Back in the day...

[CW2]

Fantastic story at Heckmondwike

Have been recently watching a local vlogger in the area concerned.

Thanks for posting this. It was interesting to see how the area looks today

 

[D6130]

25050 + 25068 2220 Perth – Mossend
The 2220 Perth – Euston was load 12 including sleeping cars, and the driving of the class 25s was less than perfectly co-ordinated. Pulling away from Gleneagles they took it in turns to take power then overload, so it took several bouncy overloading attempts to get us going.

I'm intrigued to know why the 25s weren't operating in multiple.

Sunday 15/06/80 “The Heckmondwike”

Amazing! If only you could organise something like that nowadays!

27009 0938 Dundee – Perth

Following the demise of D6130 in 1971, 5355/27 009 was my machine on the WHL. It's a shame that she also met a premature end in 1980 following a fire caused by a generator flashover.

Meanwhile, back to my travels:

Thursday 15th June 1978:

Dublin Heuston-Claremorris: looks like 077 in the photo.
Claremorris-Ballina: 166
Ballina-Claremorris: 166
Claremorris-Westport: looks like 088 in the photo.
Westport-Dublin Heuston: as above.

Monday 15/06/1981;

SBB (narrow Gauge) Interlaken Ost-Brienz
BRB (narrow gauge rack) 6 (steam) Brienz-Rothorn Kulm and return
M.V. "Rothorn" Brienz-Interlaken Ost

Just found another of my notebooks detailing travel to/from and within France and Italy in 2016/17:

Wednesday 15/06/2016:

07 35 Pratovecchio Stia-Arezzo: ALe054 961+965 (ex-Belgian TFT EMU)
08 35 Arezzo-Firenze SMN (via Direttissima): E464 524
10 45 Firenze SMN-Milano Centrale: ETR400 012
16 08 Milano PG-Paris Lyon: TGV 4501

 

[CW2]

I'm intrigued to know why the 25s weren't operating in multiple.

The 25s each had a Perth crew in them, and were originally going coupled light engines to Mossend to work two separate freight / ballast services back north. It was a last minute arrangement to substitute them onto the Perth - Euston following the failure of 40157. As they had 2 crews anyway, the extra fuss of multi-ing the locos together - and then de-multiing them at Mossend - seemed unnecessary.

As for 27009, that single short journey from Dundee to Perth was the only time I ever had it for haulage.

 

[barrowjack]

15/06/1991
One of my regular forays out on a North West Day ranger, great ticket except it wasn’t valid on the WCML between Wigan and Crewe which meant having to go round via Manchester or Liverpool. For a few weeks this was a fairly standard set of moves for me.

142009 Barrow In Furness - Lancaster
821xx/87015 Lancaster - Preston
87012 Preston - Lancaster
87025 Lancaster – Preston (Cue the Class clearance cannon as my last 87 for haulage)
47550 Preston - Kirkham & Wesham
150xxx Kirkham & Wesham - Salford Crescent
1420xx Salford Crescent - Manchester Victoria
31457 Manchester Victoria - Chester
47463 Chester - Crewe
47838 Crewe - Liverpool Lime Street
31417 Liverpool Lime Street - Wigan North Western
90003 Wigan North Western - Preston
90012 Preston - Lancaster
1420xx Lancaster -Barrow In Furness

15/06/2015
37402 Askam to Barrow in Furness
37218 Barrow In Furness to Askam

 

[NorthWestRover]

Thursday 16th June 1983

Not sure what happened on this day as I appear to have been at Preston for a long time, perhaps from just after 17.00 until almost 20.00 and according to The Motherlist 1M22 was 40143 which would have left around 19.00. Now, maybe 1P70 was so late I missed 1M22 or 1M22 was so late I decided to do the required roarer on 1M52. I'll never know now.

Anyway...

87008 Warrington BQ to Preston, 1P70 14.40 Euston to Blackpool
85029 Preston to Crewe, 1M52 17.10 Glasgow to Euston (50 minutes behind 1M22)
86103 Crewe to Warrington BQ, 1P49 19.15 Euston to Carlisle.

 

[CW2]

Saturday 16/06/79
My Darlington 3D ticket was expiring, so I had to head south out of Scotland.
86039 00xx Mossend – Carlisle
47044 02xx Carlisle – Doncaster
I was obviously hoping for something rather better than 47044, but I had no choice but to continue toward Yorkshire. Arrival in Doncaster was 75 minutes late after diversion via Askern due to a points failure.
47525 0820 Doncaster – York
40179 0855 York – Leeds
40154 1151 Leeds – York
40070 1353 York – Leeds
DMU Leeds – Sowerby Bridge
37134 1526 Sowerby Bridge – Sheffield via Mirfield, Healey Mills, Barnsley
40036 1600 Sheffield – Leeds
The driver of this Weymouth – Leeds train forgot to stop at Rotherham Masborough. He was subsequently stopped by signals. The guard got out, whereupon the driver got back in and set off again without him. The guard was not best pleased!
That’s where the entertainment ended, and it was all downhill (figuratively speaking) from here:
46028 1807 Leeds – Settle
46041 1956 Settle – Leeds
47405 2059 Leeds – York

Saturday 16/06/84
Not your average Summer Saturday…
43111 + 43082 0620 Leeds – Darlington (I suspect I overdossed through York!)
43xxx + 43195 0719 Darlington – York
40058 0800 York – Leeds
45118 0900 Leeds – York
37049 0936 York – Whitby
This was a charter service originating from the Ciba Geigy plant at Duxford. Stratford had turned out a very shiny 37049 for the day. As some of the passengers were alighting at York for the day, the organisers were happy for me to board their charter train for a round trip to Whitby.
DMU Whitby – Grosmont
55009 1255 Grosmont – Pickering
55009 1420 Pickering – Grosmont
37049 1727 Grosmont – York

Sunday 16/06/85
After a few hours at home after my Cambrian adventures of the previous day, I decided on a Sunday afternoon trip out:
37022 1505 Glasgow Central – Stranraer
37022 1830 Stranraer – Paisley Gilmour Street

Thursday 16/06/88
31439 1644 Crewe – Manchester Piccadilly
31448 1817 Manchester Piccadilly – Crewe
Class 31s weren’t particularly regular performers on the Manchester – Cardiff circuit, so I suspect I just did this for the novelty value. (I didn’t need either loco for haulage).

Friday 16/06/89
20173 + 20208 0809 Crewe – Derby
In the summer of 1989 there were occasional appearances of pairs of 20s on the Crewe – Derby line whenever the DMU situation turned dire.
DMU Derby – Nottingham
47638 1137 Nottingham – St Pancras
The 47 was out vice HST. The diagram had started off with a pair of 31/4s on it, but they swapped them for the 47.
86412 1430 Euston – Crewe

 

[xotGD]

16th June 1984 - Summer Saturday up north:

37052 Newcastle - Darlo 1P98

I'm not sure what happened next, but I appear to have discovered some validity to head into Yorkshire:

45118 York - Leeds 1M??
47575 Leeds - York 1E08
45124 York - Leeds 1M??
40058 Leeds - Darlo 1E71 (as had by CW2 on its outbound working earlier in the day)
47341 Darlo - Durham 1S51
47079 Durham - Newcastle 1E33 (Should have stayed on 1E71!)

It appears that 47079 had come to the rescue of a pair of 31s earlier in its journey, with the whole ensemble being banked up the Lickey by 37182 + 37278. All I had was the Duff!

 

[D6130]

Saturday 19th June 1976:

Southern Region "Pleasure Seeker" ADEX to Diss, for Bressingham Gardens and steam museum (joining at Woking). We had an alternative plan:

47 489 Woking-Diss via East Putney, Clapham Jn, Kensington O, Willesden Jn (HL), Gospel Oak, Temple Mills and Stratford.
47 160 Diss-Norwich
DMU E50365/56137 Norwich-Yarmouth via Acle
47 009 Yarmouth-Norwich via Acle
47 009 Norwich-Diss
47 489 Diss-Woking via same route as outwards to Clapham Jn, then Hounslow and Chertsey.

Locos seen en route:

Woking: 09 014, 33 001, 73 123/139.
Clapham Jn: 08 837, 09 017, 73 105/106/118/133.
Old Oak Common: 1051, 31 118.
Willesden Depot: 25 309/316, 87 016.
Temple Mills Yard: 08 724.
Stratford: 08 409/522/552/627, 31 002/133, 47 423.
Colchester: 03 027/135, 08 228/237/256/327, 37 216.
Ipswich: 03 160/179/180/196, 31 162, 37 084, 47 150/158/165.
Stowmarket: 03 034.
Diss: 47 160.
Norwich: 03 020/037/062/086/175/370, 31 120/135/251, 37 052/261, 47 115/135/162/228.
Yarmouth: 03 084, 31 205, 47 009/519.
Acle: 47 228.
Norwich: 03 035/045/050/086/175. 31 135/220/255, 37 261, 47 117/160/298/489.
Diss: 47 489.
Stowmarket: 03 034.
Ipswich: 03 196, 31 162/182/240, 37 084, 47 165.
Colchester: 03 009/027/135, 08 228/237/715/750, 31 015, 37 044.
Stratford: 08 522/552, 31 002/133/167, 37 029.
Temple Mills Yard: 08 231/232/233/519/542/547/549/698.
Gospel Oak: 37 263.
Willesden Depot: 81 007, 84 002, 86 001.
Old Oak Common: 31 118.
Clapham Junction: 73 142.
Barnes: 33 021.

I won't bore you with the details of the myriad diesel and electric multiple units seen, but we were very surprised to find ex-Edinburgh-Glasgow Swindon Inter-City DMBSO no. SC79159 parked in Norwich depot....and just look at all those 03s scattered across East Anglia. How times have changed!

Friday 16th June 1978:

Dublin Connolly-Dun Laoghaire Pier: unidentified class 201.
Dun Laoghaire Pier-Holyhead: M.V. "Saint Columba"
Holyhead-Crewe: 47 ???
Crewe-Euston: 86 ???

How I wish I could find my little green notebook detailing that week!

Tuesday 16th June 1981:

Interlaken Ost-Lauterbrunnen: BOB 307
Lauterbrunnen-Kleine Scheidegg: WAB 278
Kleine Scheidegg-Jungfraujoch: JB 28+207
Jungfraujoch-Kleine Scheidegg: JB 201+25
Kleine Scheidegg-Grindelwald: WAB 118+226
Grindelwald-Interlaken Ost: BOB 304

Phew! That was a bit of a marathon. Hope you're all not bored to tears!

 

[xotGD]

Tuesday 16th June 1981:

Interlaken Ost-Lauterbrunnen: BOB 307
Lauterbrunnen-Kleine Scheidegg: WAB 278
Kleine Scheidegg-Jungfraujoch: JB 28+207
Jungfraujoch-Kleine Scheidegg: JB 201+25
Kleine Scheidegg-Grindelwald: WAB 118+226
Grindelwald-Interlaken Ost: BOB 304

I've been up to Jungfraujoch - a very interesting trip and you certainly notice the thinness of the air when you get to the top. For our return journey, the unit was declared a failure, but their was a spare in the next platform, so no problem. A bit ironic that you can have a spare set available on the roof of Europe, but not at a mainline station in the UK!

We also did the trip up to Schynige Platte. Amazing views from up there.

If you enjoy railways and walking, Switzerland is a great destination.

 

[CW2]

Saturday 19th June 1976:

...and just look at all those 03s scattered across East Anglia. How times have changed!

I was thinking much the same thing. Whatever did they use them on?

Phew! That was a bit of a marathon. Hope you're all not bored to tears!

Far from it! Keep up those memories!

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 17th June 1978

Now this is a day reconstructed from my Class Listings and assisted by Six Bells Junction. I went on a few LCGB (Loco Club of Great Britain) tours as a spotter between 1977 and 1980. This one was the Three Lochs Railtour.

My class listings start with the motive power from Preston to Mossend Yard, although the tour had 40013 from Liverpool Lime St to Preston via Earlestown. Now, I may have joined the tour at Earlestown or Preston but unless my spotting book from then turns up (very unlikely) or my 40 Listings (possible), I'll never know. Anyway, as much as I loved 40s, the haulage from Preston to Mossend Yard (and back) was even more special, namely 84001. The only time I had an 84 for haulage.

84001 Preston to Mossend Yard

The tour then continued as far as Crianlarich but I only went as far as Springburn, presumably then doing a day's spotting in and around Glasgow. The haulage for that short leap wasn't too bad.

20049/20100 Mossend Yard to Springburn

The return started for me at Glasgow Queen St Low Level where the choppers took the train through to Mossend Yard where the 84 took over. Again, I don't know if I alighted at Preston or had 40013 to Earlestown.

20049/20100 Glasgow QS Low Level to Mossend
84001 Mossend to Preston


Friday 17th June 1983

More electric bashing after College.

85014 Warrington BQ to Crewe. Required roarer.
87022 Crewe to Preston
86233 Preston to Oxenholme (would have passed 1M22 which I don't think was a 40 today from Preston)
85031 Oxenholme to Crewe. Nice.
86210 Crewe to Warrington BQ

Back to 40 bashing in 1982 and 1983 tomorrow.

 

[CW2]

Saturday 17/06/78
Another Saturday afternoon trip to Selby with the aim of picking up a big NB 40 on the Yarmouth – Newcastle, this time with success, and a later Deltic round trip too.
47447 1413 York – Selby
40038 1441 Selby – York
55013 1627 York – Selby
55010 1659 Selby – York
This was the only run I ever had off 40038.

Thursday 17/06/82
81007 0050 Euston – Stafford
86227 0300 Stafford – Manchester Piccadilly
40012 0854 Manchester Victoria – Liverpool Lime St
87020 1120 Liverpool Lime St – Crewe
86251 1155 Crewe – Euston
82008 2300 Euston – Preston
I think I was working late shift at Euston that week, so seeing an 81 allocated to The Splitter I decided on an overnight. The 40 across to Liverpool was a bonus, and then it was a case of working myself south back to Euston for another late shift. After that, 82008 on the 2300 Euston – Glasgow was too big to resist, so I slept my way north to Preston …

Monday 17/06/85
I finished early shift in Glasgow Control and had some time to kill before heading to a friend’s flat in Stirling for a railway film night. The obvious way to arrive there was on the 1200 Kings Cross – Inverness HST, so it was just a case of filling in some time beforehand:
47701 1430 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
27056 1520 Edinburgh – Kirkcaldy
27002 1618 Kirkcaldy – Edinburgh
43159 + 43042 1706 Edinburgh – Stirling

Friday 17/06/88
37430 1644 Crewe – Manchester Piccadilly
37430 1817 Manchester Piccadilly – Crewe
A little after-work leap.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Wed 17 June 1981

Bit of a combination day, track and spotting with a bonus unexpected haulage. Original plan was to get off at Barnetby - don't know why, possibly for a loco from Cleethorpes, but I think the 20-min delay at Northorpe led to the change of plan.

45149 at 0710 Leicester-Derby 0745 (in a Mk1 compartment)
Seen on Derby RTC: 975812 975813 (which you might recognise as the two prototype HST power cars - class 252)
40162 at 0815 Derby-Sheffield 0908 (in a Mk2c open) - the 40 was showing 1E04 in its headcode panel, very unusual for the time.
DMU 50022 at 1055 Sheffield-Worksop 1125
passed 76033 working mineral wagons near Nunnery carriage sidings, with only a month or so to go until the end of the Woodhead route
5 more 76s at Rotherwood, D2322 working at Kiveton Bridge (colliery loco, ex-class 04)
...spotting at Worksop, endless MGR trains with mostly 56s
DMU 56431 at 1328 Worksop-Cleethorpes 1527
20-minute stop at Northorpe in the middle of nowhere!
cement wagons in Kirton Lime Works sidings
same DMU 56431 at 1616 Cleethorpes-Doncaster 1756
fair bit of freight around via Scunthorpe
DMU 59835 at 1815 Doncaster-Sheffield 1850. This was one of the Trans-Pennine unit non-driving motors which had had the engines removed - see https://www.railcar.co.uk/type/class-124/numbering.
45128 at 1905 Sheffield-Leicester 2039 in a Mk2 aircon (via Nottingham at 1959/2006, change loco to 45144)

 

[xotGD]

No 84s or 40s for me to report today. (Well, no 82s, 83s or 84s ever!) Just a single DMU replacement move:

17th June 1989:

31441 Newcastle - Sunderland 2B13

The other day I unearthed something I wrote years ago about DMU replacement workings in the north east in the 80s. When I get the time I'll post it here - as it is only in hard copy, I'll have to re-type. Watch this space...

 

[D6130]

Whatever did they use them on?

IIRC, the 03s at Ipswich were used on the docks branch and the one at Stowmarket shunted grain wagons in and out of the maltings, but I'm open to correction. Norwich was the central maintenance depot for all the shunting locos in East Anglia and, judging by the number of 03s on shed on that date, they were probably already running out of employment for them. I think they also used to work the quayside lines at Lowestoft....and possibly Yarmouth as well at one time. Three of those seen at Ipswich (03 179/180/196) were ex-Bournemouth locos, fitted with high-level air brake pipe connections, which used to work the Weymouth Quay boat trains in pairs (and occasionally in threes) but, by this time they had been displaced, as the 33/1s had been cleared to run all the way to the Quay.

Meanwhile, on with my travels in Switzerland:

Wednesday 17th June 1981:

SBB 11245 Interlaken Ost-Spiez
BLS EMU Spiez-Zweisimmen
MOB 5302/5002 "Zweisimmen" Zweisimmen-Montreux
MOB 4002 "Vaud" Montreux-Zweisimmen
MOB 5003/5303 "Lenk" Zweisimmen-Lenk and return
BLS 180 Zweisimmen-Spiez
SBB 11265 Spiez-Interlaken Ost

 

[APT618S]

I was thinking much the same thing. Whatever did they use them on?

IIRC, the 03s at Ipswich were used on the docks branch and the one at Stowmarket shunted grain wagons in and out of the maltings, but I'm open to correction. Norwich was the central maintenance depot for all the shunting locos in East Anglia and, judging by the number of 03s on shed on that date, they were probably already running out of employment for them. I think they also used to work the quayside lines at Lowestoft....and possibly Yarmouth as well at one time.

There is complete PDF scan of the 1973 shunter duties in this link:

Shunter Duties books - the illusive 1973 edition

Hi, I've been trying to track down a copy of the illusive 1973 edition of Shunter dutuies, the earliest one I;ve been able to find is the quite common 1979 edition, has anyone got any of the earlier edtitions?

www.rmweb.co.uk

There is one post with pages 1-3 and then further down the rest of the doc.
(Hope it's OK linking to another forum )

 

[D6130]

There is complete PDF scan of the 1973 shunter duties in this link:

Very interesting! Thanks for that.

 

[barrowjack]

17/06/1989
Being a summer Saturday this must have been a day for trying to collect “Holidaymaker” window labels, the bonus being the ‘Hoover’ on the 14:15 Paddington to New Street

156425 Barrow In Furness - Preston
90003 Preston - Stafford
85014 Stafford - Wolverhampton
47714 Wolverhampton - Birmingham New Street
43005 / 43138 Birmingham New Street - Cheltenham Spa
43146 / 43136 Cheltenham Spa - Birmingham New Street
43165 / 43023 Birmingham New Street - Wolverhampton
86212 Wolverhampton - Birmingham New Street
47552 Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International
47407 Birmingham International - Birmingham New Street
47520 Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International
50034 Birmingham International - Birmingham New Street
86419 Birmingham New Street - Wolverhampton
86415 Wolverhampton - Preston
1420xx Preston - Barrow In Furness

17/06/2015
Work trip with the return timed for a 37 home!
1564xx Barrow – Whitehaven
37402 Whitehaven to Barrow

 

[The exile]

17/06/1989
Being a summer Saturday this must have been a day for trying to collect “Holidaymaker” window labels, the bonus being the ‘Hoover’ on the 14:15 Paddington to New Street

156425 Barrow In Furness - Preston
90003 Preston - Stafford
85014 Stafford - Wolverhampton
47714 Wolverhampton - Birmingham New Street
43005 / 43138 Birmingham New Street - Cheltenham Spa
43146 / 43136 Cheltenham Spa - Birmingham New Street
43165 / 43023 Birmingham New Street - Wolverhampton
86212 Wolverhampton - Birmingham New Street
47552 Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International
47407 Birmingham International - Birmingham New Street
47520 Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International
50034 Birmingham International - Birmingham New Street
86419 Birmingham New Street - Wolverhampton
86415 Wolverhampton - Preston
1420xx Preston - Barrow In Furness

17/06/2015
Work trip with the return timed for a 37 home!
1564xx Barrow – Whitehaven
37402 Whitehaven to Barrow

Ah - the joys of "liberating" window labels!

 

[MDB1images]

Found an old spotting book and an old moves book from when I was at school/just finished so should be able to add a few bits to the thread from time to time.

17/06/84
45139 Manchester Victoria - York
45137 York - Manchester Victoria

Looking at the list this would have been a Sunday diversion via the Calder Valley as I've noted some withdrawn Class 25's on Newton Heath on the way out.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Friday 18th June 1982

After exam bash (O levels either done or nearing completion)....

40084 Earlestown to Chester, 1D21 15.45 Man Vic to Bangor (the afternoon Bangor)
40106 Chester to Warrington BQ, 1J53 15.17 Holyhead to Man Vic

106 was a lovely loco. Looked so smart when it had its paint job.

87034 Warrington BQ to Preston
87030 Preston to Lancaster
40002 Lancaster to Liverpool LS, 1F32 18.30 Barrow to Liverpool
Unit back to Warrington

Saturday 18th June 1983

Looks like some drags were still on.
My moves book has the line "Missed 028 on 1D34 BOO HOO!!" - that was the morning Bangor.

47481 Warrington BQ to Crewe, dragging 86223 via Chester, as discussed this time last week.
47570 Crewe to Chester, 08.05 Euston to Holyhead
Obviously picked up some gen at Chester that wasn't available at Crewe as next move was
40172 Chester to Bangor, 1D90 11.52 Crewe to Holyhead relief
Unit back to Llandudno Jct
47563 Llandudno Jct to Llandudno, 1D53 11.00 Euston to Llandudno
47420 Llandudno to Warrington BQ, 1E16 15.12 to Sacaboro.
Enough Duffs, thank you! At least 420 was required.
40169 Warrington BQ to Preston, dragging 86322 on 1P63 14.05 Euston to Carlisle
Unit to Lancaster
40158 Lancaster to Liverpool LS, 1F32 18.23 off Barrow but started at Carnforth.
Unit home

More happy whistling tomorrow...

 

[CW2]

Monday 18/06/79
40015 1215 York – Selby
55011 1242 Selby – York
A rare outing for a class 40 on a York – Kings Cross service. The return from Selby was 30 minutes late, Deltic 11 arriving in Selby with a travelling fitter poking his head (complete with ear muffs) out of the engine room window as the train entered the station.

Friday 18/06/82
Arriving at Preston with a class 82 on the 2300 ex Euston I didn’t have much choice to get me back south. At least it was a required 86.
86211 0409 Preston – Rugby
(This was the loco which was hauling the 1720 Liverpool Lime Street – Euston on 19 September 1986 and which was destroyed in the Colwich collision, along with 86429).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colwich_rail_crash#/media/File:Destroyed_86211_cab.jpg

EMU Rugby – Northampton
85011 0813 Northampton – Euston
There were a couple of Northampton – Euston services which were still programmed for Roarers at this time, and were known (unofficially) as “The Master Cobbler”, reflecting Northampton’s place in the national shoemaking industry, in homage to Sheffield and “The Master Cutler.”

Saturday 18/06/83
Another summer Saturday afternoon on class 40s, a bit more limited this time.
40141 1301 York – Huddersfield
40028 1430 Huddersfield – York
40028 1750 York – Scarborough
40028 1925 Scarborough – Leeds
45146 2100 Leeds – York
[Note that the appearance of 40028 on a Trans Pennine diagram doesn't fit well with NorthWestRover's BOO HOO comment above. It definitely wasn't on The Bangor in the afternoon].

Monday 18/06/84
47053 1926 Leeds – Stalybridge
40150 2026 Stalybridge – York
A 40 out on a long diagram across the Pennines to Bangor, but I was at work all day, and could only pick up the last leg of the diagram from Stalybridge.

Wednesday 18/06/86
The long journey from in-laws to home with a heavily pregnant wife:
33026 1241 Abergavenny – Crewe
85029 1459 Crewe – Glasgow Central
That worked out rather well.

Saturday 18/06/88
Now with two boys, aged 3 months and nearly 2 years, we decided on a family outing on the trains for the day:
37431 1000 Crewe – Shrewsbury
37133 + 37146 1048 Shrewsbury – Minffordd
“Blanche” 1425 Minffordd – Porthmadog
“Mountaineer” 1445 Porthmadog – Blaenau Ffestiniog
DMU Blaenau Ffestiniog – Llandudno Jn
47571 1707 Llandudno Jn – Crewe
A fine circular trip, involving some class 37 haulage, the Ffestiniog Railway, the branch from Blaenau, and finishing the day in a nice air-conditioned carriage to take us back to Crewe. This trip was repeated in later years.

Sunday 18/06/89
Another family day out. Let’s go to Llandudno for the day:
47483 1021 Crewe – Chester
There the hopeless Duff expired with high water temperature on this hot day. I was torn between hoping for some massive freight loco to replace it, and the need of my family to have working air con on the train. In the end we got the air con, but also the novelty of my first visit of a class 31 to Llandudno.
31403 1108 Chester – Llandudno
After a day in Llandudno:
DMU Llandudno – Llandudno Junction
47519 1707 Llandudno Junction – Crewe

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 18/06/83

40028 1430 Huddersfield – York
40028 1750 York – Scarborough
40028 1925 Scarborough – Leeds
...
[Note that the appearance of 40028 on a Trans Pennine diagram doesn't fit well with NorthWestRover's BOO HOO comment above. It definitely wasn't on The Bangor in the afternoon].

Summer Saturdays in 1983, the return morning Bangor at 11.15 was 1E99 to Scarborough. And at least on this day, 028 appears to have only worked as far as York, then working the 13.24 off Llandudno (1E53). Your two moves in an Easterly direction. The 19.25 off Scarborough was 1M80 to Liverpool. All courtesy of Motherlist for helping my memory with the slight change on 1983 summer Saturdays.

 

[CW2]

Summer Saturdays in 1983, the return morning Bangor at 11.15 was 1E99 to Scarborough. And at least on this day, 028 appears to have only worked as far as York, then working the 13.24 off Llandudno (1E53). Your two moves in an Easterly direction. The 19.25 off Scarborough was 1M80 to Liverpool. All courtesy of Motherlist for helping my memory with the slight change on 1983 summer Saturdays.

Funny enough I was just mulling that over in my mind when you posted. I think the loco change at York was a regular diagrammed feature, due to fuel capacity issues.

 

[xotGD]

18th June 1983:

While there were 40s across the Pennines, in the north west and North Wales, things weren't so interesting further north:

45145 Newcastle - Darlington 1M75
47215 Darlington - Durham 1N13
47005 Darlington - Newcastle 1S51

18th June 1988:

No Cambrian Syphons for me today (133 & 146 are required) - I think it was a day on the beer, but I did have:

87029 Sandwell & Dudley - New St 1M47

 

[eastwestdivide]

Thu 18 June 1981

Bit more East Mids rangering, spotting and photting

45129 at 0843 Leicester-Derby 0921 in an aircon
at Derby, 31224 was on a late-running Bristol-Leeds with early Mk2s, 6 coaches
DMU 50713 at 1020 to Stoke 1113 (one of Derby's ubiquitous Cl.120s)
bit of spotting, various Cl.304s on locals
DMU 50667 at 1249 back to Derby 1340 (another Cl.120)
saw a 25 on the Leek Brook branch with stone blocks
47513 'Severn' at 1344 Derby-Sheffield 1420 in early Mk2s
saw a 25 on stone hoppers on the Wirksworth branch (now the Ecclesbourne Valley preserved line)
stabled at Sheffield: 47162 (Stratford loco), 3x08s, 46052 on a Newcasle-Bristol with Mk1s
DMU 51967 at 1449 Sheffield via Doncaster(1520-1527) to Stainforth & Hatfield 1534 (Trans-Pennine Cl.124 driving motor this time)
Doncaster works: Deltic 55019 and brand new 56092
bit of freight spotting at Stainforth & Hatfield: 20s, 37s, 31s, 47s
DMU 50038 at 1656 Stainforth & Hatfield-Doncaster 1706
At Doncaser, noted 40129 on a down parcels; now two Deltics 55014, 55019 outside the works
HST 43157/43098 at 1736 to Peterborough 1830
stabled at Peterborough was Deltic 55004; two Bristol Bath Road locos 47251, 31159, et al.
saw:
- the Stratford loco from Sheffield earlier, 47162, on the Manchester-Harwich through Peterborough at 1840/48 (early Mk2s with Mk1 catering)
- 46033 arrived 1857 with the Kings Cross-PB commuter service of Mk1s
- Haymarket-based 40194 with a down airbraked freight
- Deltic 55021 on an up ECML train
31270 at 2023 Peterborough-Leicester 2137 in a Mk1

 

[NorthWestRover]

18th June 1983:

While there were 40s across the Pennines, in the north west and North Wales, things weren't so interesting further north:

I think you are going to be very fed up with me and @CW2 over the next week or so.

 

[Peter Sarf]

There is complete PDF scan of the 1973 shunter duties in this link:

Shunter Duties books - the illusive 1973 edition

Hi, I've been trying to track down a copy of the illusive 1973 edition of Shunter dutuies, the earliest one I;ve been able to find is the quite common 1979 edition, has anyone got any of the earlier edtitions?

www.rmweb.co.uk

There is one post with pages 1-3 and then further down the rest of the doc.
(Hope it's OK linking to another forum )

Somewhere I have (had) a copy of Shunter Duties. Most of those 03s eluded me. It will not be far into the future when a railway enthusiast asks "what is a shunter ?".

I see a lot of you chasing 40s. I saw very few 40s and I did very little bashing. Not enough money to get far enough away from Southern territory. My main forays beyond London were to Birmingham when visiting my grandparents. From Birmingham I mainly went to Manchester in the late 1970s. I remember I was trying to clear my 76s. So I probably ignored Manchester Victoria. I remember it was a very tired looking station but I suspect I would have seen 40s there ?.

Railway enthusiasts were a very rare breed in Medway. I never met another and learned to keep my hobby quiet !. But many a happy day was spent on Birmingham New Street in the days of inter-regional engine changes involving 45s and 46s. Also waiting for the rare appearance of a Western (class 52 D1xxx).

I got most of the Westerns by visiting Old Oak Common on my trips to Willesden and walk to Old Oak Common via the canal. Cannot be sure I dropped in on Paddington much as I remember thinking Old Oak was more productive.

But thanks for all your reports. It brings back memories of the last half of the 1970s and into the 80s. There were a lot less units then. The Sprinters must have wiped out a lot of locomotives.

 

[NorthWestRover]

If you were clearing your 76s, you were probably at Guide Bridge and Reddish. You'd have seen 40s at both of those too, well I think there were at Reddish - it's a bit hazy now. Victoria would have had 40s on passenger and freight. Longsight depot too for 40s.

Victoria was tired looking - as it is now, but the old platform 11 (?), i.e. the very long one holds special memories as the point of many 40 departures. It's now platform 3 and sees mainly TPE units.

 

[Peter Sarf]

If you were clearing your 76s, you were probably at Guide Bridge and Reddish. You'd have seen 40s at both of those too, well I think there were at Reddish - it's a bit hazy now. Victoria would have had 40s on passenger and freight. Longsight depot too for 40s.

Victoria was tired looking - as it is now, but the old platform 11 (?), i.e. the very long one holds special memories as the point of many 40 departures. It's now platform 3 and sees mainly TPE units.

Oh yes memory jogged. Guide Bridge - I remember standing on the ground between two 40s. It was almost frightening - the noise. I also remember leaving the station to get a bus - I think it was a Sunday as that was the only day I could get to Manchester. It might have been a bus towards Reddish though. But as I walked away yet another freight would come scuttling through and I would rush back to id the loco. I had to tear myself away in the end. Every time I went to Manchester I seemed to have to go via the freight only line beyond Walsall to Rugely. Usually a duff and an excruciatingly slow route !. That bit into my available time further away from Birmingham.

I bet I got a lot more EMUs than you !. Any loco for me was an excitement - a lean diet of 33s, 71s and 73s. Best place for me was Hoo Junction yard. That has changed very little except that it is now fenced and gated - progress !.

The 185s are probably the second type of unit, after 158s, since the 40s held sway on Trans Pennine ?.