Here we go with my next move.
I did it with a mate, not 45135 this time although he has his own memories of events that week.
Once again a disposable camera gave me a few not brilliant, but not too bad, shots.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, to my 13th rover. Unlucky for some, but not for me. This one involved two of us.
As had been the pattern for a few of the recent moves we began the day before.
The 18th of September 1999 was a Sunday and the Cross Country diagrams were completely different to those on a weekday.
There was still an evening loco-hauled service we could do to Birmingham but this started at York and, more importantly worked up there through Wakefield and Leeds, so I purchased Wakefield York and York Birmingham singles and set off, meeting my mate at Leeds.
The loco for this trip was 47828.
At Birmingham it was a case of purchasing a single to Stafford and waiting for the overnight Holyhead service.
This duly arrived behind a pair of 37s, 37429 (my favourite) and 37408. At Stafford our rovers became valid and we settled down for a bit of kip in a compo.
Here are the pair of monsters later that month:
37408_1999.09_Crewe_& 37429 by philwood55013, on Flickr
37429 was removed at Chester in the early hours and we proceeded behind 37408 on its own.
We had expected to have just the one 37 overnight but we ended up getting three as the 04whatever off Holyhead was 37426 rather than the anticipated 37408.
37426 was taken throughout to Birmingham.
Unfortunately there was no space available in any of the compartments as the train was full of people who had arrived on the ferry (which, I suppose, is the reason the train was running at that time!) so we had to make do with trying to get some shut-eye in a TSO.
At one stage we were woken up when we heard shouting .
Hes got my shoes on!
It seems that an elderly gentleman, who had boarded with a younger man who I would guess was his carer, had taken the shoes that a sleeping chap had taken off, forced his, already shorn, feet into them and was now walking up and down the coach.
Happily, the shoeless individual realised that the gentleman wasnt really with it and once his companion had returned the shoes to him everything settled down.
Once at New Street it was straight on with West Coast electrics. Only it wasnt.
The first Euston service was in the hands of 47703.
A diesel to Euston was a bit of a novelty for us, so we did it throughout.
We had beds booked on the up Night Riviera and so it was to Penzance we headed next.
Via Stafford.
87006 was done Euston to Milton Keynes, with 87028 from there to Stafford.
A nice long run on 47829 followed as we did this all the way to Penzance, with a run round (remember them?) at New street.
47830 was the sleeper engine and that was how we ended the first day.
When we arrived at Paddington we had a bit of a shock.
47811 was now on the front of our train.
Luckily, since the success of my previous all-liner, when another mate had introduced me to the delights of Rail-Gen, I had invested in my own mobile gen receiving device (or phone, as I believe some may call it).
In addition to Rail-Gen, which was for rare workings, another gen group existed for reporting more common stuff.
This was called Brush4, although despite the name it was acceptable to post workings by any class of loco.
A quick posting was sent out, giving the gen and also asking if anyone knew where the change had taken place.
A reply duly came back that the locos had been swapped at Temple Meads. So now we could relax.
Next up was Scotland, although we had decided not to go all the way to Fort William, so we could head up there at a leisurely pace.
We did 90015 from Euston to Milton Keynes, 87002 to Crewe, 87003 to Warrington Bank Quay, 86231 to Wigan, 87005 to Preston, 86222 to Carlisle and 87012 to Glasgow Central.
After that it was over to Queen Street and the obligatory unit up the West Highland line.
We bailed at Bridge Of Orchy and awaited our train South. The sound of a 37 could be heard through the still Scottish air long before we saw it.
We both just stood in silence and listened.
Heaven.
37423 was the beast that had given us such an aural treat and before long we were fast asleep.
On my previous all-liner I had chosen to forego 20 miles of haulage behind 90038 in the belief that I would get it again one day.
This line of thinking has caught me out on more than one occasion, but not this time for the aforementioned 90 was the traction forward from Waverley.
Today was the day we had chosen to head home for the night, but first there was bashing to be done and so it was three round trips to Milton Keynes, with 86260/90002/86233/87002/90146 and 90142 doing the honours. The last two of those were both on hire to Virgin from Freightliner. I believe that the renumbering to 90/1s had happened to all the 90s from 90026 upwards when they had their maximum speed lowered, ETH isolated and various other mods that prevented them working passenger trains.
As time progressed all of these locos had the gubbins reinstated and became 90/0s again. These two, however, had not yet been renumbered.
Anyway, here's 90146 at the land of the concrete cows:
90146_1999.09.22_Milton Keynes by philwood55013, on Flickr
After this bit of fun it was over to Kings Cross and another 90. This time it was Belgian liveried 90028 and was done throughout to Leeds, where my mate and I parted and I headed back to Wakefield on 91009.
Another 90 at the Cross:
90028_1999.09.22_2_Kings Cross by philwood55013, on Flickr
The next day, Thursday the 23rd, produced one of the highlights, not just of this all-liner, but of all of them. In fact, it was one of the highlights of my entire bashing career.
The day started normally enough, with 47854 on the York Bristol.
We intended to have a bit of time on the North Wales Coast and so, after bailing at New street we headed North West behind 37408. Somewhere between Birmingham and Stafford my phoned beeped.
A message.
I had a look. It was Rail-Gen.
Oh my word!
56010 was currently working a service to Newcastle vice an HST.
The plan was it would carry on with the diagram and work back as far as Derby.
We leapt out of the train at Stafford and began leafing through the Bible that is, the all-line timetable that was a must have in those days.
We could make it at Doncaster and whats more we could do it on a loco.
In fact, the same loco we had started the day on, as 47854 would be heading to Newcastle on 1E33.
We jumped aboard the first service to Birmingham, which was in the hands of 47810.
We were pretty excited but when I looked at the timetable I realised we would have a lengthy wait at New Street, so we stayed on 47810 to International and then did 86229 back to Brum.
47854 arrived on time and a nail biting ride was had to Doncaster.
Any brake application had our hearts in our mouths.
Would we end up sat on a failed train as the grid went by on its merry way?
No, is the short answer.
We made it to Doncaster in plenty of time and began our fester.
A few other cranks had put in an appearance and we were all milling about, looking anxiously at the information screens and staring into the distance, looking for signs of an approaching grid.
It really reminded me of the summer of 1981, when hoards of spotty youths, including myself, would stand on the same platform, looking in the same place and waiting for the most eagle-eyed to shout Deltic! .
Not surprisingly, the Plymouth service that we were all waiting for was late.
A 56 cant keep to HST timings, of course.
Eventually our wait was over and a grey grid slid under the road bridge and into the platform.
There were heads out of every window. It was like a railtour.
It did differ from a tour in that you didnt have a booked seat and so, with the normal passengers supplemented by a million cranks, it was a bit cosy and standing in the vestibule wasnt so much a choice as a necessity.
Id had numerous grids before, but only on tours or pre-arranged services, such as those on the S & C, so this was something new.
56010 put in a cracking performance and just to make it that bit better, there was no loco available at Derby so it had to carry on to Birmingham.
Here's the only shot I managed to get of it that day, not brilliant, but what a memory:
56010_1999.09.23_Sheffield by philwood55013, on Flickr
I cant remember what our original plan for that night had been but we decided to stay on board this service and cover the Night Riviera. 47702 replaced the grid and once the crowds of bashers had dispersed we managed to get some seats.
We needed a sit down after all the excitement.
It wasnt just the rare traction that had made the day, it was the thrill of the chase as well.
We had a bit of a fester at Plymouth, but the days activities gave us something to discuss and the time soon passed.
47832 Tamar was the traction on the sleeper and we slept the sleep of the just all the way to Paddington.
Friday was a busy day for us, we were booked on the sleeper from Edinburgh, but first wanted to get some Anglia 86 action in.
On top of that, a couple of EDs wouldnt go amiss.
We started with the 73s, doing a round trip starting at Victoria.
73208 took us to Gatwick and 73213 pushed us back.
Then it was the underground to Liverpool Street and 86232 out to Ipswich.
The usual Colchester round trips then ensued, but only a couple as we were mindful of the fact we had to get to Edinburgh. 86215/86246/86232 and 86237 being our chariots.
86246 was done Ipswich to Liverpool Street and it was over to Euston.
We did 90006 to Crewe and then 86233 to Glasgow.
Some unit was done over to Edinburgh and we were in time for the 23.55 departure back South.
Our first haulage of the day had been out of Plymouth and our last was out of Edinburgh.
We were certainly getting good value out of our rover.
It was 90037 to Carstairs and 90038 from there to Euston.
By contrast with Friday, Saturday was planned to be fairly sedate.
We started by doing 87001 out to Rugby.
From there it was 47476 forward to Coventry as there was a problem (if I remember correctly) with the overhead wires.
We hung around Coventry for a bit, just to see if there were any more rescues in the offing, but whatever the problem was, it was soon sorted as no more diesels appeared.
We left Coventry on 87024 and did the short hop to International before returning to Euston on 87003.
A round trip to Milton Keynes followed, going out on 90004 and back on 90031.
It was then back to Wakefield on a succession of 91s, changing at Peterborough and Doncaster.
The locos were 91020, 91017 and 91025.
After a night at our homes, we met up on the Sunday morning for the last day.
We had made a mistake with the planning and found out too late that engineering work was heavily disrupting the ECML.
We somehow made it to Doncaster and then crawled South, passed mile after mile of ongoing work, on 91028.
By the time we made it to London it was already afternoon and we were having to think about getting home.
No way was the East Coast viable, so we headed to Euston.
We did 87020 to Milton Keynes and 87032 forward to Birmingham.
There was a late HST from Birmingham to Leeds, so we now had a move to get home, all we had to do was fill the time before it was due.
Luckily that time was easily filled, starting with 87034 to Coventry for 47744 to Wolverhampton.
Then it was 47805 to International and 47709 to Coventry.
A round trip to Birmingham followed, with 86233 and 47851 doing the work, and then we finished with 86245.
The HST home was an anti-climax but at least it got us there.
And that was rover number 13, the next one would be in a new millennium.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so there you have it, the high of a grid on a service train and the low of an East coast stagger. What a rover that was!
I did it with a mate, not 45135 this time although he has his own memories of events that week.
Once again a disposable camera gave me a few not brilliant, but not too bad, shots.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, to my 13th rover. Unlucky for some, but not for me. This one involved two of us.
As had been the pattern for a few of the recent moves we began the day before.
The 18th of September 1999 was a Sunday and the Cross Country diagrams were completely different to those on a weekday.
There was still an evening loco-hauled service we could do to Birmingham but this started at York and, more importantly worked up there through Wakefield and Leeds, so I purchased Wakefield York and York Birmingham singles and set off, meeting my mate at Leeds.
The loco for this trip was 47828.
At Birmingham it was a case of purchasing a single to Stafford and waiting for the overnight Holyhead service.
This duly arrived behind a pair of 37s, 37429 (my favourite) and 37408. At Stafford our rovers became valid and we settled down for a bit of kip in a compo.
Here are the pair of monsters later that month:
37408_1999.09_Crewe_& 37429 by philwood55013, on Flickr37429 was removed at Chester in the early hours and we proceeded behind 37408 on its own.
We had expected to have just the one 37 overnight but we ended up getting three as the 04whatever off Holyhead was 37426 rather than the anticipated 37408.
37426 was taken throughout to Birmingham.
Unfortunately there was no space available in any of the compartments as the train was full of people who had arrived on the ferry (which, I suppose, is the reason the train was running at that time!) so we had to make do with trying to get some shut-eye in a TSO.
At one stage we were woken up when we heard shouting .
Hes got my shoes on!
It seems that an elderly gentleman, who had boarded with a younger man who I would guess was his carer, had taken the shoes that a sleeping chap had taken off, forced his, already shorn, feet into them and was now walking up and down the coach.
Happily, the shoeless individual realised that the gentleman wasnt really with it and once his companion had returned the shoes to him everything settled down.
Once at New Street it was straight on with West Coast electrics. Only it wasnt.
The first Euston service was in the hands of 47703.
A diesel to Euston was a bit of a novelty for us, so we did it throughout.
We had beds booked on the up Night Riviera and so it was to Penzance we headed next.
Via Stafford.
87006 was done Euston to Milton Keynes, with 87028 from there to Stafford.
A nice long run on 47829 followed as we did this all the way to Penzance, with a run round (remember them?) at New street.
47830 was the sleeper engine and that was how we ended the first day.
When we arrived at Paddington we had a bit of a shock.
47811 was now on the front of our train.
Luckily, since the success of my previous all-liner, when another mate had introduced me to the delights of Rail-Gen, I had invested in my own mobile gen receiving device (or phone, as I believe some may call it).
In addition to Rail-Gen, which was for rare workings, another gen group existed for reporting more common stuff.
This was called Brush4, although despite the name it was acceptable to post workings by any class of loco.
A quick posting was sent out, giving the gen and also asking if anyone knew where the change had taken place.
A reply duly came back that the locos had been swapped at Temple Meads. So now we could relax.
Next up was Scotland, although we had decided not to go all the way to Fort William, so we could head up there at a leisurely pace.
We did 90015 from Euston to Milton Keynes, 87002 to Crewe, 87003 to Warrington Bank Quay, 86231 to Wigan, 87005 to Preston, 86222 to Carlisle and 87012 to Glasgow Central.
After that it was over to Queen Street and the obligatory unit up the West Highland line.
We bailed at Bridge Of Orchy and awaited our train South. The sound of a 37 could be heard through the still Scottish air long before we saw it.
We both just stood in silence and listened.
Heaven.
37423 was the beast that had given us such an aural treat and before long we were fast asleep.
On my previous all-liner I had chosen to forego 20 miles of haulage behind 90038 in the belief that I would get it again one day.
This line of thinking has caught me out on more than one occasion, but not this time for the aforementioned 90 was the traction forward from Waverley.
Today was the day we had chosen to head home for the night, but first there was bashing to be done and so it was three round trips to Milton Keynes, with 86260/90002/86233/87002/90146 and 90142 doing the honours. The last two of those were both on hire to Virgin from Freightliner. I believe that the renumbering to 90/1s had happened to all the 90s from 90026 upwards when they had their maximum speed lowered, ETH isolated and various other mods that prevented them working passenger trains.
As time progressed all of these locos had the gubbins reinstated and became 90/0s again. These two, however, had not yet been renumbered.
Anyway, here's 90146 at the land of the concrete cows:
90146_1999.09.22_Milton Keynes by philwood55013, on FlickrAfter this bit of fun it was over to Kings Cross and another 90. This time it was Belgian liveried 90028 and was done throughout to Leeds, where my mate and I parted and I headed back to Wakefield on 91009.
Another 90 at the Cross:
90028_1999.09.22_2_Kings Cross by philwood55013, on FlickrThe next day, Thursday the 23rd, produced one of the highlights, not just of this all-liner, but of all of them. In fact, it was one of the highlights of my entire bashing career.
The day started normally enough, with 47854 on the York Bristol.
We intended to have a bit of time on the North Wales Coast and so, after bailing at New street we headed North West behind 37408. Somewhere between Birmingham and Stafford my phoned beeped.
A message.
I had a look. It was Rail-Gen.
Oh my word!
56010 was currently working a service to Newcastle vice an HST.
The plan was it would carry on with the diagram and work back as far as Derby.
We leapt out of the train at Stafford and began leafing through the Bible that is, the all-line timetable that was a must have in those days.
We could make it at Doncaster and whats more we could do it on a loco.
In fact, the same loco we had started the day on, as 47854 would be heading to Newcastle on 1E33.
We jumped aboard the first service to Birmingham, which was in the hands of 47810.
We were pretty excited but when I looked at the timetable I realised we would have a lengthy wait at New Street, so we stayed on 47810 to International and then did 86229 back to Brum.
47854 arrived on time and a nail biting ride was had to Doncaster.
Any brake application had our hearts in our mouths.
Would we end up sat on a failed train as the grid went by on its merry way?
No, is the short answer.
We made it to Doncaster in plenty of time and began our fester.
A few other cranks had put in an appearance and we were all milling about, looking anxiously at the information screens and staring into the distance, looking for signs of an approaching grid.
It really reminded me of the summer of 1981, when hoards of spotty youths, including myself, would stand on the same platform, looking in the same place and waiting for the most eagle-eyed to shout Deltic! .
Not surprisingly, the Plymouth service that we were all waiting for was late.
A 56 cant keep to HST timings, of course.
Eventually our wait was over and a grey grid slid under the road bridge and into the platform.
There were heads out of every window. It was like a railtour.
It did differ from a tour in that you didnt have a booked seat and so, with the normal passengers supplemented by a million cranks, it was a bit cosy and standing in the vestibule wasnt so much a choice as a necessity.
Id had numerous grids before, but only on tours or pre-arranged services, such as those on the S & C, so this was something new.
56010 put in a cracking performance and just to make it that bit better, there was no loco available at Derby so it had to carry on to Birmingham.
Here's the only shot I managed to get of it that day, not brilliant, but what a memory:
56010_1999.09.23_Sheffield by philwood55013, on FlickrI cant remember what our original plan for that night had been but we decided to stay on board this service and cover the Night Riviera. 47702 replaced the grid and once the crowds of bashers had dispersed we managed to get some seats.
We needed a sit down after all the excitement.
It wasnt just the rare traction that had made the day, it was the thrill of the chase as well.
We had a bit of a fester at Plymouth, but the days activities gave us something to discuss and the time soon passed.
47832 Tamar was the traction on the sleeper and we slept the sleep of the just all the way to Paddington.
Friday was a busy day for us, we were booked on the sleeper from Edinburgh, but first wanted to get some Anglia 86 action in.
On top of that, a couple of EDs wouldnt go amiss.
We started with the 73s, doing a round trip starting at Victoria.
73208 took us to Gatwick and 73213 pushed us back.
Then it was the underground to Liverpool Street and 86232 out to Ipswich.
The usual Colchester round trips then ensued, but only a couple as we were mindful of the fact we had to get to Edinburgh. 86215/86246/86232 and 86237 being our chariots.
86246 was done Ipswich to Liverpool Street and it was over to Euston.
We did 90006 to Crewe and then 86233 to Glasgow.
Some unit was done over to Edinburgh and we were in time for the 23.55 departure back South.
Our first haulage of the day had been out of Plymouth and our last was out of Edinburgh.
We were certainly getting good value out of our rover.
It was 90037 to Carstairs and 90038 from there to Euston.
By contrast with Friday, Saturday was planned to be fairly sedate.
We started by doing 87001 out to Rugby.
From there it was 47476 forward to Coventry as there was a problem (if I remember correctly) with the overhead wires.
We hung around Coventry for a bit, just to see if there were any more rescues in the offing, but whatever the problem was, it was soon sorted as no more diesels appeared.
We left Coventry on 87024 and did the short hop to International before returning to Euston on 87003.
A round trip to Milton Keynes followed, going out on 90004 and back on 90031.
It was then back to Wakefield on a succession of 91s, changing at Peterborough and Doncaster.
The locos were 91020, 91017 and 91025.
After a night at our homes, we met up on the Sunday morning for the last day.
We had made a mistake with the planning and found out too late that engineering work was heavily disrupting the ECML.
We somehow made it to Doncaster and then crawled South, passed mile after mile of ongoing work, on 91028.
By the time we made it to London it was already afternoon and we were having to think about getting home.
No way was the East Coast viable, so we headed to Euston.
We did 87020 to Milton Keynes and 87032 forward to Birmingham.
There was a late HST from Birmingham to Leeds, so we now had a move to get home, all we had to do was fill the time before it was due.
Luckily that time was easily filled, starting with 87034 to Coventry for 47744 to Wolverhampton.
Then it was 47805 to International and 47709 to Coventry.
A round trip to Birmingham followed, with 86233 and 47851 doing the work, and then we finished with 86245.
The HST home was an anti-climax but at least it got us there.
And that was rover number 13, the next one would be in a new millennium.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so there you have it, the high of a grid on a service train and the low of an East coast stagger. What a rover that was!
hock:
