Wednesday 19/12/79
47458 1247 York – Leeds
After doing some chores in Leeds, I returned to the station to see what was about. 40080 rolled in on the 1547 York – Liverpool, but was immediately hooked off as it was No Heat. 47540 replaced it. Not what I wanted to see.
47540 1621 Leeds – Manchester Victoria, 12’ late ex Leeds, on time into Manchester Victoria!
40025 1710 Manchester Victoria – Preston
47471 1817 Preston – Manchester Victoria
47540 1950 Manchester Victoria – York
As noted previously, the 2150 York – Shrewsbury was running in two portions because of the pre-Christmas postal traffic, so I hung around hoping a 40 might produce on one or other portion. Departure time came and went, and there was still no loco on the 2150 to Shrewsbury, Then the Newcastle – Bristol overnight (a solid Peak working) rolled in behind 40081! That was quickly hooked off and replaced by 46004 (so no immediate prospect of a 40 to Bristol for me), but 40081 then immediately attached to the Shrewsbury.
40081 2150 York – Stockport via OA&GB Jn. 31’ late ex York, on time into Stockport (as there was no need to faff around detaching the Manchester portion).
(Incidentally, the 2150 York – Shrewsbury was timed at a maximum speed of 75 mph, so that once per week - on a Thursday IIRC - it could convey a 4-wheel van full of dirty laundry from the York Station Hotel to the British Transport Hotels’ laundry in Manchester. That undoubtedly helped with the time recovery too on days (like today) when no such van was being conveyed. I think this changed in 1983, when the van was no longer scheduled to be conveyed and the departure time from York was amended to 2234. This probably coincided with the sell-off of the British Transport Hotels to the private sector. By then the route from Stalybridge to Stockport via Guide Bridge had also been cleared for loco-hauled trains, so the “Bangor Mails” was diverted that way, allowing eventual closure of the OA&GB Junction line and associated signal boxes. Do I win the prize for the most esoteric / useless piece of arcane timetable information, i.e. knowing a train whose timing load was determined by a weekly van load of dirty laundry?).
(Thursday 20/12/81)
40081 0051 Stockport – York via Denton Jn, OA&GB Jn.
Friday 19/12/80
40074 1612 Kings Cross – Peterborough
As part of the Christmas amended programme, the 1410 York – Kings Cross was starting back from Edinburgh at 1050. It should have departed Peterborough long since, but it was still on the departures board … and here it comes with a 40!
40067 was the loco in question, but it had run out of boiler water. The only place to take water at Peterborough was on the stabling point, there being no hose on the platform, so 40067 was hooked off, and replaced by (boilered) 37075. Oh, that’ll do nicely.
37075 1605 Peterborough – Kings Cross 120’ late.
Friday 19/12/86
Taking my wife and 5-month old son to the in-laws for Christmas, we booked a sleeper on the Glasgow – Bristol overnight, and I struck lucky with a Roarer:
81006 2350 Glasgow Central – Birmingham New Street
Wednesday 19/12/90
A day off from work for a little cranking:
47840 0911 Reading – Basingstoke
50028 1002 Basingstoke – Salisbury
50037 1118 Salisbury – Woking
50017 1240 Woking – Andover
33116 1340 Andover – Waterloo
91024 1710 Kings Cross – Grantham
91021 1817 Grantham – Kings Cross
47596 2020 Paddington – Reading
Thursday 19/12/91
Returning from the pre-Christmas team-building “event” in Liverpool:
90007 1110 Liverpool Lime Street – Euston
The DVT on this set wasn’t speaking to the loco. The inward working arrived behind 90009, and 90007 dropped onto the other end to work back to Euston, with 90009 still attached on rear (but not powering).
Thursday 19/12/00
Returning from Doncaster, once again I chose a train worked by one of the North of London Eurostar sets:
E* 3310 + 3309 1503 Doncaster – Kings Cross
