Old Routings

[LNW-GW Joint]

1.) East Croydon --> Selhurst --> Balham --> Clapham Junction --> Kensington Olympia.

2.) East Croydon --> Norwood Junction --> West Norwood --> Balham --> Clapham Junction --> Kensington Olympia.

3.) East Croydon --> Norwood Junction --> West Norwood Jn --> Tulse Hill -> Herne Hill --> Brixton --> Voltaire Road Jn --> Factory Jn --> Longhedge Jn --> Latchmere Jn ---> Kensington Olympia.

I never knew this service to reverse at Clapham Junction - very unlikely unless there was some sort of blockage in the Longhedge - Latchmere line.

If routed via Tulse Hill into Clapham Jn, they usually carried on to Reading via Staines and skipped KO.

 

[Pumbaa]

Not in recent times, they all called at Kenny. On Sundays, they went direct Guildford - Reading.

From 1S79:

Southbound routing has no surprises apart from 1O23 Mon to Friday and 1O09 on Saturdays which after Latchmere Junction are routed via Longhedge Junction, Factory Junction, Brixton, Herne Hill, Tulse Hill, Streatham and Streatham Common before regaining the Brighton mainline. This is Parliamentary purposes, as after the withdrawal of the Cross Country services to Kent these are now the only passengers trains over the section of line from Latchmere Junction through to Factory Junction.

When I travelled on 1O09 on Sat 8th Dec (last day of Brighton on XC) it was routed through Clapham and Selhurst. On the return 1M21, it was routed through Norwood Jn and Crystal Palace to Balham, then Clapham and onward.

 

[30907]

Not in recent times, they all called at Kenny

I think any routing via Tulse Hill-Factory Jn-Clapham Jn would have been an emergency. But planned engineering work was mostly Redhill-Reading omitting the East Croydon stop as well
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Thanks for that I had'nt realised the Clansman was much older than 1986 , if I remember right after the first year it was re-routed via Birmingham and downgraded to mk2 stock as it was how you described in the 70's.

Whereas I had completely forgotten about the Clansman #2 - I don't think it lasted long.

BTW the short-lived extension of the North Country Continental (Harwich-Manchester) to Glasgow and Edinburgh, which ran in the early 80s (after the withdrawal of the Nottingham-S and C-Glasgow) ran via Ashburys and Philips Park on the East side of Manchester, but it did stop at Victoria so
it doesnt strictly meet the criterion

 

[Erniescooper]

BTW the short-lived extension of the North Country Continental (Harwich-Manchester) to Glasgow and Edinburgh, which ran in the early 80s (after the withdrawal of the Nottingham-S and C-Glasgow) ran via Ashburys and Philips Park on the East side of Manchester, but it did stop at Victoria so
it doesnt strictly meet the criterion

If I remember right it was called The European and regularly used to bring a Stratford 47 up to Preston . I think when the North London line was electrified it was diverted that way before eventually disappearing from the timetable.

 

[43106]

With reference to The Clansman, my memories of it are at odds with what's been said, but I suspect changes over the years have made both of us correct.
Firstly, the northbound London - Birmingham/Wolverhampton section was NOT scheduled to be part of the half-hourly London - Birmingham/Wolverhampton express service. Going by the May '74 - May '75 PTT (of which I have a copy), West Midland expresses left Euston at XX10 and XX40 - the Clansman left at 0935. The full M-F timetable is shown below (note that the tabs don't work, AND note the stations where they uplift only).
EUSTON (d) 0935
COVENTRY (u) 1039
BIRMINGHAM NS (u) 1105
WOLVERHAMPTON (u) 1124
CREWE (a) 1203
CREWE (d) 1206
PRESTON (a) 1243
PRESTON (d) 1245
CARLISLE (a) 1354
CARLISLE (d) 1403
MOTHERWELL (a) 1518
COATBRIDGE CENT (a) 1538
STIRLING (a) 1605
PERTH (a) 1649
AVIEMORE (a) 1850
INVERNESS (a) 1945

I THINK the change of loco was done at Carlisle - 20 minutes between Motherwell and Coatbridge seems a very short time.
Having said that, the SOUTHBOUND Clansman arrived at Wolverhampton at 1905 and from there worked to Euston as a scheduled West Mids. - Euston service.
I don't know where I got the info from, but when HST125's were introduced, they started the Kings Cross - Inverness service. As a result, the traffic on the Clansman fell away, so they re-routed it via Edinburgh. This didn't work either, so they scrapped the Edinburgh - Inverness portion (removing the 'Clansman' train name), which made things even worse. I can personnally attest to this, having once travelled on the Carlisle - Edinburgh leg of this service. My wife and I were the ONLY passengers on the coach. Eventually, the entire service was done away with. In my view, there is a case to re-introduce a Birmingham - Perth service (via Cumbernauld) with extensions to Inverness and Aberdeen.

 

[30907]

If I remember right it was called The European and regularly used to bring a Stratford 47 up to Preston . I think when the North London line was electrified it was diverted that way before eventually disappearing from the timetable.

Thanks, you're right on all that.