Back in the day...

[CW2]

Saturday 28/01/78
47437 1735 York – Leeds
55015 1815 Leeds – Wakefield Westgate
47527 1834 Wakefield Westgate – Leeds
46041 1905 Leeds – York
55022 2142 York – Leeds
DMU Leeds – York
A typical afternoon / evening bashing around West Yorkshire using a Zone F Bullseye Ticket.

Sunday 28/01/79
46039 1120 Leeds - York
46039 1721 York – Leeds
This was 29’ late after slowly taking on boiler water at York.
40010 1907 Leeds – York
This was the Sundays Only 1800 Manchester Victoria – Newcastle, which was booked for a class 40 at the time.

Wednesday 28/01/87
37425 1220 Glasgow Queen Street – Ardlui
37411 1429 Ardlui – Glasgow Queen Street
West Highland Line in the snow, with ETH 37s for company. I always had a soft spot for 37425, formerly 37292.

Tuesday 28/01/97
I had left work in Paddington at the usual time with 43022 + 43126 on the 1645 Paddington – Weston Super Mare. On arrival at Reading I spied a Cross Country rake of stock, which shouldn’t have been there at the time. I did a double-take … there was a pair of 73s on the front! I guessed it was about to head off towards Southampton or Poole, but as I got up to the train I saw it was the 1420 Brighton – Manchester Piccadilly … and there were still passengers on board. Apparently they were waiting for a driver who knew 73s to turn up to take it through to Birmingham. Yeah, I’ll believe that when it happens …

73132 +73139 1628 Reading – Birmingham New Street via Coventry.

115’ -> 133’ late. Unlike on most previous occasions when 73s headed north from Reading, this time both locos kept running and made it all the way. (The fact it was a cold evening in January probably helped prevent the usual issue of 73s on diesel boiling themselves before Leamington Spa). Possibly the fluke working of the year, and it wasn’t even the end of January!

On arrival at New Street we hung around for a bit wanting to know what the 73s were going to do next. A gentle light engine run back to the Southern was the answer.

47826 2042 Birmingham New Street – Coventry
87025 2137 Coventry – Euston
DMU Paddington – Reading

Thursday 28/01/99
I am required to attend a meeting in Doncaster, so it’s time to rack up some more 91 miles:
91016 1100 Kings Cross – Doncaster
91010 1620 Doncaster – Kings Cross

Friday 28/01/00
After attending a meeting at Mossend, it’s time for home:
91005 1458 Motherwell – Glasgow Central
87014 1538 Glasgow Central – Euston
43004 + 43151 2200 Paddington – Reading

 

[NorthWestRover]

Sunday 28th January 1979

47013 Lime St to Crewe
87025 Crewe to Preston

Saturday 28th January 1984

87 mileage day! Hello Shap! Hello Beattock!

87008 WBQ to Glasgow Central, 1S53 08.07 Birmingham NS to Glasgow
87018 Glasgow Central to Preston, 1V18 13.20 Glasgow to Paddington
87016 Preston to Carlisle, 1S80 14.45 Euston to Glasgow
87008 Carlisle to WBQ, 1M47 17.20 Glasgow to Birmingham

Thursday 28th January 1988

47583 Oxford to Birmingham NS, 17.32 Poole to Liverpool
86403 Birmingham NS to Wolves, 17.32 Poole to Liverpool

Return from girlfriend. Interestingly the numbers of the duff and the can on the journey down there had been 582 and 404.

 

[D6130]

SATURDAY 28th JANUARY 1978:

No loco-haulage on this day....just a unit journey from Thornaby to Whitby and back, changing at Middlesbrough.

TUESDAY 28th JANUARY 2014:

Continuing our overland journey to Prague via Bamberg:

146 247-2 RE 4611, 11 17 Aschaffenburg Hbf-Wuerzburg Hbf
442 273/773 (EMU) RE 4787, 12 35 Wuerzburg Hbf-Bamberg Hbf

 

[xotGD]

28th January 1990

After a night at home following the day out in Edinburgh, it was back to Brum...

47819 Newcastle - New St


That's all for today.

 

[Falcon1200]

Wednesday 28th January 1998
90006 0938 Glasgow C-Euston (to Preston - Cab ride thanks to Virgin Trains)
86247 1105 Birmingham New St-Glasgow C (Preston-Oxenholme)
90003 1035 Euston-Glasgow C (Oxenholme-Carlisle)
158748 1251 Blackpool North-Glasgow C (from Carlisle)

 

[CW2]

Monday 29/01/79
45054 1126 York – Leeds, 60’ late.
DMU Leeds – Harrogate, Harrogate – York
47528 1816 York – Selby
55006 1852 Selby – York

Tuesday 29/01/80
47069 1726 Paddington – Reading
50018 1756 Reading – Paddington
Then a stroll over to Kings Cross to see what’s occurring …
Shortly before 2000 there were still no locos attached to the 2000 Aberdeen and 2015 Edinburgh services. Then from Finsbury Park a Deltic arrived... and it’s towing a 40! Suddenly I’m spoiled for choice. The Deltic coupled straight onto the 2000, then the 40 hooked off, and shunted across onto the 2015:
40044 2015 Kings Cross – York
3’ late start waiting loco, then 27’ late into York after C&W attention at Peterborough to a broken spring on one of the coaches. On arrival at York I alighted as I wished to cover the 2035 Edinburgh – Kings Cross, but my mate carried on north, convinced for some reason that 47431 was on that train:
(Wednesday 30/01/80)
40077 0105 York – Kings Cross
No, it definitely wasn’t 47431! Moreover, en route I passed 40074 on the 2230 Kings Cross – Edinburgh and 40006 on the 2300 Kings Cross – Leeds, so there were 40s in all directions that night.

Friday 29/01/82
50035 0745 Paddington – Reading
50050 1036 Reading – Paddington
(I think this was my final visit to my family optician of many years).
In the afternoon I set off on the 1445 Euston – Glasgow, which was booked non-stop to Preston.
87022 1445 Euston – Preston
We passed Crewe in 109 minutes, but got checked to Preston by a late-running stopper. We still managed to arrive in Preston 7 minutes early, a splendid run.
87030 1736 Preston – Crewe
87018 1854 Crewe – Watford Junction
86239 2055 Watford Junction – Euston

Saturday 29/01/83
Sometimes when looking back on my moves, I pause, frown a bit, and say quietly to myself “What on Earth were you thinking of, you old fool?” This is one of those days:
43058 + 43053 1317 York – Peterborough
31412 1831 Peterborough – Leicester
45104 1942 Leicester – Derby
43113 + 43118 2113 Derby – Sheffield
DMU 2206 Sheffield – York via Hare Park, Normanton

 

[Falcon1200]

Saturday 29th January 1991, my first (of many) visits to the wonderful Great Central Railway, where, co-incidentally, I was yesterday for their most excellent Winter Steam Gala:
47804 0554 Bournemouth-Liverpool Lime St (Oxford-Birmingham New St)
158862 1004 Birmingham New St-Norwich (to Leicester)
HST 1000 St Pancras-Sheffield (Leicester-Loughborough)
44767 (Black 5) 1230 Loughborough Central-Leicester North and 1315 return
150227 1243 Lincoln-Coventry (from Loughborough)
47830 1110 Edinburgh-Brighton (Birmingham New St-Oxford)

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 29th January 1983

Thanks to RailGen for providing the details of the services I travelled on. I had the haulage details, but no more...Mixed traction! There may be some Duff moves missing.

40057 WBQ to Man Vic, 1J10 07.09 Bangor to Man Vic
45106 Man Vic to York, 1E08 11.05 Liverpool to Scarborough
31404 York to Scarborough, 1L27 16.18 York to Scarborough
31411 Scarborough to Leeds, 1L20 18.40 Scarborough to Leeds
45118 Leeds to Man Vic, 1M80 19.25 Scarborough to Liverpool

Everything (even 40057) was required apart from 31404. And other than that and the 40 this was the only time I had these locos.

 

[D6130]

SATURDAY 29th JANUARY 1977:

A day out to Chester by service trains....as opposed to the annual ADEX from Portsmouth, which ususally ran in the Spring or Summer:

7352/7050/7345 Petersfield-Guildford (05 23 Portsmouth Harbour-Waterloo)
7803 06 52 Guildford-Waterloo via Cobham
86 212 Euston-Crewe (09 00 Euston-Carlisle)
47 439 Crewe-Chester (13 00 Euston-Holyhead)
M50512/59160/50460 16 15 Chester-Crewe
86 243 Crewe-Euston (15 19 Blackpool North-Euston)
7353/7056/7344 19 50 Waterloo-Petersfield (continuing to Portsmouth Harbour)

As you can tell, most of the day was spent spotting at Crewe, but the quick trip to Chester and back was for a pint, IIRC.


SATURDAY 29th JANUARY 1978:

The final leg of my marathon four day trip from Hampshire to Mallaig and back, calling in at my grandparents' on Teesside on the return journey:

55 002 Stockton-Kings Cross via Northallerton avoider (10 30 Newcastle-Kings Cross)
7418/7050/7822 16 50 Waterloo-Petersfield (continuing to Portsmouth Harbour)

THURSDAY 29th JANUARY 1981:

While at work, word reached me that there was a Deltic on the ECS from Craigentinny for the 17 10 Glasgow QS-Edinburgh peak hour extra....so it had to be done after work!:

303 062/008 Hyndland-Glasgow QS LL (07 47 Helensburgh Central-Airdrie)
37 111 17 10 Glasgow QS HL-Cowlairs North Junction (reverse and detach) (banked by 55 011)
55 011 Cowlairs North Junction-Edinburgh via Falkirk High (Consist: SC12006/12014/12026/11010/9701 Load 5 AB/EH)
47 712 18 30 Edinburgh-Glasgow QS HL (Consist: SC9709/ 11006/12019/12022/12011 Load 5 AB/EH)
314 212 Glasgow QS LL-Hyndland (19 17 High Street-Dalmuir)

Unusually, the 17 10 Queen St-Edinburgh was formed of a spare AB/EH mark 2f/3a push-pull set instead of the usual Craigentinny mark 1 VB/SH spare/football set, so an air-braked ETH-fitted loco was required. Evidently there was no suitable Duff available, so the Deltic was not overtaxed with a five car load and most of the time lost due to the reversal and detachment of the 37 at Cowlairs North Jn was regained by Edinburgh.

 

[xotGD]

There can't be too many folk who have been banked out of Queen Street by a Deltic. Dreadful!

 

[CW2]

There can't be too many folk who have been banked out of Queen Street by a Deltic. Dreadful!

Agreed! Imagine the racket in the tunnel with a 37 on the front and a Deltic on the back.

 

[D6130]

Agreed! Imagine the racket in the tunnel with a 37 on the front and a Deltic on the back.

....not to mention the fumes - black at the front and blue in the rear!

 

[Cheshire Scot]

I don't think I ever saw a Deltic in Queen St, shame.

 

[CW2]

Monday 30/01/78
55013 2008 Leeds – Harrogate

Wednesday 30/01/80
After my round trip to York with 40s the previous night, there was another one out of the Cross that evening. Sadly time and funds limited my journey somewhat:
40083 1635 Kings Cross – Stevenage
EMU Stevenage – Kings Cross

Saturday 30/01/82
I was working for the railways in London, and wanted to pop back to my sister’s house in York to pick up some belongings. Unfortunately this need coincided with some strike action by rail staff. Thus my choices were very limited:
46051 0110 Kings Cross – York via Sleaford, Lincoln avoider, Viaduct, Leeds.
This was the 0110 Kings Cross – Leeds diverted due to subsidence at Claypole, and extended to Newcastle vice the cancelled 0100 Kings Cross – Newcastle. All other overnight services from Kings Cross were either cancelled outright, or ran as HST.
After a few hours at home to sort out whatever needed doing, I headed back south. This time I was going via Birmingham. Guess which loco turned up?
46051 1524 York – Birmingham New Street via Cudworth
At least there was something decent at the end of this class 46 marathon:
50028 1821 Birmingham New Street – Paddington via Coventry.

Thursday 30/01/86
An all-day trip from Scotland to Plymouth to visit my parents:
86314 1045 Glasgow Central – Birmingham New Street
50035 1544 Birmingham New Street – Plymouth
The Glasgow – Penzance through service was always pretty popular, and on this occasion was load 13 once the Edinburgh* portion had been added on, so that made for a decent load over the South Devon banks.
* (Or was it right through from Aberdeen?).

Monday 30/01/89
Three years, two children, and one house move later, I’m making a similar move to visit my parents again, only this time from Crewe:
90004 1248 Crewe – Birmingham New Street
47500 1358 Birmingham New Street – Plymouth

Wednesday 30/01/91
On my way home from Paddington, I paused at Waterloo for refreshment, then came home the long way:
50037 2040 Waterloo – Basingstoke
205 028 21xx Basingstoke – Reading

 

[D6130]

MONDAY 30th JANUARY 1978:

Back to my usual after-work activity of a pint (or two) and a Crompton:

7749/7733/7720 Petersfield-Waterloo (06 23 from Portsmouth Harbour)
5751/5675/5791 Waterloo-Wimbledon (08 14 to Guildford via Cobham)
4664/4631 Wimbledon-Waterloo (17 58 from Shepperton)
33 029 Waterloo-Woking (19 00 to Exeter SD. Consist: W5452/5459/5371/14081/5482/1987/5247 Load 7 AB/EH)
7704/7808 Woking-Petersfield (19 20 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour)

THURSDAY 30th JANUARY 2014:

The final leg of the journey from London to Prague:

101 062-8 09 52 Bamberg Hbf-Leipzig Hbf (IC 2208)
120 109-4 13 25 Leipzig Hbf-Dresden Hbf (IC 2443)
371 201-5 (CD) 15 06 Dresden Hbf-Praha Hl N (EC 177)

 

[Falcon1200]

Monday 30th January 1984 - Some steam heat today
47508 0650 Oxford-Paddington (to Didcot)
47123 1515 Oxford-Paddington (from Reading)

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 30th January 1982

40106 WBQ to Llandudno Junction, 1D36 11.42 Manchester to Bangor
40106 Llandudno Junction to WBQ, 1J53 15.33 Bangor to Manchester

 

[xotGD]

30th January 1987

Yet another day confined to the limits of a West Midlands Day Tripper. Highlight of the day was:

81006 New Street - Wolverhampton 1S59

Other haulages were 86415, 86222, 87004, 86220, 86205, 86411, 86227 and 86256.

30th January 1991

Just one random move...

86234 International - New Street

I don't know what that was about.

 

[CW2]

Wednesday 31/01/79
47525 0915 York – Leeds
40058 1004 Leeds – York
I was hanging around at York when the 1001 Newcastle – Liverpool arrived, being hauled by massive no-heat 47373, which was more used to trudging around South Yorkshire with MGR coal trains than hurtling about on class 1 passenger services. The powers that be decided that was quite enough 47/3 mileage for the day, and removed it from the train before my very eyes. Oh well …. Oh, what’s this that’s come off shed to replace it?
40184 1126 York – Liverpool Lime Street
40184 1710 Liverpool Lime Street – York
That’s not a bad way to spend a January afternoon.

Thursday 31/01/85
37112 1650 Glasgow Queen Street – Crianlarich
37026 1910 Crianlarich – Glasgow Queen Street
Weather conditions were severe, with very negative temperatures, such that an ETHEL was provided on the 1650 ex Queen Street as they couldn’t rely on the steam heating. (It was very rare to have an ETHEL on anything other than the overnight sleeper services at this time).

Friday 31/01/86
A day trip to Newquay:
50036 1337 Plymouth – Par
DMU Par – Newquay and return
50036 1728 Par - Plymouth

Thursday 31/01/91
I took a half day to have a spin with some 50s on the Southern, as they were winding down quite quickly on this route:
47708 0745 Reading – Paddington
50046 1315 Waterloo – Andover
50002 1411 Andover – Woking
50036 1540 Woking – Andover
50001 1645 Andover – Basingstoke
47804 1712 Basingstoke – Reading

Monday 31/01/94
I had to attend a meeting in Mossend the following morning, so naturally a trip north on the sleepers was the ideal way to arrive. Of course I could have just done the sleepers to Glasgow or Edinburgh, but where’s the fun in that?
43144 + 43026 1957 Reading – Paddington
90007 2105 Euston – Edinburgh (Inverness portion).

 

[NorthWestRover]

Monday 31st January 1983

Post-6th Form 40s, but not along the North Wales Coast for once...

40028 WBQ to Man Vic, 1J39 16.52 Bangor to Man Vic
40015 Man Vic to Bolton, 2P64 21.15 Man Vic to Blackpool

Presumably some units home.

 

[D6130]

FRIDAY 31st JANUARY 1986:

Heading for Scotland again to spend the weekend with friends in Ayrshire:

EMU Lewes-Victoria

87 015 09 45 Euston-Glasgow Central

DMU Glasgow Central-Stevenston

 

[CW2]

Wednesday 01/02/78
47421 1740 Bradford Exchange – Leeds
47014 1906 Leeds – York
At York I made a minus connection into the late-running 1805 Newcastle – Liverpool:
40084 1925 York – Leeds
This was only my second run with 40084, which later became one of York’s pair of railtour locos (with 40057).
DMU Leeds – York

Friday 01/02/80
40077 1630 Kings Cross – Peterborough
55014 1853 Peterborough – Kings Cross

Monday 01/02/82
31204 1654 Liverpool Street – Stansted
This was a through train to Ipswich. 15’ late start, waiting loco -> 21’ late, general tottering.
37052 1749 Stansted - Cambridge
This was the 1705 departure from Liverpool Street, and had actually departed in front of the 1654 Ipswich, but got looped en route.
37261 2000 Cambridge – Liverpool Street via Southbury
37261 was one of the later batch of 37s with a centre headcode panel and roof mounted horns. There was a prohibition on these locos from travelling through one of the tunnels in the London area because the roof horns used to cause flashovers on the OLE, so whenever one of these locos ended up on the Cambridge line a diversion via Southbury was necessary. Required track, thank you!

Friday 01/02/85
An after-work leap:
27045 1545 Glasgow Central – Carlisle via Dumfries
87019 1846 Carlisle – Glasgow Central

Tuesday 01/02/94
I was en route to Mossend for a meeting, and had chosen to take the scenic route rather than just take the sleeper into Glasgow Central:
37685 + 37683 0324 Edinburgh – Perth via Stirling
It was still quite an early morning arrival in Perth. I had time for a little track bash (with units, alas):
156 500 Perth – Glasgow Queen Street
156 435 Glasgow Queen Street – Springburn
303 056 Springburn – High Street
320 319 + 320 303 High Street – Drumgelloch and return to Blairhill
After the meeting I was dropped at Motherwell station for:
91017 1614 Motherwell – Kings Cross
This was diverted via Hertford North due to some incident at Welwyn Garden City, and did extremely well to be only 4 minutes late arriving into Kings Cross.
43172 + 43137 2230 Paddington – Reading

 

[QJ]

Friday 01/02/1980
73120 1S02 0300 Victoria - Ramsgate (Victoria to Faversham)
73005 1K00 0450 Faversham - Dover Priory (Faversham to Dover)
2*4CEP 0618 Dover Priory - London Cannon Street (Dover to Cannon Street)
-work-
31176 1N56 2314 London Liverpool Street - Norwich (Liverpool Street to Cambridge)

Sunday 01/02/1987
DMU 108 1410 Hull - Sheffield (Goole to Sheffield)
45112 1605 Sheffield - London Saint Pancras (Sheffield to St Pancras) via Nunnery - Darnall - Woodhouse - Beighton Jn - Barrow Hill - Chesterfield - Derby - Leicester - Glendon North Jn - Up Goods - Sharnbrook Tunnel - Bedford North - Up Fast - St Pancras
50008 2140 London Paddington - Oxford (Paddington to Reading)
4TC+33119 2O19 2200 Reading - Basingstoke (Reading to Basingstoke)

Monday 01/02/1988 (part of a secondary route track bash week in France)
SNCF 72088 1834 (PD) Béziers - Paris Lyon (Clermont Ferrand to Nevers)
ETG T1000 0557 Nevers - Dijon Ville (Nevers to Dijon) via Chagny avoiding line
EMU Z9500 0907 Dijon Ville - Lyon Perrache (Dijon to Lyon)
EMU Z7100 1205 Lyon Perrache - Givors Ville (Lyon to Givors) via Irigny
EMU Z7100 1316 Givors Ville - Lyon Perrache (Givors to Lyon) via Irigny
SNCF 72074 0835 Nice Ville - Strasbourg (Lyon P to Bourg en Bresse)
EMU Z7100 1617 Bourg en Bresse - Mâcon Ville
EMU Z7100 1710 Mâcon Ville - Bourg en Bresse
DMU X2800 1654 Lyon Perrache - St Claude (Bourg en Bresse to la Cluse)
DMU X2100 1903 La Cluse - Bellegarde (La Cluse - Bellegarde) via Nantua
EMU Z9600 1945 Genève Cornavin - Lyon Perrache (Bellegarde to Lyon Perrache)

to await the 0004 Lyon Perrache - Belfort train hauled by SNCF 22277 through the yard at Dijon to avoid a reversal in Ville station

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 1st February 1986

I never did an All Line Rover, although February 1986 was a good approximation of one. Using a combination of the ridiculously prized Fab Feb Savers (for example, £12 Inverness to Penzance return), I managed to cover over 5000 miles in 10 days spread over the first 22 days of the month. All for about £50. Lots of mileage behind Hoovers, Syphon and 87s, but what better way to start than a very long Goyle thrash.

86234 Wolves to Birmingham NS, 07.27 Wolves to Euston
31428 Birmingham NS to Norwich, 08.10 Birmingham to Norwich
47542 Norwich to Ipswich, 13.30 Norwich to Liverpool Street
86233 Ipswich to Manningtree, 13.30 Norwich to Liverpool Street (the only time I had an 86 in East Anglia)
Unit Manningtree to Harwich Parkeston Quay, 16.30 Manningtree to Harwich Town
31444 Harwich Parkeston Quay to Wolves, 18.07 Harwich PQ to Wolves (next time I had this loco was Birchwood to Warrington - 3.25 miles)

458.25 miles in total, Goyle mileage was 175.75 plus 204.25, i.e. 380 in total. All for £8.

Next instalment starts on Thursday 6th February...

 

[Peter Sarf]

Saturday 1st February 1986

I never did an All Line Rover, although February 1986 was a good approximation of one. Using a combination of the ridiculously prized Fab Feb Savers (for example, £12 Inverness to Penzance return), I managed to cover over 5000 miles in 10 days spread over the first 22 days of the month. All for about £50. Lots of mileage behind Hoovers, Syphon and 87s, but what better way to start than a very long Goyle thrash.

86234 Wolves to Birmingham NS, 07.27 Wolves to Euston
31428 Birmingham NS to Norwich, 08.10 Birmingham to Norwich
47542 Norwich to Ipswich, 13.30 Norwich to Liverpool Street
86233 Ipswich to Manningtree, 13.30 Norwich to Liverpool Street (the only time I had an 86 in East Anglia)
Unit Manningtree to Harwich Parkeston Quay, 16.30 Manningtree to Harwich Town
31444 Harwich Parkeston Quay to Wolves, 18.07 Harwich PQ to Wolves (next time I had this loco was Birchwood to Warrington - 3.25 miles)

458.25 miles in total, Goyle mileage was 175.75 plus 204.25, i.e. 380 in total. All for £8.

Next instalment starts on Thursday 6th February...

Those cheap tickets completely passed me by. Never knew of them.

I wonder if there will be many more offers this year to remind people of the existence of the railways post Covid ?.

 

[xotGD]

1st February 1992

47848 New Street - Oxford

Oxford 5 Newcastle 2

The Toon were thrashed in the fog.

Must have been a Tram back to Brum.


I also have some cheap February tickets trips to report from 1986 and 1988, so stay tuned...

 

[D6130]

SATURDAY 1st FEBRUARY 1986:

Staying for the weekend with friends in Ayrshire, a day trip through to Edinburgh:

DMU Stevenston-Glasgow Central
47 710 11 30 Glasgow QS HL-Edinburgh
47 716 17 00 Edinburgh-Glasgow QS
DMU Glasgow Central-Stevenston

 

[CW2]

Thursday 02/02/78
Coming home from college:
31417 1652 Harrogate – Leeds
55022 1730 Leeds – Wakefield Westgate
DMU Wakefield Westgate – Leeds
47014 1906 Leeds – York

Friday 02/02/79
Again, on my way home from college, but it’s no longer loco + stock:
43066 + 43067 1620 Harrogate – Leeds
47525 1707 Leeds – York
Later that evening I spied a class 40 on the 2150 to Shrewsbury. For some reason (perhaps to buy a ticket at Leeds?) I caught the HST just ahead of it:
43094 + 43095 2130 York – Leeds
40058 2150 York – Stockport via OA&GB Jn.
This was the beginning of a busy weekend of cranking …

Saturday 02/02/80
London St Pancras was closed for the day, so a limited service was operating out of Euston instead, electric to Bletchley then 45/1 via the Bletchley – Bedford line:
86027 0925 Euston – Bletchley
45150 1021 Bletchley – Leicester via Bedford
31261 1241 Leicester – Nuneaton
31305 1315 Nuneaton – Leicester
45118 1529 Leicester – Bletchley via Bedford
86222 1703 Bletchley – Euston

Wednesday 02/02/83
I was off to Poland for a couple of weeks, chasing steam locos. Leave was at a premium (I was working an office job and got no overtime, so no way to accumulate any lieu leave), so I had to do a full day’s work then come straight out for an HST to London. As usual I had spent a considerable amount of time planning the start of my bash to a fine degree.
43110 + 43045 1710 York – Signal P300 (St Neots)
The leading power car shut down en route, and drained all the battery power, so even though the rear power car was running, it couldn’t be controlled from the (electrically dead) front one. So we sat outside St Neots for a considerable amount of time until a rescue loco arrived:
31185 20xx Signal P300 (St Neots) – Kings Cross
Of course by the time I arrived in London all my connections had been lost, so I had to improvise:
EMU Victoria – Faversham
EMU Faversham – Dover Priory
Night Boat Dover – Oostende
I was anticipating. that Poland would be an unpredictable fiasco, but I wasn’t expecting the plan to fall to bits this close to home!

Saturday 02/02/85
A trip with my wife to stay overnight at Invershin, in the land of deep snow:
47541 1335 Glasgow Queen Street – Inverness
37261 1730 Inverness – Invershin

 

[D6130]

MONDAY 2nd FEBRUARY 1981:

Just when I thought that I had had my last run behind a 27 on the West Highland Line with 27 002 on the 16 35 Glasgow-Mallaig on 3rd January, look what turned up on the evening Oban today:

303 047 Hyndland-Glasgow QS LL (07 55 Milngavie-Airdrie)
27 014 Glasgow QS HL-Garelochhead (18 21 to Oban. Consist: SC4903/4252/4189/14010 Load 4 VB/SH)

 

[xotGD]

2nd February 1991

90014 New Street - Wolverhampton
Unit back
90012 New Street - Wolverhampton
90014 Wolverhampton - New Street

2nd February 2000

My primary objective this day was to yellow-pen the Walsall to Wolverhampton line. Mission accomplished, I arrived at Wolves just in time for:

37415 Wolverhampton - New Street (via Bescot)
37415 New Street - Wolverhampton

The rest of the day wasn't quite so good...

86229 Wolverhampton - New Street
47853 New Street - Coventry

In between the travelling I visited a couple of branches of Spoons. Walsall and Cradley Heath, to be precise.