Not counting railtours. This may be a thread mainly for older posters!
My best unplanned (so much better when things just happen.....) day started out on the Summer Saturday only Scarborough-Newcastle service in 1986. This was a guaranteed rock solid TE or GD NB 37 (usually filthy), which I regularly took from York to Darlington. Return journey was on the Glasgow-Scarborough, which was always packed in the days when Scottish people holidayed in droves on the Costa del North Yorkshire, and was hauled by an Eastfield non-ETH duff. I thought this was about as good as the day would get, and settled down to hanging about York for the day. Got bored festering after a bit and took a 31/1 hauled short working out to Scarborough, coming back with a 45/0 (013 I think) on a Liverpool train. Nice enough, but nothing really special there. In York I met up with a mate at the station, but after a while festering, everyone started to get very excited. The early evening Sheffield via Pontefract DMU was replaced by a rake of Mk Is (it was a race day), and a pair of 20s came whistling round the corner off the shed. A full front coach, but most cranks bailed at Ulleskelf to get the DMU back after a 5 minute wait. We went for the Man of Steel move and stayed on the couple of extra miles to Church Fenton. The DMU was approaching the York-bound platform as we bailed, so we had to sprint like mad over the footbridge, and got the best (front window) seat before the hordes boarded at Ulleskelf. 'Insect mileage' I hear you say, but it turned out to have been a good move, because on arrival back at York, a totally filthy 50047 was burbling and clagging away in platform 15 with a rake of truly squalid Mk Is on a relief to Bristol! Goodness knows when that had arrived; my gen sources must have been very faulty if it had been in York all afternoon without my knowing. Very excitedly I took my place in a first class compo in the front coach and settled down for a great run (via Ponte) in heavy rain to Sheffield this time. Return was behind a nondescript ETH Peak on a NESW working, but this was the only non-rateable loco of the day, and hardly counts as being bowled as it was only to be expected back then.
Nothing special really, and I'm sure loads of you can better this. Still, that was a Golden Age!
My best unplanned (so much better when things just happen.....) day started out on the Summer Saturday only Scarborough-Newcastle service in 1986. This was a guaranteed rock solid TE or GD NB 37 (usually filthy), which I regularly took from York to Darlington. Return journey was on the Glasgow-Scarborough, which was always packed in the days when Scottish people holidayed in droves on the Costa del North Yorkshire, and was hauled by an Eastfield non-ETH duff. I thought this was about as good as the day would get, and settled down to hanging about York for the day. Got bored festering after a bit and took a 31/1 hauled short working out to Scarborough, coming back with a 45/0 (013 I think) on a Liverpool train. Nice enough, but nothing really special there. In York I met up with a mate at the station, but after a while festering, everyone started to get very excited. The early evening Sheffield via Pontefract DMU was replaced by a rake of Mk Is (it was a race day), and a pair of 20s came whistling round the corner off the shed. A full front coach, but most cranks bailed at Ulleskelf to get the DMU back after a 5 minute wait. We went for the Man of Steel move and stayed on the couple of extra miles to Church Fenton. The DMU was approaching the York-bound platform as we bailed, so we had to sprint like mad over the footbridge, and got the best (front window) seat before the hordes boarded at Ulleskelf. 'Insect mileage' I hear you say, but it turned out to have been a good move, because on arrival back at York, a totally filthy 50047 was burbling and clagging away in platform 15 with a rake of truly squalid Mk Is on a relief to Bristol! Goodness knows when that had arrived; my gen sources must have been very faulty if it had been in York all afternoon without my knowing. Very excitedly I took my place in a first class compo in the front coach and settled down for a great run (via Ponte) in heavy rain to Sheffield this time. Return was behind a nondescript ETH Peak on a NESW working, but this was the only non-rateable loco of the day, and hardly counts as being bowled as it was only to be expected back then.
Nothing special really, and I'm sure loads of you can better this. Still, that was a Golden Age!
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Southbound to Perth on a duff-hauled Edinburgh train, where I changed onto a newly introduced 158 for Glasgow Queen Street (a sign of the horror that was to come throughout Scotland imminently). A long and odious wait in Glasgow Central (Casey Jones burgers are only just fit for human consumption BTW), before the so-called 'boat train' to Stranraer at 22:23. 'So-called' because it got into Stranraer at about half past midnight, but the boat didn't leave until 03:00. Lots of drunk Northern Irish knobheads in a 2-car 156 with one bog. Nice. Then a long wait with same clowns in the overgrown Portakabin that passed for the foot passenger waiting area.
