With the announcement that Diana's funeral was to be on this Saturday I suspect many participants of this tour were expecting it to be postponed or cancelled. In the event it was decided to run the tour as, in the words of John Farrow of Hertfordshire Railtours: "a positive and unique mark of respect by the rail enthusiast fraternity, for the Princess and for the principles which she so tirelessly supported."

The tour proceeds, and those from the days raffle, were given given to the "Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund".

I would like to put on record my thanks to all at Hertfordshire Railtours and the other organisations involved, for running the tour and also for the "special touches" on the day that I am sure will have made it a tour that will be long remembered by all on board.

......

The tour described:

I, like many aboard, chose to use the railway to get to London rather than risk taking the car and getting caught in any jams. I rolled onto Kings Cross station just after 0430 to see 47777 "Restored" at the platform 1 stops with the tour stock. I found my seat in the second coach and managed to get my head down for a little while, being awoken something after 6am by the sound of D9000 backing onto the train.

As a mark of respect, D9000 was carrying a wreath on the top headlamp bracket and two loco lamps, one above each buffer. As a final touch, the headcode panel had been turned to show only black.

The outward run to Edinburgh was not too eventful but was a good example of what the Deltics were built for, mile after mile of high speed running. Pick up points at Stevenage, Peterborough and York also gave opportunity to savour the climb back to speed. D9000 performed faultlessly, cruising most of the journey at, or very close to, 90mph.

It was nice arriving at York on platform 5, bringing back more memories of the days when all the northbound expresses would be Deltic hauled. On the approach to Newcastle we were stopped on King Edward Bridge and it was commented just how sparse the traffic was on the road bridge alongside us (this would have been shortly before the time that Diana's funeral was due to start). We pulled up at Newcastle station on time for a crew change and soon after headed off towards Berwick and Scotland.

As another mark of respect on the day, it was arranged that our train would be stopped and a two minute silence held. An so it was that, shortly after passing through Berwick station, we slowed and then stopped with D9000 exactly at the England-Scotland border sign. Both engines were shut down for two minutes and all of us on board took the time to reflect on the events of the past week and what it meant to us personally.

The remainder of the journey to Edinburgh was made at a very good pace and although we were slowed on the approach to Waverley station, we arrived at 1309, one minute early. As at York, we did not use the normal "railtour" platforms but were brought into platform 11. We had 20 minutes to photograph RSG then just after 1330 we set off for a "mini-tour" over the Forth Railway Bridge and round the Fife circle. I do hope someone captured on video our exit from Haymarket South Tunnel, and through the station - looking back we could not see the station for the cloud of blue-white exhaust that enveloped the platforms and the passengers waiting for a service train!

The next 90 minutes or so were spent enjoying D9000 working at low and mid speeds as we ran over the Forth Bridge and clockwise around the Fife circle through Dunfermline, Cardenden and Kirkcaldy. All too soon we were re-crossing the Forth Bridge and were back at Edinburgh. Here we said farewell to RSG which was soon despatched to Motherwell for stabling until her next turn of duty. 87101 appeared and was hooked on ready for the run back to London. The wreath that adorned D9000 was also put onto 87101.

There's not much to say about the return leg as it was a straight high speed run with the same stops as the outward. I also only remember bits of it as my early start caught up with me! I left the train at Peterborough, having arranged a lift home which saved me about four hours travelling time going into, then back out, of London.

An excellent railtour and, I believe, a fitting tribute to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales from the rail enthusiast fraternity.

Click here for a photo review of the day.

Gary Thornton

Route, Distances and Timing's (Booked and Actual)

 

M.C	Location	Booked	Actual		Booked	Actual
0.00	London Kings Cross	07.03d	07.04		21.50a	-
2.41	Finsbury Park	07/08	07/10		21/39	-
4.78	Alexandra Palace	07/11	07/13		21/35	-
12.57	Potters Bar	07/19	07/18		21/27	-
20.25	Welwyn Garden City	07/25	07/24		21/22	-
23.73	Woolmer Green Junction	07/28	07/26		21/20	-
27.45	Stevenage	07.32a ~ 07.34d	07.29 ~ 07.35		21.15a ~ 21.16d	-
31.74	Hitchin	07/40	07/41		21/11	-
44.10	Sandy	07/48	07/48		21/00	-
58.70	Huntingdon	07/59	07/57		20/51	-
68.28	Connington South Junction				20/46	-
69.26	Holme	08/06	08/04
76.29	Peterborough	08.14a ~ 08.17d	08.10 ~ 08.18		20.38a ~ 20.39d	20.42 ~ 20.44
84.64	Tallington	08/26	08/27		20/28	20/34
99.61	Stoke Junction	08/40	08/37		20/20	20/26
105.38	Grantham	08/45	08/40		20/16	20/21
109.56	Barkston South Junction	08/48	08/43		20/14	20/18
120.08	Newark North Gate	08/55	08/49		20/07	20/11
138.49	Retford	09/09	09/01		19/56	19/59
152.00	Loversall Carr Junction	09/22	09/11		19/49	19/51
155.77	Doncaster	09/26	09/14		19/46	19/48
160.16	Shaftholme Junction	09/29	09/17		19/43	19/46
169.16	Temple Hirst Junction	09/36	09/24		19/38	19/40
174.75	Hambleton North Junction	09/40	09/29		19/34	19/36
182.79	Colton Junction	09/46	09/37		19/29	19/31
188.40	York	09.52a ~ 09.55d	09.50 ~ 09.56		19.20a ~ 19.24d	19.19 ~ 19.26
190.11	Skelton Junction	09/57	09/59		19/17	19/16
198.00	Tollerton Junction	10/05	10/08		19/10	19/10
210.56	Thirsk	10/15	10/20		19/00	18/58
218.36	Northallerton	10/25	10/28		18/53	18/52
232.50	Darlington	10/37	10/36		18/45	19/42
244.57	Ferryhill South Junction	10/47	10/45		18/29	18/34
247.33	Tursdale Junction	10/49	10/47		18/25	18/32
254.53	Durham	10/54	10/53		18/20	18/27
268.02	King Edward Bridge South Junction	11/09	11/03		18/10	18/16
268.56	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	11c12a ~ 11c16d	11.11 ~ 11.16		18c04a ~ 18c08d	18.10 ~ 18.10
270.50	Heaton South Junction	11/20	11/21		18/01	18/06
285.26	Morpeth	11/34	11/36		17/49	17/55
303.45	Alnmouth	11/49	11/49		17/37	17/43
319.13	Belford Level Crossing	12/02	11/59		17/27	17/31
335.56	Berwick-upon-Tweed	12/14	12/10		17/17	17/20
345.78	Reston	12/23	12/26		17/10	17/11
351.78	Grantshouse	12/29	12/30		17/05	17/07
364.07	Dunbar	12/38	12/39		16/56	16/58
375.32	Drem	12/47	12/46		16/48	16/51
389.53	Portobello Junction	13/00	13/02		16/38	16/40
393.12	Edinburgh Waverley	13.10a	13.09		16L34d	16/36

 

M.C	Location	Booked	Actual
0.00	Edinburgh Waverley	13.30d	13.33
2.28	Haymarket West Junction	13/36	13/38
9.02	Dalmeny Junction	13/42	13/44
13.12	Inverkeithing	13/48	13/52
16.68	Dunfermline Lower	13/55	14/00
22.41	Cowdenbeath	14/05	14/17
26.70	Cardenden	14/12	14/22
31.64	Glenrothes with Thornton	14/21	14/29
32.28	Thornton South Junction	14/25	14/31
36.62	Kirkaldy	14/30	14/37
42.42	Burntisland	14/37	14/44
49.40	Inverkeithing	14/45	14/52
53.50	Dalmeny Junction	14/55	15/01
60.24	Haymarket West Junction	15/04	15/09
76.13	Edinburgh Waverley	15L10a	15.15