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Doing the GEML in a swallow-liveried Mk2 coach before it became an incredible chore. I used to get so excited about going to London but the 3 hour journey has become so boring to me now I do it weekly.
What "low level"? There's at least two stations south of Dumbarton that have the subtitle "low level" in the name.
Are you sure? Considering it's the sleeper, surely Central LL would've been more likely as it has a direct connection to the WCML.
That's right: I believe it went via springburn, but there is also a connection from the Airdie route to mossend at Coatbridge.In the days when class 40s could be seen on BR the FW sleeper used to combine with the Inverness portion in Mossend Yard, so if a 40 did haul the sleeper through a Glasgow low level station, it would more likely have been Queen Street.
OK - this one might be for the SIMers out there; but here goes...
Maggie's in Number Ten, the Miners' Strike is two years away and we still have one-pound notes. Rail Blue rules and only the Scots know who Chris Green is.
We're still mourning the Deltics and the Woodhead. Messers Farrow and Watts are our gods of choice. "Rail Enthusiast" still has those awful yellow pages in the middle - but we forgive EMAP because David Maxey's "Railtour Review" is so funny.
You get the picture? (OK, if you're younger than 40, you may not...). This one is all about '80's traction-haulage that should've happened but didn't...
PART 1: THE TOUR
Where window-bellowing + thrash = a grand day out.
Ladies and gents: I give you... F&W Tours' "The Trans Pennine Triple". Yes, a fine return run between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle Central; and headed by the classic route-traction, in the form of 40 + 45/1 + 31/4. And with a rake of filthy, pressure-ventilated Mk2 a/b laughing-stock...
More horses than you could shake an HST-shaped-stick at; and best of all, just imagine those 40 cylinders, from Lime Street to Edge Hill, throttling up the bank and through the cutting... Pure traction nirvana!
Of course, we can be sure that the Whistler and the Goyle would've failed spectacularly inside Standedge Tunnel; leaving tetchy consternation, total chaos and tour-curtailment.
And Maxey's column heading would gleefully shout: "Trans Pennine Pickle"...
The moral of the story? Sometimes, the best ideas are best left as ideas...
Ah - that takes me back (wonder if the Railtour Groupies did too...).
Maxey's fine comments meant I could never read the phrase "a pair of 37's" without my mind going to a dark and mucky place...
The stock would have been dual heat ?
Where is David Maxey these days anyway? I remember that column of his...
I used to be extremely apprehensive about the idea of going on railtours because of Mr Maxey's descriptions of the antics on board!
I definitely don't sanction the carnage on these tours, but it'd sure liven up my Stewarding work!
Given what Misfire have threatened bashers with, I honestly doubt whether we'll ever see a true or, in my case, first 'bash' again (in it's peaceful definition)
I'm sure it would. The current scene is too sanitised TBH, and the antics on service trains in the 80s were considerably worse than anything you get on railtours these days.
As you are a steward for the SRPS may I complement you on your organisation? Last year's class 40 trip to Inverness was the most well organised, relaxed and friendly tour I've ever done. Please start more SRPS diesel tours in England as if that one was in any way representative they are a delight to travel on, but usually difficult to access for those of us south of the border who appreciate quality lines and traction in Scotland.
This tour was an 18 hour marathon for those of us punters who covered the whole distance with the 40, so I can only surmise that the stewards who'd been on all the way to and from Bo'ness must have been utterly knackered by the time they got home. Whatever, their labours were most definitely not in vain!
Aye, they would have been! Many of them would then have got a sleeping bag out of the Guards Van and gone to sleep in a compartment.
For the record, all tours are knackering - once got up at 4am, on at 0510, had 1315 - 1715 off (in Grange-over-Sands and Carnforth) then on from 1715 - 0005, in bed at 1am. Ouch. Although, the banter was excellent!
Certainly that Inverness do was knackering for me. My mate and I got his preserved BRS BMC Noddy van out of the Keighley Bus Museum on Friday evening and drove it to Gretna where we slept in the back of it in the grounds of a dog track. After the most uncomfortable night's sleep on record we got up at 4:00 am to fit in with the incredibly unfavourable pathing SRPS had been given. After a whole day drinking (including 4 pints of a beautiful Orkney-brewed porter in a pub in Inverness) we settled down for another night of insomnia at Gretna before returning to West Yorkshire on Sunday morning. What a weekend of hardcore diesel action!
Aye, they would have been! Many of them would then have got a sleeping bag out of the Guards Van and gone to sleep in a compartment.
For the record, all tours are knackering - once got up at 4am, on at 0510, had 1315 - 1715 off (in Grange-over-Sands and Carnforth) then on from 1715 - 0005, in bed at 1am. Ouch. Although, the banter was excellent!