Well, here we go with my next move.
Myself and 45135 made up the party and, as usual, he has provided me with the HST gen for the trip (apart from the last one in to Paddington, I missed that when I was making my frequent gen requests!).
Our rover took in Tuesday the 11th of September and it would be unthinkable to leave out references to the events of that day.
However, I'm not going to dwell on it, we were thousands of miles away, knew nobody that was directly affected and still had a very good time, although my memory of that move is inextricably linked with those attacks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My next rover took place in September 2001.
A month that’s forever linked with horrific murder.
Two of us were on this and when we set off we obviously had no idea how our memory of the move would be tainted by events in New York.
The weekend started well, we did the ELR diesel gala on the Saturday and I had roped in no less than two winners, with Freightliner sending along 47358 and 66606.
The rover itself began on Sunday the 9th and, after catching a bus to Huddersfield I met my mate on 158808, which we did over to Manchester.
86242 was the first loco of the move.
As we left Manchester we spotted 86209 waiting to back onto a rake of stock.
This was significant as it was the last XC 86 I needed for haulage.
A look at the timetable and a plan was formed, we had a good idea of what it should be working and we worked out that we could afford to do 86242 to Stafford for something back to Wilmslow.
This we did, with 90003 filling the gap between the two 86ers.
86209 produced as hoped and we did it to Birmingham.
Here it is several years earlier, having brought the sleeper service into Manchester:
86209_1989.02.11_Manchester Piccadilly by philwood55013, on Flickr
As it was a Sunday, the seemingly eternal engineering works that cause Nuneaton drags were underway and we sampled 47726, which gave way to 86261 for a run from Nuneaton to Euston.
Our plan for the rest of the day involved some Thumper mileage.
We had done many 205s and 207s in the early days of rovers, mainly between Reading and Basingstoke, and they were favourites of ours.
Now they were on their last legs and the end was in sight.
We had booked a night at the County Hall Travel Inn near Waterloo and so we headed there first in order to check in and divest ourselves of excess baggage.
Then it was a short stroll to Waterloo and CEP unit 1612 to Clapham Junction.
VEP 3914 followed and we took this to Oxted.
A very nice pair of 205s then arrived, 205028 and 205009 which we did to Uckfield and back to East Croydon, with 455/8 5842 taking us from there back to Waterloo East.
Following a hearty breakfast we set off the next morning by doing VEP 3418 from Waterloo to Clapham Junction, followed by CIG 1747 to Gatwick.
We found it difficult to believe, but despite the first class 460s being delivered the year before, class 73/2s still had a role to play on the Gatwick Express services and we weren’t going to pass up the chance of another run.
73211 was enjoyed to Victoria and then it was over to Euston as we were heading back to our own homes for the night.
We took the usual zig zag approach to getting home, doing 87021 to Coventry, 90011 to Milton Keynes, 87008 to Rugby and 87006 to Manchester.
158806 was the uninspiring traction back over the Pennines.
Tuesday the 11th of September 2001, a day that will live in infamy.
The day started normally with me driving to Wakefield and meeting my mate aboard 1V39, which was in the hands of 47806.
We bailed at New Street and did 47828 to Stoke.
After that it was electric traction for the rest of the day.
86214 was taken to Stafford with sister 86245 taking us to Milton Keynes. While we were at Milton Keynes 90015 came in heading South.
This was good for my mate, it was his last WCML spark and so we jumped aboard.
People of my parents generation say they remember exactly where they were when they heard that Kennedy had been killed. I know exactly where I was when I heard about Princess Diana’s accident (I was driving back from a Bo’Ness diesel gala and was just passing Ferrybridge power station on the M62 after dropping a mate off in Knottingley.)
I also know where I was when I heard about the attacks on the twin towers.
I was sat in MK2 coach 6175, behind 86247, heading from Euston to Coventry when my mate got a text from his girlfriend.
I’m not going to linger on this as I’m writing a report about a railway move, but the New York attacks had such a profound effect that they can’t be ignored.
We had no access to instant news of course, so didn’t know the extent of the incident until later.
The real feeling of numbness and fear that seemed to cover the population didn’t occur until the next day, so, other than knowing that “A plane has crashed into the twin towers” we were still pretty ignorant of things.
We got off 86247 at Coventry and headed back South on EWS liveried 86261. We did this to Milton Keynes and followed it up with a run into London on 87028.
We had a berth booked on the Aberdeen sleeper and after viewing our loco, 90016, we settled down for the night.
A few weeks before this move four of us had done a multi-traction railtour to Aberdeen.
One of the locos had been 67004.
One of our mates who was on the tour but not the all-liner had kindly said “I hope it’s 67004 on the sleeper” we had both only had a couple of skips at this time so we hoped it wasn’t.
It was.
Bah.
67004 at Doncaster in 2005:
67004_2005.08.10_4_Doncaster by philwood55013, on Flickr
As with my previous rover the move was to step off the sleeper and straight onto the Kings Cross HST (43159/071).
This was where we began to realise the full impact of what had happened in America.
Everyone had newspapers and it was, of course, the only subject that was covered.
As the train went South and people got off, leaving their papers behind, we learnt more and more about the events on the other side of the Atlantic.
Anyway, life goes on and we didn’t want to stay on the HST any longer than we had to, so we bailed at Edinburgh for a 91.
It was to be another night at home and so our plan was simple, we did 91024 from Waverley to Doncaster and then boarded 47853, which was working 1E33 12.33 Bristol – Newcastle.
We did this to Newcastle and then back on 1V67, which nicely dropped me off at Wakefield.
The 13th began with a 91 up to London, 91012 being the loco in question and then a trip to Fenchurch Street.
We hoped to get a 312 but there weren’t any to be seen so we decided to do some Anglia sparks instead.
We got from Fenchurch Street to Liverpool Street by doing 357030 to Upmister, 315804 to Romford and 321447 into the terminus.
We had a run to Ipswich and back, using 86215 and 86217.
Then it was over to Euston for 87025 to International.
We had another Laira 08 on the agenda and so had a berth booked on the Plymouth portion.
47747 was taken from International in order to get us into position at Paddington.
47830 was the Night Riviera loco and as per the previous move, this was done to Plymouth for a bit of gronkage.
Once again, it was a winner, this time it was 08410.
Next up was a HST (43063/43070) West to Camborne in order to pick up 1A45, the 08.20 Penzance to Paddington, which was now a loco and stock.
We were expecting a FGW green 47, so were surprised when Fragonset 47709 rolled in. We did this to Paddington for another of the loco hauled turns.
47709 during its short lived "Blue Pullman" days:
47709_2006.01.05_2_Mirfield by philwood55013, on Flickr
We had just over an hour in London before heading West once more on 1C50, the 15.42 Paddington – Exeter.
This train was in the hands of something new, “Purple Ronnie”, 57601.
I had sampled this loco on many occasions when it was a 47, but this was my first taste of it as a bodysnatcher.
I know that 57s aren’t that popular but I have a real soft spot for 57601.
Over the next nine months I had it for over 900 miles before its tenure on FGW came to an end.
What a beast
57601_2006.12.09_4_Leeds by philwood55013, on Flickr
After a short wait at Exeter we caught 47709 again, this time on 1C56 16.33 Paddington – Penzance.
This was as far as Truro where we had to bail to meet the London bound sleeper, unsurprisingly in the hands of 47830.
Upon arrival at Paddington we boarded the first Northbound XC service, which had 47841 at the business end.
We did this to New Street and then had an out and back run to Stafford with 86425 out and 86226 back.
86226 was working a train bound for the former Southern region and it came off at Birmingham for diesel power forward.
It was RES liveried 47746 that took over and we stayed on board to Reading.
From Reading it was a HST into Paddington and then it was nearly time to go home.
We decided to get to Kings Cross in a slightly less conventional manner than normal, doing the underground to Charing Cross, CIG 1840 to London Bridge and 319370 to Kings Cross Thameslink.
After walking across to the main station it was 91130 to Wakefield and the move was done.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's that, another one in the bag.
Myself and 45135 made up the party and, as usual, he has provided me with the HST gen for the trip (apart from the last one in to Paddington, I missed that when I was making my frequent gen requests!).
Our rover took in Tuesday the 11th of September and it would be unthinkable to leave out references to the events of that day.
However, I'm not going to dwell on it, we were thousands of miles away, knew nobody that was directly affected and still had a very good time, although my memory of that move is inextricably linked with those attacks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My next rover took place in September 2001.
A month that’s forever linked with horrific murder.
Two of us were on this and when we set off we obviously had no idea how our memory of the move would be tainted by events in New York.
The weekend started well, we did the ELR diesel gala on the Saturday and I had roped in no less than two winners, with Freightliner sending along 47358 and 66606.
The rover itself began on Sunday the 9th and, after catching a bus to Huddersfield I met my mate on 158808, which we did over to Manchester.
86242 was the first loco of the move.
As we left Manchester we spotted 86209 waiting to back onto a rake of stock.
This was significant as it was the last XC 86 I needed for haulage.
A look at the timetable and a plan was formed, we had a good idea of what it should be working and we worked out that we could afford to do 86242 to Stafford for something back to Wilmslow.
This we did, with 90003 filling the gap between the two 86ers.
86209 produced as hoped and we did it to Birmingham.
Here it is several years earlier, having brought the sleeper service into Manchester:
86209_1989.02.11_Manchester Piccadilly by philwood55013, on FlickrAs it was a Sunday, the seemingly eternal engineering works that cause Nuneaton drags were underway and we sampled 47726, which gave way to 86261 for a run from Nuneaton to Euston.
Our plan for the rest of the day involved some Thumper mileage.
We had done many 205s and 207s in the early days of rovers, mainly between Reading and Basingstoke, and they were favourites of ours.
Now they were on their last legs and the end was in sight.
We had booked a night at the County Hall Travel Inn near Waterloo and so we headed there first in order to check in and divest ourselves of excess baggage.
Then it was a short stroll to Waterloo and CEP unit 1612 to Clapham Junction.
VEP 3914 followed and we took this to Oxted.
A very nice pair of 205s then arrived, 205028 and 205009 which we did to Uckfield and back to East Croydon, with 455/8 5842 taking us from there back to Waterloo East.
Following a hearty breakfast we set off the next morning by doing VEP 3418 from Waterloo to Clapham Junction, followed by CIG 1747 to Gatwick.
We found it difficult to believe, but despite the first class 460s being delivered the year before, class 73/2s still had a role to play on the Gatwick Express services and we weren’t going to pass up the chance of another run.
73211 was enjoyed to Victoria and then it was over to Euston as we were heading back to our own homes for the night.
We took the usual zig zag approach to getting home, doing 87021 to Coventry, 90011 to Milton Keynes, 87008 to Rugby and 87006 to Manchester.
158806 was the uninspiring traction back over the Pennines.
Tuesday the 11th of September 2001, a day that will live in infamy.
The day started normally with me driving to Wakefield and meeting my mate aboard 1V39, which was in the hands of 47806.
We bailed at New Street and did 47828 to Stoke.
After that it was electric traction for the rest of the day.
86214 was taken to Stafford with sister 86245 taking us to Milton Keynes. While we were at Milton Keynes 90015 came in heading South.
This was good for my mate, it was his last WCML spark and so we jumped aboard.
People of my parents generation say they remember exactly where they were when they heard that Kennedy had been killed. I know exactly where I was when I heard about Princess Diana’s accident (I was driving back from a Bo’Ness diesel gala and was just passing Ferrybridge power station on the M62 after dropping a mate off in Knottingley.)
I also know where I was when I heard about the attacks on the twin towers.
I was sat in MK2 coach 6175, behind 86247, heading from Euston to Coventry when my mate got a text from his girlfriend.
I’m not going to linger on this as I’m writing a report about a railway move, but the New York attacks had such a profound effect that they can’t be ignored.
We had no access to instant news of course, so didn’t know the extent of the incident until later.
The real feeling of numbness and fear that seemed to cover the population didn’t occur until the next day, so, other than knowing that “A plane has crashed into the twin towers” we were still pretty ignorant of things.
We got off 86247 at Coventry and headed back South on EWS liveried 86261. We did this to Milton Keynes and followed it up with a run into London on 87028.
We had a berth booked on the Aberdeen sleeper and after viewing our loco, 90016, we settled down for the night.
A few weeks before this move four of us had done a multi-traction railtour to Aberdeen.
One of the locos had been 67004.
One of our mates who was on the tour but not the all-liner had kindly said “I hope it’s 67004 on the sleeper” we had both only had a couple of skips at this time so we hoped it wasn’t.
It was.
Bah.
67004 at Doncaster in 2005:
67004_2005.08.10_4_Doncaster by philwood55013, on FlickrAs with my previous rover the move was to step off the sleeper and straight onto the Kings Cross HST (43159/071).
This was where we began to realise the full impact of what had happened in America.
Everyone had newspapers and it was, of course, the only subject that was covered.
As the train went South and people got off, leaving their papers behind, we learnt more and more about the events on the other side of the Atlantic.
Anyway, life goes on and we didn’t want to stay on the HST any longer than we had to, so we bailed at Edinburgh for a 91.
It was to be another night at home and so our plan was simple, we did 91024 from Waverley to Doncaster and then boarded 47853, which was working 1E33 12.33 Bristol – Newcastle.
We did this to Newcastle and then back on 1V67, which nicely dropped me off at Wakefield.
The 13th began with a 91 up to London, 91012 being the loco in question and then a trip to Fenchurch Street.
We hoped to get a 312 but there weren’t any to be seen so we decided to do some Anglia sparks instead.
We got from Fenchurch Street to Liverpool Street by doing 357030 to Upmister, 315804 to Romford and 321447 into the terminus.
We had a run to Ipswich and back, using 86215 and 86217.
Then it was over to Euston for 87025 to International.
We had another Laira 08 on the agenda and so had a berth booked on the Plymouth portion.
47747 was taken from International in order to get us into position at Paddington.
47830 was the Night Riviera loco and as per the previous move, this was done to Plymouth for a bit of gronkage.
Once again, it was a winner, this time it was 08410.
Next up was a HST (43063/43070) West to Camborne in order to pick up 1A45, the 08.20 Penzance to Paddington, which was now a loco and stock.
We were expecting a FGW green 47, so were surprised when Fragonset 47709 rolled in. We did this to Paddington for another of the loco hauled turns.
47709 during its short lived "Blue Pullman" days:
47709_2006.01.05_2_Mirfield by philwood55013, on FlickrWe had just over an hour in London before heading West once more on 1C50, the 15.42 Paddington – Exeter.
This train was in the hands of something new, “Purple Ronnie”, 57601.
I had sampled this loco on many occasions when it was a 47, but this was my first taste of it as a bodysnatcher.
I know that 57s aren’t that popular but I have a real soft spot for 57601.
Over the next nine months I had it for over 900 miles before its tenure on FGW came to an end.
What a beast
57601_2006.12.09_4_Leeds by philwood55013, on FlickrAfter a short wait at Exeter we caught 47709 again, this time on 1C56 16.33 Paddington – Penzance.
This was as far as Truro where we had to bail to meet the London bound sleeper, unsurprisingly in the hands of 47830.
Upon arrival at Paddington we boarded the first Northbound XC service, which had 47841 at the business end.
We did this to New Street and then had an out and back run to Stafford with 86425 out and 86226 back.
86226 was working a train bound for the former Southern region and it came off at Birmingham for diesel power forward.
It was RES liveried 47746 that took over and we stayed on board to Reading.
From Reading it was a HST into Paddington and then it was nearly time to go home.
We decided to get to Kings Cross in a slightly less conventional manner than normal, doing the underground to Charing Cross, CIG 1840 to London Bridge and 319370 to Kings Cross Thameslink.
After walking across to the main station it was 91130 to Wakefield and the move was done.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's that, another one in the bag.
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