It’s April, so it must be time for an all-liner 
This one was another solo effort and the year was 2002.
I began by doing what was by now my usual move of driving to Wakefield and leaving my car in the long stay car park.
91029 was my first, and only, loco of the day. I took this to Kings Cross and then walked over to Kings Cross Thameslink, from where I took 319441 to London Bridge.
I was after some heritage EMUs so took VEP 3544 to Waterloo East, followed by the less heritage and far less interesting 455 number 5739 from Waterloo to Clapham Junction.
After that it was CIG 1750 into Victoria and that was almost it for the day.
I really don’t know what I did for the rest of that day, although I do know that I spent the night in London.
I had a plan for the next morning which involved visiting a preserved railway, something new whilst on an all-liner, so before retiring to my London hotel it’s possible that I had a run out to Didcot as that’s where I intended visiting and, having never been to the Railway Centre before, I may well have wanted to check out the route from the mainline station.
I know now, of course, how easy it is, but failure to plan is planning for failure and so that seems the most likely course of action.
I didn’t record HSTs at the time, so any trip from Paddington to Didcot just wouldn’t have been noted down.
I really regret my past poor recording, but C’est la vie.
I do know that I made my way out to Didcot on the Sunday morning by HST.
The reason for my deviation from the rover was 08604. A locomotive that was booked to have a very rare outing that day. The “Rod Squad” were out in force, people had come from all over the country for this piece of gronk action and the railway duly obliged.
I had three round trips, just to get my money’s worth
Here it is a few years later:
08604_2011.07.31_09_Didcot by philwood55013, on Flickr
After that it was back to the job in hand and 165114 was taken to Reading.
Next up was some main line diesel loco thrash in the shape of 47829, which was taken to Birmingham. A quick round trip to Coventry followed, using 47806 and 87024.
I was going home for the night, so did the next service to Euston, which was in the capable hands of 86254. After a stroll over to Kings Cross it was 91132 to Wakefield.
I began Monday by doing the obligatory weekday move of 1V39, which was 47847 and as was customary I did this to New Street. 47847 turned out to be the only diesel of the day as from then on it was electrics all the way.
47847 at Holyhead in 2007:
47847_2007.01.27_12_Holyhead by philwood55013, on Flickr
I knew by now that the 86s and 87s were on borrowed time and so I wanted to get some decent mileage in.
Diesels can be got on preserved lines but sparks are a trickier proposition once their working life is over.
That was my rationale anyway.
With this in mind I took 87024 to Euston for a round trip to Crewe, doing 87023 out and 87019 back.
Another trip to New Street followed, this time with RES liveried 86430 doing the work, another Coventry round trip was sandwiched in, using 87031 and 87015, before I headed back to London on a loco that had taken me there once already today, 87024.
I had booked a bed on the Edinburgh sleeper and the loco for that was 90239, which whisked me through the night to Carstairs.
90036 was the first loco of the next day, although of course I didn’t know that until after I had disembarked at Edinburgh. My plan was to do another Scottish sleeper that night, from Inverness, but I knew I could get a few more spark miles in first and so it was off to Glasgow Central behind 91110.
I was planning on doing the Highland Chieftain HST from Waverley and to get there I took 90008 to Carlisle and my old friend 86226 to Edinburgh.
This turned out to be my last run on 86226.
Thanks for the memories.
The HST was more or less on time, giving me about 20 minutes in Inverness before heading South on 67023. The “portion” loco of the night before, 90036 took over at Waverley and Scotland was left behind for a few months.
90036 waiting to take me, and the future Mrs 55013, to Scotland in 2004:
90036_2004.10.19_2_Euston by philwood55013, on Flickr
After arriving at Euston I made my way over to Liverpool Street for a day of Anglia 86ers.
As is my want, though I did it in a roundabout fashion, doing the underground to Fenchurch Street, 357206 to Upminster (I was starting to develop a liking for 357s!) 357218 was done back to Fenchurch St, then 357046 to Upminster once again. From there it was 315828 to Romford and 321351 into Liverpool Street.
Next, I headed to Ipswich on 86235 and followed that up with a couple of round trips to Colchester, using 86237/86221/86246 and 86232 before heading back to London on 86230.
I had a cunning plan.
At this time there was a daily loco hauled turn in and out of St Pancras. I can’t remember why they were short of stock, but all I cared about was that they were and the two commuter trains, an inbound one in the morning and an outbound one at night, had two dedicated locos, 47488 and 47709. From memory the morning service came from Derby. The evening one definitely went to Sheffield. I know this because I did it throughout. The loco that worked the evening service worked in the next morning and then the other went out, after the set had stabled at Cricklewood for the day.
I was pleased to see that it was 47488 that was on it tonight. This was a loco that I had travelled on numerous times back in my fledgling bashing days as it was a dedicated Trans-Pennine loco for a while and thus easily available for young paupers travelling on West Yorkshire Day Rovers.
I thoroughly enjoyed my run down the Midland Mainline, especially once the train had emptied of commuters North of Bedford.
This was actually my first loco hauled service train out of St Pancras.
My first ever loco out of there had been 47347 on the marvellous “Inter-City Diesel Day” way back in 1989 (The first loco I had done in to there was 56017!).
This service had another positive to it.
As best I can remember, the morning 06.40 York – Bristol had previously come up ECS from Derby. Virgin had obviously realised that there was a better way to get the loco and stock in position, so a late evening service to Leeds was now loco instead of HST.
47488 deposited me at Sheffield in plenty of time to catch this working, which was powered by the numerically similar 47848.
I took this to Wakefield and headed home for the night.
Thursday the 25th began with my usual morning drive to Westgate, followed by 1V39.
This was unsurprisingly 47848 and, nothing if not habitual; I took it to New Street.
I then took 90015 to Euston before doing a nice 87 powered round trip to Crewe.
87003 did the Northbound leg and 87023 took me back South. Next up was another old friend in the shape of 86254, which I took to International. I had a short run to New Street on 87014 before heading towards the Great Western for tonight I was on another shunter hunt.
I took 47750 to Leamington Spa and then waited an hour for 47851, which I took to Paddington.
47830 was the loco on the sleeper and I took up my usual berth in the rear coach in order to enjoy some massive gronk mileage at Plymouth.
First Great Western had a few 08s of their own allocated to Laira, but for whatever reason they had hired in an extra one in the shape of 08669 and I was very lucky that it was this required beast that I got for my 11 chains on the morning of the 26th.
08669 in its current role at Doncaster:
08669_2006.09.07_Doncaster by philwood55013, on Flickr
I followed that up with a run to Paddington on the morning loco hauled service.
As with my last rover, it was the beast that is 57601 that did the deed.
I was heading down to Penzance in order to have another bit of kip behind 47830 and so it was a HST to Exeter for 158822 to Taunton, where I picked up a Cross Country service, in the capable hands of 47805, to Penzance.
47830 produced as expected and I settled down for a full night’s sleep, having had to get up at 05something to enjoy the 08.
The last day began with me doing the early Cross Country service out of Paddington. 47839 was the power and I stayed aboard until International. From then in it was pure 87s.
I did 87003 to Euston and 87015 through to New Street. I stayed on this for a short run on its journey back, bailing at International. Then it was 87034 to Crewe before my last loco of the move, 87016, to Euston.
I walked across to Kings Cross and found to my dismay that my train home was an HST.
Oh well, you can’t have everything.
So that was that, another one in the bag.
This one was another solo effort and the year was 2002.
I began by doing what was by now my usual move of driving to Wakefield and leaving my car in the long stay car park.
91029 was my first, and only, loco of the day. I took this to Kings Cross and then walked over to Kings Cross Thameslink, from where I took 319441 to London Bridge.
I was after some heritage EMUs so took VEP 3544 to Waterloo East, followed by the less heritage and far less interesting 455 number 5739 from Waterloo to Clapham Junction.
After that it was CIG 1750 into Victoria and that was almost it for the day.
I really don’t know what I did for the rest of that day, although I do know that I spent the night in London.
I had a plan for the next morning which involved visiting a preserved railway, something new whilst on an all-liner, so before retiring to my London hotel it’s possible that I had a run out to Didcot as that’s where I intended visiting and, having never been to the Railway Centre before, I may well have wanted to check out the route from the mainline station.
I know now, of course, how easy it is, but failure to plan is planning for failure and so that seems the most likely course of action.
I didn’t record HSTs at the time, so any trip from Paddington to Didcot just wouldn’t have been noted down.
I really regret my past poor recording, but C’est la vie.
I do know that I made my way out to Didcot on the Sunday morning by HST.
The reason for my deviation from the rover was 08604. A locomotive that was booked to have a very rare outing that day. The “Rod Squad” were out in force, people had come from all over the country for this piece of gronk action and the railway duly obliged.
I had three round trips, just to get my money’s worth
Here it is a few years later:
08604_2011.07.31_09_Didcot by philwood55013, on FlickrAfter that it was back to the job in hand and 165114 was taken to Reading.
Next up was some main line diesel loco thrash in the shape of 47829, which was taken to Birmingham. A quick round trip to Coventry followed, using 47806 and 87024.
I was going home for the night, so did the next service to Euston, which was in the capable hands of 86254. After a stroll over to Kings Cross it was 91132 to Wakefield.
I began Monday by doing the obligatory weekday move of 1V39, which was 47847 and as was customary I did this to New Street. 47847 turned out to be the only diesel of the day as from then on it was electrics all the way.
47847 at Holyhead in 2007:
47847_2007.01.27_12_Holyhead by philwood55013, on FlickrI knew by now that the 86s and 87s were on borrowed time and so I wanted to get some decent mileage in.
Diesels can be got on preserved lines but sparks are a trickier proposition once their working life is over.
That was my rationale anyway.
With this in mind I took 87024 to Euston for a round trip to Crewe, doing 87023 out and 87019 back.
Another trip to New Street followed, this time with RES liveried 86430 doing the work, another Coventry round trip was sandwiched in, using 87031 and 87015, before I headed back to London on a loco that had taken me there once already today, 87024.
I had booked a bed on the Edinburgh sleeper and the loco for that was 90239, which whisked me through the night to Carstairs.
90036 was the first loco of the next day, although of course I didn’t know that until after I had disembarked at Edinburgh. My plan was to do another Scottish sleeper that night, from Inverness, but I knew I could get a few more spark miles in first and so it was off to Glasgow Central behind 91110.
I was planning on doing the Highland Chieftain HST from Waverley and to get there I took 90008 to Carlisle and my old friend 86226 to Edinburgh.
This turned out to be my last run on 86226.
Thanks for the memories.
The HST was more or less on time, giving me about 20 minutes in Inverness before heading South on 67023. The “portion” loco of the night before, 90036 took over at Waverley and Scotland was left behind for a few months.
90036 waiting to take me, and the future Mrs 55013, to Scotland in 2004:
90036_2004.10.19_2_Euston by philwood55013, on FlickrAfter arriving at Euston I made my way over to Liverpool Street for a day of Anglia 86ers.
As is my want, though I did it in a roundabout fashion, doing the underground to Fenchurch Street, 357206 to Upminster (I was starting to develop a liking for 357s!) 357218 was done back to Fenchurch St, then 357046 to Upminster once again. From there it was 315828 to Romford and 321351 into Liverpool Street.
Next, I headed to Ipswich on 86235 and followed that up with a couple of round trips to Colchester, using 86237/86221/86246 and 86232 before heading back to London on 86230.
I had a cunning plan.
At this time there was a daily loco hauled turn in and out of St Pancras. I can’t remember why they were short of stock, but all I cared about was that they were and the two commuter trains, an inbound one in the morning and an outbound one at night, had two dedicated locos, 47488 and 47709. From memory the morning service came from Derby. The evening one definitely went to Sheffield. I know this because I did it throughout. The loco that worked the evening service worked in the next morning and then the other went out, after the set had stabled at Cricklewood for the day.
I was pleased to see that it was 47488 that was on it tonight. This was a loco that I had travelled on numerous times back in my fledgling bashing days as it was a dedicated Trans-Pennine loco for a while and thus easily available for young paupers travelling on West Yorkshire Day Rovers.
I thoroughly enjoyed my run down the Midland Mainline, especially once the train had emptied of commuters North of Bedford.
This was actually my first loco hauled service train out of St Pancras.
My first ever loco out of there had been 47347 on the marvellous “Inter-City Diesel Day” way back in 1989 (The first loco I had done in to there was 56017!).
This service had another positive to it.
As best I can remember, the morning 06.40 York – Bristol had previously come up ECS from Derby. Virgin had obviously realised that there was a better way to get the loco and stock in position, so a late evening service to Leeds was now loco instead of HST.
47488 deposited me at Sheffield in plenty of time to catch this working, which was powered by the numerically similar 47848.
I took this to Wakefield and headed home for the night.
Thursday the 25th began with my usual morning drive to Westgate, followed by 1V39.
This was unsurprisingly 47848 and, nothing if not habitual; I took it to New Street.
I then took 90015 to Euston before doing a nice 87 powered round trip to Crewe.
87003 did the Northbound leg and 87023 took me back South. Next up was another old friend in the shape of 86254, which I took to International. I had a short run to New Street on 87014 before heading towards the Great Western for tonight I was on another shunter hunt.
I took 47750 to Leamington Spa and then waited an hour for 47851, which I took to Paddington.
47830 was the loco on the sleeper and I took up my usual berth in the rear coach in order to enjoy some massive gronk mileage at Plymouth.
First Great Western had a few 08s of their own allocated to Laira, but for whatever reason they had hired in an extra one in the shape of 08669 and I was very lucky that it was this required beast that I got for my 11 chains on the morning of the 26th.
08669 in its current role at Doncaster:
08669_2006.09.07_Doncaster by philwood55013, on FlickrI followed that up with a run to Paddington on the morning loco hauled service.
As with my last rover, it was the beast that is 57601 that did the deed.
I was heading down to Penzance in order to have another bit of kip behind 47830 and so it was a HST to Exeter for 158822 to Taunton, where I picked up a Cross Country service, in the capable hands of 47805, to Penzance.
47830 produced as expected and I settled down for a full night’s sleep, having had to get up at 05something to enjoy the 08.
The last day began with me doing the early Cross Country service out of Paddington. 47839 was the power and I stayed aboard until International. From then in it was pure 87s.
I did 87003 to Euston and 87015 through to New Street. I stayed on this for a short run on its journey back, bailing at International. Then it was 87034 to Crewe before my last loco of the move, 87016, to Euston.
I walked across to Kings Cross and found to my dismay that my train home was an HST.
Oh well, you can’t have everything.
So that was that, another one in the bag.
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Not certain she'd enjoy it though somehow 