29th August 2008

Railway Touring Company
The Scarborough Flyer

Route:
1Z73 : Crewe to Scarborough
1Z74 : Scarborough to Crewe

Notes :
(1) 60009’s air braking system failed.
(2) Support coach, (35486), detached at Milford Jn on the return.

Source : Gordon Jakes (on the train throughout)

Tour Review
(by Gordon Jakes)

60009 waits to leave Crewe at the start of the day (photo: Gordon Jakes)

The train left Crewe one minute late and little did we know at the time but we were never to achieve on-time running throughout the whole day. Slow line running between Crewe and Winsford and through Warrington Bank Quay station to Winwick Junction ensured that the Chat Moss Line was reached five minutes late. The water stop at Eccles was trimmed for an on time departure but Manchester Victoria was still reached a couple of minutes down. Despite a sterling effort up the bank to Miles Platting and onwards to Baguley Fold progress was soon checked by a signal stop of 5 minutes to the west of Stalybridge Junction. The ascent towards Standedge Tunnel was checked by adverse signals in the Mossley area and a similar check was experienced after the tunnel in the Slaithwaite area. As a consequence Huddersfield was reached a total of some 15 minutes late – at no fault to 60009 or her crew.

After leaving Huddersfield and joining the Calder Valley line the defining event of the tour occurred. This was the failure of 60009’s air braking system which resulted in an emergency stop being made by the train between Mirfield station and Mirfield East Junction. On-train repair proved impossible and the train had to be rescued by 66129 which reportedly travelled out from Healey Mills. The train restarted some 90 minutes late having caused major consequential delays and cancellation to a variety of TransPennine and Northern services etc. – a number of the late running east-bound trains were witnessed at York during an unexplained extended station call of nearly fifteen minutes.

The good news was that the watering stop booked for Milford Down Passenger Loop was not required and despite the extended stop at York, the train recovered from the worst case of being 110 minutes late to reach Scarborough only 67 minutes behind schedule. We were advised that it was hoped that 60009 might be repaired before the return departure from Scarborough but perhaps not surprisingly, this proved not to be the case.

The return journey began badly. The train coach re-watering could not be carried in the platform and hence the train had to be moved to the carriage sidings in order to complete this task. The movement was however delayed by a points failure in the station area and then a further delay was caused by the protracted shunting movements necessary in order to position 60009 inside 66129. The train left Scarborough 66 minutes late!

We were advised that the plan for the return journey was for 60009 to be removed at York and for 66129 to be exchanged for a class 67 loco at Milford. In the event Network Rail intervened (in order to avoid delays to other services at York) and 66129 / 60009 were removed from the train together at Milford Down loop. 67029 was substituted. The train left Milford just over 1hour late and was not given much scope to recover time before reaching Manchester Victoria (excepting that the watering stop at Ashton-under-Lyne was obviously not required). The journey after Manchester Victoria was a different story and some particularly fast running was achieved on the WCML which ended with Crewe being reached only 12 minutes late - an unexpected result!

The difficulty that the modern motive power had in achieving the train timings designed for 60009 albeit running out of booked schedule must raise the question as to whether the schedule was really achievable. This was particularly so on the TransPennine sections of the route.

Gordon Jakes

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from Gordon Jakes)

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