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Back in the day...

CW2

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7 May 2020
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1,922
Location
Crewe
Sunday 22/07/79
Having arrived at Preston on a DMU from Manchester Victoria, I sat and festered waiting for a class 40 – any class 40 – to produce on the dragging. For hour after hour after wee small hour a succession of 47s came and went, until at long last:
40126 (load 12 + dead 86003) 0357 Preston – Crewe via Golborne, Parkside, Castlefield, Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport
From Crewe we took the first unit into Manchester Piccadilly to cover the 0925 to Plymouth, which had been allocated 40015 as far as Birmingham:
EMU Crewe – Manchester Piccadilly
40015 0925 Manchester Piccadilly – Birmingham New Street via Crewe, Stoke, Stafford, Wolverhampton, Bescot, Aston.
After a short break, it came straight back again:
40015 1205 Birmingham New Street – Manchester Piccadilly via Bescot, Wolverhampton, Crewe, Stockport
This was 20 minutes late into Piccadilly, meaning I had to fork out for a taxi to take me across to Victoria – and straight into work.

Tuesday 22/07/80
40070 1630 Kings Cross – Peterborough
55011 1854 Peterborough – Kings Cross
82003 2145 Euston – Basford Hall
The 2145 from Euston was a relief to Holyhead, scheduled to re-engine in Basford Hall due to the ongoing engineering work in Crewe station. Would it get the diagrammed class 40?

Friday 22/07/83
46037 1750 York – Scarborough
31271 1910 Scarborough – York

Sunday 22/07/84
After yesterday’s performance with trips to Stranraer, I turned up at Glasgow Central on Sunday afternoon to cover the 1505 to Stranraer, which was diagrammed for a 47 but was known to produce other (better) traction on occasions…
37292 1505 Glasgow Central – Stranraer
37292 1835 Stranraer – Glasgow Central
They really don’t come any bigger (even if it was now dud!). 37292 had been reallocated to Eastfield, along with several more from the later series of 37s, and soon entered the refurbishment programme at Crewe, emerging as 37425 which is still active today.

Friday 22/07/88
A very early start, so I could get to Peterborough to cover a specific train …
85015 0109 Crewe – Stafford
85003 0208 Stafford – Euston via Northampton
43121 + 43157 0535 Kings Cross – Peterborough
89001 0700 Peterborough – Kings Cross (HST set with 43013 on rear providing ETH only)
My first run with the class 89.
50002 0922 Waterloo – Portsmouth Harbour
50002 1203 Portsmouth Harbour – Southampton
73107 1308 Southampton – Poole
EMU 3010 1435 Poole - Bournemouth
73106 + 73134 1502 Bournemouth – Waterloo
A pair of EDs on a single 4TC set! The pair ran round at Bournemouth so they were propelling to Waterloo, where there was another 4TC set waiting in the station, to which they coupled for their peak hour return journey. I headed across to Euston to make my way home:
85025 1823 Euston – Stafford
85013 2024 Stafford – Wolverhampton
87022 2047 Wolverhampton – Crewe

Wednesday 22/07/92
I was booked on a steam railtour with Britannia to Holyhead. At the last minute there was an alteration due to high fire risk …
43003 + 43025 0650 Reading – Paddington
86206 0750 Euston – Crewe
47833 1111 Crewe – Lostock Hall Jn
6201 1222 Lostock Hall Jn – Settle Jn (-Carlisle)
Having changed our route from Holyhead to the S&C to avoid the fire risk area, I was not best pleased when a class 47 bolted itself to the front of the steam loco at Settle Junction (i.e. at a location where I couldn’t even alight if I wanted to) and powered all the way to Carlisle with the kettle in light steam only:
47624 1406 Settle Jn – Carlisle
Cheers. At Carlisle I left the tour, and made my own way home.
86101 1706 Carlisle – Crewe
87021 1918 Crewe – Euston
43179 + 43183 2200 Paddington – Reading

Thursday 22/07/93
43008 + 43128 0719 Reading – Paddington
43047 + 43064 0900 St Pancras – Derby
47853 1409 Derby – Birmingham New Street
86103 1519 Birmingham New Street – Wolverhampton
86260 1611 Wolverhampton – Crewe
87028 1827 Crewe – Euston
43033 + 43156 2035 Paddington – Reading
I’m not sure what the plot was for today – required MML power cars perhaps?
 
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xotGD

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4 Feb 2017
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22nd July 1990

Another day faffing about the West Midlands. Haulage provided by:

86249, 86219, 47641, 86213, 90031, 87005, 90044.

Then my final move was the highlight of the day, thanks to a failed Can:

20169 + 20045 (+86229) Wolves - New St

Right place at the right time.

22nd July 1994

As part of a work trip:

47846 Padd - Reading

22nd July 1999

Out on the North East Rover again.

91009/02/16, 47806 from Shef to Doncaster and a couple more runs from 90036: Leeds - Retford & Doncaster - Leeds
 

NorthWestRover

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24 Aug 2018
Messages
1,459
Wednesday 23rd July 1980

My Manchester Runabout rumbles on to Day 5...

4-car unit Warrington C to Lime St

Allerton - 08300, 08918, 85039, 47110
Edge Hill - 47171, 40130, 81010
Lime St - 86204, 25186

Then onto Merseyrail for a bit of a bash.

6-car 503 EMU Lime St to Central
507xxx Lime St to Hall Road, passing a derailed 40095 just north of Sandhills
507005 Hall Road to Moorfields, passing 47110 at Bootle Oriel Road
3-car 503 EMU Moorfields to Lime St

Lime St - 47445, 47528, 86238, 87005, 81010, 47483

47408 Lime St to Man Vic, 1E08

Edge Hill - 47411, 40158
Man Vic - 25195, 45050, 40109, 47419

3-car unit Man Vic to Preston

Euxton Junction - 40129
Preston - 81001, 81012, 47426, 87020, 47483, 86239, 47451, 86244, 87030, 82007, 47443, 87026, 45050, 85003, 82005, 47445

86251 Preston to Crewe, 1M27

Leyland - 40092
Springs Branch - 47064, 45050, 85012, 25071, 25304, 40131
Bank Quay - 40180, 47280, 08126, 08297, 08302
Weaver Junc - 25161, 25159
Hartford - 08289
Crewe - 87003, 08927, 86322, 25063
Crewe Diesel Depot - 40028, 40011, 40177
Crewe Station - 81013, 86325, 08913, 86007, 25302, 25292, 47564, 86254, 86031, 85014, 86215, 47537, 08382, 47440, 40191, 81013, 86250, 87007, 85001, 87023, 86237, 86231, 47188, 08843

85003 Crewe to Preston, 1P63

Weaver Junct - 86204
Warrington Yard - 40127, 40033, 40149, 40115, 40188, 85037, 08337
Warrington BQ - 40015
Springs Branch - 25060, 25122, 25304
Preston - 47483, 47451, 86244, 86221, 25290, 40097, 47347, 85029, 87018, 87033, 47445, 85008, 85040, 47426, 87024, 83006

47483 Preston to Man Vic, 1J26

Salford - 08676
Man Vic - 25104, 46002, 40116, 45050, 47538, 47151, 40019

47410 Man Vic to Lime St, 1M32

Edge Hill - 08431
Lime St - 47283, 86259

2-car unit Lime St to Padgate

Warrington Central - 08291

Friday 23rd July 1982


Mainly 40s. I must have had gen to do these moves as I could have just stayed on the North Wales Coast with two full diagrams turning out 40s.

86326 WBQ to Preston, 1P14 09.25 Crewe to Blackpool
40180 Preston to Blackpool, 1P14
40180 Blackpool to Preston, 1A55 12.33 to Euston
87020 Preston to WBQ, 1A55
40104 WBQ to Llandudno Junc, 1D57 13.45 Man Vic to Bangor
40055 Llandudno Junc to WBQ, 1J53 15.17 Holyhead to Man Vic
87019 WBQ to Lancaster, 1P25 15.45 Euston to Carlisle
Unit to Carnforth
40195 Carnforth to Preston, 1P27 19.26 Barrow to Preston
40180 Preston to Lime St, 1F27 21.43 Preston to Lime St
Unit home

Saturday 23rd July 1983

And a year later its 100% 87 bashing

87024 WBQ to Crewe, 1A18 06.30 Carlisle to Euston
87001 Crewe to Oxenholme, 1S53 08.07 Birmingham to Glasgow
87013 Oxenholme to Crewe, 1M57 09.20 Glasgow to Birmingham
87023 Crewe to Preston via Earlestown, 1S80 14.45 Euston to Glasgow (my book says additional stop so I assume this didn't normally call at Crewe)
87101 (oh yes) Preston to Crewe, 1M42 10.30 Inverness to Euston
87013 Crewe to Preston, 1S87 18.00 Birmingham to Glasgow
87001 Preston to WBQ, 1M47 17.20 Preston to Birmingham

387.75 miles of top electric power!
 

CW2

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7 May 2020
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1,922
Location
Crewe
Monday 23/07/79
I was on an early shift in Manchester Victoria station buffet as my summer job, which meant I was in a good position to do the afternoon Bangor turn, booked a class 40 …
25257 1540 Manchester Victoria – Warrington Bank Quay (but not always a 40!)
At Warrington the 1547 Preston – Crewe was a few minutes late. This electric turn rolled in with required 40110 on the front. Apparently diagrammed 86258 had failed just prior to departure, so 40110 – which had only just arrived at Preston from the north having just rescued another failure – immediately took over. How could I refuse?
40110 1614 Warrington – Crewe
40108 1924 Crewe – Stoke
DMU Stoke – Crewe
86252 2117 Crewe – Warrington Bank Quay
25257 2141 Warrington Bank Quay – Manchester Victoria

Wednesday 23/07/80
40112 0016 Basford Hall – Holyhead
There’s not a lot to do at Holyhead if you aren’t intent on catching the boat. Instead, I caught the ECS back out as soon as possible.
40112 0340 Holyhead – Crewe
The ECS was heading for Willesden, and stopped at Crewe to change locos. (It would have meant less effort for me if they had stopped in the platform, instead of middle road!).
86325 0735 Crewe -Warrington Bank Quay
40023 0824 Warrington Bank Quay – Llandudno Junction
DMU Llandudno Junction – Rhyl
40198 1134 Rhyl – Colwyn Bay
40023 1207 Colwyn Bay – Rhyl
At Rhyl the 1118 Crewe – Holyhead arrived with 40027, running 10 minutes late. I boarded, and we attempted to depart, then failed, with two traction motors defective. Meanwhile the 1105 Manchester – Holyhead arrived behind required 40022, so I swapped trains:
40022 1239 Rhyl – Llandudno Junction
As I waited, the failed 40027 arrived being towed by 40127 which had been purloined from a passing ballast train!
40028 1344 Llandudno Junction – Crewe
86209 1514 Crewe – Euston

Friday 23/07/82
A visit to my former home in York to pick up some paperwork, followed by 47s over the Pennines to intercept a class 40:
43108 + 43119 0930 Kings Cross – York
47408 1554 York – Manchester Victoria
47475 1745 Manchester Victoria -Warrington Bank Quay
40104 1845 Warrington Bank Quay – Manchester Victoria
Time for some refreshment before the overnight …
40055 2240 Manchester Victoria – Holyhead

Saturday 23/07/83
A summer Saturday, and 40177 is allocated to a high mileage Pennines diagram …
47269 0800 York – Huddersfield
40177 0927 Huddersfield – Newcastle
40177 1322 Newcastle – York
My hopes for a whole day behind 40177 were scuppered when it was removed at York due to ringing fire bells. Oh well – nice while it lasted. Home for a few hours, then back out for an evening spin:
46039 2023 York – Leeds
40181 2102 Leeds – York

Monday 23/07/84
Early shift this week, and I found out that required 37170 was allocated to the 1715 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh. To fill in the time I went on an electric bash to Carstairs.
86224 1520 Glasgow Central – Carstairs
Usually at Carstairs there were a few locos stabled. Today, there was only 20044 in the sidings. The 0734 from Poole was due in shortly, dividing at Carstairs with a portion for Edinburgh needing a forward loco. I expected to see a class 47 arrive from Motherwell at any moment – but it didn’t happen. Instead:
20044 1604 Carstairs – Haymarket
Load 5 – outrageous! A single class 20 on Air Cons. I bailed at Haymarket so I could catch a Push-Pull to Falkirk High to pick up required 37170:
47706 1703 Haymarket – Falkirk High
37170 1742 Falkirk High – Haymarket
At Haymarket there was a major swarm of insects coming one way over the footbridge, and me going the other. The cause of all this activity? The appearance of another required 37 on the Carstairs road. The insects were doing Edinburgh – Haymarket and return, the train having arrived at Haymarket simultaneously.
37128 1813 Haymarket – Carstairs
Meanwhile the 0730 Penzance – Aberdeen was running 100+ minutes late, so the traincrew and loco resources which should have worked it from Carstairs had already gone to Edinburgh for their next work, meaning Control had to provide a loco from fresh air to work the Penzance portion as far as Edinburgh, where the train was terminated. Any guesses which loco they turned to?
20044 1814 Carstairs – Edinburgh.
Load 7 air cons this time!
47706 2100 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street.

Thursday 23/07/87
37431 1719 Crewe – Abergavenny
Taking my son to his Grandparents in Abergavenny to celebrate his first birthday.

Sunday 23/07/89
I was lodging in London, having started a new job in Paddington. My train from Crewe produced a required 90:
90028 1843 Crewe – Euston

Wednesday 23/07/97
I commuted in from Reading to Paddington as usual, then made a hurried phone call for a half-day’s leave:
43025 + 43142 0754 Reading – Paddington
55022 0906 Paddington – Birmingham New Street via Coventry
87016 1145 Birmingham New Street – Euston
 

xotGD

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4 Feb 2017
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27th July 1985

Those Saturdays just keep coming...

47411 Newcastle - Darlington 1M73
37030 Darlington - Newcastle 1N35
47367 Newcastle - Durham 1M76
47347 Durham - Newcastle 1E71

Well if you are going to have Duffs, better that they are of the /3 variety. At least the ex-Scarbados didn't let us down.

27th July 2021 aka 'today'

With restrictions eased I decided to have a day out using a Northern delay repay freeby.

Units all day of course, but some pleasant scenic journeys down to Buxton and across the Hope Valley.

Free travel and even a free coffee thanks to my Costa points.

Freightliner appear to be using Earles Sidings as a locomotive dumping ground. There were 2 70s and around half a dozen 66s sat there doing nowt.

Also a long line of 66s in the sidings opposite Midland Road depot. Too many locos and not enough work?
 

NorthWestRover

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24 Aug 2018
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1,459
Thursday 24th July 1980

6th and final day of the Manchester Runabout that I have recorded.

Bank Quay - 86032, 47334, 86207, 87004, 40143, 87019

3-car unit WBQ to Man Vic

Dallam - 08284

Man Vic - 47426, 40067

3-car unit Man Vic to Todmorden and back.

Newton Heath - 45014, 40198, 08569, 08675, 08129
Man Vic - 40079, 25367, 25100, 40023, 40127

47519 Man Vic to Lime St, 1M58

Lime St - 08918, 86103, 86212, 86325, 47483

47528 Lime St to Man Vic, 1E99

Edge Hill - 47347
Eccles - 40116
Man Vic - 47151, 25039 (on The Bangor lol), 47448, 40067, 40033, 47522, 25267, 45061, 40079

2-car unit Man Vic to WBQ. Early finish or onto new book that I no longer have? The latter I reckon.

Saturday 24th July 1982

First post-strike Summer Saturday and it was whistling!!

40194 WBQ to Man Vic, 1J10 07.09 off Bangor
40009 Man Vic to Stalybridge, 1E34 09.00 Blackpool to Newcastle
40006 Stalybridge to Llandudno, 1M71 09.00 off York
40131 Llandudno to Prestatyn, 1E82 13.53 to York
40135 Prestatyn to WBQ, 1J22 13.58 Bangor to Man Vic

Now, I guess the gen must have been that 1F32 18.30 Barrow to Liverpool was a big 40 to leave all that activity on the North Wales Coast. According to Motherlist, the 16.14 Lime St to Barrow was 40099 but that wouldn't form the 18.30 back...

87031 WBQ to Preston, 1P70 Euston to Blackpool
Unit Preston to Carnforth
Oh...
Unit on 1F32. Bowled big time. No hint on Motherlist of what worked the 15.13 Manchester to Barrow (which forms 1F32). Nothing for it but to take that unit back to Preston for recovery move..
86249 Preston to WBQ, 1M47 Glasgow to Birmingham
40170 WBQ to Man Vic, 1J31 19.25 off Bangor
40194 Man Vic to WBQ, 1D77 22.40 to Holyhead

Not actually a bad day overall even with the wasted four hours plus.

Sunday 24th July 1983

45148 (grrr) WBQ to Chester, 1D35 09.50 Man Vic to Llandudno (it was better 12 months earlier as you'll see tomorrow)
47439 Chester to Crewe, 1A18 09.50 Holyhead to Euston
87012 Crewe to Preston via Earlestown, 1S63 12.45 Euston to Glasgow
87101 (yay, two days running) Preston to Crewe via Earlestown, 1A37 15.50 Carlisle to Euston
87032 Crewe to Lime St, 1M36 11.15 off Penzance
Unit home

Thursday 24th July 1986

3 Goyles, all 3 required, total mileage under 10 lol.

31173 Warrington C to Birchwood, 1E46 14.45 Lime St to Hull
31466 Birchwood to Warrington C, 1M33 12.18 Cleethorpes to Lime St
31457 Warrington C to Birchwood, 1E52 16.45 Lime St to Sheffield
Unit back to Central.
 
Last edited:

Harvester

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9 Nov 2020
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1,262
Location
Notts
Thursday 24th July 1980

Trip to Bressingham from Notts and return.

DMU 08.13 Beeston- Leicester
31318 09.07 Leicester-Norwich
47019 12.32 Norwich-Diss

Bressingham Steam Centre had quite a few ex BR locos back then.
Noted were:

70013, (4)6233, (4)6100, (4)2500, 80(BR 41966), 662(BR 32662), 102(BR 30102) and 1217(BR 65567).

47179 16.16 Diss-Norwich
31191 16.45 Norwich-Peterborough
55010 1906 Peterborough-Grantham (Deltic had a nameplate missing)
DMU 1941 Grantham-Nottingham
20182+20197 20.30 Nottingham-Beeston (Skegness-Derby train)
 

CW2

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7 May 2020
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Location
Crewe
Tuesday 24/07/79
After a late shift in the station buffet, a required 40 was a nice way to round off the day:
40198 2111 Manchester Victoria – Preston
DMU Preston – Manchester Victoria

Saturday 24/07/82
After a rancid overnight on Holyhead station, it’s a North Wales summer Saturday:
47474 0624 Holyhead – Bangor
40194 0709 Bangor – Abergele & Pensarn
DMU Abergele & Pensarn – Llandudno
40177 0900 Llandudno – Rhyl
40104 0937 Rhyl – Llandudno Junction
That’s where the fun ends. I head back to London, and work:
47539 1008 Llandudno Junction – Crewe
87015 1155 Crewe – Euston

Sunday 24/07/83
A day trip with my wife to the NYMR:
45102 1000 York – Malton
Bus Malton – Pickering
5690 1120 Pickering – Grosmont
This was 35 minutes late starting (otherwise we would have missed it). The loco suffered an injector failure at MP18. We stood for 20 minutes whilst the fire was first partially thrown out (as both injectors had failed) then remade once one injector picked up. D5032 (24032) was attached to the rear at Goathland.
D5032 1355 Grosmont – Goathland
821 1414 Goathland – Grosmont
821 1455 Grosmont – Levisham
D5032 1542 Levisham – Goathland
5690 1612 Goathland – Levisham (loco now back to full working order)
821 1642 Levisham – Goathland
D5032 1712 Goathland – Pickering
Bus Pickering – Malton
31410 1909 Malton – York
The CFPS had run a charter from York to Norwich with 40004,so I decided to intercept it on its return working:
31204 1955 York – Wakefield Westgate via Normanton, Wakefield Kirkgate
40004 2043 Wakefield Westgate – York via Leeds

Tuesday 24/07/84
47708 1430 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
37137 1610 Edinburgh – Carstairs, making a minus connection into …
85026 1633 Carstairs – Glasgow Central
DMU Glasgow Central – Ayr
DMU Ayr – Girvan. Visit Girvan signal box.
DMU Girvan – Ayr. Visit Ayr signal box.
37246 2003 Ayr – Glasgow Central.

Friday 24/07/87
37431 1126 Abergavenny – Crewe
86212 1406 Crewe – Glasgow Central

Thursday 24/07/97
A day out from the office, involving a cab ride through the Channel Tunnel:
92046 + 92043 1309 Dollands Moor – Calais Frethun
92037 + 92026 1645 Calais Frethun – Dollands Moor
The outward run was a 100 kph wagonload service from Bescot to Lille Delivrance, and the return was the 120 kph Perpignan – Wembley intermodal service.
 

NorthWestRover

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There's some tough competition on this thread but the return cab ride through the Channel Tunnel takes first prize for me. Wow.
 

CW2

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Location
Crewe
There's some tough competition on this thread but the return cab ride through the Channel Tunnel takes first prize for me. Wow.
I was in the privileged position of writing the international train timetables for RfD and subsequently EWS, so I was able to call upon an occasional favour. On the outward trip I recall the trailing 92 tripped out mid-tunnel, so the remaining 92 did all the work.
 

NorthWestRover

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I did journeys through the Channel Tunnel when I was not recording things, so no idea what the haulage was. Did the driving the car on at Folkestone thing twice in the late 2000s/early 2010s. What would that have been?

And then did Eurostar St Pancras to Lille and back Brussels to St Pancras in 2016. That was a high speed unit of some sort.
 

xotGD

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4 Feb 2017
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24th July 1982

46021 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N04
40008 Newcastle - Darlington 1M66

Extended fester...

40009 Darlington - Newcastle 1E34
47477 Newcastle - Darlington 1V97
46049 Darlington - Newcastle 1S51

Conclusion: A lot more 40s in the North West and North Wales than in the North East!

24th July 1983

Took the last unit to Carlisle ready to start my first Freedom of Scotland. I was 16, and the mate I went with a year or two older. Primary objective was to travel on all of the Scottish branch lines, but of course that did involve some interesting haulage. Stay tuned ...

I now realise that I got a bit confused with dates yesterday - it had been a long day! Anyway I missed:

23rd July 1988

47539 Newcastle - Heworth 2B21
 

CW2

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Location
Crewe
I did journeys through the Channel Tunnel when I was not recording things, so no idea what the haulage was. Did the driving the car on at Folkestone thing twice in the late 2000s/early 2010s. What would that have been?

And then did Eurostar St Pancras to Lille and back Brussels to St Pancras in 2016. That was a high speed unit of some sort.
The Eurotunnel trips would have been top and tail Eurotunnel locos:

The Eurostar in 2016 might have been the older class 373 or the newer class 374 Siemens Velaro.
 

47403

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21 May 2012
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Geordie Republic of Gateshead
Oh my, I do get so envious when I see these 40s in the North East on passenger turns. By the time I was out bashing their numbers were declining rapidly, just seeing them was rare enough. I mustve been on some of those summer turns from 84 xot. We were out all day with Northumbrisn Rangers most weeks.
I'm absolutely.loving this thread even though I get severe move envy.
 

CW2

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Crewe
Oh my, I do get so envious when I see these 40s in the North East on passenger turns. By the time I was out bashing their numbers were declining rapidly, just seeing them was rare enough. I mustve been on some of those summer turns from 84 xot. We were out all day with Northumbrisn Rangers most weeks.
I'm absolutely.loving this thread even though I get severe move envy.
I think it's the same for each generation in turn. I'm envious of people who travelled behind the various classes of diesels which were quickly withdrawn in the 60s and 70s, especially the hydraulics. I'd particularly liked to have had a run with Falcon, which I saw many times as both D0280 and 1200. Then of course there is steam, and pre-Beeching branch lines ...
 

Falcon1200

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Neilston, East Renfrewshire
I'd particularly liked to have had a run with Falcon, which I saw many times as both D0280 and 1200.

I only saw Falcon twice, once in Swindon Works and once while spotting at Didcot, shortly before it was transferred away from Bath Road to Ebbw Jc. I was too young to afford to travel behind it to Reading, or indeed realise its significance. Oh for a time machine !
 

CW2

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Crewe
I only saw Falcon twice, once in Swindon Works and once while spotting at Didcot, shortly before it was transferred away from Bath Road to Ebbw Jc. I was too young to afford to travel behind it to Reading, or indeed realise its significance. Oh for a time machine !
I saw it plenty of times when trainspotting at Tilehurst or Reading but - like you - I lacked the funds to do anything about it. One summer I stayed with my sister in Wantage, and cycled with my nephew to Wantage Road to trainspot there. I think we saw Falcon 4 times that day, going to and from Bristol. Very impressive at speed. It makes me think I'd have been a bit keener on class 47s if they were all fitted with twin Maybachs instead of Sulzers.
 

xotGD

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Oh my, I do get so envious when I see these 40s in the North East on passenger turns. By the time I was out bashing their numbers were declining rapidly, just seeing them was rare enough. I mustve been on some of those summer turns from 84 xot. We were out all day with Northumbrisn Rangers most weeks.
I'm absolutely.loving this thread even though I get severe move envy.
As an innocent young spotter, I didn't get what this bashing lark was all about. As a result I only had 3 Deltics for haulage ahead of preservation. If I had twigged a few months earlier I could have had a dozen more. Oh, well...
 

D6130

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West Yorkshire/Tuscany
MONDAY 24/07/1978:

Another after-work pint - this time at the Alexandra in Wimbledon - before whizzing up to Waterloo for a required Crompton on the last Exeter:

7710/7741/7703 Petersfield-Waterloo
7342/7421 Waterloo-Wimbledon
7058/7343 Wimbledon-Waterloo
33 017 Waterloo-Woking
7343/7058 Woking-Petersfield
 

CW2

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Crewe
Wednesday 25/07/79
Another early shift finished, and straight onto The Bangor:
40166 1540 Manchester Victoria – Rhyl
40077 1758 Rhyl – Prestatyn
40139 (required) 1822 Prestatyn – Chester
40115 1952 Chester – Manchester Victoria

Friday 25/07/80
Another trip to North Wales to enjoy class 40 haulage:
86208 0050 Euston – Stafford
86216 0300 Stafford – Manchester Piccadilly
Breakfast, and a stroll across to Victoria station to cover The Bangor:
40115 0747 Manchester Victoria – Bangor
40115 1130 Bangor – Abergele & Pensarn
40013 1232 Abergele & Pensarn – Colwyn Bay
40019 1254 Colwyn Bay – Llandudno Junction
40035 1344 Llandudno Junction – Chester
It was a scorching hot day, and this was the 1300 Holyhead – Euston, load 11. 40035 boiled itself to a standstill at Chester, and had to be dragged off and replaced by 40022.
40022 1433 Chester – Crewe, 50 minutes late.
DMU Crewe – Chester
40115 1650 Chester – Llandudno Junction
40013 1828 Llandudno Junction – Manchester Victoria
40067 2113 Manchester Victoria – Preston
86234 2233 Preston – Euston

Monday 25/07/83
47408 1054 York – Leeds
45148 1300 Leeds – York
I’ve no idea why I made these moves. Possibly it was work-related.
40079 1710 York – Huddersfield
40181 1830 Huddersfield – York
 

NorthWestRover

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Friday 25th July 1980

I don't have the record of my Manchester Runabout Day 7, but in my class listings I have the following...

45034 Lime St to Man Vic

Sunday 25th July 1982

A standard 40 bashing day on a Summer Sunday in 1982

40157 WBQ to Llandudno, 1D35 09.50 Man Vic to Llandudno
40157 Llandudno to Chester, 1J22 14.20 Llandudno to Man Vic
40006 Chester to Llandudno Junc, 1D40 14.36 Man Vic to Llandudno
40170 Llandudno Junc to WBQ, 1J53 16.30 Holyhead to Man Vic

You really didn't have to do anything, just turn up and go.

87004 WBQ to Wigan, 1P74 17.05 Euston to Blackpool
86327 Wigan to WBQ, 1K19 18.07 Carlisle to Crewe

I don't know if I was checking out something at Wigan or just didn't want to go home, lol.

Monday 25th July 1983


Mainly 87 bashing with a whistling end to the day...

86325 WBQ to Wigan, 1P16 06.25 Birmingham to Lancaster
47491 (required) Wigan to Preston, 1P22 07.41 Lime St to Edinburgh portion
08846 stock shunt
87013 Preston to Lancaster, 1S45 07.41 Lime St/07.50 Man Vic to Edinburgh/Glasgow
87024 Lancaster to Preston, 1M18 07.10 Glasgow to Euston
87012 Preston to Crewe, 1M33 07.20 Glasgow to Birmingham
87025 Crewe to Preston, 1S61 06.45 Paddington to Glasgow
86234 Preston to Crewe, 1M20 11.10 Glasgow to Euston
87012 Crewe to Preston, 1S71 14.05 Birmingham to Glasgow
86211 Preston to Crewe (additional stop), 1M34 13.10 Glasgow to Euston
86212 Crewe to Preston, 1P25 15.45 Euston to Carlisle
40035 Preston to Lime St, 1M22 Glasgow to Lime St
Unit home

Friday 25th July 1986

Er, borrowed my mate's Coasts and Peaks so a bit more Goyle mileage than the 3.25mile leaps from Warrington to Birchwood. Only required one was last of the day...

31458 Warrington C to Lime St, 1M44 10.30 off Hull
31455 Lime St to Stockport, 1E46 14.45 to Hull
31463 Stockport to Warrington C, 1M39 15.22 Sheffield to Lime St
31415 Warrington C to Sheffield (via New Mills, half a mile shorter than via Stockport), 1E52 16.45 Lime St to Sheffield
31438 Sheffield to Warrington C, 1M61 19.22 Sheffield to Lime St
 

xotGD

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25th July 1983 - the start of my Freedom of Scotland

85018 Carlisle - Mossend 1S06 - nice start
37054 Mossend - Cowlairs 1T02 - not very Scottish, but no complaints
37108 Cowlairs - Queen Street 1T02
27053 Queen Street - Queen Street 1T02 - shunting the overnight stock onto the front of the day coaches

The 27 departed, and a pair of 37s backed on to the train. Double Syphons all the way to Fort William then...

...not quite:

37014 + 37022 Queen Street - Cowlairs 1B07

We got half way up the tunnel when 14 expired. We sat there a while, and then with much thrashing made it to Cowlairs loop where it could be removed. I assume that we received some assistance from the rear, but no idea what - presumably the loco that had brought the ECS of the day coaches into Queen Street. Worth noting that we'd had 6 (or maybe 7?) locos without moving seats. Anyway, the day continued...

37022 Cowlairs - Mallaig 1B07
37022 Mallaig - Fort William 1T45
37192 Fort William - Queen Street 1T45
47710 Queen Street - Haymarket 1O57

Time for some faffing about:

27040 Haymarket - Waverley 2G09
27037 Waverley - Cupar 2L60
27042 Cupar - Waverley 2G32

Time to head north on the overnight :

47489 Waverley - Perth 1P04

An interesting first day.

25th July 1988

47407 Sunderland - Newcastle 2B26

Have bus pass, will travel.
 

SteveM70

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25/7/85 - one of the very few days I still have notes for, and even then only partial. Still, one of the better days considering the limits of a West Midlands travelcard.

50045 09:02 Coventry - Birmingham (according to my scribbles the 06:50 Paddington to Leeds / Hull. Can that be right?!?)

47068 09:50 Birmingham - Coventry (to Poole)

37194 Birmingham to Wolverhampton (notes say Birmingham to Glasgow relief but there’s no time)

Then I must’ve been up and down for the rest of the day, until the piece de resistance - my train home to Coventry was generally the 20:57 Birmingham to Paddington, which used to be a fairly solid 50 turn but which by then had become a 47 more often than not.

And what was it on this day? A 3 car DMU of some sort.
 

NorthWestRover

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In fact, I've found it. April of the same year. I even added an exclamation mark at the time...

“Saturday 27th April 1985

86226 Wolverhampton to Coventry
87014 Coventry to Wolverhampton
HST Wolverhampton to Birmingham NS
86103 Birmingham NS to Coventry
50043 Coventry to Birmingham NS
45130 Birmingham NS to Derby
31446 Derby to Birmingham NS
47600 Birmingham NS to Birmingham International
47599 Birmingham Int to Birmingham NS
87011 Birmingham NS to Wolverhampton

Scored the hoover, the wagon, the goyle and the two duffs. The electrics were all dud, although by 1986 I'd either had them all for haulage or pretty much so. I never appeared record the HST power cars.

The hoover and wagon were on the 09.40 Poole to Newcastle, the goyle and the first Duff on the 13.22 Hull to Brighton (!), the second Duff on the 14.13 Portsmouth to York."
 

xotGD

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37194 Birmingham to Wolverhampton (notes say Birmingham to Glasgow relief but there’s no time
According to Class 37.co.uk it was:

1Z09 1041 Exeter - Edinburgh relief Between Exeter - Wolverhampton
 

CW2

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According to Class 37.co.uk it was:

1Z09 1041 Exeter - Edinburgh relief Between Exeter - Wolverhampton
That was a semi- regular runner that year. For a while it was booked for a pair of 25s from Carstairs to Edinburgh.
 

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