17th March 1979

Hertfordshire Railtours
The Pines Express

Route :

Notes :
(1) Originally uploaded as having been run by the 'Lea Valley Railway Club', the booking form was headed 'Hertfordshire Railtours'. The booking form advertised this train as having a class 40 from Paddington to Westbury where a 31 or 37 was to take the train to Radstock West & back. The 40 was then booked to Weymouth from where it was advertised for class 03 haulage to Weymouth Quay & back. Finally the 40 was booked to haul the train to London Bridge. Standard class fare was £5.95 and £8.45 for first class.
(2) Was to have been hauled by a pair of 31's but, once on the train, it was discovered their boilers weren't working. A swap to 47090 was made....after departure it was discovered that 47090's boiler wasn't working either! A swap to 47069 was made at Swindon...a no heat loco!!
(3) Booked route was direct from North Somerset Jn to Dr Day's Jn but went into Temple Meads for a loco change.
(4) Swap to 47020 (more no-heat traction!) was made as the DR refused to accept 46013.
(5) Should have gone to Weymouth Quay with a loco change at Weymouth Jn (to a 33/1) but did not do so as it was dark. The tour organiser tried to get the tour routed direct back to London owing to the severe late running but BR still insisted it go to Weymouth. The train had left Yeovil Pen Mill 239 minutes late! Alan Osborn adds: The train had to be shunted into a siding at Castle Cary so as not to obstruct the West of England Main Line while it was awaiting a train from Yeovil to arrive off the single line. When this train arrived the next service train to Weymouth also arrived and this took precedence hence we had to await this train to get out of the section before we were allowed to follow. A yet further delay occurred at Yeovil Pen Mill awaiting the next service train from Weymouth off the single track. As a result the tour was diverted to run into Weymouth Town station rather than the Quay and then run fast main-line to London Waterloo.
(6) Train was booked to go via Bournemouth West with further reversal at Branksome, but abandoned due to the late running.
(7) After Southampton the route should have been: Netley - Fareham - Cosham - Farlington Jn - Havant - Haslemere - Guildford - Effingham Junction - Leatherhead - Epsom - Sutton - West Croydon - Norwood Jn - Forest Hill - London Bridge but train was routed direct due to the late running.
(8) Due to all the on-the-day problems the tour had a free re-run on 13th May 1979 (actually described as the '90p Re-Run' on account the organiser charged just for postage & admin costs).
(9) Roger Jones comments: The intinerary which arrived with the tickets noted that the classes 40 and 03 parts had already been deleted and the haulage was to be;
Double-headed class 31s throughout, plus;
Class 37 to Radstock,
Class 33/1 to Weymouth Quay &
Class 73 or 33 to Bournemouth West/Branksome.
As an aside, my route to join it was down from Edinburgh. No sleepers left and a lot of snow. Penultimate train through Penmanshiel tunnel before the collapse. I remember seeing the work going on as we crawled through. 2hr17 late into Kings Cross, then on by HST from Paddington to Bath.

Sources : John Clifford, Stew Robertson, Dave Higson & Alan Osborn

Photo Review

On-board an HST to Bath; passing 47090 at Swindon (photo: Roger Jones)

 
47069 pulling into Bath, 90 minutes behind schedule (photo: Roger Jones)

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from Stew Robertson & Alan Osborn)

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