Back in the day...

[Harvester]

Monday 30th October 1989

Took my son on a trip to Blackpool. 37408 Loch Rannoch had been a regular performer on this working for months, and had acquired a sticker “I ❤️ Blackpool” on its nose end.

37408 08:15 Nottingham-Blackpool
150232 13:39 Blackpool-Preston
87012 15:00 Preston-Crewe
156420 16:37 Crewe-Derby
150125 Derby-Nottingham

 

[CW2]

Monday 30/10/78
55019 1620 Harrogate – Leeds
47108 1707 Leeds – York
The Harrogate – Kings Cross produced a Deltic again, my machine 55019 this time! I needed the steam heat 47 as well.

Wednesday 30/10/85
For the previous few days it had been a festival of 37s “Across the Top” (Aberdeen to Inverness), with 37085, 37088, 37191, and 37263 all having worked. Now only 37191 was still out, and it was on the diagram for the 1740 Aberdeen – Inverness. I set out straight from work to have it …
47708 1400 Glasgow Queen Street – Edinburgh
43123 + 43105 1510 Edinburgh – Aberdeen
The HST ran late, and arrived at Aberdeen at 1753. The connection was severed: “Next train is at 2055”. Cheers. All I could do was turn around and come straight back, with the same HST:
43105 + 43123 1820 Aberdeen – Edinburgh
47712 2100 Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street
The First Class vehicle in this push-pull set was one of the Mk 2 CKs, which was a former FK which had half of the compartments permanently downgraded to standard class. That was quite a novelty on this route.
Not one of my most productive or successful days out.

Friday 30/10/87
I was working late shift in the Speedlink office in Crewe. Chatting to Swindon Control, I was trying to get to the bottom of various late starts, “waiting loco”. “Oh, it’s really bad today, I’ve even had to put a 37/9 out on passenger. It’s doing the 1735 Cardiff – Holyhead.” Well, I’d never had a 37/9 for haulage, and it looked like I wouldn’t get one today either, as I was at work until 2200, so I’d miss it. Then, by a stroke of luck, one of my colleagues who had been out on a site visit strolled into the office. I persuaded her to take over from me for an hour whilst I went to Shrewsbury to pick up the 37/9, and – bless her – she agreed!
DMU Crewe – Shrewsbury
37905 1950 Shrewsbury – Crewe
That was the only time I ever had a 37/9 in normal service. My overall impression was that it didn’t sound especially pleasant, and the acceleration was pitiful (due to being very low geared). It was replaced by a 47 at Crewe.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Saturday 30th October 1982

40034 WBQ to Colwyn Bay, 1D34 The Bangor
40034 Colwyn Bay to Man Vic, 1J30 The Bangor

No idea why I didn't go to Bangor. 034 didn't work the afternoon Bangor. According to The Motherlist, it ended up working Preston to Man Vic late on.

40035 Chester to WBQ, 1J39 16.52 Bangor to Man Vic.

035 only worked this move of the diagram, I think.

Sunday 30th October 1988

87014 WBQ to Birmingham NS
47646 Birmingham NS to Oxford, 1V?? 19.40 Liverpool to Paddington

 

[D6130]

FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER 1981:

Another weekend trip from Glasgow to London to visit my then girlfriend:

08 01 Milngavie-Airdrie: 303 013 Hyndland-Glasgow QS LL
SPTE 123 + 105 + 107 Buchanan Street-Partick via Inner Circle
13 27 Dalmuir-Motherwell: 314 202 Hyndland-Glasgow Central LL
16 03 Glasgow Central-Euston: 86 314 (booked 87 obviously not available for some reason)

Consist: M14168/3331/11027/1973/12166/12036/12083/12111/9507 Load 9 AB/EH


WEDNESDAY 30th OCTOBER 2013:

On a beery week in Prague with some friends from Yorkshire. Having flown out from Jet2 from Leeds/Bradford Airport, I decided to use a free day for a train trip to Czeske Budjeovice and back. Unfortunately, upgrading work on the main line South from Prague was in full swing, so I got to experience the way CD organise rail replacement buses - which was actually very efficient and an interesting social experience. On the credit side, I had four different locos for haulage instead of two:

R641, 11 15 Praha H. ni-Olbramovice: 363 108
RRB: Olbramovice-Tabor
R641, 12 54 Tabor-Ceske Budjeovice: 242 281 (the only time I have ever been hauled by a 242)
R652, 17 04 Ceske Budjeovice-Tabor: 363 129
RRB: Tabor-Olbramovice
R652 18 45 Olbramovice-Praha H.ni: 362 068

 

[xotGD]

Not one of my most productive or successful days out.

It doesn't get much worse than that.

But for every bowl out there's a day when you just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

 

[barrowjack]

Was 50017 in Network Southeast livery by then @barrowjack?

Have checked back in my moves book and have noted that one in NSE livery. Have also found that i have incorrectly copied my notes from my book to spreadsheet and they should in fact have been dated 30/10/1986. So after 50012 I went back out again in the evening, the idea was to intercept on of the Golden Hind or one of the other named expresses at Exeter back to Newton Abbot to liberate a window label for my collection. However didn't go to plan as we were held outside Exeter for several minutes meaning the HST was just departing when we came to a station stop so had to resort to Plan B

The remaining moves that day were

33119 Paignton to Exeter St Davids (Leaving about 19:45 iirc
43027 / 43xxx Exeter St Davids to Newton Abbot
142 unit (ugh) Newton Abbot to Paignton

 

[xotGD]

30th October 1981

I used my 'three return trips' ticket for a day's spotting at York. However, I chose my train back carefully:

45070 Newcastle - York 1O19
55021 York - Newcastle 1S27

30th October 1982

I used the final day of my Northumbrian Ranger to get to the NYMR. Quite a few people were there for some reason...

D5032 Grosmont - Levisham 1X24
55019 Levisham - Grosmont 1X55
D9529 Stock shunt 5X14
55009 Grosmont - Pickering 1X55
55009 Pickering - Grosmont 1X55
45105 Darlington - Newcastle 1E88

 

[Cowley]

Have checked back in my moves book and have noted that one in NSE livery. Have also found that i have incorrectly copied my notes from my book to spreadsheet and they should in fact have been dated 30/10/1986. So after 50012 I went back out again in the evening, the idea was to intercept on of the Golden Hind or one of the other named expresses at Exeter back to Newton Abbot to liberate a window label for my collection. However didn't go to plan as we were held outside Exeter for several minutes meaning the HST was just departing when we came to a station stop so had to resort to Plan B

The remaining moves that day were

33119 Paignton to Exeter St Davids (Leaving about 19:45 iirc
43027 / 43xxx Exeter St Davids to Newton Abbot
142 unit (ugh) Newton Abbot to Paignton

That’s interesting. I think that might have been a weekday? I used to do the 17:25 Exeter to Paignton to St Thomas a lot in 1987 as it was almost solid Eastleigh based 33/0s. 33119 might have been on the return working from Paignton maybe. Unusual to get a 33/1 on that.

 

[barrowjack]

That’s interesting. I think that might have been a weekday? I used to do the 17:25 Exeter to Paignton to St Thomas a lot in 1987 as it was almost solid Eastleigh based 33/0s. 33119 might have been on the return working from Paignton maybe. Unusual to get a 33/1 on that.

It was a Thursday night, the 33 certainly made up for missing out on the intended target!

 

[CW2]

Monday 31/10/83
25060 1600 Leeds – Settle
This was struggling with the greasy rails. On departure from Settle, the driver opened the throttle, the wheels span mightily, the engine revved to maximum then shut down entirely! It sat there quietly for a few moments, with only the hiss of steam leaking from the heating pipes, then the little Sulzer engine popped and banged back into life, and away it went …
45140 1757 Settle – Leeds
This was also slipping and sliding badly on the leaves.

Wednesday 31/10/84
I worked the early shift in Glasgow Control, then I headed south to York, where my wife was still living. She had done most of the hard work of packing up our worldly belongings, ready for our move to our first purchased home of our own on the West coast of Scotland. The plan was simple: 1715 Queen Street – Edinburgh (the rush hour additional) as far as Haymarket, and alight there for a better chance of a seat on the 1600 Aberdeen – Kings Cross …
47053 1715 Glasgow Queen Street – Haymarket
As I stood on the platform at Haymarket, a late-running train from Dundee to Edinburgh was announced, and NB 37171 rolled in on the 1628 Dundee – Edinburgh running 30 minutes late after replacing a failed 27 (I assume). It wasn’t required, but it would have been rude to turn it down:
37171 1753 Haymarket – Edinburgh (30’ late)
43160 + 43049 1835 Edinburgh – York
I noted that the return working of the 37, the 1818 Edinburgh – Dundee, was 27033 + 27049 in multiple, presumably to get an additional loco to Dundee to balance.
Once I reached York, I spent until the wee small hours helping pack our last few belongings, and tidying and cleaning the (rented) flat,

Thursday 31/10/85
The Ayr DMU fleet was having an off day, so some additional loco-hauling was taking place:
27056 1635 Glasgow Central – Girvan
27056 1830 Girvan – Paisley Gilmour Street

Monday 31/10/88
90003 0001 Crewe – Mossend via Wishaw, Motherwell
This was down to below 20 mph climbing Beattock, due to wheelspin / railhead conditions
37413 0347 Mossend – Glasgow Queen Street via Stirling
37425 0550 Glasgow Queen Street – Tulloch, 40’ late, slipping
37405 0915 Tulloch – Helensburgh Upper, 37’ late, slipping
37402 1247 Helensburgh Upper – Crianlarich
37406 1401 Crianlarich – Glasgow Queen Street
37411 1634 Glasgow Queen Street – Garelochhead
37425 1732 Garelochhead – Dumbarton Central
37406 1902 Dumbarton Central – Crianlarich
37404 2036 Crianlarich – Glasgow Queen Street
A full day of 37/4s, with seven different locos sampled. Happy days!

Sunday 31/10/93
A family day out to the Mid Hants Railway:
70000 1118 Alton – Alresford
73096 1234 Alresford – Medstead & Four Marks, 25’ late.
70000 1335 Medstead & Four Marks – Ropley
34105 + 92203 1350 Ropley – Alton, 30’ late.

 

[Harvester]

Monday 31st October 1988

Took my son for a trip over the S&C line

43172+43??? 07:48 Derby-Sheffield
150105 08:39 Sheffield-Leeds
47483 10:45 Leeds-Carlisle
86207 15:00 Carlisle-Crewe
150108 17:38 Crewe-Derby

 

[NorthWestRover]

Sunday 31st October 1982

40034 WBQ to Llandudno J, 1D40 14.36 Man Vic to Llandudno
40034 Llandudno J to WBQ, 1J40 19.03 Llandudno to Man Vic

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Monday 31st October 1977

06.42 Helensburgh Upper to Fort William
270xx load 9 - CCT SLF SLS SK BCK TSO RB CK BSK

Report to Area Managers Office
Day 1 of my railway career

 

[barrowjack]

31/10/1986
Returning home...

43164 / 43035 Paignton - Birmingham New Street
86404 Birmingham New Street - Lancaster
108xxx Lancaster / Barrow In Furness

 

[xotGD]

31st October 1981

I slightly stretched the validity of my 'three return trips' ticket...

47515 Newcastle - Darlington 1M58
55010 Darlington - Newcastle 1S12

And that was the end of my Deltic haulage before the end came.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Short but sweet...

I've got a few more to come. Not as many as I should have had, but hey ho.

 

[CW2]

Monday 31st October 1977

06.42 Helensburgh Upper to Fort William
270xx load 9 - CCT SLF SLS SK BCK TSO RB CK BSK

Report to Area Managers Office
Day 1 of my railway career

A single 27 on load 9 on the West Highland Line in October - I'm surprised it got there! Wasn't it more usually a pair? That's quite a fine way to start your railway career.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

A single 27 on load 9 on the West Highland Line in October - I'm surprised it got there! Wasn't it more usually a pair? That's quite a fine way to start your railway career.

Back then there were of course 4 down and 2 up trains as far as Crianlarich, helping to clear the railhead ahead of the 06.00, and two each way north of Crianlarich.

 

[D6130]

Report to Area Managers Office
Day 1 of my railway career

Who was the Area Manager at Fort William in those days? I remember John Diamond being the AM at Dumbarton, who covered Helensburgh, before his area was merged with Partickhill.

Meanwhile, fast forward one year:

TUESDAY 31st OCTOBER 1978:

Another after-work pint in the Hole in the Wall at Waterloo, before a Crompton bash on my way home:

06 33 Portsmouth Harbour-Waterloo: 7352/7710/7802 Petersfield-Guildford
07 50 Guildford-Waterloo via Cobham: 5123/7749 Guildford-Wimbledon
17 17 Waterloo-Waterloo via Richmond and Kingston: 4654/4641 Wimbledon-Waterloo (possibly my last normal service trip on a 4-SUB)
19 00 Waterloo-Exeter St Davids: 33 024 Waterloo-Woking (Consist: W5309/1772/3127/14081/14070/5471/5459 Load 7 AB/EH)
19 20 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour: 7813/7058 Woking-Petersfield

SATURDAY 31st OCTOBER 1981:

As often happened when I visited my then girlfriend in North London for the weekend, she was working on the Saturday, so I would go down to visit my friends in Petersfield - with a bit of Crompton haulage thrown in for good measure - before returning to London in the evening to take her out.

10 10 Waterloo-Salisbury: 33 013 Waterloo-Woking (Consist: S16210/16198/4910/4901/34925/4913/81039 Load 7 VB/DH)
10 18 Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour: 7737/7852 Woking-Petersfield
16 27 Portsmouth & Southsea-Waterloo: 7830 Petersfield-Haslemere
16 55 Portsmouth Harbour-Waterloo: 7356/7053/7416 Haslemere-Waterloo

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Who was the Area Manager at Fort William in those days? I remember John Diamond being the AM at Dumbarton, who covered Helensburgh, before his area was merged with Partickhill.

The post was vacant at that time and in due course Norman Pattenden arrived - many years later he became Royal Train Officer (or similar title, in short the person responsible for the Royal Train).
I think John Diamond later became AM Queen St and in one of those bizarre coincidences I encountered his daughter working in a shoe shop in Inverness - a conversation along the lines of 'where do you work' 'railway', 'my dad is/was ...'.

 

[CW2]

Wednesday 01/11/78
A quick leap from York to Leeds and return, in the hope of a 40 on a Liverpool – Newcastle:
45103 1126 York – Leeds
47030 1205 Leeds – York
Oh well …

Thursday 01/11/84
43102 + 43xxx 0947 York – Edinburgh
47711 1300 Edinburgh – Glasgow Central
Moving house. We slept on bare floors in sleeping bags the first night, waiting for the furniture to arrive by van the next morning …

Friday 01/11/85
37403 1803 Glasgow Queen Street – Stirling
A railway-themed slide show with some friends …

Tuesday 01/11/88
47702 0725 Glasgow Queen Street – Stirling
47617 0804 Stirling – Inverness
37417 1125 Inverness – Wick
Bus Wick – Thurso
37420 1814 Thurso – Georgemas Jn
37417 1829 Georgemas Jn – Inverness
47565 2340 Inverness – Stirling

Wednesday 01/11/89
I was working a 12-hour night shifts at Paddington. For once, the commuting moves provided some entertainment:
31455 0718 Paddington – Reading
[SLEEP!]
50024 1728 Reading – Paddington
(The 0718 Paddington – Wolverhampton was often a good bet for a 31/4. I had it four times this week, twice with 31455 and twice with 31461).

Sunday 01/11/92
They were running steam shuttles on the Henley branch, top-and-tailed with a 37/4:
46521 1245 Twyford – Henley
37411 1415 Henley – Twyford

Monday 01/11/99
Another exception to the “no commuting moves” rule:
43041 + 43182 0719 Reading – Paddington
47815 towing 43023 + 43145 1833 Paddington – Reading
The journey home was the 1833 Paddington – Plymouth, which had power car 43145 entirely dead. So 47815 was attached to the front, and did most of the work, with 43023 occasionally assisting.

Wednesday 01/11/00
Some sort of team meeting / team building event in Doncaster. The post-Hatfield meltdown of the railways was in full swing by this time, with speed restrictions over the entire network, and the timetable filed under “fiction”.
47742 0630 Reading – Birmingham New Street via Solihull
43154 + 43089 0900 Birmingham New Street – Doncaster
(I would normally have made this journey via London and the ECML, but that wasn’t really an option given the aftermath of Hatfield).

 

[D6130]

SUNDAY 1st NOVEMBER 1981:

Returning to Glasgow from a weekend visiting my girlfriend in London and friends in Petersfield:

17 25 Euston-Glasgow Central: 86 252 (Consist: M12080/12045/12122/12010/12082/11038/11037/3345/3356/81450 Load 10 AB/EH - no buffet car!)

 

[xotGD]

Nothing from me for All Saints Day.

 

[CW2]

Thursday 02/11/78
55017 1413 York – Selby
47404 1500 Selby – York

Wednesday 02/11/83
I don’t often record DMU Moves, but this one was a bit unusual. I was travelling from York to Leeds (to lodge overnight prior to working early shift in Leeds Control) and I expected to get a Peak on the Trans Pennine service. Instead, lurking in the bay was a Cravens DMU of dubious parentage, which was a rare sight in York. It was going to Leeds via Harrogate, so I took it for the giggles. For some reason the song “Good Vibrations” springs to mind …
51299 + 54446 2023 York – Leeds via Harrogate

Saturday 02/11/85
87007 1815 Glasgow Central – Motherwell
87006 1842 Motherwell – Glasgow Central

Wednesday 02/11/88
I alighted from the Inverness to Edinburgh / Glasgow overnight at Stirling. Rather than joining the through Glasgow portion, I joined the Euston to Fort William portion which was timetabled to run via Stirling at this time. It was the start of a busy day with 37/4s on the West Highland Line:
37408 0430 Stirling – Glasgow Queen Street
37413 0550 Glasgow Queen Street – Tulloch
We kept time reasonably well, and made the booked crossing point of Tulloch*, to be greeted by a pair coming the other way:
37423 + 37425 0915 Tulloch – Dumbarton Central
*Sudden afterthought - was the booked crossing point still Spean Bridge at this time, in which case we were undoubtedly late?
37404 1232 Dumbarton Central – Oban
At this time there was an experimental service running from Oban to Dalmally and return, using the stock off the 1204 Queen Street – Oban during its layover time.
37404 1540 Oban – Dalmally
37404 1640 Dalmally – Oban
Unfortunately the number of passengers was precisely 2, i.e. myself plus one other basher. The “experiment” didn’t last long!
37404 1810 Oban – Arrochar & Tarbet
37406 1957 Arrochar & Tarbet – Crianlarich
37409 2036 Crianlarich – Glasgow Queen Street
Then a stroll across to Glasgow Central for:
86204 2330 Glasgow Central – Carlisle … and another overnight begins …

Saturday 02/11/91
Another day of WCML diversions via Nuneaton – Bedford – St Pancras. Only the Liverpool services were diverted this way, but it was still a great novelty:
43189 + 43020 0758 Reading – Paddington
87006 0908 St Pancras – Bedford
47822 (+87006 dead) 1000 Bedford – Nuneaton via Wigston South Jn
90013 1155 Nuneaton – Euston
87002 1411 St Pancras – Bedford
86256 1525 Bedford – St Pancras
47547 1620 Paddington – Reading
I had actively avoided having an 86/2 into St Pancras in favour of chasing 87s, but in hindsight I’m glad I had one on my last run of the day.

 

[D6130]

MONDAY 2nd NOVEMBER 1981:

A couple of after work pints and an overnight stay with friends near Garelochhead:

07 47 Helensburgh Central-Airdrie: 303 054/025 Hyndland-Glasgow QS LL
18 23 Glasgow QS HL-Oban: 37 017 Glasgow QS-Garelochhead (Consist: E4278/SC4145/4244/14003 Load 4 VB/SH)

 

[Cheshire Scot]

MONDAY 2nd OCTOBER 1981:

oops, we are in November now!

 

[D6130]

oops, we are in November now!

Thanks for that.....things are often a wee bit behind the times in rural Tuscany! Nice to see that somebody reads my posts on this thread though. It has now been edited.

 

[xotGD]

2nd November 1986

Nuneaton drags - this ain't no Bone:

37203 (+86213) New St - Nuneaton 1O29
37203 (+87012) Nuneaton - New St 1G05

2nd November 1996

A day on the Battlefield Line.

For once I'll list out all of the moves on a diesel day:

7615 + D5217 Shackerstone - Shenton
D5217 Shenton - Shackerstone
D8048 Shackerstone - Shenton
7615 Shenton - Shackerstone
D5217 Shackerstone - Shenton
D8048 Shenton - Shackerstone
D8048 + 7615 Shackerstone - Shenton
D5217 Shenton - Shackerstone
11215 Shackerstone - Shenton
7615 Shenton - Shackerstone
D3236 Shackerstone - Shenton
D8048 Shenton - Shackerstone
7615 Shackerstone - Shenton
11215 + D3236 Shenton - Shackerstone
D8048 Shackerstone - Shenton
7615 Shenton - Shackerstone
D5217 Shackerstone - Shenton
D8048 + D5217 Shenton - Shackerstone

I've posted these images before, but here are the Rats:



And here is a non-operational 26011, which was also there that day:

 

[D6130]

11215 Shackerstone - Shenton

What is - or was -11215?

 

[xotGD]

What is - or was -11215?

Class 04:

11215 Market Bosworth 10 March 1996 (hondawanderer.com)