How often did these run and when did they stop? Sound an interesting concept, but were, AFAIK, gone by my day. Were they run by the Oxted line hauled stock which was un-needed at the weekends?
ISTR that there was a 'Pleasure Seeker' excursion - the Southern Region's equivalent of other regions' 'Merry-makers' - approximately every two months from South Western Division starting and pick-up points, so presumably the frequencies were similar from the other two divisions. The destinations were usually either historic cities or seaside resorts....and sometimes a combination of the two. Sometimes there was a connecting coach tour arranged in a particularly scenic area, such as North Devon, the Peak District or North Wales. I recall on one occasion in the mid-seventies travelling from Petersfield on a Sunday excursion from Portsmouth to Margate, Ramsgate and Canterbury West, formed of a 12 CIG EMU and running via Hounslow, East Putney, Longhedge Junction, Catford, Swanley and Faversham in both directions. However, the vast majority - and all those travelling to and through other regions - had to be loco-hauled. The eight car Oxted sets tended not not be used, as their TSOs had no tables....not ideal for a family day out. There were two main types of stock used, depending on the traction involved and the other regions route and line speed requirements. If one - or sometimes two - class 33s were working throughout, the consist was usually a ten car rake of SR air-braked, electric-heated Mark 1 stock (with one or more early mark 2 FKs, an RMB for the catering and a BCK at either end....taken from Clapham Yard's pool of boat train and spare vehicles. If, on the other hand, other regions' locos - usually class 47s - were involved and steam heating was required, Clapham's spare ten car vacuum-braked, dual-heated Mark 1 set would be used. This had been used on the Poole-Leeds/Newcastle service until the early seventies, when it had been replaced by Eastern Region Mark 2a air-braked stock. Unfortunately - with the exception of the two RB buffet cars (S1765 and 1766) - these vehicles had been victims of the great Southern Region bogie swap in 1969 and their Mark 1 bogies were extremely rough-riding at speed....sometimes seeming to travel further sideways than forwards! Every autumn at the end of October/beginning of November, there would be a trip to Blackpool for the illuminations, arriving in the resort at about 12 00 -13 00; returning overnight with a departure time of around midnight and often involving all sorts of convoluted engineering works diversions. I particularly the return journey on the 1974 trip - hauled by 47 484 "Isambard Kingdom Brunel", when we went via Chorley, Manchester Victoria, Ashton Moss Junction, Stockport, Stoke, Stafford, Bushbury Junction, Bescot, Aston, Birmingham New St, Stourbridge Junction, Worcester, Honeybourne, Cheltenham, Stroud, Swindon, Reading and Guildford. After this marathon, the train arrived back in Portsmouth about mid-norning on the Sunday!
Typical formations would have been:
AB/EH: BCK-TSO-TSO-TSO-FK-RMB-TSO-TSO-TSO-BCK
VB/DH: BSK-CK-TSO-TSO-RB-TSO-TSO-TSO-CK-BSK
Sometimes SKs would susbstitute for one or more of the TSOs in the air-braked sets. Destinations that I can remember - or have records of - included:
Exeter, Newton Abbot and Plymouth
Barnstaple....for coach tour of Exmoor and Lynton/Lynmouth
Alfreton....for coach tour of the Peak District and Crich Tramway Museum
York
Lincoln....for the Christmas market.
Spalding....for the spring flower festival (on one memorable occasion, the South Eastern Division ran a special to Spalding with two Hastings DEMUs!)
Worcester, Cheltenham and Gloucester....via the Cotswold line.
Chester....with coach trip of North East Wales
Central Wales circular....out via Swansea District Line and Llandovery and back via the Marches Line, with a two hour break in Shrewsbury (2 x 37s!)
Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton (Christmas shopping....or train spotting!)
Bath and Bristol.
Newport and Cardiff
Swansea....with coach tour of the Gower peninsular
Weston-super-Mare
Stoke-on-Trent....with coach tour of the Staffordshire Moorlands
Edinburgh....for the Festival - returning overnight.
Clacton-on-Sea
Diss....with coach tour to Bressingham Gardens and railway museum
Norwich and Yarmouth
Cambridge, Ely and King's Lynn
....as well as the two destinations already mentioned above.
The trips were very competitively-priced and deservedly popular with both families, pensioners and rail enthusiasts. I'm not sure when they stopped....they were still going strong when I moved back to Scotland in early 1979, but had finished by the time I returned South at the end of 1983. Perhaps some other members may be able to share memories of similar excursions organised by other regions?
