9th February 2008

UK Railtours
The Oozlum Bird No.2

Route:
1Z96 : London Victoria to Alresford
1Z97 : Alresford to London Waterloo

Notes :
(1) D6593 on rear.
(2) 37422 on rear.
(3) Booked route was via Stewarts Lane Jn but train went mainline for reason(s) unexplained.

Source : Martin Fenton (on the train throughout)

Tour Review
(by David Clark)

When the tour was first advertised, quite a few people raised their eyebrows and thought that doing the tour was a very good idea as it had a bit of everything, a good start time, good end time, quality traction and in interesting route.

  So, on a trip around St Pancras International Station and a few other stations in the area a group booking for the tour was formulated (A big thank you to Adam Daniels for being the organiser).

The tour was to go from London Victoria around the South London Suburbs and ending up at Alton and the Mid Hants Railway.  Returning was also via some of the South West Suburbs before heading in to London Waterloo via the Shepcote Lane chord.  Traction was to be provided by 2x GBRF Class 73s and what-ever the Mid Hants Railway could provide.

On the Friday before the tour I made by way up to Scunthorpe with the help of 170109/220002/185141 and got in at a nice time of 1920.  Come the Saturday, we left Scunthorpe at 0405 listening to Radio 4 LW hearing England putting out an abysmal performance against New Zealand and got to Cockfosters LUL Station pleasantly early on a chilly morning at 0650.

We got to London Victoria before 8am and met some of our fellow party and then heard the growl of 37422 “Canton TMD” roll in to Victoria.  We wandered up Platform 2 to find that our coach (Coach K) was the front one!  Also at the front we saw 73209 / 73206. The rest of our party turned up and we were ready for the off! The tour departed London Victoria at 0855 (Bang on time) and we took the Chatham Fast Line through Grosvenor Bridge Jn, Factory Jn, Voltaire Road Jn and then through the delights of Brixton, Herne Hill, Tulse Hill, Streatham, Mitcham Jn, Sutton, West Sutton and were held outside Wimbledon station.

The schedule contained quite a bit of slack due to the high intensity of traffic on most of the routes that we covered that Saturday.  At quite a few locations during the day we were held at Signals to await our booked path.

We passed through Wimbledon and at this point I advised a friend of mine to get either to Clapham Junction and East Croydon for him to take some photos of the tour as the weather out was beautiful! But due to LUL he missed both opportunities. You can’t get the staff can you?  He’d never make it as a media photographer.

From Wimbledon we took the Thameslink loop line through Haydon’s Road and Tooting to Streatham and took the reversible fast spur on to Streatham North Jn and took the Fast Lines through Balham, Clapham Junction & Pouparts Jn before being held at another signal just before Longhedge Jn.  This was due to the fact we were not due over Factory Jn until 1028.

We passed through Factory Jn at 1026 and took the Atlantic Lines through Voltaire Road Jn and crossed over at Shepherds Lane Jn at 10/29 on to the Down Chatham Main.  We were now on the route covered an hour and a half before, but after passing through Herne Hill, Tulse Hill we took the route to West Norwood (thus delaying a Southern London Victoria to London Bridge service) and Crystal Palace then heading to Bromley Jn delaying another Southern service from Beckenham Jn to London Bridge.

Once we cleared Norwood Junction we took the slows through East Croydon, South Croydon, Purley en route to Redhill and took the route to Guildford.  After Reigate diesel power took over until Shalford Junction.  Here we sat for 8 minutes before proceeding in to Guildford and then down to Ash, Aldershot and took the single line through Farnham, Bentley and arrived At Alton 2mins late.

My dad during his national service days did the line in it’s entirety from Woking through to Winchester.  Hence, coming on this tour was for both nostaliga reasons and for a jolly good day out.  During his national service days he was based at a few bases in the area and took great delight in telling he once walked around Farnborough Airfield.

At Alton we dropped people off before proceeding on to the Ground Frame to attach 33208 on the rear.  We set off again and took the route over the Alps passing LNER A4 60019 (Bittern) at Medstead and arrived at Alresford at 1348.  Being in the front coach we were on to the Run Round loop when our train stopped.  Thus, it took quite a few while before we finally reached the platform!

What’s in Alresford?  A Chippy, a pub (or two), a restaurant, a boutique and Tesco’s!  Tesco’s have reached Alresford.  In the process of wandering around Alresford we saw a disagreement between two elderly gentlemen arguing over a parking spot.  Quite comical really.  You could imagine one of the men hitting the other car in sort of Basil Fawlty impression with a branch!

Back at the station we saw LNER A4 pacific “60019 Bittern” arrive . Quite a nice view to see a grand East Coast Engine on a Southern branch.

Soon after the loco and stock rolled in and the consist was now 33208 / 73209 / 73206 and Load 10?  We departed Alresford at 1507 and went through the opposite platform to which we arrived, and disappeared towards Alton. We arrived at the ground frame outside Alton SB (on the opposite line to what we did earlier) at 1536. We detached the 33 before proceeding in to Alton station at 1550, departing at 1555 and heading for Aldershot.  At Aldershot North Jn we took the line to Ash Vale, Frimley and passed through platform 1 at Ascot. From here the journey became a bit of a stagger just as the skies began to darken over South West London.  After Feltham we took the line to Hounslow, Brentford, Kew East Jn, South Acton and went in to Willesden SWS Sidings.  Here we were informed it was to attach the loco which was to take the ECS from Waterloo to Old Oak Common.  37422 duly arrived having come from Hither Green.

We departed 12mins late, before taking the West London Line to Kensington Olympia, Latchmere Jn and took the Shepcote Chord on to the South West Lines in to London Waterloo for which I’d previously done on a HST between London Waterloo and Doncaster (in both directions).  Here we took the Windsor Reversible to arrive into London Waterloo just 4mins late. After viewing the 73s one final time and saying goodbye’s I also met the friend who hadn’t got to cover the train at Clapham Junction or East Croydon.  He’s also from Scunthorpe and he showed us a different way to get to Waterloo Bakerloo tube station. We arrived at Cockfosters after changing at Oxford Circus / Finsbury Park at 1935 some 45 mins after leaving Waterloo which I thought wasn’t too bad. Arrival back in to Scunthorpe was 2250 including a stop at Peterborough services for a “PNB”. The return journey to Wales on the Sunday was courtesy of 185104, 221139 / 220029 and 43198 / 43020.  I also viewed 86101 and the Mark 3 blue and grey set with blue DVT.  How good they looked too!

Verdict: A trip well organised, well ran, and well timed by the NR STP timing team.  Overall the loco’s performed well, we were within 5 to 10 minutes of the schedule all day, and the weather held too!  On top of that, the group I was travelled with was top notch too!  Thank you to one and all.

I look forward to more trips like these!  So a thank you to UK Railtours, EWS, GBRf, Network Rail, the Mid Hants Railway and everyone else involved in the tour.

David Clark (2008)

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from Martin Fenton, David Clark & John Clifford)

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