Snow1964
Established Member
I can remember all the cross country trains to Poole and Weymouth were Class 47 operated in late 1970s and early 1980s. (I used to live at New Milton, and used them to do university open days in 1981-83 and then at least once a term back from Coventry 1984-87
A few did arrive at Coventry from north behind an 85 or 86 and change locos there. The 47s would normally run round at Reading. Stock was generally mk 2b at the time, with some earlier mk2s and mk1 buffet and full brake.
I also did some from 1977 (at the time you could buy a £10 weekly rover which got myself and some friends upto Reading and we used to go exploring one week each summer as teenagers). There were still lots of summer Saturday extras then, most were mk1 hauled (by 47s without electric heat), but some oddities did turn up.
The strangest working was a Weymouth -Cardiff (via Southampton) which arrived at Weymouth via Yeovil so was a big circle, and oddly called at New Milton and Brockenhurst heading north. It only ran about 8 Saturdays per year. One day in either 1977 or 1978 it had a 31 and fortnight later a 46, my friends and I were stunned, it was the only time we got to ride behind a peak on the South Western. I subsequently heard it was a remnant of holiday trains via the Wimborne-Fordingbridge-Salisbury route which had closed in 1960s
Some of the summer Saturday extras avoided Reading and ran via Solihull and were clearly aimed more at longer distance passengers as they were much more limited stop, with stations like Banbury, Reading and Winchester being skipped.
The Wessex Scot was the longest to South Coast, I remember it as 47+12 coaches (others were shorter typically 9-11 coaches), I think it was the first regular daily train to Poole to be air conditioned. A few mk2d - 2f rakes had appeared on some summer Saturday extras 2 or 3 years earlier in mid 1980s (presumably weekday Euston sets that were spare at weekends), but I remember mk2b rakes as norm in 1986-87
A few did arrive at Coventry from north behind an 85 or 86 and change locos there. The 47s would normally run round at Reading. Stock was generally mk 2b at the time, with some earlier mk2s and mk1 buffet and full brake.
I also did some from 1977 (at the time you could buy a £10 weekly rover which got myself and some friends upto Reading and we used to go exploring one week each summer as teenagers). There were still lots of summer Saturday extras then, most were mk1 hauled (by 47s without electric heat), but some oddities did turn up.
The strangest working was a Weymouth -Cardiff (via Southampton) which arrived at Weymouth via Yeovil so was a big circle, and oddly called at New Milton and Brockenhurst heading north. It only ran about 8 Saturdays per year. One day in either 1977 or 1978 it had a 31 and fortnight later a 46, my friends and I were stunned, it was the only time we got to ride behind a peak on the South Western. I subsequently heard it was a remnant of holiday trains via the Wimborne-Fordingbridge-Salisbury route which had closed in 1960s
Some of the summer Saturday extras avoided Reading and ran via Solihull and were clearly aimed more at longer distance passengers as they were much more limited stop, with stations like Banbury, Reading and Winchester being skipped.
The Wessex Scot was the longest to South Coast, I remember it as 47+12 coaches (others were shorter typically 9-11 coaches), I think it was the first regular daily train to Poole to be air conditioned. A few mk2d - 2f rakes had appeared on some summer Saturday extras 2 or 3 years earlier in mid 1980s (presumably weekday Euston sets that were spare at weekends), but I remember mk2b rakes as norm in 1986-87