Extending EMR back to York

[JonathanH]

Yes I remember the departure from Scarborough as being after 4 or 5pm. Not just after lunch at all.

Yes, 1108 arrival for 1703 departure when I went on a Red Dot Day in 2013 (https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/special-offers-discussion.42163/page-35#post-1479226)

 

[Charlie978]

This is how I had remembered it too, probably around 2014ish, perfect for seaside days out from Derbyshire. The trains never seemed packed at the Scarborough end, but they were by no means empty.

 

[gerryuk]

I am sure some taxi drivers made a killing transporting drivers to and from Derby to Leeds in the early hours. Not sure if the guards were taxied to Sheffield or Derby?

 

[Dr Hoo]

I am sure some taxi drivers made a killing transporting drivers to and from Derby to Leeds in the early hours. Not sure if the guards were taxied to Sheffield or Derby?

Having some of your stock maintained and stabled at a location many miles from where your crews were based was never going to be an efficient long-term option.

 

[whoosh]

I am sure some taxi drivers made a killing transporting drivers to and from Derby to Leeds in the early hours. Not sure if the guards were taxied to Sheffield or Derby?

There was one taxi Derby to Neville Hill in the morning. This contained two drivers, and in 2003 they had a book on time of about twenty past four in the morning, but that got progressively earlier as the years went by.

There were two taxis in the evening. One with one driver in, and one with two.

All of these were timed at an hour and a half.

There were, I think, three, but possibly four night turns. One was early on - about 2000, and had a long break in an awful room next to the Shunter/Supervisor's room at Neville Hill, complete with their extremely loud TV set. There was a hatch between their room and ours, which we kept closed, but when your train was ready, they opened it and called in to you. This was later replaced with glass and no curtain (so the bright light from that room flooded in) "for fire safety reasons" - total BS - they just didn't like the fact you were trying to nap at work - despite this later being recognised by the RSSB as a fatigue mitigation strategy.
This diagram went in service to Leeds, then ECS to Neville Hill, break, then ECS to Sheffield, and in service to Derby.

There were two other night turns - but it may have been three. They booked on at 23:59, and one drove the 00:25 Derby to Sheffield, then ECS to Neville Hill, a break in the awful room (nicknamed 'The Neville Hilton', or somerimes 'Neville Hell').
It was a dirty room. That and the air outside smelled like a saucepan that was burning dry - I dread to think what industrial processes were taking place nearby. This was punctuated by diesel fumes from HSTs from us, GNER, Virgin Cross Country, and the Sprinters and Pacers of Northern.
That was what greeted you when you went to fetch your train, but before that, back in the squalor of the dark room (or not so dark after they put that annoying window in on the internal wall - although it at least kept the smell of their cigarettes out. Yes, even after the smoking ban!), there was the clicking of the thermostat on the radiator, which was always boiling hot, and the thumping and clanking of the rails literally just outside, as the resident class 08 shunted some mark 3 coaches and the odd power car around. It would typically come to rest directly level with the room, engine shuddering, and then of course it's compressor would chose right there and then to kick in!

The other one (or two) driver's night turns went 'pass' on the 00:25 from Derby all the way to Neville Hill, and they all worked ECS to either Leeds or Sheffield and then back to Derby. I think one was 'pass' to Derby at one stage when The Master Cutler was an HST and it went via the Erewash.

One of the ECS trains to Sheffield had about an hour's recess in a loop just north of Sheffield. A good chance to put the parking brake on and put your feet up freight-style - although one driver caused a delay here by oversleeping!

The taxis were run by Fraser Eagle at one stage and had regular drivers. One of the taxis in the evening formed the one in the morning during this period.
Their other work included transporting Hull Trains Drivers between Hull and Crofton Depot when they had the Pioneers (class 222s), and also early (about 3am) trips from Derby to Central Rivers Depot with Virgin Cross Country drivers being transported.

It was Sheffield Train Managers who crewed the Leeds services, so there were taxis from Sheffield to Leeds and vice versa - although I think they were able to 'pass' on a passenger train (Norther or Cross Country) for one of the departures/arrivals at Leeds.


Going back to the two drivers taxied up to Neville Hill at twenty past four in the morning. These used to work all the way through to London, and on weekdays were then 'pass' back to Derby. On Saturdays though, they had to work back. The maximum duty length was eleven hours at one stage, which facilitated this, but was later shortened to 10h30, and then later 10 hours, which it remains today.

The morning diagrams with taxis to Neville Hill then evolved to become short, six hour jobs, one of which finished at Derby, and the other passing back from Nottingham, having worked via the Erewash.
Like I said though, there was a cost to these being short jobs - in that their book on time progressively became even more unsociably early.

 

[liamf656]

Amazing insight and detail there @whoosh