5th October 2017

Steam Dreams
The Cathedrals Express

Route : 
1Z67 : West Brompton to Swanage
1Z69 : Swanage to West Brompton

Notes: 
(1) 33207 on rear.
(2) 45212 on rear.
(3) John Clifford comments: This tour was originally advertised as being hauled by 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' but 45212 was substituted. On this day South Western Railway were running late, hence the stop at Epsom to let the 08.07 Waterloo - Guildford via Leatherhead precede us which we then followed to Guildford. At Guildford we waited for the 08.45 Waterloo - Portsmouth & Southsea (10 minutes late) and the 09.00 Waterloo - Portsmouth Harbour (5 minutes late) to depart.  At Haslemere the watering took longer than expected, so we left there late. The following 09.30 Waterloo - Portsmouth Harbour which was behind us left Haslemere 17 minutes late. We made up some time, but discovered at Southampton that South Western were still late as the 10.35 Waterloo - Weymouth departed Southampton Central a bit behind schedule. After leaving Bournemouth there was T.P.W.S. activation but this did not delay us too much. On the Swanage Railway 'U' class no. 31806 had been running. However, I joined the 15.20 departure for a run to Norden and back. At 15.20 the train to Norden train departed….backwards and pushed the Cl.08 into the buffers! In view of this an inspection of the train and loco was required, so no more Swanage Railway trains ran that day. The return journey was running OK but there was a further T.P.W.S. activation outside Southampton Central. We continued onwards and stopped at Eastleigh West Jn as there had been a points failure at Eastleigh station. We sat outside the station for 10 minutes during which time we saw the following pass: 15.27 Manchester Piccadilly - Bournemouth (8 minutes late), 19.05 Basingstoke - Northam Depot empties (14 minutes late) and 18.35 Waterloo - Weymouth and Poole (8 minutes late). Once away from Eastleigh there were no further problems. I left the train at Haslemere. Fortunately for me we had got in front of the 20.15 Portsmouth Harbour – Waterloo which took me back to London.

45212 is seen arriving at Swanage (photo: Andrew P.M. Wright)

Sources : John Clifford (on the tour Clapham Junction - Swanage - Haslemere) & Nigel Benning

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from John Clifford & Realtime Trains)

Associated E.C.S. Workings

5Z67 : (45212 with 33207 on rear) : Southall to West Brompton
5Z69 : (45212 with 33207 on rear) : West Brompton to Southall

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