21st October 2017

Railway Touring Company
The Bognor Belle

Route :
1Z46 : London Victoria to Bognor Regis
1Z48 : Bognor Regis to Littlehampton
1Z50 : Littlehampton to London Victoria

Notes :
(1) 47746 on rear.
(2) 46100 on rear.
(3) John Clifford's comments: This tour, when first advertised, was to be hauled by 34046 'Braunton'. This then became 70013 'Oliver Cromwell', then 46100 'Royal Scot'. Furthermore, the return route after Epsom was to be via Worcester Park, Wimbledon and Tooting. On this day 'Storm Brian' was causing problems. Network Rail had imposed a 50 MPH speed restriction, inter alia, between Three Bridges and Brighton, Three Bridges and Bognor and Brighton and Southampton Central. Consequently many trains were delayed. We set off on time and a slack schedule saw reach Pouparts Jn early, where we waited for two down and three up trains to pass before we could get on to the Brighton main line. We followed the 09.53 Victoria - Epsom which has a five minute stop at Selhurst, so we waited outside. The stop at East Croydon was not observed, so we were held outside South Croydon for the 10.20 London Bridge - Tattenham Corner to precede us. We continued on.  Outside Haywards Heath we waited for the 10.47 Victoria - Littlehampton to clear the platform, and then carried on again. Unfortunately we were wrongly routed into platform 2 at Preston Park, whereas we needed to use platform 1 there to get water. This resulted in the train going forward to Carriage Road North by Lovers Walk depot and then reversing into Preston Park platform 1. Further slow progress was made along the coast to arrive at Bognor 46 minutes late. After I had had a quick lunch the train left Bognor slightly late behind the 15.06 Bognor - Littlehampton which was delayed getting to Barnham by the 14.37 Fratton - Brighton (13' late at Barnham). All this delayed us and we got to Littlehampton 8 minutes late. There was some time here so a few of us walked down to the seafront in the wind to see the sea. It was “wild”! On the return journey to Victoria the only problem encountered was at Horsham where the train was wrongly routed onto the Crawley line. After the route was reset we continued on and reach Victoria 14 minutes early.

Source : John Clifford (on the tour throughout)

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from John Clifford)

Associated E.C.S. Workings

5Z45 : (47746 with 46100 on rear) : Southall to London Victoria
5Z50 : (47746 with 46100 on rear) : London Victoria to Southall

5Z48 : (46100 with 47746 on rear) : Littlehampton to Littlehampton Shed
5Z49 : (47746 with 46100 on rear) : Littlehampton Shed to Littlehampton

Back to "The Railtour Files"