Well I suppose we should be glad the Caledonian Sleepers still exist, as they continue to provide some entertainment with their 66 + 73 combinations, but it's not quite the same as having a full-sized train with a pair of random 37s on it.
Anyway, back to the tales:
Friday 07/11/80
I was heading north to visit a friend in Edinburgh. There wasn’t anything on offer of interest at Kings Cross, so I headed out of Euston:
86002 2055 Euston – Crewe
That’s enough 86 mileage thanks very much. I alighted at Crewe in the hope of something better …
Friday 07/11/86
While I was at work in Glasgow Control, I overheard some of the problems occurring on the West Highland Line. There was no class 37 to work the 1220 Glasgow Queen Street – Oban, so 27046 was turned out for the train. 27s on the West Highland Line on passenger were very rare by this time, so I looked forward to having a run later in the day on its return from Oban. Alas, it wasn’t to be – it failed at Helensburgh on the way north. Thus:
37406 1650 Glasgow Queen Street – Crianlarich
37133 (+27046 dead) 1911 Crianlarich – Glasgow Queen Street
Saturday 07/11/92
37403 0337 Edinburgh – Fort William via Falkirk High, Cowlairs Curve, Westerton
… and onto the steam tour …
2005 1336 Fort William – Edinburgh via Westerton, Cowlairs Curve, Falkirk High
37406 1839 Craigendoran – Edinburgh, piloting 2005
This was an SRPS railtour, and I had booked a meal with them, vegetarian option. Alas, the order got lost, so the waiting staff / chef had to improvise. In the end I had my three course meal, just served in reverse order, with the dessert course first, followed by the main course, and finishing with the soup!. Whilst all this was going on, 2005 was making extremely heavy weather of the climb to Glen Douglas, taking about 2 hours and 4 attempts to get to the summit (and completely destroying the train service in the process). So I remember this tour as being the one in which I had a meal served backwards whilst the train was going backwards, as we kept reversing down the hill for another try! 37406 was attached as pilot loco at Craigendoran Junction, with 2005 in light steam only from there. 118’ late into Edinburgh.
Sunday 07/11/93
After a night in Inverness, it was time to come out for the railtour with 44871 to deliver it to Aviemore. The first surprise of the day was seeing the HST on the 0945 to Kings Cross was being piloted by 37175, as 43109 was shut down. (It seemed to be working OK the previous evening!).
44871 0950 Inverness – Aviemore
At Aviemore a special had been arranged with Caledonian Railway 828:
828 1130 Aviemore Speyside – Boat of Garten
828 1230 Boat of Garten – Aviemore Speyside
37431 was lined up to work our special back to Inverness. As we waited there, an Inter City Land Cruise came through southbound, with the immaculate set of Mk 1s in Inter City Livery. To our surprise, there were also a couple of Inter City liveried 37s hauling the train, namely 37683 + 37685 off the sleepers. I believe this was at the request of the organiser, so as to have a uniform liveried train – and very smart it was too. It was good news for us too, as that meant we were guaranteed to get a “proper” pair of 37s on the southbound overnight:
37431 1330 Aviemore – Inverness
… and so it proved …
37251 + 37170 2020 Inverness – Edinburgh via Stirling
(Monday 08/11/93)
87026 0131 Edinburgh – Euston (via Carstairs avoider)
Anyway, back to the tales:
Friday 07/11/80
I was heading north to visit a friend in Edinburgh. There wasn’t anything on offer of interest at Kings Cross, so I headed out of Euston:
86002 2055 Euston – Crewe
That’s enough 86 mileage thanks very much. I alighted at Crewe in the hope of something better …
Friday 07/11/86
While I was at work in Glasgow Control, I overheard some of the problems occurring on the West Highland Line. There was no class 37 to work the 1220 Glasgow Queen Street – Oban, so 27046 was turned out for the train. 27s on the West Highland Line on passenger were very rare by this time, so I looked forward to having a run later in the day on its return from Oban. Alas, it wasn’t to be – it failed at Helensburgh on the way north. Thus:
37406 1650 Glasgow Queen Street – Crianlarich
37133 (+27046 dead) 1911 Crianlarich – Glasgow Queen Street
Saturday 07/11/92
37403 0337 Edinburgh – Fort William via Falkirk High, Cowlairs Curve, Westerton
… and onto the steam tour …
2005 1336 Fort William – Edinburgh via Westerton, Cowlairs Curve, Falkirk High
37406 1839 Craigendoran – Edinburgh, piloting 2005
This was an SRPS railtour, and I had booked a meal with them, vegetarian option. Alas, the order got lost, so the waiting staff / chef had to improvise. In the end I had my three course meal, just served in reverse order, with the dessert course first, followed by the main course, and finishing with the soup!. Whilst all this was going on, 2005 was making extremely heavy weather of the climb to Glen Douglas, taking about 2 hours and 4 attempts to get to the summit (and completely destroying the train service in the process). So I remember this tour as being the one in which I had a meal served backwards whilst the train was going backwards, as we kept reversing down the hill for another try! 37406 was attached as pilot loco at Craigendoran Junction, with 2005 in light steam only from there. 118’ late into Edinburgh.
Sunday 07/11/93
After a night in Inverness, it was time to come out for the railtour with 44871 to deliver it to Aviemore. The first surprise of the day was seeing the HST on the 0945 to Kings Cross was being piloted by 37175, as 43109 was shut down. (It seemed to be working OK the previous evening!).
44871 0950 Inverness – Aviemore
At Aviemore a special had been arranged with Caledonian Railway 828:
828 1130 Aviemore Speyside – Boat of Garten
828 1230 Boat of Garten – Aviemore Speyside
37431 was lined up to work our special back to Inverness. As we waited there, an Inter City Land Cruise came through southbound, with the immaculate set of Mk 1s in Inter City Livery. To our surprise, there were also a couple of Inter City liveried 37s hauling the train, namely 37683 + 37685 off the sleepers. I believe this was at the request of the organiser, so as to have a uniform liveried train – and very smart it was too. It was good news for us too, as that meant we were guaranteed to get a “proper” pair of 37s on the southbound overnight:
37431 1330 Aviemore – Inverness
… and so it proved …
37251 + 37170 2020 Inverness – Edinburgh via Stirling
(Monday 08/11/93)
87026 0131 Edinburgh – Euston (via Carstairs avoider)
