Thursday 23/08/79
Time for a quick trip home to York from my holiday job in Manchester. My shift ended after the last daytime services had run, so I had to go overnight:
86016 0027 Manchester Piccadilly – Stockport 25’ late, ETH fault on the stock
45002 0051 Stockport – York via Denton Jn, OA&GB Jn. 25’->50’->40’ late.
47075 1847 York – Manchester Victoria. 23’ late -> 8’ late. My notes read “Time recovered by lunatic driving over the Pennines. ‘The pubs shut at 1030’ said the driver.”
Saturday 23/08/80
I was booked to work another shift with the trolley, but first I had to get from Carstairs to London:
81021 0053 Carstairs – Crewe
81009 0520 Crewe – Euston
I arrived in good time to sort out my trolley, then head off to North Wales again (or possibly not …)
86248 1025 Euston – Crewe
I alighted at Crewe to refill my urns, with the intention of waiting for the 1418 to Holyhead, which was a pretty regular class 40 diagram at the time. As I waited on the platform, they announced a relief train to Carlisle. “Huh, so what” was my initial reaction. Just then the stock pulled in, 9 Mk 1 coaches hauled by 84003!
Sudden change of plan. To hell with North Wales, I’m off to Carlisle with one of the rarest class of Roarers. The guard was a friendly chap, and a bit surprised by my presence, but he understood why I was there. At Carlisle he was all in favour of continuing to Glasgow Central, but they couldn’t find a driver, so the train terminated at Carlisle and retired to the sidings.
As I stood at Carlisle, wondering how to get back south, a required 85 rolled in on the Blackpool – Edinburgh. Oh well, in for a penny …
85024 1726 Carlisle – Carstairs
… and at Carstairs they attached filthy 37061 – more used to hauling coal trains around Newcastle than passengers in Scotland, and very much required.
37061 1828 Carstairs – Edinburgh
I went to the buffet at Edinburgh, recharged by urns, and transferred in some stock, so I could work my passage back south.
55022 2045 Edinburgh – Kings Cross, via Knottingley, Hertford North
By now I was absolutely knackered, and set up shop in one of the compartments. Some Deltic bashers I knew offered to provide a waiter service to and from passengers who required it, so for the first – and last – time this overnight service was provided with an at-seat waiter refreshment service. All went well until the crew change at Newcastle, where a notoriously fickle Newcastle guard joined. He was often on night shift, as he worked in his parents’ corner shop in the daytime, and he was well known amongst the Deltic bashers as he was a stickler for ticket validity (whereas they preferred the modern attitude toward recycling of materials and ticketing). Unbeknownst to me at Durham the guard phoned ahead for the British Transport Police to meet the train at Darlington, to investigate the unauthorised selling of food and drink on “his” train. Sure enough at Darlington (where there was a permanent BTP presence, mostly to deal with the regular flow of squaddies to and from the camps in the area) PC Plod arrives, and starts to question me. I could prove that I worked for Travellers Fare, but explaining why I was on this train – without blowing his mind - required a certain degree of creativity on my part. Fortunately the Edinburgh Festival was in full swing, so there were additional trains to Edinburgh from all points of the compass, with a wide range of catering levels from full restaurant down to a single trolley – like me. Eventually he was satisfied I was doing no harm, but advised me to cease my sales activities. I was happy to comply, as the urn water was getting cool in any case. I carried on peacefully south to Kings Cross (via Knottingley and Hertford North), arriving at Kings Cross in plenty of time to push the whole performance down the Euston Road once more, ready to pick up my Sunday diagram. Quite an eventful day.
Tuesday 23/08/83
There was another required 37 on the Scarborough – Sheffield, so I set off after work to have it:
31404 1713 York – Scarborough
37048 1910 Scarborough – York
Word reached us that the 1710 Bangor – York had expired in North Wales, so I set off to intercept it to see what it would produce:
45046 2023 York – Dewsbury
25262 2041 Dewsbury – York, 85’ late.
A dud 25, oh well, still a novelty I suppose.
Saturday 23/08/86
The Haymarket fleet of DMUs was going through one of its periodic phases of breakdown, so the Edinburgh – Kirkcaldy stoppers were being loco hauled, with a turnover loco at Kirkcaldy to save time:
47708 1030 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
27050 1235 Edinburgh – Kirkcaldy
26032 1331 Kirkcaldy – Edinburgh
47705 1500 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street
Wednesday 23/08/89
50023 1515 Paddington – Oxford
47807 1628 Oxford – Coventry
90009 1821 Coventry – Birmingham New Street
31469 1906 Birmingham New Street – Paddington via Coventry, Reading
Minimising the 47 mileage, en route to Birmingham for the required 31/4.
Monday 23/08/99
After the weekend shenanigans with loco hauled services on the Valley lines, it was time to head home:
37422 0723 Rhymney – Cardiff
43024 + 43168 0825 Cardiff – Reading
Time for a quick trip home to York from my holiday job in Manchester. My shift ended after the last daytime services had run, so I had to go overnight:
86016 0027 Manchester Piccadilly – Stockport 25’ late, ETH fault on the stock
45002 0051 Stockport – York via Denton Jn, OA&GB Jn. 25’->50’->40’ late.
47075 1847 York – Manchester Victoria. 23’ late -> 8’ late. My notes read “Time recovered by lunatic driving over the Pennines. ‘The pubs shut at 1030’ said the driver.”
Saturday 23/08/80
I was booked to work another shift with the trolley, but first I had to get from Carstairs to London:
81021 0053 Carstairs – Crewe
81009 0520 Crewe – Euston
I arrived in good time to sort out my trolley, then head off to North Wales again (or possibly not …)
86248 1025 Euston – Crewe
I alighted at Crewe to refill my urns, with the intention of waiting for the 1418 to Holyhead, which was a pretty regular class 40 diagram at the time. As I waited on the platform, they announced a relief train to Carlisle. “Huh, so what” was my initial reaction. Just then the stock pulled in, 9 Mk 1 coaches hauled by 84003!
Sudden change of plan. To hell with North Wales, I’m off to Carlisle with one of the rarest class of Roarers. The guard was a friendly chap, and a bit surprised by my presence, but he understood why I was there. At Carlisle he was all in favour of continuing to Glasgow Central, but they couldn’t find a driver, so the train terminated at Carlisle and retired to the sidings.
As I stood at Carlisle, wondering how to get back south, a required 85 rolled in on the Blackpool – Edinburgh. Oh well, in for a penny …
85024 1726 Carlisle – Carstairs
… and at Carstairs they attached filthy 37061 – more used to hauling coal trains around Newcastle than passengers in Scotland, and very much required.
37061 1828 Carstairs – Edinburgh
I went to the buffet at Edinburgh, recharged by urns, and transferred in some stock, so I could work my passage back south.
55022 2045 Edinburgh – Kings Cross, via Knottingley, Hertford North
By now I was absolutely knackered, and set up shop in one of the compartments. Some Deltic bashers I knew offered to provide a waiter service to and from passengers who required it, so for the first – and last – time this overnight service was provided with an at-seat waiter refreshment service. All went well until the crew change at Newcastle, where a notoriously fickle Newcastle guard joined. He was often on night shift, as he worked in his parents’ corner shop in the daytime, and he was well known amongst the Deltic bashers as he was a stickler for ticket validity (whereas they preferred the modern attitude toward recycling of materials and ticketing). Unbeknownst to me at Durham the guard phoned ahead for the British Transport Police to meet the train at Darlington, to investigate the unauthorised selling of food and drink on “his” train. Sure enough at Darlington (where there was a permanent BTP presence, mostly to deal with the regular flow of squaddies to and from the camps in the area) PC Plod arrives, and starts to question me. I could prove that I worked for Travellers Fare, but explaining why I was on this train – without blowing his mind - required a certain degree of creativity on my part. Fortunately the Edinburgh Festival was in full swing, so there were additional trains to Edinburgh from all points of the compass, with a wide range of catering levels from full restaurant down to a single trolley – like me. Eventually he was satisfied I was doing no harm, but advised me to cease my sales activities. I was happy to comply, as the urn water was getting cool in any case. I carried on peacefully south to Kings Cross (via Knottingley and Hertford North), arriving at Kings Cross in plenty of time to push the whole performance down the Euston Road once more, ready to pick up my Sunday diagram. Quite an eventful day.
Tuesday 23/08/83
There was another required 37 on the Scarborough – Sheffield, so I set off after work to have it:
31404 1713 York – Scarborough
37048 1910 Scarborough – York
Word reached us that the 1710 Bangor – York had expired in North Wales, so I set off to intercept it to see what it would produce:
45046 2023 York – Dewsbury
25262 2041 Dewsbury – York, 85’ late.
A dud 25, oh well, still a novelty I suppose.
Saturday 23/08/86
The Haymarket fleet of DMUs was going through one of its periodic phases of breakdown, so the Edinburgh – Kirkcaldy stoppers were being loco hauled, with a turnover loco at Kirkcaldy to save time:
47708 1030 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
27050 1235 Edinburgh – Kirkcaldy
26032 1331 Kirkcaldy – Edinburgh
47705 1500 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street
Wednesday 23/08/89
50023 1515 Paddington – Oxford
47807 1628 Oxford – Coventry
90009 1821 Coventry – Birmingham New Street
31469 1906 Birmingham New Street – Paddington via Coventry, Reading
Minimising the 47 mileage, en route to Birmingham for the required 31/4.
Monday 23/08/99
After the weekend shenanigans with loco hauled services on the Valley lines, it was time to head home:
37422 0723 Rhymney – Cardiff
43024 + 43168 0825 Cardiff – Reading
