Favourite Workings

[Crewe Exile]

Wondering if anyone has any particular favourite workings that at the time were quite mundane/standard?. I used to love the Cardiff - Pompey Cl 33 workings - especially as the loco change at Bristol would nab you 2 locos.

 

[Cowley]

I’m with you on the Portsmouth - Cardiff 33s. Front coach in a blue and grey mk1 with those dim lightbulbs as the driver hit the dip in the middle of the Severn Tunnel and opened the loco up to full power in the dark. Magic.
I also used to do the 17:25 Exeter - Paignton most weekday evenings to get the 33s on that, as well as the Brighton turns up the bank to Central as it was often a pair on Saturdays.

 

[delt1c]

Mines was in the 70’s. The 06.05 Queen St to Mallaig. Again in the front coach, a single 27 with sleeping cars and restaurant car working to the limit for the whole trip. Around 08.00 going to Restaurant car for what was voted BR’s finest breakfast made even better by the scenery. Oh happy memories.

 

[Cowley]

Mines was in the 70’s. The 06.05 Queen St to Mallaig. Again in the front coach, a single 27 with sleeping cars and restaurant car working to the limit for the whole trip. Around 08.00 going to Restaurant car for what was voted BR’s finest breakfast made even better by the scenery. Oh happy memories.

Lovely. I only ever did the sleepers once and it was a 37/4, but what a wonderful experience.

 

[delt1c]

Lovely. I only ever did the sleepers once and it was a 37/4, but what a wonderful experience.

Trust me with that 27 with only 1250hp, it was always Phenomenal. Such a small loco with 2 sleepers a Restaurant car, 2 TSO's and a CK and such a steeply graded line was awesome. A never to be experienced again experience
And The breakfast was out of this world

 

[hexagon789]

I offer two given that I'm rather young for some things(!)

That I have experienced - 156s on Shotts semi-fasts, I just have a thing about Sprinter thrash and I loved the feeling of speed you got on certain parts of the journey you never really got with 156s on other workings.

That I would like to have experienced - 47/4 taking the 12-coach Clansman over the Highland Mainline. 47s are probably my favourite diesel loco and the idea of one thrashing up the gradients with 420 tons of train behind it is something I would liked to have experienced. Tbh, I would have liked the opportunity to have travelled all the way from Euston on the Clansman but it's sadly unlikely an equivalent service will ever again exist.

 

[delt1c]

I offer two given that I'm rather young for some things(!)

That I have experienced - 156s on Shotts semi-fasts, I just have a thing about Sprinter thrash and I loved the feeling of speed you got on certain parts of the journey you never really got with 156s on other workings.

That I would like to have experienced - 47/4 taking the 12-coach Clansman over the Highland Mainline. 47s are probably my favourite diesel loco and the idea of one thrashing up the gradients with 420 tons of train behind it is something I would liked to have experienced. Tbh, I would have liked the opportunity to have travelled all the way from Euston on the Clansman but it's sadly unlikely an equivalent service will ever again exist.

Did The Clansman Southbound in the mid 70's , was a long and interesting journey. Remember in the Restaurant they had a special Grill onn the menu which was cheaper than the full meals.

 

[6Gman]

I once caught the 1040 (ish) southbound departure from Perth.

This was a train to Manchester, but only carried passengers as far as Motherwell!

Basically, it was a train of empty newspaper vans returning to Manchester but had one (or possibly two) passenger carriages included. (They were possibly for the use of newspaper packers on the northbound journey, but I'm not sure.)

On the day I used it a Class 26 was at the head end and we ambled south via Stirling then right turn at Greenhill Lower Jn via Cumbernauld and Coatbridge Central. We drew up at Mossend where an 85 replaced the 26 for the brief journey to Motherwell, where I alighted. I recall there wasn't a crowd leaving the train - indeed I think I was the only passenger!

I miss trains like that!

 

[AJM580]

Would always be the "European" (Harwich - Glasgow). Always good for a non-SF loco in East Anglia. Records I have include haulages behind 47484 Isambard Kingdom Brunel and 47625 "City of Truro" amaong others

 

[Cowley]

There was a Rose Grove to Paignton summer Saturday turn in 1988 that often produced interesting locos.
I didn’t know where Rose Grove was back then and it sounded ever such a pretty place. Actually I’ve still never been there but I imagine that it’s the kind of place that would have rolling hills, maybe a castle with a moat and perhaps a vineyard or two on one of the hillsides?
I don’t know, the train usually had a pair of 31s on it but on one occasion a 47/4 Generator, a different time a 47/3, and another time a Peak (which was in their last year of operation).
It was always worth seeing what turned up on it.

The same year on weekdays there was
a 47 turn to Plymouth in the afternoon (so I could get on it after school) that always had a blue and grey RMB right behind the loco even though the rest of the train was made up of aircons.
That front coach became a regular meeting place for all of us...

 

[Crewe Exile]

Some great stuff on here - love reading about the old workings, brings back good memories. Another mundane one (at the time) were the ‘Roarer’ electrics that tended to appear on the Man Picc/Liverpool - Birmingham sections of X - Country workings. Railways were so interesting 30 plus years ago!.

 

[CW2]

21:50 (later 22:34) York - Shrewsbury and 22:50 Shrewsbury - York. An overnight mail train with minimal second class corridor seating accommodation. The trains crossed at Stockport, with the York loco doing an out-and-back turn. There would be an 86 on the Crewe - Stockport - Crewe leg, and a 47/4 on to Shrewsbury. There was time in the schedule at Leeds to allow a loco change, so the train was often used to get locos to / from York depot for maintenance. The westbound service also detached a portion at Stalybridge for Manchester Victoria, which returned on a Manchester - Newcastle (?) newspaper train in the wee small hours. (That portion was usually worked by a 47 or Peak, but one night I saw an 08 shunter working it!) The "Bangor Mails" as it was known was a fascinating and unpredictable overnight. I had locos of classes 31, 37, 40, 45/0, 45/1, 47/4, and 55 over the Pennines to/from Stockport on this service. I heard of a 25 working it once after a failure, but I never had one myself.

 

[theblackwatch]

There was a Rose Grove to Paignton summer Saturday turn in 1988 that often produced interesting locos.
I didn’t know where Rose Grove was back then and it sounded ever such a pretty place. Actually I’ve still never been there but I imagine that it’s the kind of place that would have rolling hills, maybe a castle with a moat and perhaps a vineyard or two on one of the hillsides?
I don’t know, the train usually had a pair of 31s on it but on one occasion a 47/4 Generator, a different time a 47/3, and another time a Peak (which was in their last year of operation).
It was always worth seeing what turned up on it.

The Rose Grove-Paignton ran into the early 1990s, and in the latter years was normally worked 'up north' by an ETH 47 to Preston where it reversed and an 86 took over down to Birmingham if my memory serves me right. Always a bizarre train I thought, the ECS used to come up from Longsight for it I think. You'd be rather disappointed if you went there...it's right next to a motorway, and some would probably describe is as a suburb of Burnley!

 

[Crewe Exile]

21:50 (later 22:34) York - Shrewsbury and 22:50 Shrewsbury - York. An overnight mail train with minimal second class corridor seating accommodation. The trains crossed at Stockport, with the York loco doing an out-and-back turn. There would be an 86 on the Crewe - Stockport - Crewe leg, and a 47/4 on to Shrewsbury. There was time in the schedule at Leeds to allow a loco change, so the train was often used to get locos to / from York depot for maintenance. The westbound service also detached a portion at Stalybridge for Manchester Victoria, which returned on a Manchester - Newcastle (?) newspaper train in the wee small hours. (That portion was usually worked by a 47 or Peak, but one night I saw an 08 shunter working it!) The "Bangor Mails" as it was known was a fascinating and unpredictable overnight. I had locos of classes 31, 37, 40, 45/0, 45/1, 47/4, and 55 over the Pennines to/from Stockport on this service. I heard of a 25 working it once after a failure, but I never had one myself.

Brilliant! - that overnight working was crazy - wasent there also a Manchester - Grimsby that used to have any kinda traction turning out for it?.

 

[Cowley]

You'd be rather disappointed if you went there...it's right next to a motorway, and some would probably describe is as a suburb of Burnley!

Yet more dreams dashed on the rocks of reality...

 

[CW2]

Brilliant! - that overnight working was crazy - wasent there also a Manchester - Grimsby that used to have any kinda traction turning out for it?.

You had a choice of two - sort of.
1E62 01:20 Manchster Picc - Cleethorpes via Sheffield, Doncaster. Booked for (and usually getting) a Longsight class 40, this was a newspaper train conveying passenger accommodation for rail staff and newspaper sorters. If you looked reasonably convincing you could talk your way onto it.
1E66 02:10 Manchester Picc - Cleethorpes via Sheffield, Retford, Lincoln Central, and Barnetby. Booked for a 31.
This was a passenger / mail train. I only did it throughout once, when 37090 was spending a couple of days pretending to be a class 31. Cracking track for the class.

 

[Crewe Exile]

You had a choice of two - sort of.
1E62 01:20 Manchster Picc - Cleethorpes via Sheffield, Doncaster. Booked for (and usually getting) a Longsight class 40, this was a newspaper train conveying passenger accommodation for rail staff and newspaper sorters. If you looked reasonably convincing you could talk your way onto it.
1E66 02:10 Manchester Picc - Cleethorpes via Sheffield, Retford, Lincoln Central, and Barnetby. Booked for a 31.
This was a passenger / mail train. I only did it throughout once, when 37090 was spending a couple of days pretending to be a class 31. Cracking track for the class.

The haulage available overnight was unbelievable back then.

 

[Crewe Exile]

I’m with you on the Portsmouth - Cardiff 33s. Front coach in a blue and grey mk1 with those dim lightbulbs as the driver hit the dip in the middle of the Severn Tunnel and opened the loco up to full power in the dark. Magic.
I also used to do the 17:25 Exeter - Paignton most weekday evenings to get the 33s on that, as well as the Brighton turns up the bank to Central as it was often a pair on Saturdays.

Cromptons down past the sea wall. Brilliant. Furthest I got on the class was Taunton

 

[CW2]

The haulage available overnight was unbelievable back then.

Indeed. And quite apart from the assorted ECML overnights and assorted portion workings, there were also some very odd workings in East Anglia, including a Liverpool Street to Peterborough via Ipswich, which got shunted off a Norwich train at Ipswich by the resident class 03.

 

[Cowley]

@CW2 and @Crewe Exile - I think you’re both in that age group that managed to catch a bit more than me.
I didn’t really get going until 1987 so I missed out on a lot of things, although I did manage catch a fair amount of stuff before it disappeared entirely.

 

[CW2]

Cromptons down past the sea wall. Brilliant. Furthest I got on the class was Taunton

Back in 1985 there was a 16:10 Fridays Only Plymouth to Paddington that was booked for a 33. One week there was a rumour it was going to be a Cornish class 37 to get it to Old Oak Common for an Open Day. Whether this was ever planned or not, I don't know. There was no 37, but 33032 worked through to Paddington.

@Cowley: Yes I admit to being an old fossil!

 

[Cowley]

I’m getting there fast!

 

[Crewe Exile]

I’m getting there fast!

Im feeling old reading this thread!. Got interested in trains early 80s, but gave up early 90s. Was still living in Crewe at the time so there was always something worth just popping local for. Loved an awayday out and about chasing haulage though. Those were the days guys!

 

[D1537]

21:50 (later 22:34) York - Shrewsbury and 22:50 Shrewsbury - York. An overnight mail train with minimal second class corridor seating accommodation. The trains crossed at Stockport, with the York loco doing an out-and-back turn. There would be an 86 on the Crewe - Stockport - Crewe leg, and a 47/4 on to Shrewsbury. There was time in the schedule at Leeds to allow a loco change, so the train was often used to get locos to / from York depot for maintenance. The westbound service also detached a portion at Stalybridge for Manchester Victoria, which returned on a Manchester - Newcastle (?) newspaper train in the wee small hours. (That portion was usually worked by a 47 or Peak, but one night I saw an 08 shunter working it!) The "Bangor Mails" as it was known was a fascinating and unpredictable overnight. I had locos of classes 31, 37, 40, 45/0, 45/1, 47/4, and 55 over the Pennines to/from Stockport on this service. I heard of a 25 working it once after a failure, but I never had one myself.

Later on the electric turn was done away with, so that it was a through locomotive both ways. This did of course net you two locos on that move, but it also meant it was very possible to sleep through the Stockport stop as there was no loco change to bump you into wakefulness. Ask me how I know ...

That I would like to have experienced - 47/4 taking the 12-coach Clansman over the Highland Mainline. 47s are probably my favourite diesel loco and the idea of one thrashing up the gradients with 420 tons of train behind it is something I would liked to have experienced. Tbh, I would have liked the opportunity to have travelled all the way from Euston on the Clansman but it's sadly unlikely an equivalent service will ever again exist.

The sleepers often loaded heavier. I remember waking up one winter night to find the train down to walking pace and, sticking my head out of the window, finding 47429 making a ear-splitting moaning/clattering noise, slipping badly, and spraying sparks out of the exhaust. This continued for what seemed like hours but was probably about ten minutes until we - just - made Druimuachdar summit. I was expecting the same to happen up Slochd but we made that with no problems, I presume the adhesion up to Druimuachdar must have been particularly bad that night.

 

[Cowley]

Im feeling old reading this thread!. Got interested in trains early 80s, but gave up early 90s. Was still living in Crewe at the time so there was always something worth just popping local for. Loved an awayday out and about chasing haulage though. Those were the days guys!

I’ll say... I started going to St David’s on my own in 1986 - just after the semaphores had gone. But because my dad is also an enthusiast (as well as my best friend) I was quite aware of what was around me even at a young age.
That period around 1986/87/88 was interesting because on the BR books if you knew where to look there was still the odd class 15, 24, 25, 27, 40, 46 hanging around in departmental use or in a scrap line somewhere.
I drifted away after 1994 as well though...

 

[Mills444]

I offer the Summer Saturdays HST to Weymouth absolute luxury with the declassified FC. Compared to a 150!. I made good use of that and sort of wish I was around when things like that were normal at all seaside resorts.

 

[High Dyke]

Regular summer Sunday move for us was catch the Cambridge - Skegness (Cl.37 hauled) at Grantham. Beer, footy on the beach, chips on the way back to the station for a pair of Cl.20's as far as Boston and then the Cl.37 from there back to Grantham. Other than that it was the Harwich boat train to/from Nottingham and the North West as another regular trip. Sometimes tied in with a circular trip via Leicester to take in a Cl.31 on a Birmingham - Norwich.

Many years ago a mate and I did an All-line Rover. This gave us the overnight Glasgow - West Country working, an additional Ayr - Glasgow working (to Kilwinning) behind a pair of Cl.26's and to top it all off Paddington - Penzance sleeper, which began late from London with an ailing Duff on the front, to be replaced at Exeter with a Cl.50, as far as Plymouth. Imagine our surprise to find it still on the front at Truro.

 

[xotGD]

I'll nominate 1N04 - the morning Darlington - Newcastle via the Durham Coast turn. It could be just about anything: 31, 37, 40, Peak, 47. Basically, whatever Gateshead had available. And doable with a 5p child Transfare ticket: bus - Metro - train. Got you back to The Toon in time to see what was going to Carlisle on 1M04. If that was a 40, off we go!

1N03 was the evening southbound working but that was a bit late for me to get home from so I never did it.

 

[NorthWestRover]

The Bangor!

1D34 07.45 Manchester Vic to Bangor
1J30 11.57 Bangor to Manchester Vic
1D21 15.45 Manchester Vic to Bangor
1J31 19.26 Bangor to Manchester Vic

The classic 40 diagram in the early 1980s. A full day with little effort required.

 

[Oscar46016]

17:05 Newport to Swansea - weekdays only commuter train nearly always a 37

Also the Summer Saturday York - Tenby could be anything