Holiday Maker Expresses

[cambsy]

I have done several Holiday Maker services many years ago, and though my memory is vague in bits I can remember that they had some interesting loco’s and stock and calling patterns. which made for some interesting runs, and just generally a lot more interesting time back in the days, ill share what can remember below:

Loco’s and stock

Can remember there used to be a Paignton service which had a MK3 West Coast Pullman set with 31’s, though didnt do this service, but I did do a 45 from Birmingham to south West, and my favourite was the overnight HST Leeds to Newquay which did Birmingham-Newquay as it stopped just Birmingham-Bristol TM-Plymouth-Par Newquay then the same stops on return, so was good fast run and unusual chance to pass through Exeter non stop, and while this service stopped approx 30 mins at Bristol TM there was a 47 hauled service which arrived before this service then left after it, doing stops down to Paignton.

Calling Patterns

I can remember Holiday Makers would do Birmingham to Taunton and beyond non stop, though think maybe once or twice i did service which did Birmingham-Taunton etc non stop, then there were Birmingham-Cheltenham-Bristol TM services etc, which made for good few intsting calling patterns compared to today.


I would like know the loco’s and stock and calling patterns back then, as my memory is vague and know other peoples memories from back then.

 

[Paul1160]

There used to be a 11.00 Paignton to Bradford summer saturdays service in the 1980s,not sure of the exact year.Calling points on the service after Torquay was next booked stop Birmingham New Street then Sheffield,Wakefield Westgate,Leeds,New Pudsey and Bradford.Due to the length of the train it was divided on arrival at Leeds.The front portion went ECS to Neville Hill Depot while the back portion was taken forward to New Pudsey and Bradford by a class 31 loco.
The Penzance to Bradford service was also divided on arrival at Leeds.

 

[Gloster]

In the early hours of Saturday mornings in the early 1980s we used to have a number of trains coming from ‘up north’, i.e. beyond Weston-super-Mud, and it was important to know if they got out of order. Some of them were, apart from the News, the only Class 1 trains that did not stop at Exeter and so could go through the Middle Road, actually the Down Main. As we started off the bell code for this, woe betide if we gave it for one that was supposed to stop: I never did. Similarly, Cogload Junction sent the code (stopping or fast and, earlier, which route at Norton Fitzwarren) for Taunton and (I think) Exeter West did it for Newton Abbot.

Later on it could get busy: Down trains were generally fairly well spaced out and could keep rolling, but from mid-morning the Up could be busy and it would be block to block (give Train Out of Section for one train and immediately get Train Entering Section for the next). Even on a day when nothing went wrong my lunch rolls could take four to five hours to disappear and if there was a hold-up…

 

[Helvellyn]

The various 'Scot' CrossCountry services were only named Monday-Friday in the Summer timetables of the mid and late 1980s, all just being 'InterCity Holidaymaker' at a weekend (and shown as such in the timetables). Formations didn't change for these regular services but an interesting change was the Scotland-Sussex service. Monday-Friday it was the 'Sussex Scot', Glasgow/Edinburgh to Brighton but at a weekend it became a Holidaymaker service, Glasgow/Edinburgh to Eastbourne!

 

[Paul1160]

Can remember the nothbound summer saturday services used to have their number, ie 1E37 for the Paignton to Bradford displayed in the window of the coach behind the locomotive.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Am I right in thinking some of those trains had refreshment stops of an hour or so somewhere like Bristol Temple Meads? Quite unusual in the age of corridor coaches and buffet cars.

 

[Gloster]

I have had a look at the 1975 public timetable and ten trains (Bristol departures 00.46-05.05) have a note that you could purchase refreshments subject to the maintenance of the timetable or as given in announcements; the first arrived at 00.16 and the last at 04.49. There may also have been an element of avoiding hordes of bleary-eyed travellers hanging around the arrival stations if the train arrived at an even more unearthly hour. It might even have helped crew rostering a bit by making it easier to get some of the train crew a return working on the earliest northbounds. N.b. these were night trains without open buffets.

 

[Taunton]

Similarly, Cogload Junction sent the code (stopping or fast and, earlier, which route at Norton Fitzwarren) for Taunton and (I think) Exeter West did it for Newton Abbot.

20 years before this and Taunton was a fascination for this on summer Saturdays, with four tracks from Cogload to Norton Fitzwarren. It was actually normal then for Bristol line trains to stick on the Reliefs, and Westbury line trains on the Mains, all the way to the west end of Taunton station, west of where there was an element of switching back and forth not necessarily in the working timetable, so it was Norton box which sent the sequence westwards.

I do recall a spectacular moment when four trains, two each way, all nonstop, passed through the station simultaneously, the locos in each direction almost abreast of one another.

One of the various calamities in latter steam times of the early 1960s was the day the Creech watertroughs pump failed, and trains were stopping unexpectedly in the station for water. There was apparently a whistle code for this passing Creech Junction signalbox in the winter if the troughs were frozen, but in summer nobody seemed to know it.

Regarding the small hours Bristol station stops, these were typically either side of the Down island platform, and there were mobile refreshment trolleys placed there serving both sides. They also avoided undue pressure on the train toilets, as the platform facilities could be used, and I think they may have even re-watered the tanks while there. However these trains were regarded as a confounded nuisance at the resorts, particularly the nearer ones like Torquay, as passengers arrived well before the guest houses of the era were ready to receive them, and some of the less customer-aware landladies would even send away again arrivals with heavy luggage until lunchtime, not even allowing them to store their bags. Cafes were overwhelmed with people unwilling to leave, and the churches even played a part, allowing families to come inside and sit in (or sleep on) the pews. If it was pouring with rain you can imagine it all! What a holiday.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I have had a look at the 1975 public timetable and ten trains (Bristol departures 00.46-05.05) have a note that you could purchase refreshments subject to the maintenance of the timetable or as given in announcements; the first arrived at 00.16 and the last at 04.49. There may also have been an element of avoiding hordes of bleary-eyed travellers hanging around the arrival stations if the train arrived at an even more unearthly hour. It might even have helped crew rostering a bit by making it easier to get some of the train crew a return working on the earliest northbounds. N.b. these were night trains without open buffets.

Going on holiday sure was hard work in those days....

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Jul 2025 ==

Regarding the small hours Bristol station stops, these were typically either side of the Down island platform, and there were mobile refreshment trolleys placed there serving both sides. They also avoided undue pressure on the train toilets, as the platform facilities could be used, and I think they may have even re-watered the tanks while there. However these trains were regarded as a confounded nuisance at the resorts, particularly the nearer ones like Torquay, as passengers arrived well before the guest houses of the era were ready to receive them, and some of the less customer-aware landladies would even send away again arrivals with heavy luggage until lunchtime, not even allowing them to store their bags. Cafes were overwhelmed with people unwilling to leave, and the churches even played a part, allowing families to come inside and sit in (or sleep on) the pews. If it was pouring with rain you can imagine it all! What a holiday.

Grim beyond belief. No wonder we all started flying to Spain instead...

 

[The exile]

Going on holiday sure was hard work in those days....

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Jul 2025 ==



Grim beyond belief. No wonder we all started flying to Spain instead...

Involving getting to the airport at 3 or 4 in the morning, then spending an hour being funnelled through security before being fleeced by over-priced catering outlets!

 

[Harpo]

Going on holiday sure was hard work in those days....

Go back a few decades earlier and holidays were unpaid, hence why hop-picking etc. was the holiday away from the smoke.

 

[Magdalia]

The Inter City Holidaymaker Expresses of the 1980s were the last remnants of a much bigger operation that was at its peak in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The main advantage for the railway of the coastbound overnight trains was that outward and return trains could be covered with one set of rolling stock.

Grim beyond belief. No wonder we all started flying to Spain instead...

Package holidays to/from the Mediterranean followed the same business logic with flights at very obscure times to make maximum use of planes.

20 years before this and Taunton was a fascination for this on summer Saturdays

The two routes with the highest intensity of holiday traffic were Taunton-Newton Abbot and Preston-Kirkham. There are two books giving detailed accounts of the former, both published long ago:

Summer Saturdays n the West by David St John Thomas and Simon Rocksborough-Smith (David and Charles 1973)
The Day of the Holiday Express by Richard Woodley (Ian Allan 1996)

 

[Falcon1200]

The 'Back in the Day' thread on this forum contains a lot of information on the trains, and their locos, in the past, mainly the 1980s. Often normally freight-only locos pressed into passenger service, much to the delight of enthusiasts.

Shorter distance workings could do out and back in a day, for example there was an Oxford/Paignton and return Summer Saturday train, using one of the Oxford/Paddington Mark 1 commuter sets. Catering was provided in the BSK (brake second) coach, from a trolley and an urn filled with hot water at Oxford; We alighted at Newton Abbot and refilled the urn in the buffet there before joining the return train.

 

[Harpo]

Often normally freight-only locos pressed into passenger service, much to the delight of enthusiasts.

An experienced operator told me back in’t day that on a summer Saturday you run out of carriages before you run out of engines, and that on Maunday Thursday and some pre-Christmas weekdays you’ll run out of engines before you run out of carriages.

If only Christmas could’ve been moved to the NB period.