BR Class 73 Passenger Turns

[Whistler40145]

In the days of British Rail, was there any Passenger Turns booked for a pair of 73s working on diesel either away from the 3rd rail network or when the power being turned off for maintenance?

What was the oddest place a pair of EDs turned up at?

 

[Matt Taylor]

I'm pretty sure that at least one of them turned up at New St on a cross country turn in the 1980s. Best I got was the odd Salisbury to Waterloo vice a 33/1 with a 4TC unit.

 

[Whistler40145]

How rare was it for pairs of 73s to work CrossCountry services pre-Virgin over the Reading to Basingstoke line also Romsey to Eastleigh?

 

[eastwestdivide]

Not a pair, but a booked diesel passenger working for a 73: around 1981ish, the Clapham Jn-Kensington Olympia shuttle (two morning trips) was a 73 and 2x Mk1 coaches, running on diesel, as the line wasn't electrified back then. Photo available if you want.
(The evening shuttles were a 33/1 + 4-TC which later ran empty to Waterloo, coupled up to 2x 4-VEP and ran a main line service, splitting at Basingstoke to (I think) Salisbury and Southampton/Bournemouth. But that's another story.)

 

[Bill EWS]

There was a regular freight working from Eastliegh and/or Basingstoke to Reading with Class 73's and they would often work through to Didcot yard on ocassions.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Some of the late evening newspaper trains conveyed limited (and squalid) passenger accomodation , and were 73 hauled for flexibility with power off on some sections.

 

[86242]

I'm pretty sure that at least one of them turned up at New St on a cross country turn in the 1980s.

They occasionally worked XCs through to New Street even into early Virgin Days if there was a shortage of locos...

 

[47403]

Ok it's not the oddest place to get a pair of ED's but i was on a weekend bus trip, doing all manner of depots on the way down to the South but after we'd been round Stratford, Hither Green, Selhurst and Stewarts Lane, we were dropped off at Clapham Junction and given till 8pm to do wot we wanted in London, the majority of us got the all zone travel cards, as well as tickets to Woking etc, the lads I was with and I had just got our tickets and were gonna do an hour or so on the station to try and scratch off the some of the ED's on the Gatwick Expresses, when our best laid plans went right up in the air, when 73138 and 73141 came in double headed, so we all jumped it to Victoria, 10mins in on my first ever trip to London spotting and hey ho, we're hauled by a pair of ED's, my first ever ED's for haulage too. Later that day I got my 1st 50 for haulage, 50019 to Woking for 33105, my first Crompton back. The next day we went round Old Oak Common and Willesden, I loved Old Oak, it was heaving with 50's, many of which I needed for sight, the only ones I'd mainly seen had been on the Doncaster test trains passing Tyne Yard or the school I was at, during their refurbishment, plus the ones I'd seen the day before and I'm fairly positive there was a Western in there too, I can't remember which but I'm guessing it would have been Western Champion, the day was made especially good, when one of the fitters came round with the OC shed stickers and sold a boat load for a quid each. Sorry I digressed

 

[Whistler40145]

Have pairs or single 73s ever worked to Uckfield on Passenger turns?

Also, were 73s rare on the Ashford to Hastings line?