Back in the day...

[NorthWestRover]

Thursday 25th August 1977

86026 WBQ to Preston - maybe a spotting trip.

Wednesday 25th August 1982

Whistling away...

40170 WBQ to Man Vic, 1J10 07.09 Bangor to Man Vic (the Holyhead diagram)
40008 Man Vic to Bolton, 1P10 Man Vic to Blackpool
Unit back to Vic
40170 Man Vic to Prestatyn, 1D29 10.45 Man Vic to Holyhead
40104 Prestatyn to Man Vic, 1J30 11.57 Bangor to Man Vic (The Bangor)
Unit leap to Dean Lane and back for some reason
40104 Man Vic to Chester, 1D21 15.45 Man Vic to Bangor
40170 Chester to Newton-Le-Willows, 1J53 15.17 Holyhead to Man Vic
40183 Newton-Le-Willows to WBQ, 1D65 17.45 Man Vic to Llandudno J (Bangor 2)
40121 WBQ to Man Vic, 1J39 16.52 Bangor to Man Vic (Bangor 3)
47466 Man Vic to Lime St, 1M32 17.00 Scarborough to Lime St
Unit home to Padgate

All 4 Manchester to North Wales diagrams were 40s. Not sure why I leapt for 121. The normal move would have been 183 to Prestatyn for 104 back on The Bangor. Maybe we had some dud gen about a Blackpool from Man Vic.

Sunday 25th August 1985

Interrail... Cologne to Dortmund, then Dortmund to Munich.

Monday 25th August 1986

Day 5 of Coasts and Peaks

Goyles in the morning, then something different in the afternoon

31417 Warrington C to Stockport, 1E34 08.45 Lime St to Sheffield
31446 Stockport to Warrington C, 1M19 07.12 Cleethorpes to Lime St
31167 (required) Warrington C to Sheffield, 1E85 10.45 Lime St to Yarmouth
31461 Sheffield to Lime St, 1M31 08.15 Yarmouth to Lime St
508119 Lime St to Hooton, 15.22 Moorfields to Hooton
142040 Hooton to Chester, 15.53 service
33047 Chester to Hereford, 1V09 14.08 Holyhead to Cardiff
33031 Hereford to Crewe, 1M73 18.15 Cardiff to Man Picc
87008 Crewe to WBQ, 1P49 19.15 Euston to Carlisle

Both Cromptons were required.

Tuesday 25th August 1987

After sorting out final year accommodation in Wolves...

86402 Wolverhampton to WBQ (Poole to Glasgow service)

 

[Falcon1200]

Thursday 25th August 1983

37145 0702 Cambridge-Liverpool St (to Audley End)
37062 0720 Cambridge-Liverpool St (from Audley End)

 

[xotGD]

Day 5 of Coasts and Peaks

33047 Chester to Hereford, 1V09 14.08 Holyhead to Cardiff
33031 Hereford to Crewe, 1M73 18.15 Cardiff to Man Picc

I didn't realise that a Coasts and Peaks was valid to Hereford!

 

[NorthWestRover]

It isn't now. I'm not sure if it was then, although I do go again in a few days...

 

[CW2]

Saturday 25/08/79
40113 0120 Stranraer – Carlisle (yes, the loco did come off at Carlisle this week)
85029 0511 Carlisle – Preston
47381 0756 Preston – Chorley
DMU Chorley – Blackpool North
It being the height of the summer holiday season, there were some relief trains running out of Blackpool North. One in particular had caught my attention, because of the combination of route and power:
40073 0940 Blackpool North – Barnsley via Preston, Copy Pit, Healey Mills.
We had an excellent run, due into Barnsley at 1158, we actually reached there at 1140. I had a quick chat with the Wath guard, and he allowed me to remain on the ECS through to Sheffield.
40073 12xx Barnsley – Sheffield ECS
The bad news was that we stopped middle road at Sheffield, so I had to clamber out and scramble up onto the platform. The good news was our 25 minute early arrival in Sheffield, allowing me to make:
DMU 1215 Sheffield – Manchester Piccadilly … and across to Victoria in good time to work the late shift in the buffet.

Monday 25/08/80
Bank Holiday Monday, and I’ve been asked to provide a trolley catering service on a SLOA charter to Sellafield. With my boss’s permission, I invited my girlfriend along as unpaid help, and for a free day out.
85018 0657 Euston – Crewe
I baled out at Crewe to restock the trolley, thinking I had a few minutes, but the train left without me! I followed on the next available service and caught back up at Carnforth. My girlfriend had done a sterling job in manning the trolley in my absence.
87004 0944 Crewe – Preston
47453 1048 Preston – Carnforth
850 1135 Carnforth – Seascale
I was advised to alight at Seascale, where the SLOA rep had arranged for me to recharge my urns at the local hotel.
6201 1654 Seascale – Carnforth
85018 1859 Carnforth – Euston
A pretty exhausting day out, but fun.

Thursday 25/08/83
At York, there was a guard by the name of Francis Kline, who was well known to the bashers, as he was an absolute stickler for doing everything “by the book”. That evening, he was working a York to Leeds local train when he found an abandoned briefcase on one of the seats. Most guards would just pick it up, and hand it in at their terminating station: not Mr Kline. He immediately decided (instinctively) that it must be a bomb, so when the DMU pulled into Ulleskelf station he evacuated the train, warned the driver and signalman, and the railway was closed pending the arrival of the bomb squad! That was going to take several hours, so trains between York and Leeds were diverted via Selby (the direct line still being open at this stage). I decided to go for a trip, for the novelty value:
45023 1710 York – Leeds via Selby
45148 1801 Leeds – York via Selby
Most importantly, the Scarborough Spa Express was running that day, so if the bomb squad hadn’t sorted out the mess in time, that too would get diverted – which was unusual track for steam (only very limited routes being available for steam traction in this era).
777 1858 York – York via Selby, Leeds, Harrogate
My first – and only – run with steam over the direct York – Selby line, which closed permanently later that year. There were several occasions when my heart sank when I saw Mr Kline approaching a train, but this time I had every reason to thank him.

Sunday 25/08/85
86433 0232 Carlisle – Preston
47xxx (+86433 dead) 04xx Preston – Crewe via Bolton, Manchester Victoria, Denton Jn, Stockport
86433 06xx Crewe – Euston via Bushbury, Bescot, Stechford
I had a bit of time to waste before my boat train from Victoria, so did the usual Gatwick fill-in:
73103 0945 Victoria – Gatwick Airport
73127 1020 Gatwick Airport – Victoria
1531 + 1542 1130 Victoria – Dover Western Docks
… and off to Europe for a couple of weeks, including the 150th Anniversary celebrations in both East and West Germany (although in East Germany its main title was “40 years anniversary of the railway in the People’s hands”).

Tuesday 25/08/87
47449 1135 Crewe – Shrewsbury
47444 1514 Shrewsbury – Crewe
I think this was a journey to visit some friends in Shrewsbury. It certainly wasn’t for the motive power.

Friday 25/08/89
81009 0346 Crewe – Euston
Worked at Paddington all day, then found a different way of getting back to Crewe:
47827 1823 Paddington – Bristol Parkway
31460 2036 Bristol Parkway – Wolverhampton
310 060 2312 Wolverhampton – Stafford
86259 2343 Stafford – Crewe
I needed the 31, and was quietly hopeful the Lickey Bankers might get involved if the Goyle was feeling poorly, but it was only load 6.

Wednesday 25/08/99
33103 1808 Barking – Gospel Oak
The 33 + 3TC set was on short term hire due to a shortage of serviceable 150 units.

Friday 25/08/00
My bosses in Doncaster decided they needed me to attend there on a Friday. Cheers.
43129 + 43169 0658 Reading – Paddington
91029 0800 Kings Cross – Peterborough
I alighted at Peterborough to have another trip with the North of London Eurostar sets, on hire to GNER:
3303 + 3304 0849 Peterborough – Newark Northgate (Terminated).
The ECML service was in uproar following the derailment of the Wisbech – Deanside dogfood train at Hambleton overnight.
91016 0941 Newark Northgate – Doncaster (0820 Kings Cross – Leeds making special stops)
43167 + 43096 1400 Doncaster – Kings Cross (0800 from Aberdeen making special stops)
Just to cap the day, my train back from Paddington was on half power, with 43036 shut down:
43141 + 43036 (dead) 1703 Paddington – Reading
Not a classic day out.

 

[D6130]

MONDAY 25th AUGUST 1975:

Day 2 of my Yorkshire Ranger ticket:

E56398/50252 Stockton-York via Northallerton station
55 019 York-Doncaster
E50017/56036 Doncaster-Cleethorpes
47 216 Cleethorpes-Barnetby (the cursed loco - later to become 47 299 - but all was fine on this day!)
E56023/50002 Barnetby-Doncaster
E50013/56039 Doncaster-York
47 549 York-Leeds
47 523 Leeds-Bradford Exchange
E52076/59814/52071 Bradford Exchange-Leeds
E50271/56092/56191/50616 Leeds-York via Harrogate
46 053 York-Darlington
E50294/56062 Darlington-Thornaby

 

[The exile]

Certainly of interest to me, and I suspect quite a few others.

Seconded!

 

[xotGD]

25th August 1982

31209 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N04

Well that's better than an ETH Duff!

25th August 1984

37277 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N35
47095 Newcastle - Durham 1M76
37123 Durham - Newcastle 1E33

277 was another of those that was a monster at the time but was tamed when it had an ETH box fitted and became 37415. Here it is at the Toon:

Class37.co.uk

And here is 123:

Class37.co.uk

It seems that 37212 was on the ex-Yarmouth that day but was removed at York. Boo!

25th August 1988

IIRC our train was routed into a bay platform at Perth, so alternative traction was required to shunt our portion onto the back of the portion from Edinburgh:

08762 Perth - Perth 1L71
47649 Perth - Pitlochry 1H01

A desperate place to bale in the middle of the night!

47595 Pitlochry - Queen St 1T04
37410 Queen St - Tulloch 1Y01
37403 Tulloch - Queen St 1T18
37405 Dumbarton C - Queen St 1T28
37402 Queen St - Rannoch 1Y23
37425 Rannoch - Queen St 1D15
47430 Queen St - Perth 1L71

Back to where we started the day!

25th August 2001

A day out on an ADEX:

47759 Leicester - Carlisle via Nuneaton and S&C
47759 Carlisle - Crewe
47727 Crewe - Leicester via Nuneaton

This is the final entry in my moves book. I do have a few more days out recorded in rough in a notebook that I fortunately still have, but I think the fact that I couldn't be bothered to record them properly was telling.

 

[NorthWestRover]

I will be doing the Ned leap from Stalybridge to Man Vic tomorrow evening, all things being equal.

68026 - not required so a few miles added. I had it on 28th August 2019 from Man Vic to Lime St and Lime St to Leeds.

 

[SteveM70]

Unit leap to Dean Lane and back for some reason

Having a look at what was hanging around Red Bank and/or Newton Heath?

 

[NorthWestRover]

Maybe. Somewhat bizarrely, I will be using Newton Heath & Moston Metrolink stop later tonight. This effectively replaced Dean Lane.

 

[CW2]

68026 - not required so a few miles added. I had it on 28th August 2019 from Man Vic to Lime St and Lime St to Leeds.

You must have joined as I alighted!
Shortly after I arrived in the bar at Stalybridge, a party of retired BR staff arrived, including former Area Manager Salisbury Gerry Daniels, on whose steam specials I enjoyed riding many years ago. One of the others was a GP Relief signaller at Euston, who I had worked with many years ago. We had a good reminisce for half an hour before I had to rush for my train.

 

[NorthWestRover]

I joined in the very back Standard Class coach. After having a pint in the buffet bar (or outside to be accurate). Cash only!

 

[CW2]

Friday 26/08/83
I’m working in the offices in York, and I’m lined up for a week All Line Rover starting at midnight. However I get wind of some interesting locos about, so I decide I’d start my travels half a day early:
40004 1331 York – Scarborough
40004 1500 Scarborough – Leeds
31404 1638 Leeds – York
On the 4-track section north of Church Fenton, I realised our 31 was overtaking a train on the Sheffield line. (Frankly, it’s pretty rare for a Goyle to overtake anything). Rather unexpectedly, 37024 was on load 12 air-cons on the late-running Poole – Newcastle. No wonder it was struggling a bit. We arrived at York first behind 31404, so I had plenty of time to stroll across and claim my first required 37 of the day:
37024 1650 York – Darlington
47519 1832 Darlington – York (loco hauled vice HST)
Then the anticipated main event, my second required 37 of the day:
37127 1949 York – Bristol Temple Meads (Relief) via Moorthorpe, Sheffield, New Street. Gloucester avoider
A tidy high-mileage way to start the rover holiday week.

Friday 26/08/88
90003 1638 Crewe – Glasgow Central
I met a friend and went for a drink with him, then he learned that 26021 (which he required but I didn’t) was working a Carstairs – Edinburgh portion. We dashed back to Glasgow Central station but missed the last train that would get us to Carstairs in time, so instead took a DMU to Shotts for a taxi to Carstairs. (I christened this the “Shotts in the Dark” move).
DMU Glasgow Central – Shotts
Taxi Shotts – Carstairs
26021 2216 Carstairs – Edinburgh
47635 2314 Edinburgh – Carstairs

 

[NorthWestRover]

Thursday 26th August 1982

More North Wales Coast 40 bashing...

Unit WBQ to Newton-le-Willows
40184 Newton-le-Willows to Prestatyn, 1D29 10.45 Man Vic to Holyhead
40106 Prestatyn to Man Vic, 1J30 11.57 Bangor to Man Vic
2 x Class 504 units from Man Vic to Heaton Park and back on the Bury service
40106 Man Vic to Llandudno J, 1D21 15.45 Man Vic to Bangor
40181 Llandudno J to Rhyl, 1G12 18.10 Llandudno to Birmingham
Unit back to Llandudno J
40106 Llandudno J to WBQ, 1J31 19.25 Bangor to Man Vic

This was the first of three consecutive days that 106 was on the classic Bangor diagram.

Monday 26th August 1985

Interrail from Munich to Rome.

Tuesday 26th August 1986

Goyles all the way...

31417 Warrington C to Sheffield, 1E34 08.45 Lime St to Sheffield
31417 Sheffield to Warrington C, 1M30 11.22 Sheffield to Lime St
31452 Warrington C to Lime St, 1M31 08.15 Yarmouth to Lime St
31452 Lime St to Sheffield, 1E47 15.45 Lime St to Hull
31453 Sheffield to Warrington C, 1M61 19.22 Sheffield to Lime St

Notebook says "Silly bloody tree on line - no more comment". Well, I've no idea where it was or the implications, but I was obviously annoyed on the day...

Monday 26th August 1991

Return trip after my daughter's first train trips....

158777 Warrington C to Man Picc (Lime St to Harwich Parkeston Quay service)
47837 Man Picc to Oxford (via Stoke, Birmingham and Worcester!!), 1O?? 15.18 Man Picc to Poole

 

[D6130]

TUESDAY 26th AUGUST 1975:

Yorkshire Ranger day 3:

E50252/56398 Stockton-York via Northallerton station
55 020 York-Doncaster
E50282/56??? Doncaster-Sheffield
E51433/51500 Sheffield-Huddersfield via Nunnery CS (reverse) and Deepcar
E51955/51968/59777/59771/51977/51959 Huddersfield-Leeds
E52069/59812/52077 Leeds-Todmorden via Bradford Exchange (reverse)
E51544/59536/50593 Todmorden-Leeds via Bradford Exchange (reverse)
E50612/56209 Leeds-Ilkley
E56209/50612 Ilkley-Leeds
E50266/59306/59082/50168 Leeds-Micklefield
E50575/59211/59234/50554 Micklefield-York
45 004 York-Darlington
E56057/ 56??? Darlington-Eaglescliffe

SATURDAY 26th AUGUST 1978:

7394/7049/7386 Petersfield-Portsmouth Harbour (10 50 ex Waterloo)
31 158 Portsmouth Harbour-Southampton (12 56 to Bristol TM)
47 150 Southampton-Salisbury via Chandlers Ford (12 24 Weymouth-Cardiff Central)
33 065 + 33 028 Salisbury-Havant (13 55 Exeter St Davids-Brighton)
7390/7052 Havant-Petersfield (17 05 Portsmouth Harbour-Waterloo)

WEDNESDAY 26th AUGUST 1981:

Invited evening office outing on the prototype two car 'Pacer' unit during its tour of Scotland....a horrendous portent of what was to come South of the border!:

051 Hyndland-Glasgow QS LL
034 Glasgow QS LL-Hyndland
028 Hyndland-Glasgow Central LL
140 001 Glasgow Central HL-Largs
140 001 Largs-Glasgow Central HL
314 209 Glasgow Central LL-Hyndland

 

[xotGD]

26th August 1982

46029 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N04

As can be seen, this turn was a Gateshead chuck-our random loco generator. Worth getting out of bed in the summer to catch a bus at around 07:15 to get to the Central for the 08:02 to Sunderland to catch it. Some mornings, anyway.

26th August 1988

Final day of the Freedom of Scotland:

47595 Perth - Pitlochry 1H01 (Yes, we baled there again!)
47524 Pitlochry - Stirling 1T04
37403 Stirling - Queen St 1T04
37424 Queen St - Tulloch 1Y01
37406 Tulloch - Dumbarton C 1T18
37405 Dumbarton C - Crianlarich 1Y13
37404 Crianlarich - Queen St 1T28

At this point I started heading for home. Meanwhile my mate decided to stay for a bit more Syphon action, planning to do an overnight to Carlisle for the first unit back across the Tyne Valley the next morning. He fell asleep and ended up in Preston. I guess it reduced the fester at Carlisle.

47706 Queen St - Waverley 1O42
47715 Haymarket - Waverley 1O44
31320 Berwick - Newcastle 2K23

Home to a hot meal, hot bath and bed!

26th August 1989

47436 Leicester - New St

Returning from footy? Can't remember.

 

[Falcon1200]

Friday 26th August 1983

33003 1246 Portsmouth H-Leeds (Oxford-B'ham NS)
86313 1733 B'Ham NS-Liverpool (to Wolverhampton)
86311 1320 Glasgow C-Paddington (Wolverhampton-B'ham NS)
46010 1703 Bristol TM-Derby (from B'ham NS)
86103 2120 B'ham NS-Liverpool
47143 2335 Liverpool-Penzance (to Crewe)

 

[NorthWestRover]

Addendum

Monday 26th August 2019

I missed this cos I've not been checking my post 2018 moves. However, there was a loco on this day, the second day of a North West Rover used for a combination of days out and some railway stuff.

195116 Wigan NW to Grange-over-Sands
156480 Grange to Arnside
195119 Arnside to Carnforth
150134 Carnforth to Skipton
333013 Skipton to Leeds
185106 Leeds to Man Picc
67010 Man Picc to Chester (the afternoon diagram obviously)
158832 Chester to WBQ
390123 WBQ to Wigan NW

 

[NorthWestRover]

Friday 27th August 1982

Looks like I fancied a change of scenery...

40184 WBQ to Man Vic, 1J10 07.09 Bangor to Man Vic
40170 Man Vic to Preston, 1P10 09.45 Man Vic to Blackpool
40060 Preston to Blackpool, 1P18 08.00 Euston to Blackpool
40170 Blackpool to Man Vic, 2J64 12.37 Blackpool to Man Vic
40106 Man Vic to WBQ, 1D21 15.45 Man Vic to Bangor
87011 WBQ to Preston, 1P63 14.00 Euston to Carlisle
Unit Preston to Chorley
47357 (hmm) Chorley to Blackpool, 2P64 17.15 Man Vic to Blackpool
40060 Blackpool to Preston, 1K33 18.40 Blackpool to Crewe
86261 Preston to Wigan, 1K33
85038 Wigan to Preston, 1P19 19.12 Crewe to Barrow
85018 Preston to WBQ, 1M47 17.50 Glasgow to Birmingham
40106 WBQ to Man Vic, 1J31 19.25 Bangor to Man Vic
40184 Man Vic to WBQ, 1D77 22.40 Man Vic to Holyhead

Not too shabby a day before returning to the North Wales Coast the following day for an absolute belter of a day.

Tuesday 27th August 1985

Interrail Rome to Innsbruck

Wednesday 27th August 1986

Coasts and Peaks continued..

86237 WBQ to Crewe, 1M33 07.20 Glasgow to Birmingham
37800 (with 33057 for EH) Crewe to Holyhead, 1D27 11.16 Crewe to Holyhead
37800 (with 33057 for EH) Holyhead to Crewe, 1V09 14.08 Holyhead to Cardiff
It appears that 37800 did this the previous week too. It was the last time I had a 37 until 2018 when I did the Cumbrian Coast.
86242 Crewe to Lime St, 1F33 14.30 Euston to Lime St
31453 Lime St to Stockport, 1E57 17.45 Lime St to Hull
31459 Stockport to Warrington C, 1M61 19.22 Sheffield to Lime St

Thursday 27th August 1987

What would turn out to be my last visit to my girlfriend in Slough. We lasted a couple more months in our last year at Poly.

86224 WBQ to Euston
50004 Paddington to Slough

Thursday 27th August 1992

Return from training course...

EMU Virginia Water to Reading
47831 Reading to Oxford

 

[Falcon1200]

Saturday 27th August 1983

86245 0045 Crewe-Manchester
31126 0210 Manchester-Cleethorpes (to Lincoln)
45015 (!) 0732 Sheffield-Skegness (to Rotherham)
47223 0729 Bradford-Weymouth (Rotherham-Sheffield)
40013 0804 Manchester-Skegness (Sheffield-Retford)
47266 0815 Manchester-Yarmouth (Retford-Peterborough)
31200 0815 Leeds-Yarmouth (Peterborough-Norwich)
31233 ditto (Norwich-Yarmouth)
37174 1434 Yarmouth-Manchester (to Norwich)
37184 1536 Norwich-Liverpool St
47534 1945 Paddington-Wolverhampton (to Oxford)

 

[CW2]

Saturday 27th August 1983

37174 1434 Yarmouth-Manchester (to Norwich)
37184 1536 Norwich-Liverpool St

We were on the same train again - see below:

Monday 27/08/79
40149 0940 Manchester Victoria – Warrington Bank Quay
86238 1029 Warrington Bank Quay – Preston
This re-engined to 47421, but there was something much better waiting to take over a Watford – Blackpool charter:
40026 1142 Preston – Blackpool North
This was delayed 40 minutes en route, as 47421 failed in front of us. I didn’t note how it was resolved.
DMU Blackpool North – Manchester Victoria … and back to work.

Wednesday 27/08/80
40161 2015 Kings Cross – Edinburgh Waverley
One of those evenings when the right loco drops on the right train. Superb.

Thursday 27/08/81
I’d had an operation on my foot and had some time off to recover. I decided to visit my parents in Plymouth. Obviously, the best way for an invalid to travel long distances was in the seats of an overnight train, struggling to stay awake to record the route and hear the loco(s):
50020 2359 Paddington – Plymouth via Bristol Temple Meads
31260 04xx pilot Newton Abbot – Plymouth

Saturday 27/08/83
Having arrived at Bristol Temple Meads before midnight off the relief from York with 37127, there were various moves available towards the West Country, but I wanted to head for London, so the fester at Bristol was quite lengthy.
50045 0335 Bristol Temple Meads – Paddington
37053 0852 Liverpool Street – Norwich
37174 1305 Norwich – Great Yarmouth and 1434 return
Back at Norwich I had the choice of returning directly to London via Ipswich or taking the “scenic” route via Cambridge. I chose the latter, but this was a poor choice as 37184 was defective, and couldn’t get out of first stage of power. That meant it would rev up then cut out again, rev up then cut out again, rev up then cut out again, all the (slow, long) way to London.
37184 1536 Norwich – Liverpool Street via Cambridge
Having ticked off “South West” and “East Anglia” it was now time for “Scotland”.
85024 2035 Euston - Crewe

Saturday 27/08/88
85019 0016 Carstairs – Crewe
86238 0510 Crewe – Birmingham New Street
37684 + 37677 0620 Birmingham New Street – Shrewsbury
37427 0743 Shrewsbury – Crewe
85005 0831 Crewe – Birmingham New Street 75’ late due to signalling issues
50026 1030 Birmingham New Street – Exeter St Davids 35 -> 10’ late, excellent clear run, without excessive speeding.
47611 1314 Exeter St Davids – Taunton
31422 + 31414 1412 Taunton – Exeter St Davids
31437 + 31465 1536 Exeter St Davids – Birmingham New Street
85015 1823 Birmingham New Street – Crewe
A fine selection of locos on some quite long-distance runs. 31437 was the only one I scored all day.

 

[xotGD]

27th August 1982

These 5p moves are getting better...

37090 Sunderland - Newcastle 1N04

So in the same week, 1N04 produced 40061, 47429, 31209, 46029 and 37090.

27th August 1983

37100 Newcastle - Darlington 1E28
45040 Darlington - Newcastle 1E79
47359 Durham - Newcastle 1N13

37100 was a big Gateshead loco at the time. One of its works plates resides in my house. However., I'm not allowed to put it up on the wall for some reason. Obtained legitimately, just in case anyone was wondering!

 

[D6130]

WEDNESDAY 27th AUGUST 1975:

Day 4 of my Yorkshire Ranger ticket:

E50139/51211 Thornaby-Darlington
E51230/56219 Darlington-York
E50554/59234/59211/50575 York-Leeds
47 461 Leeds-Wakefield Westgate
E51482/56387 Wakefield Westgate-Huddersfield via Wakefield Kirkgate (reverse)
45 041 Huddersfield-Leeds
45 020 Leeds-Settle
45 014 Settle-Leeds
E51833/59813/51820 Leeds-Sheffield via Normanton and Barnsley
M50943/52045 Sheffield-Penistone via Nunnery Sidings (reverse) and Deepcar
E51440/51512 Penistone-Sheffield via Deepcar and Nunnery Sidings (reverse)
47 488 Sheffield-Darlington via Cudworth, Normanton and Castleford
E50184/59070/50212 Darlington-Eaglescliffe

 

[barrowjack]

27/08/1986
ADEX from Barrow to Dundee and Perth. Having been to Perth a couple years earlier, I junped at the chance to go back on a day excursion from home, whilst hoping for some decent traction especially in Scotland.

47638 Barrow In Furness - Lancaster (Not a good start)
85021 Lancaster - Mossend Yard (Only highlight of the day)
47483 Mossend Yard - Dundee (Not what I was hoping for )
47483 Dundee - Perth (Schoolboy error 1 should have baled at Dundee and got a service train to Perth)
47483 Perth - Mossend Yard
86258 Mossend Yard - Lancaster (YUK Talycan - could at least have kept the Roarer to go back on)
47638 Lancaster - Barrow In Furness

Good trip despite the disappointing by the haulages!

 

[xotGD]

27/08/1986
ADEX from Barrow to Dundee and Perth. Having been to Perth a couple years earlier, I junped at the chance to go back on a day excursion from home, whilst hoping for some decent traction especially in Scotland.

47638 Barrow In Furness - Lancaster (Not a good start)
85021 Lancaster - Mossend Yard (Only highlight of the day)
47483 Mossend Yard - Dundee (Not what I was hoping for )
47483 Dundee - Perth (Schoolboy error 1 should have baled at Dundee and got a service train to Perth)
47483 Perth - Mossend Yard
86258 Mossend Yard - Lancaster (YUK Talycan - could at least have kept the Roarer to go back on)
47638 Lancaster - Barrow In Furness

Good trip despite the disappointing by the haulages!

Well at least you had the Roarer.

Shockingly desperate otherwise.

 

[CW2]

Tuesday 28/08/79
I was working early shift in Manchester Victoria station buffet this week, so the obvious move was the Afternoon Bangor:
40165 1540 Manchester Victoria – Colwyn Bay
40127 1829 Colwyn Bay – Rhyl
40025 1857 Rhyl – Eccles
At Eccles I was persuaded to visit some thoroughly disreputable pubs, as my mate was keen on Holt’s beer. There might have been some sort of promotion involved. The beer was cheap, and very efficient both as a battery acid and an emetic!
40165 2207 Eccles – Manchester Victoria

Thursday 28/08/80
Having arrived at Edinburgh Waverley at some ungodly hour behind 40161 (all the way from Kings Cross), my sleep-deprived brain was befuddled even further when I spotted another 40 on the 0435 to Glasgow Queen Street:
40067 0435 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk Grahamston
This train was partly a hangover from when the Fort William sleeper ran from Kings Cross, and partly served as a way of distributing newspapers printed in Edinburgh.
47120 0740 Glasgow Queen Street – Dundee
27033 banker to Cowlairs
I wouldn’t normally have taken the 47 on the Glasgow – Aberdeen service, but I had to get to Dundee to cover the 0912 to Kings Cross, so I had no choice:
55004 0912 Dundee – Edinburgh Waverley
Here, my luck was in again:
40124 1325 Edinburgh – York
55021 1811 York – Kings Cross
In a shade over 24 hours I had done Kings Cross – Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh – York with 40s, and Dundee - Edinburgh and York - Kings Cross with Deltics. That’s a rate of return that anybody could be proud to have managed.

Sunday 28/08/83
I had arrived at Crewe on my All Line Rover, and I wanted to head north. Just then the 2135 Euston – Inverness Sleepers Only pulled in behind 87018. There was an unscheduled FO attached right behind the loco, and it was unlocked, so I boarded and got my head down, with my personal coach right behind the loco.
87018 0009 Crewe – Mossend
I had intended alighting at Stirling or Perth, but when I awoke the loud strumming in front of me indicated a 47 working hard on steep gradients. We were well north of Perth, on the climb to Drumochter. Aargh! That overdoss has basically wasted me an entire day of my rover.
Arrival at Inverness was punctual. I’d checked the timetables, and there was nothing of interest moving for hours. The summer only Sunday train to Kyle was timetabled to run for the last time the previous weekend. Whatever else moved from Inverness that day would have the numbers 47 prominent. I went to purchase a big Sunday newspaper to console myself. In the background I could hear some slamming of doors and general getting-ready-for-departure noises. My eye caught a locally-produced notice, stating the operating period of the Sundays Only Kyle train had been extended by a few weeks. Salvation! But it is already being whistled away. Grabbing my belongings, I hurtled across the concourse and boarded the rear coach of the 0930 to Kyle as it pulled away. Phew, made it. I staggered breathlessly through 7 coaches to the front, where a class 37 was making all the important noises. Poking my head out of the front window, I identified 37179. Not only had I found a way out of Inverness for the day, but I’d just scored a required NB 37 to Kyle!
37179 0930 Inverness – Kyle of Lochalsh
37179 1410 Kyle of Lochalsh – Inverness
Well that was an excellent day out. Sadly, after that, it all turned a bit mouldy:
47550 1730 Inverness – Kirkcaldy
47273 2134 Kirkcaldy – Edinburgh
Obviously whatever took over to work to Kings Cross didn’t appeal, so I settled for another West Coast overnight:
47578 2306 Edinburgh – Carstairs

Tuesday 28/08/84
37108 1220 Glasgow Queen Street – Crianlarich
37027 1410 Crianlarich – Glasgow Queen Street
27211 1730 Glasgow Central – Kirkconnel
26015 1850 Kirkconnel – Glasgow Central

Thursday 28/08/86
In August each year certain key members of the Haymarket DMU maintenance team would take their annual holidays, and within a few days (or even hours) the place would begin a gentle collapse, providing insufficient working DMUs for traffic. Since this period often coincided with the Fife colliery holidays, this meant there were locos sitting spare in Fife. So some little-used Mk 1 coaches would be dredged from the back roads of Craigentinny, and pressed into service on the Edinburgh – Kirkcaldy stoppers, powered by whatever locos were sitting around spare. After work, knowing that required 26011 was working, I went across to try to bag it:
47714 1430 Glasgow Queen Street – Haymarket
47633 1523 Haymarket – Kirkcaldy
My intention at Kirkcaldy was to pick up required 26011 on the 1631 Kirkcaldy – Edinburgh, job done. Not so fast! 26011 failed on the incoming working, limped into the sidings at Kirkcaldy, and shut down. Cheers then. (I never did get 26011, after several attempts). My only alternative to get out of the place would be the 1530 Dundee – Edinburgh, which was booked a DMU. Unknown to me, that had also collapsed, and had been made loco and stock:
20221 + 20208 1620 Kirkcaldy – Edinburgh
From Kirkcaldy, this ran in the path of the cancelled 1631 Kirkcaldy – Edinburgh, calling at all stations, thus causing the (unique?) occurrence of (loco and stock vice DMU) vice (loco and stock vice DMU)!
47714 1730 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street
(Alas I couldn’t hang about to see what was happening in the rush hour, as my wife was alone at home with our 1-month old son, so I needed to go home ASAP).

Monday 28/08/89
There was a partial engineering block on the WCML between Crewe and Warrington Bank Quay, with some trains being diverted and others using single line working:
47145 1146 Crewe – Warrington Bank Quay via Chester triangle
47574 1312 Warrington Bank Quay – Crewe, ran wrong line over the Down Main Line Acton Grange Junction to Hartford Junction.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 28th August 1982

Summer Saturday. North Wales Coast. It would be rude not to...

40106 WBQ to Rhyl, 1D34 07.45 Man Vic to Bangor
40092 Rhyl to Chester, 1E86 09.00 Llandudno to York
Unit to Helsby
40167 Helsby to Chester, 1D35 09.45 Man Vic to Bangor
Failed, so...
40008 Chester to Flint, 1D35 09.45 Man Vic to Bangor
40184 Flint to Prestatyn, 1D29 10.45 Man Vic to Holyhead
40027 Prestatyn to Llandudno Junc, 1M71 09.00 York to Llandudno
40162 Llandudno Junc to Crewe, 1A56 12.59 Holyhead to Euston
40085 Crewe to Chester, 1D60 14.00 Euston to Holyhead
40184 Chester to Newton-Le-Willows, 1J53 15.17 Holyhead to Man Vic
40008 Newton-le-Willows to Prestatyn, 1D65 Man Vic to Llandudno Junc
40106 Prestatyn to WBQ, 1J31 19.25 Bangor to Man Vic

A truly crazy day. There were so many 40s out on passenger workings and I didn't even have all of those on the coast. Looking at Motherlist, there were 40s on the Manchester to Skeg and the Manchester to Yarmouth, the Blackpool to Newcastle and the Newcastle to Blackpool (2 different 40s), Manchester to Scarborough and back (one diagram), Scarborough to Newcastle and York to Man Vic (one diagram), Blackpool to Man Vic and Blackpool portions, 012 went Scarborough to King's Cross (!) and Kings Cross to Newcastle, 033 went Aberdeen to Inverness and back, then to Newcastle having worked up from Newcastle the previous night(!!!), another on Leeds to Blackpool and return (one diagram), one on Carstairs portion.

What on earth was going on? Did all the controllers decide to break a record? I can't imagine as many 40s worked as many passenger trains on a single day ever again.

Thursday 28th August 1986

Coasts and Peaks...

31159 Warrington C to Stockport, 1E34 08.45 Lime St to Sheffield
31457 Stockport to Oxford Road, 1M19 07.12 Cleethorpes to Lime St
31189 (required) Oxford Road to Man Picc (lol) 1E68 09.45 Lime St to Hull
I assume it failed cos...
47518 (yuk) Manchester Picc to Sheffield, 1E68
31117 (required) Sheffield to Man Picc, 1M44 Hull to Lime St
47545 (yuk) Man Picc to Hereford, 1V07 13.45 Man Picc to Cardiff

I was spending an overnight in Hereford with two friends from Poly before we went to different places on our year abroad as part of our Languages degree. A good evening to be followed by a silly incident the following day...

Wednesday 28th August 2019

I was doing a North West Rover this week, mainly day tripping, ticking off some units too, but today I decided to go for the new 68 diagram on the Transpennine route.

195102 Wigan NW to Man Picc
185106 Man Picc to Man Vic
150117 Man Vic to Leeds (via Halifax)
Oh dear, the 68 diagram is showing as 3 coaches...
185142 Leeds to Man Vic
Oh, on train announcements that train is terminating at Man Vic and passengers for Liverpool are to change on to a new service...
Aha, screens at Vic show it as 5 coaches...
68026 Man Vic to Lime St
68026 Lime St to Leeds
That was OK in the end
150117 Leeds to Bradford Interchange
158797 Bradford Interchange to Halifax
142026 Halifax to Huddersfield
Head of Steam
185102 Huddersfield to Man Vic
150211 Man Vic to Wigan NW

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Monday 28th August 1978

11.16 Tyndrum Upper to Mallaig (08.36 from Glasgow Queen St)
Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy 20089
Bridge of Orchy to Fort William 20116+20089
Fort William to Mallaig 20036

16.00 Mallaig to Fort William 20036 (a class 27 worked this train forward to Glasgow)

(On the same day 16.25 Fort William to Mallaig (and 18.45 return) worked by one of 20116 or 20089 (my notes don't record which, but class 20s were less unusual on this particular working))

Tuesday 28th August 1979
11.16 Tyndrum Upper to Mallaig
Tyndrum to Fort William 25239
Fort William to Mallaig 27017

 

[CW2]

Saturday 28th August 1982

<snip>

"A truly crazy day. There were so many 40s out on passenger workings and I didn't even have all of those on the coast. Looking at Motherlist, there were 40s on the Manchester to Skeg and the Manchester to Yarmouth, the Blackpool to Newcastle and the Newcastle to Blackpool (2 different 40s), Manchester to Scarborough and back (one diagram), Scarborough to Newcastle and York to Man Vic (one diagram), Blackpool to Man Vic and Blackpool portions, 012 went Scarborough to King's Cross (!) and Kings Cross to Newcastle, 033 went Aberdeen to Inverness and back, then to Newcastle having worked up from Newcastle the previous night(!!!), another on Leeds to Blackpool and return (one diagram), one on Carstairs portion.

What on earth was going on? Did all the controllers decide to break a record? I can't imagine as many 40s worked as many passenger trains on a single day ever again."

I think summer 1982 was probably a high water mark for 40s on passenger trains, as most of the fleet were still in service, and they were ideal locos to trundle around on freights during the week then have a run to the seaside at weekends.
For me personally it was a quiet summer on the railway front as I was busy elsewhere. My girlfriend graduated, we got married, went on a trip around Europe as a honeymoon, then got appointed to a new job in York, so had to find new digs, and arrange a house move. The result was a huge blank in my UK moves book for most of summer 1982, with only a few trips later in the year. So i look on with envy at moves like this.

Monday 28th August 1978

11.16 Tyndrum Upper to Mallaig (08.36 from Glasgow Queen St)
Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy 20089
Bridge of Orchy to Fort William 20116+20089
Fort William to Mallaig 20036

16.00 Mallaig to Fort William 20036 (a class 27 worked this train forward to Glasgow)

(On the same day 16.25 Fort William to Mallaig (and 18.45 return) worked by one of 20116 or 20089 (my notes don't record which, but class 20s were less unusual on this particular working))

I was aware of single class 20s operating Fort William - Mallaig on occasion, but a single one out of Queen Street must have been pretty rare.