OK, so here's my next all-liner.
Once again, it was enjoyed with my mate, fellow poster 45135, and it is to him the thanks go for providing me with the HST and unit gen.
Where something is unknown it's generally because we had parted company at that point.
There is an unknown HST power car, though, so if anyone happened to have 43156 on Monday the 8th of June 1998, could you tell us what was on the other end. Thanks
Photography wise, I had a camera with me but only managed a couple of shots before it packed up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another June, another all-liner.
As with the one the previous September, this was to have a railtour tagged onto it, this time at the end of the week.
The rover was to start on Saturday the 6th of June but my mate and I met up the day before, did a few 91s between Leeds and Wakefield and then headed over to Manchester for the summer Fridays only overnight service to Newquay. We had a “Manchester – wherever the first stop after midnight was” single and then our rover began. At the exact moment it became valid we were sat behind 47851, which we stayed on all the way to Newton Abbot.
Devon was a shadow of its former self and locos were hard to come by, so it was a HST (43091/43154) up to Birmingham.
At this time my favourite class of loco had made a surprise return to service trains, with Deltic 55022 being diagrammed to work a Saturdays only turn from Birmingham to Ramsgate and back.
There was no way this was going to be missed.
The outward turn was long gone but we could get a good run in on the Northbound service, so off we went.
A short run behind 87003 was had before we picked up 47818, which was done from Birmingham International to Reading.
At Reading we had a bit of time to kill so we retired to the pub that was, at that time, accessible from the platform (Reading still being an open station in those days). As we sat there downing our pints the room began to shake and a loud droning filled the air. We knew our steed was here and so we supped up and headed out. 55022 wasn’t even in the platform yet! The noise was tremendous, absolute heaven. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
The magic machine was thoroughly enjoyed all the way to Birmingham. At New Street the Deltic gave way to an electric loco and we began our journey home for the night.
Here's 55022 (I'm of the TOPS generation, D9000 will always be 55022 to me) at New Street:
55022_1998.06.06_Birmingham_2 by philwood55013, on Flickr
After having the first of the Deltics it was now the doyen of the 90s that we sampled, this time for the short run to International.
From there it was 47853 to Manchester, 158906 to Leeds and something that I didn’t record to Wakefield.
On Sunday I met my mate at Wakefield and we headed back to Birmingham, aboard HST 43153/43102.
Interestingly, this set reversed at Sheffield and, with 43102 now leading, worked South via Woodhouse Junction.
1998 was a much more interesting year than 1997, with numerous freight engines appearing on Virgin services as availability of the allocated 47s took a tumble.
This proved very productive for us and the first loco of the day was big winner 47338 on a cross country service to the South West. We wanted to do a loco back, so we bailed at Cheltenham Spa and went for a pub lunch as 47338 was booked into Bristol Temple Meads shortly after the train we wanted was due to depart.
47338_1998.06.07_Cheltenham Spa by philwood55013, on Flickr
I can’t remember what food I had in the pub, but whatever it was, I know I couldn’t taste it.
This was because I put some spicy chutney on it.
Spicy! The word doesn’t do it justice.
I have never eaten anything so hot in all my life.
Tears rolled down my cheeks and pint after pint was downed in a vain effort to ease the searing pain in my mouth and throat.
If you’re ever in a pub in Cheltenham, my advice is ignore the condiments.
I speak as someone who likes spicy food.
Anyway, I digress. 47807 was the loco that took us back to Birmingham, which we followed with a short hop to Wolverhampton and back, using 47822 and 86213 as our motive power.
We were heading South now and 47839 was done to Oxford were we met our second 47/3 of the day.
47310 was a very nice addition to the haulage log, but because we were booked on the Penzance sleeper we didn’t want to go too far North and so we had to bail at Banbury.
Still, 22 miles is better than none.
From Banbury it was my favourite 47, 47840 “North Star” to Basingstoke, 47853 to Reading and 47851 into Paddington.
The sleepers were still going from Waterloo at this time, so it was there we went next.
47815 was our overnight power.
We bailed at St Erth in order to ensure we made the up HST that was due to leave Penzance at around the time the sleepers arrived, which we couldn’t afford to miss.
We did the tram (43xxx/43156) to Plymouth, followed by another one (43143/43015) to Exeter and yet another one (43153/43102 again) to Bristol for 47851 forward to Birmingham.
From there it was various short hops to London utilising 47843/87021/90007 & 90005 and it was time for another sleeper move.
90022 took us on the 400 mile run to Edinburgh and then it was 37409 over to Fort William.
37409 was the only loco we had that day as our plan involved a bit of track scoring. Although Fort William had been done many times, neither of us had ever done the Oban branch, so it was a 156430 & 156434 to Crianlarich, 156442 to Oban, some food, the same unit back back to Crianlarich and 156435 to Bridge Of Orchy in order to meet 37409 coming back South.
The 10th was one of those days when we managed to visit all three countries of the mainland United Kingdom.
It was also a day that provided us with a pleasant, unexpected, bonus.
90018 was the sleeper loco that took us from Edinburgh to London.
Next up was 87029, which we did to Birmingham, followed by 47829 to Bristol and 47851 for the short hop to Bristol Parkway.
43141 & 43008 were taken to Bridgend as a fill in move, another HST (43168/43021) was then done to Cardiff and we were in position for the evening Rhymney commuters.
There were now two diagrams and we had a plan that involved doing one out to Pengam for the other back.
Imagine our surprise when, shortly after we stepped off the HST, 50031 ran light engine through the station.
“It’s been hired in to do the Rhymneys” said a nearby spotter who had seen our delighted puzzlement.
His gen proved to be correct and this was the first day of its Valley sojourn, so we’d timed it just right.
Hood had run light from Kidderminster, it ran on to Canton, coupled up to the stock and was back in the station minutes later.
We stuck to our original plan as we had to get to Plymouth, so we bailed at Pengham for 37416 back.
After making our way from Cardiff to Plymouth, using 43006 & 43133 to Bristol Parkway and thence 43078 & 43041, it was, of course, the up sleeper.
47816 was the traction while we enjoyed a good kip.
Next up were the obligatory EDs and so from Waterloo we made our way to Victoria, using 442 units 2420/2404 to Clapham Junction and 4-VEP 3518.
73207/73201/73205/73212 (twice) were sampled and then it was over to Anglia, doing 47839 from Gatwick to Kensington Olympia. A few more units were then employed. We started by doing 313023 to Willesden High Level and followed this up with 313004 to Stratford Low Level and 321364 into The Street.
Unlike on our previous visit, there were no problems on the Liverpool St – Norwich line today and so 86246/86218/86235 & 86228 were enjoyed before another run on 86235 back to London.
We were heading home for the night and this was done in a staggered journey, starting with the underground to Moorgate, 313024/313026 to Finsbury Park, 317358 to Kings Cross and continuing with 91022 Kings Cross to Peterborough, 91012 to Doncaster and 91028 for the last leg to Wakefield.
The reason for spending the last night at home was the aforementioned railtour on the Saturday. This was Pathfinder’s ambitious “Slug & Slog/Birthday Bash”, a two part tour that I will come to shortly . With this in mind we had to ensure that we finished our rover at the unlikely location of Watford Junction.
Before Saturday, I must talk about Friday, of course, and today began with 158806 to Manchester, followed by 86226 on the “Stockport Leap” move.
Anyone remember the “Stockport leapers are lepers” graffiti that used to adorn the waiting room there?
Very droll.
This was followed by 4 47s in a row, 47810 to Stafford, 47847 to Crewe, 47843 to International and 47844 to New Street.
Next it was 86212 to Wolverhampton. In retrospect I wish we’d stayed on to Stafford.
Why? Because when it was withdrawn my mileage off 86212 stood at 997 miles 18 chains.
Bah.
Here it is, sat in Kingsbury scrapyard, proving once and for all that I'd never get those last three miles
86212_2011.01.16_1_Kingsbury by philwood55013, on Flickr
Well, not being blessed with psychic powers I was unaware of this future bugbear and so we did get off at Wolverhampton and went to Stafford on 47844.
This was followed by a nice pair of tractors on a North Wales coast service, 37421 & 37414, which we did to Crewe.
At Crewe we were now thinking about getting to the capital for the tour.
We headed South on 90001, which we did to Milton Keynes and 86254 to Watford Junction. We still had a bit of time to kill before the tour so we managed a quick run out to Milton Keynes and back on 90003 and 87024 and the rover was done.
Now the tours. It was Pathfinder’s 25th birthday extravaganza and they had pulled out all the stops for one of the best tours I have ever done.
First, though, was a mini tour called the “Slug & Slog” although no 37/9s were involved.
It was 73131 & 73128 to St Albans Abbey for 47245 back.
This train was due off around midnight but ended up leaving around an hour late.
Once back at Watford Junction the EDs worked forward to Birmingham New Street.
A pair of 73s on the WCML was something to experience.
Unfortunately I didn’t really experience it as I spent most of the journey asleep.
At New Street the tour became the “Birthday Bash”, with the 73s working to Redditch. 58030 had been added to back and this then worked to Wolverhampton.
The stock was then sent for watering and a train load of bleary eyed punters had to kill some time.
There wasn’t a lot to do at half six in the morning, but we did meet up with a mate of ours who had driven down for the tour. This was also to be our transport home.
After the stock was fettled 58030 continued on its way.
If you’re wondering, the 73s were now enjoying a well earned rest at Bescot.
The 58 worked to Leicester where 60025 took over for a run to Grantham.
This was followed by 37697 & 37717 to Sheffield, 56065 to Warrington Bank Quay, 60065 to Crewe and 47280 & 47241 to Bescot Up Loop.
Now we had a problem. The plan was for the 73s to rejoin the train and take it back to London.
Unfortunately, 73131 decided it couldn’t face it and chose to throw itself off the rails instead.
This not only left us a 73 short, it also blocked us in.
We were stuck in Bescot yard, unable to go forward and so a bit of bonus haulage was had when 58028 was fired up and added to the rear of the train. This then dragged us back about half a mile.
Not much, but I’m in the “If it provides traction for any distance then it counts” camp, so I was happy with that.
Of course there was no way a single 73 could cope hauling the tour for over a hundred miles on diesel power so an alternative option had to be found and EWS came up trumps by proving 37675.
Not on its own though.
It was multied up to 73128.
We left Bescot with the 73 leading and the short run we had to New Street was different, to say the least.
I’d never had a 73/37 pairing before and I’ve not had one since.
We bailed at Birmingham in order to get to our mate’s car and another adventure was over.
Never mind, we could do it all again in September.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there we are, hope you enjoyed it.
Once again, it was enjoyed with my mate, fellow poster 45135, and it is to him the thanks go for providing me with the HST and unit gen.
Where something is unknown it's generally because we had parted company at that point.
There is an unknown HST power car, though, so if anyone happened to have 43156 on Monday the 8th of June 1998, could you tell us what was on the other end. Thanks
Photography wise, I had a camera with me but only managed a couple of shots before it packed up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another June, another all-liner.
As with the one the previous September, this was to have a railtour tagged onto it, this time at the end of the week.
The rover was to start on Saturday the 6th of June but my mate and I met up the day before, did a few 91s between Leeds and Wakefield and then headed over to Manchester for the summer Fridays only overnight service to Newquay. We had a “Manchester – wherever the first stop after midnight was” single and then our rover began. At the exact moment it became valid we were sat behind 47851, which we stayed on all the way to Newton Abbot.
Devon was a shadow of its former self and locos were hard to come by, so it was a HST (43091/43154) up to Birmingham.
At this time my favourite class of loco had made a surprise return to service trains, with Deltic 55022 being diagrammed to work a Saturdays only turn from Birmingham to Ramsgate and back.
There was no way this was going to be missed.
The outward turn was long gone but we could get a good run in on the Northbound service, so off we went.
A short run behind 87003 was had before we picked up 47818, which was done from Birmingham International to Reading.
At Reading we had a bit of time to kill so we retired to the pub that was, at that time, accessible from the platform (Reading still being an open station in those days). As we sat there downing our pints the room began to shake and a loud droning filled the air. We knew our steed was here and so we supped up and headed out. 55022 wasn’t even in the platform yet! The noise was tremendous, absolute heaven. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
The magic machine was thoroughly enjoyed all the way to Birmingham. At New Street the Deltic gave way to an electric loco and we began our journey home for the night.
Here's 55022 (I'm of the TOPS generation, D9000 will always be 55022 to me) at New Street:
55022_1998.06.06_Birmingham_2 by philwood55013, on FlickrAfter having the first of the Deltics it was now the doyen of the 90s that we sampled, this time for the short run to International.
From there it was 47853 to Manchester, 158906 to Leeds and something that I didn’t record to Wakefield.
On Sunday I met my mate at Wakefield and we headed back to Birmingham, aboard HST 43153/43102.
Interestingly, this set reversed at Sheffield and, with 43102 now leading, worked South via Woodhouse Junction.
1998 was a much more interesting year than 1997, with numerous freight engines appearing on Virgin services as availability of the allocated 47s took a tumble.
This proved very productive for us and the first loco of the day was big winner 47338 on a cross country service to the South West. We wanted to do a loco back, so we bailed at Cheltenham Spa and went for a pub lunch as 47338 was booked into Bristol Temple Meads shortly after the train we wanted was due to depart.
47338_1998.06.07_Cheltenham Spa by philwood55013, on FlickrI can’t remember what food I had in the pub, but whatever it was, I know I couldn’t taste it.
This was because I put some spicy chutney on it.
Spicy! The word doesn’t do it justice.
I have never eaten anything so hot in all my life.
Tears rolled down my cheeks and pint after pint was downed in a vain effort to ease the searing pain in my mouth and throat.
If you’re ever in a pub in Cheltenham, my advice is ignore the condiments.
I speak as someone who likes spicy food.
Anyway, I digress. 47807 was the loco that took us back to Birmingham, which we followed with a short hop to Wolverhampton and back, using 47822 and 86213 as our motive power.
We were heading South now and 47839 was done to Oxford were we met our second 47/3 of the day.
47310 was a very nice addition to the haulage log, but because we were booked on the Penzance sleeper we didn’t want to go too far North and so we had to bail at Banbury.
Still, 22 miles is better than none.
From Banbury it was my favourite 47, 47840 “North Star” to Basingstoke, 47853 to Reading and 47851 into Paddington.
The sleepers were still going from Waterloo at this time, so it was there we went next.
47815 was our overnight power.
We bailed at St Erth in order to ensure we made the up HST that was due to leave Penzance at around the time the sleepers arrived, which we couldn’t afford to miss.
We did the tram (43xxx/43156) to Plymouth, followed by another one (43143/43015) to Exeter and yet another one (43153/43102 again) to Bristol for 47851 forward to Birmingham.
From there it was various short hops to London utilising 47843/87021/90007 & 90005 and it was time for another sleeper move.
90022 took us on the 400 mile run to Edinburgh and then it was 37409 over to Fort William.
37409 was the only loco we had that day as our plan involved a bit of track scoring. Although Fort William had been done many times, neither of us had ever done the Oban branch, so it was a 156430 & 156434 to Crianlarich, 156442 to Oban, some food, the same unit back back to Crianlarich and 156435 to Bridge Of Orchy in order to meet 37409 coming back South.
The 10th was one of those days when we managed to visit all three countries of the mainland United Kingdom.
It was also a day that provided us with a pleasant, unexpected, bonus.
90018 was the sleeper loco that took us from Edinburgh to London.
Next up was 87029, which we did to Birmingham, followed by 47829 to Bristol and 47851 for the short hop to Bristol Parkway.
43141 & 43008 were taken to Bridgend as a fill in move, another HST (43168/43021) was then done to Cardiff and we were in position for the evening Rhymney commuters.
There were now two diagrams and we had a plan that involved doing one out to Pengam for the other back.
Imagine our surprise when, shortly after we stepped off the HST, 50031 ran light engine through the station.
“It’s been hired in to do the Rhymneys” said a nearby spotter who had seen our delighted puzzlement.
His gen proved to be correct and this was the first day of its Valley sojourn, so we’d timed it just right.
Hood had run light from Kidderminster, it ran on to Canton, coupled up to the stock and was back in the station minutes later.
We stuck to our original plan as we had to get to Plymouth, so we bailed at Pengham for 37416 back.
After making our way from Cardiff to Plymouth, using 43006 & 43133 to Bristol Parkway and thence 43078 & 43041, it was, of course, the up sleeper.
47816 was the traction while we enjoyed a good kip.
Next up were the obligatory EDs and so from Waterloo we made our way to Victoria, using 442 units 2420/2404 to Clapham Junction and 4-VEP 3518.
73207/73201/73205/73212 (twice) were sampled and then it was over to Anglia, doing 47839 from Gatwick to Kensington Olympia. A few more units were then employed. We started by doing 313023 to Willesden High Level and followed this up with 313004 to Stratford Low Level and 321364 into The Street.
Unlike on our previous visit, there were no problems on the Liverpool St – Norwich line today and so 86246/86218/86235 & 86228 were enjoyed before another run on 86235 back to London.
We were heading home for the night and this was done in a staggered journey, starting with the underground to Moorgate, 313024/313026 to Finsbury Park, 317358 to Kings Cross and continuing with 91022 Kings Cross to Peterborough, 91012 to Doncaster and 91028 for the last leg to Wakefield.
The reason for spending the last night at home was the aforementioned railtour on the Saturday. This was Pathfinder’s ambitious “Slug & Slog/Birthday Bash”, a two part tour that I will come to shortly . With this in mind we had to ensure that we finished our rover at the unlikely location of Watford Junction.
Before Saturday, I must talk about Friday, of course, and today began with 158806 to Manchester, followed by 86226 on the “Stockport Leap” move.
Anyone remember the “Stockport leapers are lepers” graffiti that used to adorn the waiting room there?
Very droll.
This was followed by 4 47s in a row, 47810 to Stafford, 47847 to Crewe, 47843 to International and 47844 to New Street.
Next it was 86212 to Wolverhampton. In retrospect I wish we’d stayed on to Stafford.
Why? Because when it was withdrawn my mileage off 86212 stood at 997 miles 18 chains.
Bah.
Here it is, sat in Kingsbury scrapyard, proving once and for all that I'd never get those last three miles
86212_2011.01.16_1_Kingsbury by philwood55013, on FlickrWell, not being blessed with psychic powers I was unaware of this future bugbear and so we did get off at Wolverhampton and went to Stafford on 47844.
This was followed by a nice pair of tractors on a North Wales coast service, 37421 & 37414, which we did to Crewe.
At Crewe we were now thinking about getting to the capital for the tour.
We headed South on 90001, which we did to Milton Keynes and 86254 to Watford Junction. We still had a bit of time to kill before the tour so we managed a quick run out to Milton Keynes and back on 90003 and 87024 and the rover was done.
Now the tours. It was Pathfinder’s 25th birthday extravaganza and they had pulled out all the stops for one of the best tours I have ever done.
First, though, was a mini tour called the “Slug & Slog” although no 37/9s were involved.
It was 73131 & 73128 to St Albans Abbey for 47245 back.
This train was due off around midnight but ended up leaving around an hour late.
Once back at Watford Junction the EDs worked forward to Birmingham New Street.
A pair of 73s on the WCML was something to experience.
Unfortunately I didn’t really experience it as I spent most of the journey asleep.
At New Street the tour became the “Birthday Bash”, with the 73s working to Redditch. 58030 had been added to back and this then worked to Wolverhampton.
The stock was then sent for watering and a train load of bleary eyed punters had to kill some time.
There wasn’t a lot to do at half six in the morning, but we did meet up with a mate of ours who had driven down for the tour. This was also to be our transport home.
After the stock was fettled 58030 continued on its way.
If you’re wondering, the 73s were now enjoying a well earned rest at Bescot.
The 58 worked to Leicester where 60025 took over for a run to Grantham.
This was followed by 37697 & 37717 to Sheffield, 56065 to Warrington Bank Quay, 60065 to Crewe and 47280 & 47241 to Bescot Up Loop.
Now we had a problem. The plan was for the 73s to rejoin the train and take it back to London.
Unfortunately, 73131 decided it couldn’t face it and chose to throw itself off the rails instead.
This not only left us a 73 short, it also blocked us in.
We were stuck in Bescot yard, unable to go forward and so a bit of bonus haulage was had when 58028 was fired up and added to the rear of the train. This then dragged us back about half a mile.
Not much, but I’m in the “If it provides traction for any distance then it counts” camp, so I was happy with that.
Of course there was no way a single 73 could cope hauling the tour for over a hundred miles on diesel power so an alternative option had to be found and EWS came up trumps by proving 37675.
Not on its own though.
It was multied up to 73128.
We left Bescot with the 73 leading and the short run we had to New Street was different, to say the least.
I’d never had a 73/37 pairing before and I’ve not had one since.
We bailed at Birmingham in order to get to our mate’s car and another adventure was over.
Never mind, we could do it all again in September.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there we are, hope you enjoyed it.
Last edited:
hock:
