5th April 2003

Hertfordshire Rail Tours
The Blyth & Tyne
(Forgotten Tracks series)

Locos Used 67017 & 90027
Stock Used 5482+5037+4986+1832+4925+3146+1698+3097+312069+3141+3147+1680+ 2834

Route:
1Z50 : Kings Cross to Newcastle
1Z67 : Newcastle to Newcastle
1Z51 : Newcastle to Kings Cross

Loco Route
90027 London Kings Cross - (via ECML) - King Edward Bridge South Jn - High Level Bridge - Newcastle
67017 Newcastle - Benton Jn - Newsham North Jn - Bedlington Jn - Hepscott Jn - Morpeth - (via ECML) - Newcastle - Durham - Tursdale Jn - Ferryhill Jn - Norton West Jn - Norton East Jn - Hartlepool - Sunderland - Pelaw Jn - King Edward Bridge North Jn - Newcastle
90027 Newcastle - (via ECML) - London Kings Cross

Source : Martyn Brailsford (joined/left the train at Newcastle)

Tour Review
(by PRAR)

Scores on the doors:
Route 7/10 - not great but did cover the top of Norton triangle which lots of people required.
Traction 5/10 - as to be expected for a Forgotten tracks, disappointing not to have swapped the 90 whilst it was in Tyne Yard.
Craic 6/10 - not much atmosphere.

Narrative:
Basically the tour did what it said it would without too much fuss or palaver.  GNER's 91128 managed to get entangled in the knitting thoroughly mucking up their services but for some reason we managed to escape without too much delay. With no GNERs to get in the way we had a good fast run to Peterborough. Beyond here we were looped a few times to allow GNERs to pass, but we were basically early all the way to Newcastle. About two signals short of the bridge we finally found a red, the Pathfinder "Whistling Tynesider" tour storming past at this point.

The first set of timings showed a loco change in Tyne Yard, but this was switched to Newcastle. However, in the switch, sufficient time for the change was not included, so after 67017 had been attached we departed slightly late. The run round the northern half of our figure 8 took us past plenty of places calling out for an extension to the Metro. Will it ever happen though? Having run back through Newcastle and south onto the ECML again we turned left onto what are basically the slow lines before feeding onto the freight line to Norton. With two of the three signal-boxes at Norton especially opened for our passage we took the straight through line and achieved the climax. A slow run back through Sunderland (something to do with having to share the tracks with Metro units) brought us back into Newcastle for the third time.

With about an hour's break food seemed to be on most people's agenda although some did sample the beers as well. The stock snuck off to Tyne Yard for servicing and came back with 90027 reattached to the front (having completed another circuit of the bridges). There was disappointment that one of the other 90s from Tyne Yard hadn't be procured for the run back but as this was a Forgotten Tracks tour we were lucky it wasn't 67017 through out.

As with "Super Snipe" we were given a quite demanding schedule back along the ECML. It will be interesting to compare the performance of the two locos. As usual though, the timings in the brochure departed from those on TRUST and by HRT standards we were quite early back into KX. Back at The Cross some of the stock was still trapped by the morning debacle, with rewiring taking place as we arrived.

PRAR

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from Martyn Brailsford/Daniel Bound)

M.C Location Booked Actual Booked Actual M.C
0.00 Kings Cross 08.18d 08.25 21.05a 21.01 268.49
0.55 Belle Isle 08/20 08/28 21/00 21/02 267.74
2.41 Finsbury Park 08/22 08/31 20/58 20/55 266.08
4.78 Alexandra Palace 08/24 08/33 20/54 20/57 263.51
12.57 Potters Bar 08.31a ~ 08.34d 08.40 ~ 08.44 20.48a ~ 20.51d 20.46 ~ 20.47 255.72
20.25 Welwyn Garden City 08/42 08/51 20/42 20/38 248.24
21.20 Digswell Jn 08/47 08/52 - - ---.--
23.73 Woolmer Green 08/50 08/54 20/40 20/38 244.55
27.45 Stevenage 08.53a ~ 08.55d 08.57  ~08.59 20.32a ~ 20.35d 20.30 ~ 20.33 241.04
31.74 Hitchin 09/00 09/04 20/25 20/23 236.55
44.10 Sandy 09/09 09/11 20/18 20/16 224.39
58.70 Huntingdon 09/25 09/19 20/09 20/07 209.59
69.26 Holme LC 09/32 09/25 - - ---.--
--.-- Connington South Jn - - 20/03 20/00 201.46
76.29 Peterborough 09.39a ~ 09.41d 09.32 ~ 09.41 19.53a ~ 19.56d 19.50 ~ 19.53 192.20
81.56 Helpston Jn 09/48 09/49 - - ---.--
84.64 Tallington 09/55 09/53 19/46 ??/?? 183.65
99.61 Stoke Tunnel 10/09 10/05 19/37 19/35 168.68
105.38 Grantham 10.14a ~ 10.22d 10/12 19/33 19/32 163.11
109.56 Barkston South Jn 10/25 10/17 19/30 19/29 158.73
120.08 Newark North Gate 10/32 10/28 19/24 19/24 148.41
138.49 Retford 10/43 10/40 19/13 19/13 130.00
152.00 Loversall Carr Jn 10/52 10/52 19/04 19/05 116.49
155.77 Doncaster 10/54 10/54 19/02 19/03 112.52
160.16 Shaftholme Jn 10/57 11/02 18/59 19/00 108.33
169.16 Temple Hirst Jn 11/02 11/07 18/52 18/53 99.33
174.75 Hambleton North Jn 11/10 11/12 18/48 18/49 93.54
182.79 Colton Jn 11/17 11/19 18/43 18/45 85.50
188.40 York 11.25a ~ 11.28d 11.29 ~ 11.39 18.34a ~ 18.38d 18.37 ~ 18.41 80.09
190.10 Skelton Jn 11/30 11/44 18/32 18/35 78.39
198.09 Tollerton 11/39 11/50 18/26 18/30 70.40
210.56 Thirsk 11/50 11/59 18/19 18/24 57.73
217.27 Longlands Jn 11/57 12/04 - - --.--
218.36 Northallerton 12/02 12/04 18/14 18/19 50.13
232.50 Darlington 12/12 12/12 18/05 18/10 35.79
244.57 Ferryhill South Jn 12/20 12/20 17/57 18/02 23.72
247.31 Tursdale Jn 12/22 12/21 17/56 18/02 21.18
254.53 Durham 12.32a ~ 12.34d 12.27 ~ 12.29 17.47a ~ 17.49d 17.57 ~ 17.59 13.76
263.62 Birtley 12/39 12/36 17/40 17/49 4.67
267.75 King Edward Bridge South Jn 12/42 12/46 - - -.--
268.13 King Edward Bridge East Jn 12/42 12/47 - - -.-
268.27 Greensfield Jn 12/43 12/47 - - -.-
268.43 High Level Bridge South Jn 12/44 12/48 - - -.-
269.03 Newcastle 12L49a 12.50 17L35d 17.38 0.00

 

M.C Location Booked Actual
0.00 Newcastle 12L59d 13.12
1.74 Heaton South Jn 13/03 13/16
4.24 Benton Jn 13/06 13/22
12.34 Newsham Jn 13/38 13/40
15.60 Bedlington Jn 14/00 13/49
19.33 Hepscott Jn 14/24 13/58
20.15 Morpeth 14/28 14/15
34.71 Heaton South Jn 14/45 14/26
36.65 Newcastle 14/49 14/30
37.39 King Edward Bridge South Jn 14/51 14/32
41.52 Birtley 14/55 14/39
50.68 Durham 15/02 14/48
58.08 Tursdale Jn 15/10 14/58
60.64 Ferryhill South Jn 15/12 15/02
71.23 Norton West Jn 15/30 15/23
??.?? Norton East Jn 15/31 15/24
73.22 Billingham Jn 15/35 15/27
79.39 Cliff House SB 15/42 15/33
81.08 Hartlepool 15/47 15/40
93.77 Seaham 16/02 15/58
99.13 Sunderland 16/14 16/19
107.49 Pelaw Jn 16/30 16/38
110.21 Park Lane Jn 16/33 16/43
110.69 Greensfield Jn 16/35 16/45
111.03 King Edward Bridge East Jn 16/37 16/46
111.16 King Edward Bridge North Jn 16/38 16/47
111.55 Newcastle 16L42a 16.49

Timings continue in first table.


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