Back in the day...

[Forty29]

... and whilst I was in the archives I came across this phot of an unidentified Western at Tilehurst in early July 1976 on a westbound service.

I think it may be 1056 Western Sultan, judging from the ventilation panel below the driver's window. Can any Western expert out there confirm.

Maybe could also be 1028 as had the same grille and was also still running at this time.
I'll ask my mate who updated my records he may know can't work out from my mine!

 

[D6130]

Maybe could also be 1028 as had the same grille and was also still running at this time.
I'll ask my mate who updated my records he may know can't work out from my mine!

....or 1071?

 

[Sultan1056]

Maybe could also be 1028 as had the same grille and was also still running at this time.
I'll ask my mate who updated my records he may know can't work out from my mine!

1028 & 1071 were both missing headboard clips from at least one end.

 

[D1511]

Missed a few goodies these past few days while I've been away, so I'll save these for next year. (eg 47313 on 1E28!)

Wednesday 30th June 1982

1C86 11.06 Edinburgh - Birmingham NS 47705 xeh HA Edinburgh - Carstairs
1M27 11.15 Glasgow C - Birmingham NS 86318 xem WN Carstairs - Birmingham NS
1O?? 14.23 Manchester Piccadilly - Portsmouth H 47324 xos BS Birmingham NS - Portsmouth H (stayed on this a bit longer than intended!)
2H82 21.25 Portsmouth H - Salisbury 33003 xe EH Portsmouth H - Southampton C

 

[QJ]

Over the weekend of Friday 30 June 1978 to Sunday 02 July 1978 I ventured north from London to Scotland; the plan being to catch one of the Rosyth Dockyard Open Day shuttles (a whopping 1 mile 21 chains of new track from Inverkeithing to the Dockyard platform) plus more haulage from the Scottish based diesels.

To get there I left work on the Friday in good time for the 1950 from Kings Cross. Gateshead allocated 55011 took the train to York where it was replaced by Haymarket's 40165. I was not complaining nor was the red pen. Having arrived in the early hours of the Saturday in Edinburgh I was not so enamoured by Eastfield's 47210 taking over for the trip through Fife (the red pen was pleased though). Early morning ned leaps between Dundee and Perth raked in new for haulage 27004, 27043, 40063 and 27044. Just when I was about to head to Inverkeithing for my planned track bash 25093 rolled in on a Glasgow to Aberdeen relief. Off to Arbroath it was instead then. I still managed to get to Inverkeithing for one of the shuttles to the Dockyard by boarding the 1025 Aberdeen to Kings Cross which for added interest ran via Dunfermline. Not so interesting for someone that lived in Western Region land was the motive power; Canton's 47241. Beggars can't be choosers.

Having managed to get to Rosyth Dockyard Halt I ignored the Naval displays in favour of getting back to haulage bashing. There was nothing for it but to walk to Inverkeithing station and much to my dismay all I managed were 47553, 47045, 47414 and 47269 and 47045 again before ending up back at Dundee. My plan from there was to travel to Glasgow Queen Street on the 1735 from Dundee then catch one of the overnight trains from Central towards London.

Gateshead's 40086 put me in a better mood as it took me through the evening to Glasgow. However, as the train rolled out of the Queen Street tunnel into the station no less than Eastfield based 25008 had been turned out for the 2114 Queen to Dundee. Only one thing for it but to storm back up Cowlairs bank to enjoy the rare treat of a 25/0. In my excitement I forgot to write down the loco that would have been provided to back the train a mile up the incline. Not the first time nor the last I forgot that when catching trains out of Queen Street.

How to get home from Stirling? The answer came in the form of Haymarket's 40158 heading the 1928 Inverness to Euston. As expected the Forty was replaced at Mossend by an electric in the for of 86034 to head into Sunday. All was not lost though as being a Saturday night Sunday morning train a diversion between Preston and Crewe found 40120 taking the train round the houses via Manchester and Styal. Excitement over for reasons lost in the mists of time I spent the Sunday lunchtime in Windsor (there and back from Paddington).

A reasonably successful 1,366 mile jaunt for just over a mile and a quarter of new track netting 16 new haulages of which five class 40s , three class 27s and two class 25s were the highlight.

 

[D1537]

Sunday 3 July 1983

(1Z37 "The Menai Marauder")

37270+37272 Birmingham New Street-Crewe

Straight away a bonus - we had been told in the morning that 40028 would be doing the tour, with 40047 as assistance ... but 40093 is a big bonus winner

40093 Crewe-Llandudno Jc
40028+40047 Llandudno Jc-Blaenau FF
40028 Blaenau FF-Amlwch
40093 Amlwch-Crewe
37272+37270 Crewe-Birmingham New St

1O?? 14.23 Manchester Piccadilly - Portsmouth H 47324 xos BS Birmingham NS - Portsmouth H (stayed on this a bit longer than intended!)

1O92

 

[Harpo]

Sunday 3 July 1983

(1Z37 "The Menai Marauder")

37270+37272 Birmingham New Street-Crewe

Straight away a bonus - we had been told in the morning that 40028 would be doing the tour, with 40047 as assistance ... but 40093 is a big bonus winner

40093 Crewe-Llandudno Jc
40028+40047 Llandudno Jc-Blaenau FF
40028 Blaenau FF-Amlwch
40093 Amlwch-Crewe
37272+37270 Crewe-Birmingham New St


1O92

Saturday 2 July 1983

37301 Shrewsbury - Central Wales - Llanelli. Return adex from Llandudno

……which ran so late that about 10 of us missed the overnight we planned to get from Llanelli to Parkway for The Menai Marauder.

 

[xotGD]

37270+37272 Birmingham New Street-Crewe

37301 Shrewsbury - Central Wales - Llanelli. Return adex from Llandudno

All huge at the time, but they all became 37/4s.

 

[Harpo]

All huge at the time, but they all became 37/4s.

Oh yes! Hadn’t thought about that.

 

[NorthWestRover]

9th July 1976

I may well have posted earlier in this thread that this day 48 years ago was a significant one. Primary School trip to York (from Warrington) and I started spotting. The details of that day are long gone and the only haulage I know about is

46029 Man Vic to York

However, my love of trains and railways began on that day.

It was 50 years ago today that it all began...

 

[xotGD]

It was 50 years ago today that it all began...

 

[Peter Sarf]

It was 50 years ago today that it all began...

52 years for me this late summer.
My Mum thought I would grow out of it.......

 

[D1537]

Thursday 16 July 1987

47455 1O03 Coventry-Leamington
47500 1M48 Leamington-B'ham NS (via Solihull, relief)
47114 1E65 B'ham NS-Derby (relief)
47226 1M51 Derby-Nottingham
47301 1M26 Nottingham-Stockport
87005 1A77 Stockport-Rugby

 

[D1511]

Saturday 16th July 1983

1N20 00.05 Kings Cross - Newcastle 47239 xos CF Doncaster - Newcastle
1V79 08.17 York - Tenby 47321 xos CD York - Leeds
1E00 (?) 07.05 Liverpool LS - Scarborough 40096 xo LO Leeds - York
2L24 08.05 Chesterfield - Scarborough 37101 xot TE York - Scarborough
1J26 10.50 Scarborough - Sheffield UNREADABLE LOCO NUMBER! (something has been spilled on my book so the number is unclear, although it's vi TO, so it must have been a goyle! Scarborough - York
(unit to Malton)
1M69 12.00 Scarborough - Manchester V 47314 xos IM Malton - York
1N13 09.10 Yarmouth - Newcastle 37045 xot TE York - Newcastle
(HST to Darlington)
1E63 09.40 Poole - Newcastle 37009 xot GD Darlington - Newcastle

(I think @xotGD was on these last 2 services!)

 

[AJM580]

Same day as D1511 - 16/7/83

40129 - Norwich - March (1M74 1434 Great Yarmouth - Manchester Picc)
31145 - March - Ipswich (1P09 1641 Peterborough - Ipswich)
47585 - Ipswich - Norwich (1P34 1730 Liverpool Street - Norwich

 

[D1537]

Friday 17 July 1987

86241 1P02 Rugby-Coventry
47607 1M10 Coventry-B'ham NS
43080+43098 B'ham NS-Cheltenham
47367 1E67 Cheltenham-B'ham NS (relief)

An excellent move to get to the mighty 47301 which was supposed to be on the afternoon Nottingham-Blackpool again. However, at New Street, there are people telling us to get off...

47301 1Z44 B'ham NS-Bristol TM (relief)
47301 1M30 Bristol TM-Derby (relief)
43181+43173 1V93 Derby-B'ham NS
310053 B'ham NS-Rugby

The marvel of RailGen informs me all these years later that the afternoon Blackpool was 31107 (lovely) and that I got the Class 310 mileage in at the end because 1V19 was 50048 (splendid).

 

[SW Rover]

Saturday 16th July 1983

1J26 10.50 Scarborough - Sheffield UNREADABLE LOCO NUMBER! (something has been spilled on my book so the number is unclear, although it's vi TO, so it must have been a goyle! Scarborough - York
(unit to Malton)

RailGen has 1J26 being worked by 31204 which in my Platform 5 spotters book from summer 82 is shown as 31204 vi TO

 

[xotGD]

Saturday 16th July 1983

1N20 00.05 Kings Cross - Newcastle 47239 xos CF Doncaster - Newcastle
1V79 08.17 York - Tenby 47321 xos CD York - Leeds
1E00 (?) 07.05 Liverpool LS - Scarborough 40096 xo LO Leeds - York
2L24 08.05 Chesterfield - Scarborough 37101 xot TE York - Scarborough
1J26 10.50 Scarborough - Sheffield UNREADABLE LOCO NUMBER! (something has been spilled on my book so the number is unclear, although it's vi TO, so it must have been a goyle! Scarborough - York
(unit to Malton)
1M69 12.00 Scarborough - Manchester V 47314 xos IM Malton - York
1N13 09.10 Yarmouth - Newcastle 37045 xot TE York - Newcastle
(HST to Darlington)
1E63 09.40 Poole - Newcastle 37009 xot GD Darlington - Newcastle

(I think @xotGD was on these last 2 services!)

I was on 045, but not 009. But I did have 40181 that day too.

 

[D1511]

RailGen has 1J26 being worked by 31204 which in my Platform 5 spotters book from summer 82 is shown as 31204 vi TO

Thank you! I will write something in that book for the first time in 43 years!

I was on 045, but not 009. But I did have 40181 that day too.

I think 009 worked 1S15 not very long after

 

[xotGD]

I think 009 worked 1S15 not very long after

I'd had it the previous summer when it rescued a fagged Goyle on the Yarmouth - Newcastle.

We were at Darlo, heard that the loco had failed and then happily watched the 37 despatched from Darlo depot to the rescue.

 

[D1537]

I'd had it the previous summer when it rescued a fagged Goyle on the Yarmouth - Newcastle.

We were at Darlo, heard that the loco had failed and then happily watched the 37 despatched from Darlo depot to the rescue.

I'm surprised it got as far as Darlo.

 

[D1511]

Thursday 19th July 1984

2O08 07.40 Edinburgh - Glasgow QS 47706 xeh HA Haymarket - Glasgow QS
1E87 11.20 Glasgow C - Harwich PQ 86254 xe WN Glasgow C - Carstairs
1G53 13.03 Carstairs - Edinburgh 37125 xo ML Carstairs - Edinburgh
2L44 14.18 Edinburgh - Dundee 40118 xb LO Edinburgh - Kirkcaldy

 

[xotGD]

1G53 13.03 Carstairs - Edinburgh 37125 xo ML Carstairs - Edinburgh

Rather large.

Here it is when it stopped being a 37, reposted from earlier in the thread...

 

[Forty29]

1028 & 1071 were both missing headboard clips from at least one end.

Despite our best efforts looking back at our spotter's notes and other references my mate and me could not positively identify the class 52 that day.
On 5/8/74 the following wide range of locos could be seen at Reading
Hymek 7026
Westerns 1021/22/25/27/33/46
Class 20's 20012/35
Class 31's 254/261/273/412/413/414
Class 33 33004
Class 37 37231
Class 46 46010
Class 73 73130
Class 50's 50016/23/33/39/47
Plus about 20 class 47's all WR allocated except 47201/340

 

[CW2]

Despite our best efforts looking back at our spotter's notes and other references my mate and me could not positively identify the class 52 that day.
On 5/8/74 the following wide range of locos could be seen at Reading
Hymek 7026
Westerns 1021/22/25/27/33/46
Class 20's 20012/35
Class 31's 254/261/273/412/413/414
Class 33 33004
Class 37 37231
Class 46 46010
Class 73 73130
Class 50's 50016/23/33/39/47
Plus about 20 class 47's all WR allocated except 47201/340

Thanks for trying.
That's a wonderful range of locos from 05/08/74. No wonder Reading was so popular with spotters.

 

[Forty29]

Yes it was. Alot of the time was mainly WR allocated locos but some days like above it just kept on giving! A couple more interesting workings later in the week.

 

[CD]

Monday 5th August 1985

45118 Derby-St.Pancras (1C12 0019 Derby-St.Pancras)
45118 St.Pancras-Leicester (1P06 0423 St.Pancras-Leicester)
45101 Leicester-Leeds (1E05 0740 Leicester-Leeds)
45148 Leeds-York (1E06 0905 Liverpool-Scarborough)
45060 York-Scarborough (1E06)
45060 Scarborough-Huddersfield (1M26 1255 Scarborough-Bangor)
45132 Huddersfield-York (1E74 1405 Liverpool-Scarborough)
45148 York-Scarborough (1E74)
45148 Scarborough-Huddersfield (1M79 1755 Scarborough-Liverpool)
45126 Huddersfield-Leeds (1E93 1703 Holyhead-York)
DMU Leeds-Sheffield (2148 Leeds-Sheffield)
45103 Sheffield-Luton (1M10 2352 Sheffield-St.Pancras)

 

[Peter Sarf]

Monday 5th August 1985

45118 Derby-St.Pancras (1C12 0019 Derby-St.Pancras)
45118 St.Pancras-Leicester (1P06 0423 St.Pancras-Leicester)
45101 Leicester-Leeds (1E05 0740 Leicester-Leeds)
45148 Leeds-York (1E06 0905 Liverpool-Scarborough)
45060 York-Scarborough (1E06)
45060 Scarborough-Huddersfield (1M26 1255 Scarborough-Bangor)
45132 Huddersfield-York (1E74 1405 Liverpool-Scarborough)
45148 York-Scarborough (1E74)
45148 Scarborough-Huddersfield (1M79 1755 Scarborough-Liverpool)
45126 Huddersfield-Leeds (1E93 1703 Holyhead-York)
DMU Leeds-Sheffield (2148 Leeds-Sheffield)
45103 Sheffield-Luton (1M10 2352 Sheffield-St.Pancras)

Gosh all those 45s even though straying of the MML to the seaside !.

 

[xotGD]

Gosh all those 45s even though straying of the MML to the seaside !.

There were plenty of 45/1s on trans-pennine services in those days.

 

[Peter Sarf]

There were plenty of 45/1s on trans-pennine services in those days.

I suppose after the demise of the steam heat 40s because of the end of steam heat Mk1s ?.