14th July 2001

Hertfordshire Rail Tours
Old Father Thames

Route :
1Z36 : London Paddington - Thames Haven
1Z37 : Thames Haven - London Victoria

Notes :
(1) 66023 on rear.
(2) 66003 on rear.

Source : Ken Strachan
(on the train throughout)

Tour review :
(by Daniel Bound)

A railtour covering 3 branchlines near the Thames, 2 of which were needed, made it easy to book on this railtour. The ticket arrived a week before the tour, confirming the times being now an hour later than planned at 10 o’clock. Marvellous!

Saturday dawned and the skies were grey and overcast, just a day to be on a train. My journey involved the Hammersmith & City line to Paddington due to other underground closures. Coming into Paddington a steam train came into view. 5029 Nunney Castle was sitting next to our tour ready to work to a Past time charter to Worcester, which it did with great gusto at 9:30. This left 66003 on the front of our train with 66023 on the rear. 47832 was sitting on a First Great Western service with 47701 on the rear. Anyway, I digress, on with our tour review.

Sitting in a first class coach (you must have wanted a good review Ian!) our departure time of 10:02 approached, and passed. Announcements were made that a late running freight train was still on the Brentford Branch and we would be delayed slightly. 44 minutes later we finally departed Paddington from Platform 9; we immediately crossed over onto the fast lines for our swift journey to Southall Yard.  On the way we passed 59203 which had derailed itself in Acton Yard.

We arrived in Southall Yard running 40 minutes late, in the Up Brentford Sidings. Our reversal took 1 minute! (Is this a record?). We started back on ourselves turning right to go down to Brentford Good.  This branchline is very overgrown, and the branches of trees and bushes were crashing against the sides of our coach with great ferocity. Soon, the yellow waste wagons were alongside and the railtrack limit had been reached.  Another quick reversal saw us back up into Southall Yard only 30 minutes down, and by the time we departed another 6 minutes had been slashed off our deficit.  We crossed over to take the slow lines so we could climb Acton bank, here we went left on the up Cricklewood to Dudding Hill Jn where we turned right onto the up Cricklewood curve. Excellent running and slack timings meant we were now only 18 minutes down as we slowed for our first crew change at West Hampstead.  On departure we slowed to let a Thameslink 319 pass us so we could cross over to take the up Tottenham north curve to Junction Road Jn, we then took the Gospel Oak line over the Barking flyover and through onto the Tilbury lines.  Just before the sorry remains of Ripple Lane depot we were held for about 5 minutes before continuing past the huge ford complex with 66519 the only loco noted. We soon reached Mucking Jn, where we turned off the main line and onto the Thameshaven branch, this huge wasteland will soon hopefully be turned into a giant container port which should improve the number of workings onto the branch.  Soon the Mobil refinery came into view and the end of the line of the furthest siding on the left (number 17) was reached. Due to the slow running we were now 40 minutes down again.

News of Pathfinders tour to deepest darkest Ayr was now coming through, and after a number of text messages, a certain tour reviewer who shall remain nameless, challenged me to include Goths somewhere in my review (for some reason, I think he is obsessed)…. I will try too later on David.

We reversed and now with 66003 on the front we started on the longest leg of our tour, around London. A very spirited run from the 66 saw us clawing back minutes at every point, and when we didn’t stop at Barking for a crew change we were again only half an hour down. A run around the Gospel Oak line followed and the crew change was taken at Willesden Junction high level, then we came past Acton Wells Jn and by way of Kew East and New Kew Junctions we arrived on Southern metals and headed off for Clapham Junction. A total of 20 minutes was allocated between Acton Wells and New Kew Jn, our train took 7, so by the time we passed under Clapham and reached Voltaire Road Jn we were only 8 minutes late. The usual signal check before Lewisham station for a 465 unit was followed by our trip on towards Bexleyheath and around the Erith Loop from Perry St Fork Jn to Slade Green Jn.  Charlton was soon reached and from here it was only a small distance before we branched off towards Angerstein Wharf. Our loco was able to proceed towards the middle of the 3 terminals based here and after passing through the railtrack limit we pulled up at the discharge point of the Bardon terminal.

After we reversed we were now running to time and again we passed through Charlton and Slade Green depot before turning back towards London via the Crayford Spur. Lewisham was passed 5 minutes early and after being held at Canterbury Road Jn, we continued on the up Chatham fast and arrived in platform 2 at Victoria 1 minute early.

Overall this was a great day out, much better than a Goth party at Northallerton, travelling around the backwaters of London visiting 3 branchlines, even after the delayed start. This tour was brilliant value for money even if the traction was just top ‘n’ tail 66’s as Hertfordshire always seem to go that little bit further down branchlines. Keep the good tours coming!

Daniel Bound

Route and Timing's (Booked & Actual)
(supplied by Ken Strachan/Daniel Bound/John Clifford)

Key;
a : arrival time
c : crew change
d : departure time
/ : passing time

All distances, in miles and chains (M & C), are taken from the timing sheet given out on the train.
No attempt has been made to verify the mileages given.

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