Iconic Steam Trains on Unusual Services

[Purple Orange]

Does anyone know of any of the more iconic steam engines made appearances in parts of the country that they are not famed for, while still in regular service? I.e. did the Flying Scotsman or the Mallard ever run services on lines other than the east coast mainline? Did they ever do a Euston to Manchester service for example? Did any of the Coronation class locomotives ever find their way on to the east coast mainline or on the great western?

 

[greatvoyager]

Does anyone know of any of the more iconic steam engines made appearances in parts of the country that they are not famed for, while still in regular service? I.e. did the Flying Scotsman or the Mallard ever run services on lines other than the east coast mainline? Did they ever do a Euston to Manchester service for example? Did any of the Coronation class locomotives ever find their way on to the east coast mainline or on the great western?

I believe Mallard did Waterloo-Exeter as part of the locomotive exchange trials of 1948.

EDIT: sorry, just saw you said “In regular service”.

 

[Gloster]

The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are the LNER pacifics on the Glasgow-Aberdeen (‘Three-hour’?) expresses and the LMS locos used on the Great Central London Extension in its later days. Lines tended to stick with what they knew and avoided locos ‘not made here’.

 

[chorleyjeff]

Does anyone know of any of the more iconic steam engines made appearances in parts of the country that they are not famed for, while still in regular service? I.e. did the Flying Scotsman or the Mallard ever run services on lines other than the east coast mainline? Did they ever do a Euston to Manchester service for example? Did any of the Coronation class locomotives ever find their way on to the east coast mainline or on the great western?

A3s on the Carlisle Leeds via Settle trains.

 

[Iskra]

A3s on the Carlisle Leeds via Settle trains.

Clan’s too.

Tornado running service trains for Northern on the Settle-Carlisle

A pair of GWR panniers ended up working a branch in Scotland under BR.

 

[6Gman]

Clan’s too.

Tornado running service trains for Northern on the Settle-Carlisle

A pair of GWR panniers ended up working a branch in Scotland under BR.

The pannier tanks were used on the Dornoch branch when the Highland Railway locos of 1905 were withdrawn.

Weren't pannier tanks used on the Folkestone Harbour branch just prior to electrification?

Somebody mentioned A3s being used on the Settle & Carlisle; I think A1s were also used for a spell? (Not Tornado!)

Fowler 3MT 2-6-2 tanks were used in Hull in the mid-50s. Always puzzled me. The LMS had no presence there and they were widely regarded as useless locos! A (very) small number of Stanier 8Fs were based on the WR around that time - St Phillips Marsh certainly had a few.

And a lot of LMS design 2-6-4Ts and 2-6-2Ts were used on the Southern (partly because of Bulleid's weird idea that the Leader would be a suitable replacement for various aged tank engines).

And the very special requirements of the Cromford & High Peak saw the sort-of LNER J94s used.

 

[delt1c]

I remember reading that some subarban services from Edinburgh Waverley could have a Pacific used , never popular with the crews

 

[Gloster]

I remember reading that some subarban services from Edinburgh Waverley could have a Pacific used , never popular with the crews

Was it the Corstophine branch that was particularly prone to this?

 

[delt1c]

Was it the Corstophine branch that was particularly prone to this?

You got it in one

 

[Harvester]

Somebody mentioned A3s being used on the Settle & Carlisle; I think A1s were also used for a spell? (Not Tornado!)

Between 1963-65 after the LMR passed them to run between Skipton and Carlisle in 1963. A number of them, displaced by diesels on Leeds-Kings Cross workings, were transferred from Copley Hill to Neville Hill for such use.

Did any of the Coronation class locomotives ever find their way on to the east coast mainline or on the great western?

Only on specials, but they could have ended their careers on the Southern. In early 1964 proposals to transfer around a dozen of the survivors to the Southern Region to work Waterloo-Bournemouth trains were put forward. These fell through due to clearance issues at Southampton and on the up line over Battledown flyover. They would have been quite suitable for the Waterloo-Salisbury-Exeter route, but by 1964 Salisbury-Exeter was under Western Region control, and plans to introduce Warship diesels on the route were in hand.

 

[30907]

If an Unrebuilt West Country is iconic (which I think it is), then they regularly worked on the WR main line between Exeter and Plymouth (on stoppers, to maintain route knowledge in case of emergency diversions). Unfortunately for this thread, only 43xx and below were permitted on the equivalent workings over the SR route.

WR Halls had a regular working into Bournemouth from Oxford, and SR locos (Nelsons or Pacifics) did the reverse, until the end of London Division steam.
ISTR Halls also went up to Leicester Central. Do they count as iconic, though, given that there were 330 of them? The same goes for Black 5s on the West Highland.

 

[Harvester]

During 1965-66 the York-Poole train was diagrammed for a Banbury Black Five from Banbury-Poole. At weekends when laying over at Bournemouth, these engines were regularly used on a Sunday fill-in turn to Waterloo.

 

[UrieS15]

If you're going to include panniers can we count the three SR Z class that worked for the MOD in Scotland 1942-3?

 

[Bevan Price]

Ex-works runnng-in turns could produce some unusual workings. In the mid-1950s, the 17:15 Preston - Wigan NW, and 18:00 Wigan NW - Liverpool Lime St. (all stations) were often so used, usually on TuWThO, and ex-works Britannias, Royal Scots & Jubilees were commonly found pulling 3/4 non corridor coaches.

I was told that Crewe - Shrewsbury locals were similarly used, and when new, all of the Class 44s made appearances whilst based on WCML.

 

[matchmaker]

Polmadie was allocated some A2s.

 

[2392]

A 9F and V2 operated the service trains on the Alnwick Branch from Alnmouth on the ECML. The 9 being one of those allocated to Tyne Dock for the Consett Iron Ore trains and had a pair of Westinghouse air pumps fitted to operate the hopper doors. Both a case of overkill for a 2 coach service, the 9 especially.

 

[chorleyjeff]

Clan’s too.

Tornado running service trains for Northern on the Settle-Carlisle

A pair of GWR panniers ended up working a branch in Scotland under BR.

Clans iconic ?
To me they were regulars on only the Liverpool/Manchester to Glasgow/Edinburgh trains.

 

[6Gman]

Ex-works runnng-in turns could produce some unusual workings. In the mid-1950s, the 17:15 Preston - Wigan NW, and 18:00 Wigan NW - Liverpool Lime St. (all stations) were often so used, usually on TuWThO, and ex-works Britannias, Royal Scots & Jubilees were commonly found pulling 3/4 non corridor coaches.

I was told that Crewe - Shrewsbury locals were similarly used, and when new, all of the Class 44s made appeareances whilst based on WCML.

The Crewe - Shrewsbury trains could provide all manner of surprises; both running-in ex-works, but also in gaps between WCML workings.

 

[SouthernR]

Examples of 1948 loco exchanges found in Ben Brooksbank's photos on www.geograph.org -

6018 King Henry VI : Kings Cross - Leeds
6990 Witherslack Hall : Manchester LR - Marylebone
34005 Barnstaple : Manchester Central - St Pancras
34006 Bude : Manchester LR - Marylebone
35017 Belgian Marine : Euston - Glasgow
35017 Belgian Marine : Kings Cross - Leeds
45253 : Manchester LR - Marylebone
46162 Queen's Westminster Rifleman : Paddington - Plymouth
46236 City of Bradford : Waterloo - Exeter
46236 City of Bradford : Plymouth - Paddington
46236 City of Bradford : Kings Cross - Leeds
60022 Mallard : Exeter - Waterloo
60033 Seagull : Plymouth - Paddington
60034 Lord Faringdon : Perth - Euston

Photos, on Ian Taylor's Marked List at Sunday, 19 September, 2021. 00:45, in Marked order :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

Geograph Britain and Ireland is a web-based project to collect and reference geographically representative images of every square kilometre of the British Isles.

www.geograph.org.uk

 

[markindurham]

Some SR Light Pacifics were sent to cover for the then new Britannias on the Liverpool Street - Norwich services just after the Brits came into service. Issues with the driving wheels coming loose on their axles led to them being temporarily withdrawn until repairs were made.

 

[2392]

The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are the LNER pacifics on the Glasgow-Aberdeen (‘Three-hour’?) expresses and the LMS locos used on the Great Central London Extension in its later days. Lines tended to stick with what they knew and avoided locos ‘not made here’.

Indeed it was the A4s that the General Manager of Scottish Region got his hands on, as they steadily moved North being displaced by the Deltics and such like diesels. It was their swansong, with their careers coming full circle, so to speak, ending up on the 3 hour Aberdeen service. A similar schedule to the original 4 hour Silver Jubilee service from Newcastle [upon Tyne] to London 30 years earlier.

 

[randyrippley]

Does "N" class on Yeovil-Taunton count?
Did they work Chard-Taunton as well?

 

[Gloster]

Does "N" class on Yeovil-Taunton count?
Did they work Chard-Taunton as well?

Taunton should know, but I think that Chard-Taunton was GWR locos, normally panniers, but these also worked over the old LSWR/SR Chard-Chard Junction line. Personally, I wouldn’t call the N ‘iconic’ as they were much too workmanlike.

 

[341o2]

Some SR Light Pacifics were sent to cover for the then new Britannias on the Liverpool Street - Norwich services just after the Brits came into service. Issues with the driving wheels coming loose on their axles led to them being temporarily withdrawn until repairs were made.

Actually they were borrowed prior to the introduction of the Brittannias, to demonstrate what a modern locomotive could do.
WR panniers 1367-9 were found to be able to negotiate the Wenfordbridge line and replaced the Beattie well tanks
As proposals have been mentioned, it was proposed that the Ivatt 2-6-2T's would replace the O2's on the Isle of Wight

 

[Gloster]

As proposals have been mentioned, it was proposed that the Ivatt 2-6-2T's would replace the O2's on the Isle of Wight

Wasn’t it the Standard 2 2-6-2T that were proposed for the Isle of Wight?

 

[Rescars]

The Crewe - Shrewsbury trains could provide all manner of surprises; both running-in ex-works, but also in gaps between WCML workings.

As Bevan Price says, running-in turns could result in all manner of surprises. I believe that was the reason that Cardean, the pride of the Caledonian's express fleet, was at the head of the local train that was shunted at Quintinshill on 22nd May 1915.

 

[markindurham]

Actually they were borrowed prior to the introduction of the Brittannias, to demonstrate what a modern locomotive could do.

I must say, I thought it was only one demonstrator, tbh, then more appeared whilst the Brits were sorted out.

 

[Harvester]

Clan 72009 was transferred to Stratford in August 1958 to work on the Liverpool Street-Norwich services. It did so for a couple of months before being sent back to Carlisle, as it struggled to keep time on the Britannia schedules.

 

[randyrippley]

It could happen to diesels as well.
It wasn't unknown for class 50s to get back to London from Doncaster works after overhaul or rebuild by standing in for a Deltic on the ECML
Never saw one myself, but it was reported in the spotters comics several times

 

[markindurham]

Clan 72009 was transferred to Stratford in August 1958 to work on the Liverpool Street-Norwich services. It did so for a couple of months before being sent back to Carlisle, as it struggled to keep time on the Britannia schedules.

Brentwood bank, no doubt - Class 7 power needed there on those new 2 hour timings, which is why the Brits were key to the operation