6th - 8th April 1979

British Rail
(Day Excursion)

Route : 1Z62 throughout

Notes :
(1) Although David Hills in his report below talks about 40032 coming on at Carlisle and working via the S&C both Andy Sales & Phil Durrell confirm the 40 worked to Carnforth where the 47 was attached to the rear of the train which then worked forward via Clapham to Leeds and then onwards.

Sources : David Hills (On the train throughout), Harry Harper & Andy Sales

Tour Review
(by David Hills)

After the fine adventure on the last overnighter to Aberdeen the announcement of another chance to visit the 'Granite City' for the price of little more than a round of fish & chips was cause enough to visit the booking office for three tickets for this next trek north. Yet again the main tour was out of Nottingham so the usual bog was taken from Derby, little being noted here apart from 25043 & 31190. Arrival at Nottingham found the ever present London service in the hands of 45104 whilst our home for the next couple of days was in charge of Crewe allocated 47190, with steam issuing from everywhere there was clearly no problem with its boiler - hooray!!

With darkness veiling our journey north little was noted as most of the world slept or was in the process of staggering home from the pub. Sheffield produced 45024 & 45043, Rotherham disappeared with out trace but the huge glowing coking plants in the vicinity of Wath presented some great material for a horror movie. The stagger through South Yorkshire found us pointing towards Leeds, a moonlight ride over the Settle & Carlisle seemed on the cards. We drew up outside Holbeck, on display were 25228, 31174, 45129 & 47551 whilst 08224 turned out to be a cop, one of only two this trip. When our signal showed the left 'feather' it confirmed we were going over the Settle & Carlisle, time for a bit of shut-eye before what promised to be a busy day ahead. Little was noted north of Leeds, Skipton revealed 31320 & 40096, after here the blackness swallowed everything up. The rhythmic tune from the jointed rails, the comfort of the gently warming steam heat and the distance rumble of our Sulzer powered locomotive soon brought a visit from the sandman.

Carlisle arrived and with it some activity to our train. Here 47190 came off and a distinct whistling sound suggested we were in for a treat, revealed in the shape of 40032, to provide some excellent thrash over Beattock, and in fact all the way to Aberdeen. 40032 was no stranger to us, this bucket had brought us south on our last trip to Aberdeen!. Other quality machines around Carlisle were 25185, 40042, 40155 and a host of shunters including 08107. Again darkness swallowed us up as we continued north now with that unmistakeable English Electric sound echoing off the Scottish fells. The light of day brought us into Motherwell where the first Scottish traction was noted, 20131 & 27105, with 08312 being the second and final cop of the day. Mossend was filled with electrics including 83011 & 85001. More McDiesels went 'in the book' with 20115 & 25226 at Stirling, 40161 at Perth and a shed full at Dundee including 26013/037, 27103 & 37101. All to soon we found ourselves drifting down into Aberdeen, with few choices on what the plan was for the day. The presence of a HST set with power cars 43072 & 43109 suggested Aberdeen was not the place to stay so after a hurried breakfast a southbound service with 47147 was taken as far as Dundee. Here a bit of shoe leather was used in visiting the depot, on hand were 06005, 08428/762, 25068, 26038, 27012, 40007, 47206/207/211. Returning to the station we were greeted by more whistling with 40184 on a Glasgow service, so off we went down to Perth.

Perth was a hive of activity so the afternoon was spent in photograph mode, two treats on the stabling point were a somewhat singed 47465 and an even more toasty 27033 with a burned out cab. The afternoon was truly Scottish with a feast of Classes 25/26/27 & 40 noted on passenger services through Perth. Regrettably the time flew by way too quickly but the afternoon closed with a fine run by 26013 back to Dundee. Prior to the return of our excursion stock 27022, 27110, 40002, 47458/460 were noted, and no one was surprised when 40032 arrived at the head of our stock. Settling in to our seats for the long journey south, the food and drink was attacked with vigour. Our evening feast was disturbed at Stirling when a steam pipe failed on coach 4834. With the coach heating now isolated a minor redistribution of passengers took place, delay to our southward march was however only minimal. With the final light of the day now long gone the Scottish scenery slipped by almost un-noticed. Carstairs had 26015 & 47703 on view, those who had claimed the coach vestibules enjoyed the musical feast of 40032 on its climb to Beattock summit and a fast downhill run to Carlisle. Here our trusty bucket was removed for 47190, the only other locomotive noted in the station was 81007. The Pennine fells beckoned as we took the Settle & Carlisle route into almost inky blackness. Another stop outside Holbeck brought a few more sightings, 31179/181, 31409, 40006 & 47088 before we eased south once again into the arms of the sandman. The usual bog was waiting at Nottingham for the shuttle to Derby, here 37288 & 47525 were in the station, surveying the bedraggled humanity that staggered off the bog.

"When can we do this again?" "Ouch.....OK I'm going home now"

David Hills

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