I've been meaning to write this out for a while just for prosperity.
It's about the last All Line I did in 1994, a time when I was drifting away from bashing trains. In fact I hadn't really done any bashing in the previous couple of years since the ALR that I did in early 1992, mainly due to the fact that I had a van by now and was more into going to gigs and generally being a bit more of a normal. That said I was still volunteering at the Mid Hants quite a bit when I could get up there.
Around 1993/94 there had been a bit of a resurgence in loco hauled trains around the country and I decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss, especially as some of them were featuring on lines that I still needed and I've always tried to cover as many routes as possible on loco hauled trains.
A plan was hatched, but you have to realise that I wasn't quite so committed in the recording of my moves this time. I was being cool, casual, relaxed. I just wanted to hear the noise, look at the scenery and take in the experience for what I knew would be one last hurrah.
So all I actually wrote down was what locos I had - from and to each destination and the dates. This has caused me a lot of work when recently I tried to piece it all together. I even had to start a couple of threads on the forum to fill in some of the gaps and just to add insult to injury a couple of pages of my book have got water damaged so there's going to be a couple of gaps. I have managed to work most of it out though so here goes...
Sunday 5/8/94
Unusual for me to start this on a Sunday but there I was on platform 5 at St David's with rucksack, Walkman and golden ticket as an Intercity Swallow liveried HST rolled in to take me to Paddington. I hopped off this and caught 47846 on a Cross Country service north. Unfortunately we only got as far as Banbury before the driver failed it due to the fire bells going off on the loco, so after an hours wait admiring the semaphores in the sunshine 47832 arrived on the following service to take me onto New Street (via Solihull according to my book).
It was an unrecorded (such is my way) HST up to Llandudno Junction then for a thrash to Manchester Victoria behind 37407 and a quick trip on a (fairly new) tram to Manchester Piccadilly where I caught up with 31410 on a service to Birmingham International (and all this was on a Sunday!). I don't think I had long at International before it was time to take 31455 on another Regional Railways service up to Liverpool Lime Street and my plan to take a unit under the Mersey. This was my first bit of new track for the week and I remember that I had a minus 5 at Chester onto another loco hauled train which amazingly I made and I sat behind 37421 growling through the dark on my way to Crewe in a haze of smug self satisfaction as really I should have been on the following Sprinter but for the creaking British Rail North Wales Coast services...
At Crewe now and pretty late at night I picked up 86101 up to Preston on some service that I can't remember and endured a long sit in the waiting room for the sleepers to Aberdeen and on into day two...
Monday 6/8/94
87017 was doing the honours this night and I assume it went to Edinburgh where it was replaced by two locos that were part of the reason I was doing all this. Gone had the small fleet of 47/6s that had been used the last time I was on these trains, replaced by pairs of ex freight 37s with generator vans. These trains also included Motorail vans and were impressively long at about 15 vehicles. The pair being watched by me as they were attached to the front were 37154 and 37188, absolutely bloody marvellous and both winners.
No sleep was then had to Arbroath as I savoured the noise and I disembarked, watched them storm off and hung around for an early morning Sprinter down to Glasgow Queen Street.
Time for the next new line...
I was getting the early train out to Oban and was surprised to see that it left from Glasgow Queen St Low Level. I thought that only units used that, I went down and sat there nervously hoping that a 156 didn't turn up (I'd have had a rethink if that happened). Soon enough though I heard the unmistakable sound of a class 37 in a confined space - it reminded me of the subterranean lines you see at the beginning of the first Superman film - and the winner 37294 (in 'Dutch' livery) appeared for an excellent run out to Oban and back. The Oban line was new for me and although not as spectacular as Fort William to Mallaig still very nice.
After this I sort of repeated my steps really, 37294 to Queen Street, Sprinter to Dundee, 37154 and 37188 on the Euston bound sleepers which were then replaced by the previous nights 87017, this time though it went via a slightly convoluted route. We were dragged between Crewe and Stafford by 47575 (the only 47/4 of the week) and then went south via the Northampton loop (more new track for me).
Tuesday 7/8/94
This is where it gets a bit tricky, the bottom of the page where the numbers should be has got water damaged so this is what's visible:
Tube across to Paddington and then 47822 to Didcot on I assume a cross country service that would've gone towards Birmingham.
HST Didcot to Swindon and then another HST Swindon to Cardiff before getting a 37/4 from Cardiff to Crewe. Tantalisingly I can almost make out the number but not quite, I remember the journey but just not the loco. A good CSI type forensics expert might be able to restore it with some kind of powder and UV light. Unfortunately I can't though. Anyway this was more new track for me and upon arrival at Crewe I caught another cross country service down to Southampton (almost certainly a 47/8 but again I can't read it, argh).
I can make out the next one though as it was the (by then repaired) 47846 which was taken to Coventry, what I remember about this journey was that a very large and very loud lady was sat with some friends at a table of four in my coach and we had all spent hours listening to her boring stories as her friends talked more and more quietly in that way that people do when they're trying to encourage their companion to lower their volume without actually saying anything. When some guy on a table behind me eventually snapped and told her that nobody else in the carriage could give a damn about her ridiculous self obsessed life and would she kindly shut the hell up? At which point everyone else in the carriage broke into spontaneous applause. It was excellent.
I could still hear the lady saying "Well really!" (slightly more quietly now) to her friends for at least half an hour afterwards.
I jumped off at Coventry (still chuckling) and took 86216 down to Euston to get a good seat on the Aberdeen sleepers again to get myself in place for the next winning line of the week.
It probably goes without saying that I was absolutely knackered by now and I don't remember much of the journey behind 87032 north...
Wednesday 8/8/94
87032 gave way (I'm not sure if at Carstairs or Edinburgh) to the extremely awesome pairing of 37692 and 37693, again both winners and this time I stayed on until Aberdeen.
So far this week had produced pretty much everything I'd wished for and back then it was into the unknown with no mobile phone, internet etc. In fact I remember ringing my mum at one point frantically feeding change into the call box and telling her I was in Preston "Preston?"...
I took what I think was a 158 up to Inverness this morning and hoped that the highlight of my week would come through.
The Kyle line had two booked loco hauled diagrams on weekdays this summer, they had been almost solid 37/0s and this day I was not to be disappointed as I rolled in and looked across to see split box 37087 in 'Dutch' at the head of three coaches. Result.
I sat in the front coach and by Dingwall had the entire coach to myself for the rest of the journey. I even had beer! I opened every single window and sat there looking at the scenery and enjoying the thrash in the beautiful summer sunshine. It's fair to say that this journey remains in the top three of all the journeys that I've ever done in my entire life. It was pure pleasure.
It was to be the other diagramed loco hauled service back and when I got to Kyle I crossed platforms and took 37232 (another one in Dutch) on the green and cream set with the converted 101 driving car tucked behind the loco. This train was longer and much busier and after enjoying the scenery in reverse for a while I flaked out in a satisfied beery haze...
At Inverness I took another unrecorded Sprinter back to Aberdeen and did the unspeakable: I took a day off from my All Line.
Yep, my stepbrother Tom lived in The Granite City and was doing a forestry course at the university but also doing some tree maintenance work on the side. He met me off the train and we spent the evening getting smashed and talking about trains and life and more trains (after I'd turned his shower black) and the next day I went out with him while he climbed up trees and lopped bits off (thankfully not his bits).
Thursday 8/8/94
The next evening Tom deposited me back at Aberdeen station and watched me storm off into the night behind winners 37683 and 37685, I could see that a bit of him wanted to be on the train with me too really.
I'd spent all my money by now, most of it in the pubs of Aberdeen... I'd achieved what I wanted to achieve and was thinking about just doing the sleepers back to London and heading home but instead I decided to get off at Crewe and do a bit of 31/37 bashing around Manchester, 87008 was on the electric leg of the sleepers and I woke up at what I thought was the right station, jumped off and took stock whilst getting an uneasy feeling that I'd done something wrong. As the train pulled out I realised that I'd got off at Preston by mistake and that it was only about three in the morning! I think the first train anywhere (except going north again) was a 5ish am service to Manchester Airport which after many hours sitting in the waiting room I took, if nothing else just for a sleep. At least the Airport branch was new track.
The same Sprinter returned me to Manchester Piccadilly and from there I caught 47827 all the way down to Reading for a unit (I guess a 165?) to Basingstoke and then something else to Poole (can't read what it was though now). From Poole it was new track time and I sat in the bar area of a 442 telling an older lady all about my weeks exploits, she bought me a beer and when I said that I'd get her one but that I'd run out of money she gave me a fiver so that I could buy some fish and chips! How nice was that?
The reason I was going this way was to catch the daily loco hauled Bristol - Weymouth service on its return to Bristol, this I duly did and it was 37422 on yet more new track (even though it's near to me) all the way up to Bristol where I got my last train home (another unidentified HST) and headed back to Topsham on an Exmouth train.
Exhausted but satisfied, I have a feeling I went somewhere the day after, I think I may have gone to see friends at the Mid Hants but due to the Waterloo line being 159s I didn't record it. I'm just glad I recorded what I did really because I nearly didn't bother, perhaps I thought I was above such things. Idiot.
It was a great week and probably the last year that you could've done all those lines on loco hauled services.
It was officially the end of my bashing days on the mainline and I didn't record anything after this trip, although I've never lost my love of railways and rail travel.
I've nicked a couple of photos off the internet to illustrate those days. I can't work out who took them but thanks.
31455 At Chester on a North Wales coast train.
37232 At Kyle on the green and cream set.
Thanks for reading.