Monday 17th August 1964
A visit to Newcastle and Carlisle in summer 1964, using a NER runabout ticket. Set off off from Teesside with some teenage friends, but my notebook entries start from Darlington!
D129 Darlington-Newcastle
DMU Newcastle-Carlisle
DMU Carlisle-Newcastle
EMU Newcastle-Heaton
EMU Heaton-Newcastle
DMU Newcastle-Gateshead
DMU Gateshead-Newcastle
D126 Newcastle-Darlington
After leaving Darlington, observed the mainline pilot A3 60036, at the shed by the turntable. LMR allocated Standard 75059 (ex works) was also on Darlington shed. Passed A1 60158 near Newcastle and noted Deltic D9001 in the station, along with Clayton D8592 passing on a freight. Then caught a DMU to Carlisle.
Arrived at Carlisle station late morning and photographed 2-6-0 76085 on station pilot duties, before walking to Upperby shed. No problem getting round, and quite a large selection of steam power recorded. Princess Royal 46200 was dumped there (almost two years after withdrawal from service). Some Duchesses had the yellow diagonal stripe on their cabsides (banned from working under the wires south of Crewe) despite their pending withdrawal. Of the 33 locos on shed only five were diesels (all EE Type 4s).
At Kingmoor shed 75 locos were recorded, only seven were diesels. Four of the surviving five Clans were were on shed, along with two Scots, two Duchesses, six Jubilee, 27 Class 5s and four Brits. One of the latter 70002, had a badly damaged front end (collision damage) but survived a visit to Crewe a few months later and was repaired. V2 60970 and Crosti boiler 9Fs 92021/92023 were surprise sightings during the visit.
Caught a DMU back to Newcastle, then an EMU to Heaton, and a walked to Heaton shed. A3s 60091 and 60100 were inside the shed, but a lot of withdrawn locos were dumped outside. I had seen some of these withdrawn engines, A4 60002, A3 60070, and V2 60964 on express passenger work the previous summer. Quite a gloomy sight.
Headed back to Newcastle station and caught a DMU to Gateshead. Then managed to bunk Gateshead shed, the only time I ever accomplished it. About half the locos on shed were diesel, but a lot of the steam locos there were dumped out of use. Withdrawn A3s 60040 and 60083 among them, although 3 A3s, 3 A1s and a few V2s were in steam. Half a dozen Q6 and J27s were in the repair shop.
While back at Newcastle station, A1 60142 arrived with a stopper from Berwick. One Q6, a couple of J27s and Claytons also appeared on local freights. We eventually left for Darlington behind Peak D126, on an evening Newcastle-Bristol train.
