24th June 2006

Past Time Rail
The Glasgow Flyer

Route:
1Z32 : Milton Keynes Central to Glasgow Central
1Z34 : Glasgow Central to Milton Keynes Central

Notes :
(1) Booked route was direct on WCML. Train was delayed at Newton-le-Willows due to being given the road towards Manchester rather than Golborne Jn.

Source : Gary Thornton (joined/left the train at Northampton)

Tour Review
(by Gary Thornton)

As some of you will be aware, this year has proven to be a somewhat busy one for me...so much so that I have had to reign-in much of my activities as much of my spare time has been spent addressing issues outside of the hobby. It is nonetheless quite a surprise to find myself here at the end of June only now travelling on my first "public" railtour since late 2005! Each year Past Time Rail normally runs in late June to Edinburgh however this years tour was to Glasgow which was not a bad thing as, in railway terms, there is quite a bit to do there.

I walked down to Northampton station in plenty of time to see the train arrive, meeting my family there who were also coming for the day out. 90017 arrived a couple of minutes early so plenty of time to walk to our coach and get settled before we set off. Got a good look at the new "Kings Heath Maintenance Facility" as we departed Northampton - the new class 350 'Desiro' depot being custom-built on the former Spencer Bridge Yard for maintaining the Silverlink/Centro fleet. 350101 was present on the almost-complete depot, presumably there to assist with the commissioning?

The run northwards was pretty straightforward and relaxing, just a diversion via Earlestown & Newton-le-Willows (off-booked route) to add any real interest...that came when the brakes came on hard as we ran through Newton-le-Willows station - after a pause of a few minutes we set off again. Being towards the back of the train I wasn't aware the cause but later heard the driver found the road was set for Manchester not Golborne Jn - oops - especially with an electric on the front!

At Glasgow I had no preconceived idea what I was going to to for the 5½ hours we had though the recently opened curve into Anniesland station was in my sights as was a Turbostar spotting session at Queen Street. I'd forgotten about the new Larkhall branch so in the end I went down to Larkhall as well as having a run over the new curve. Having caught a Lanark service as far as Hamilton Central, whilst waiting for the Larkhall train I was caught unprepared for 67009 coming through hauling our tour stock (complete with 90017 on the back) - seems EWS decided to use the Hamilton circle to simply reverse the stock rather than run 90017 round. I finished off the afternoon with a bit of a spin on the Glasgow Underground before walking back to Central station (have been pretty inactive recently so a good walk was called for!).

90017 waits to leave Glasgow Central in the evening (photo: Gary Thornton)

It was a very straightforward run home, booked route all the way. We were early until Crewe then we lost 15 minutes - a combination of waiting the driver then, when he arrived, losing the road to a Pendolino! We arrived back into Northampton 10 minutes late but I don't think anyone cared particularly as it had been a good day out.

Gary Thornton.

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from Past Time Rail & Gary Thornton)

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