Recent content by SouthDevonian

I took the evening service in May 1991 from Liverpool St as far as Willesden Jn LL. It left from platform 7 and took the slow line to London Fields then the route as you describe. First stop was Dalston then all stations but I don't have the times.

In 1968, I caught the morning train from Dover Priory to HV which went via Ashford, Maidstone East and the Catford Loop. I'm not sure where it started - probably Ramsgate. There was a MLV van on the front so it may have been a returning newspaper train.

I picked up a leaflet at Preston station in summer 1977 titled ‘Accrington, Blackburn, Chorley, Leyland & Preston Town Holidays’. It lists additional trains departing on Friday night, 15th July and Saturday 16th July only and describes the return arrangements for Saturdays 23rd and 30th July. It...

The Pines was diverted from the Somerset & Dorset line to the Basingstoke/Reading line in September 1962. At the same date, the Cornishman was diverted from the Cheltenham Lansdown Jn - Stratford - Snow Hill - Wolv LL line to Cheltenham Lansdown Jn - Kings Norton - New St - Derby - Sheffield...

I recall there were a few XC services that served London - both Kensington Olympia and Paddington, including a Paddington to Hull via Reading & New St at one time but I can't remember when it ran. There is a website that lists all the XC services that connected the North & Midlands with Kent &...

For anyone who can get their hands on the July 2016 edition of Back Track magazine, there is an excellent description of the getaway traffic from Bolton at the start of the annual holiday fortnight in 1962. This covered the Friday night and Saturday of 29/30 June 1962. There is a list of the...

In the steam era, some Paddington - Cheltenham trains included one Hereford coach which was dropped off at Gloucester to be attached to a local stopping service via Ross-on-Wye.

Until September 1962, Devon only had one train a day that used the present XC route via Derby, the Devonian from Paignton. It was a similar situation with Dorset which had just one coach for Sheffield that was attached to the Pines Express (Bournemouth West to Manchester London Rd via the...

When Virgin took over the XC franchise they produced this document which has lots of info on the background of the routes.

I lived in Tamworth between 1971 and 1976 and took the train to visit my in-laws in Scotland several times. At that time, the Euston - Glasgow and Birmingham - Glasgow / Edinburgh trains changed to diesel traction at Crewe. So it was EMU stopper to Stafford. Then on to Crewe. From there I...

Looking at Realtime Trains, I came across the 08.57 Hedon Rd Sidings to Tinsley SS on 16/10/20 and was puzzled to see it passing 2 Aldwarke Jns. The first was at distance 56-33 (train mileage) followed by Thrybergh Jn at 57-09 followed by the 2nd at 57-65. I recall the ex-Midland northbound...

Thanks for the update.

Does anyone know if any through trains ran to/from Kingswear on summer Saturdays in 1972? I have seen photos of 1971 trains to Paddington & Cardiff.

In 1968 I took a through morning train from Dover Priory to HV (it probably started at Ramsgate) which went via Maidstone East & Catford. It included a Motor Luggage Van. Then, in the morning peak, there was a choice of going to 4 London terminals - CX; C. St; Victoria and HV.

Thanks for that info. My May 1982 public T/T shows a summer SO 08.35 from Barnstaple to Waterloo. No mention of a corresponding return service. It seems an anomaly, especially going back to using Waterloo rather than Paddington. I wonder if also ran in 1981 and 1983 as it wasn't in the 1984 T/T.