17th June 1979

British Rail (ER, York Division)
The York Circular

Route :
1G61 : 09.55 York to York
1G62 : 13.37 York to York

Notes :
(1) These two trains were British Rail InterCity circular tours from York, advertised to run every Sunday from 27th May to 2nd September inclusive. The loco pool for these trips was from 5305, 4498 & 35028 - 5305 being booked to work the trains during June, 4498 in July and 35028 in August.
(2) Brian Basterfield comments: An early morning drive from the Midlands saw me at York station in good time for the morning "York Circular", due out at 9.55am. And with the HLPG excellent Black 5 up front, I was looking forward to a trip around this very popular route. And I reckoned that since at the end of day I would have driven over 300 miles, I may as well do the afternoon trip also. I suspect that two different loco crews were involved, since the two runs were rather different. On the morning train, we made an unhurried start, without exceeding 52 mph to Church Fenton. On the afternoon train, we reached 61 mph. Both trains had a 25 mph crossover slack at Church Fenton, but the morning train was faster up Micklefield bank, 38 mph against 34 mph.. But the real climb is on the Leeds to Harrogate section, between Wortley Junction and Bramhope tunnel. In the morning we gradually accelerated up the gradient from 27 mph to 30 mph. The afternoon driver took things very easily, starting the climb at 29 mph, and falling to 17 mph. In later years, when the Yorkshire Circular had expanded to become the Scarborough Spa Express, there was some tremendous running, both up Micklefield bank, and particularly up to Bramhope.

Source : Brian Basterfield

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from Brian Basterfield & Gordon Lacy)

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