Temple Meads
Established Member
FGW Class 142 farewell tour trip report
I'll upload a few pictures, these can be seen at the bottom of the page, however click this link for my full gallery of the day:http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.165959790168851.33314.100002644927209&type=1
So the morning of the 27th November dawned bright and blue and reasonably warm (for November anyway!), perfect railtour conditions in other words, despite overnight rain and wind.
I opted for just an afternoon ticket (£15) on the tour, however I elected to go down to Newton Abbot to see the tour come off of the Heathfield branch, I got the 11:04 HST service from Exeter St David's, with 43044 on the front, and 43180 on the rear, I travelled in coach 42080, a red signal delay at Dawlish caused a minor panic, but after a few minutes we were back moving, we pulled into Newton Abbot 3 minutes late, and I took up my position on the extreme north of the down platforms.
After a wait of about 30 minutes there was a distinctive horn noise, plus the sound of a train on old fashioned track, suddenly the 142's bounced into view, and I took this video of them:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymh0qlWiBls&feature=channel_video_title 142001 is leading with 142063 in the middle and 142068 bringing up the rear.
After the 142's departed (Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMLFcCfruIU&feature=relmfu) I got on the 12:30 HST back to Exeter St David's (43156 leading, 43142 on the rear, riding in 42047), the 142's were waiting on Platform 6 at St David's, where after 30 minutes and 142009 coming out of Exeter Depot briefly (video later) we departed at 13:15 for Meldon Quarry, it was a faultless run to Meldon, after a brief stop at Okehampton, we arrived, and we were able to grab a few pictures, then we had a jerky ride out of Meldon past various pieces of dilapidated rolling stock (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Lk1pMmuoE&feature=channel_video_title), and into Okehampton, for more pictures and a chance to pick up some refreshments from the station shop.
We departed a few minutes a few minutes behind schedule, which worsened when we had a long skid just after Sampford Courtney, and a smell of burning brakes reached us in 142063, it turned out the brakes had stuck on, but they appeared to free themselves and we continued, however now with a very severe wheelflat on 063, we had a good run to Banstaple despite this, and were on time arriving at Banstaple, it was a quick turnaround there, and we once again departed, this time for Exeter St David's.
After exchanging tokens at Eggesford we had a non stop run to Exeter, save for a short signal stop just outside St David's...
We then had a surprise, at Exeter 063 (with wheelflat) and 068 (with engine and gearbox fault lights bright) were pulled from the train, and 142009 went on the front of 001 (coupling video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtkIDnBbivQ&feature=relmfu) we had a superb run to Plymouth, where we had a 17 minute turnaround, the run back to Exeter was good until Dawlish Warren, where unfortunately we got caught behind a local stopper
Meaning a lot of stop start back to Exeter..
We finally pulled back into Exeter 1 minute ahead of schedule at 19:49, an era had ended, the destination blind on 001 had been changed to Manchester Piccadily, the time had come, it was goodbye to the West Country Class 142's, you've had your up's and downs, but one things for sure, you will be missed.
Thanks to everyone involved, and the units themselves for making it a great day!
And the best bit, undoubtedly the sticky brakes
I'll upload a few pictures, these can be seen at the bottom of the page, however click this link for my full gallery of the day:http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.165959790168851.33314.100002644927209&type=1
So the morning of the 27th November dawned bright and blue and reasonably warm (for November anyway!), perfect railtour conditions in other words, despite overnight rain and wind.
I opted for just an afternoon ticket (£15) on the tour, however I elected to go down to Newton Abbot to see the tour come off of the Heathfield branch, I got the 11:04 HST service from Exeter St David's, with 43044 on the front, and 43180 on the rear, I travelled in coach 42080, a red signal delay at Dawlish caused a minor panic, but after a few minutes we were back moving, we pulled into Newton Abbot 3 minutes late, and I took up my position on the extreme north of the down platforms.
After a wait of about 30 minutes there was a distinctive horn noise, plus the sound of a train on old fashioned track, suddenly the 142's bounced into view, and I took this video of them:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymh0qlWiBls&feature=channel_video_title 142001 is leading with 142063 in the middle and 142068 bringing up the rear.
After the 142's departed (Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMLFcCfruIU&feature=relmfu) I got on the 12:30 HST back to Exeter St David's (43156 leading, 43142 on the rear, riding in 42047), the 142's were waiting on Platform 6 at St David's, where after 30 minutes and 142009 coming out of Exeter Depot briefly (video later) we departed at 13:15 for Meldon Quarry, it was a faultless run to Meldon, after a brief stop at Okehampton, we arrived, and we were able to grab a few pictures, then we had a jerky ride out of Meldon past various pieces of dilapidated rolling stock (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Lk1pMmuoE&feature=channel_video_title), and into Okehampton, for more pictures and a chance to pick up some refreshments from the station shop.
We departed a few minutes a few minutes behind schedule, which worsened when we had a long skid just after Sampford Courtney, and a smell of burning brakes reached us in 142063, it turned out the brakes had stuck on, but they appeared to free themselves and we continued, however now with a very severe wheelflat on 063, we had a good run to Banstaple despite this, and were on time arriving at Banstaple, it was a quick turnaround there, and we once again departed, this time for Exeter St David's.
After exchanging tokens at Eggesford we had a non stop run to Exeter, save for a short signal stop just outside St David's...
We then had a surprise, at Exeter 063 (with wheelflat) and 068 (with engine and gearbox fault lights bright) were pulled from the train, and 142009 went on the front of 001 (coupling video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtkIDnBbivQ&feature=relmfu) we had a superb run to Plymouth, where we had a 17 minute turnaround, the run back to Exeter was good until Dawlish Warren, where unfortunately we got caught behind a local stopper
Meaning a lot of stop start back to Exeter..
We finally pulled back into Exeter 1 minute ahead of schedule at 19:49, an era had ended, the destination blind on 001 had been changed to Manchester Piccadily, the time had come, it was goodbye to the West Country Class 142's, you've had your up's and downs, but one things for sure, you will be missed.
Thanks to everyone involved, and the units themselves for making it a great day!
And the best bit, undoubtedly the sticky brakes
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