a goods loop around Barrow Hill, to reverse once more to take in the loop on the other side, before heading back towards Sheffield, using one of the through lines (sadly pausing so Sheffield still remains as needing a non-stop run through), before heading south, and onto the Valley of Little Hope, this time in daylight with the HST getting some good speed along the line, coming down using the Hazel Grove chord used by EMT/TPE services, for a short break at the junction south of Stockport to await a path across towards the “Down Main Line”, where the booked fester was cut short as the signaller wanted us moving.
A pause at Reddish South & Denton for some photographs before taking the chord towards the Ashton line, heading back towards Manchester before another bit of track got entered into my book with the Brewery Curve putting the HST onto the Rochdale line, for a nice speedy run until the Hebden Bridge area where it caught up with a stopping service, pausing to wait time south of Halifax to do a little weave via platform 1 before arriving into Bradford Interchange which has a large step down.
After a short break, it was a trip towards Leeds via New Pudsey, taking the Whitehall chord (another bit of required track for me, one which had been annoying me as it is used by a few charter services from Kings Cross/ECML area towards the S&C. Nothing else of interest as the train sped towards Castleford to use the line towards Milford Junction, taking the chord up to the Hull line (one I covered back at the end of March on a Hull bound TPE service, just where has this year gone?), reversing in the Gascoigne Wood Down Loop, before getting held at Sherburn Junction for a late running 144 from Sheffield (which looked completely empty), to follow this back to York.
43423/43480 departs York
With 55 minutes to kill in York, I popped out to Sainsburys for a sandwich to eat later, before saying farewell to Rob as I boarded the Ex-Aberdeen HST, fast to London and was a reasonable busy 43206/43295 (lots of HST mileage for me today!). Which got me thinking, has VTEC changed the ‘default’ coach for reservations from coach C to coach E (as it seemed judging by the reservation level pictures coach C was lightly reserved and E was busy)? Anyhow it was easy enough to grab a seat in coach G for the fast run towards London.
Apart from a brief slow down at Grantham where it had caught up with the 16:20 semi-fast service, it kept good time heading south, things were looking up for an earlier than expected finish (21:15 from Waterloo), until the HST came to a stop around the Welham Green area for a good 5 minutes before resuming the journey, however the damage had been done and the HST arrived 8 minutes late so I gave up any hope on the 21:15 service, for a spot of Northern Line hunting (making use of the island platform with a random central passageway with doesn’t lead anywhere).
Alas no luck, 51506/51507 took me to London Bridge (via an extended break at Moorgate as someone decided to press the passenger assistance button, and so needed resetting by the driver/station staff. 51639/51638 to Kennington with 51536/51535 to Waterloo, although I did eye-ball Angel as a potential festering point for the Bank branch, onto the 22:15 back to Grateley (159020 & 159001) and a walk home
Overall a good tour, a few new bits of little track scored, and nice to have a HST on tour, it is a shame to see them disappearing to East Midland Trains, as the 180s are just not the same.