11th February 2023

Branch Line Society
The Wolf Hall Thunderer

Route :
1Z40 : Derby to London St Pancras International
1Z42 : London St Pancras International to Shepperton
1Z44 : Shepperton to Wimbledon
1Z46 : Wimbledon to Hampton Court
1Z48 : Hampton Court to London Waterloo
1Z50 : London Waterloo to Chessington South
1Z52 : Chessington South to London Waterloo
1Z54 : London Waterloo to Derby

Notes: 
(1) 50008 on rear.
(2) 37403 on rear.
(3) Charity Railtour raising money for Martin House Children's Hospice.
(4) John Clifford's comments: When this tour was first advertised the route was to be as shown above to Shepperton, then Kingston - Wimbledon - Chessington South - Wimbledon - Hampton Court - Wimbledon - Leatherhead - Guildford - Cobham - London Waterloo, then as shown above. The tour arrived and departed from London St Pancras 10 minutes late. However there was enough slack in the schedule for us to be early at Acton Canal Wharf. We had to stop at Acton Wells Jn to let the 09.27 Willesden Junction - Richmond to pass. Then it was onward to Twickenham to reverse for the journey to Shepperton and back. Then it was Kingston to get to Wimbledon, with a stop outside New Malden to let the 10.34 Guildford - Waterloo to pass. After reversal we continued with a booked stop at Wimbledon West Jn to let two trains from London Waterloo pass (11.24 Waterloo - Dorking and 11.27 Waterloo - Waterloo via Kingston). It was then a case of following the 11.24 which caused us to stop outside Epsom. After Effingham Junction we were behind the 11.33 Waterloo - Guildford, which caused us some slow running. Reversal at Guildford saw us heading for Woking following the 12.49 Guildford - Waterloo, and this meant that we stopped at Woking Jn. Onwards to Surbiton for another reversal and a journey to Hampton Court, where there was a ¾ hour break, enough time for sustenance. Then it was back to Surbiton via the Down Line, a movement normally only seen during engineering work. After reversal we made for Guildford via Cobham behind the 14.03 Waterloo - Guildford, so some slow running. A second reversal of the day was made at Guildford and we had been promised a fast run to Waterloo via Woking, which did happen! We were routed via platform 4 at Woking instead of platform 2 and then just beyond the station we came to a sudden halt, for reasons that I did not discover. After a few minutes we carried on to get to London Waterloo slightly late. All that was left for me to do was to go to Chessington and back. There was no comment for the down trip. Coming back we stopped at Motspur Park Jn to let the 16.32 Dorking - Waterloo pass, which we then followed back to London Waterloo. This meant that we used the Wimbledon flyover, rare for railtours, I believe.

Sources : John Clifford (on the tour from London St Pancras to London Waterloo) & Alan Sheppard

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from John Clifford, Alan Sheppard & Realtime Trains)

Associated E.C.S. Workings

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