9th January 1999

Pathfinder Tours
The Urban Suburban

Route : 1Z82 throughout

Notes :
Second of two Pathfinder railtours on this day - the train arrived from Crewe as "The Merchant Capitalist" with 35005 "Canadian Pacific" (added at Nuneaton) then this tour ran whilst 35005 was being serviced at Clapham Junction.

Source : Gary Thornton (on the train throughout)

Tour review
(by Gary Thornton)

D9000 rests in London Victoria station at the end of the tour

After spending most of 1998 working service trains, it was nice to start the new year off with a railtour outing for D9000 "Royal Scots Grey". The chance to enjoy the sounds of a Deltic at work with the windows open! The tour was actually a "fill-in" during an afternoon break of a steam bash "The Merchant Capitalist", which brought Merchant Navy class 35005 "Canadian Pacific" to London. Whilst the kettle was being watered and turned, D9000 took the train on a "mini cirular" tour around the south of London.

As I did not need to be at Victoria station until 13.59 for the tour start, I still decided to make a day of it and get an early train to London. Maybe a trip out to Acton or Hither Green might get me a new Class 66 or two for sight? As I sometimes do, I chose to drive to Potters Bar station and get the train from there. Although the first train in was an "all-stop" to Kings Cross, it was a Class 365 unit so at least it was a comfortable journey.

I decided to head for Hither Green first so I walked round to the Thameslink station to get a train round to London Bridge. I was aware that there had been an accident at Spa Junction just outside London Bridge station on the Friday evening but was still surprised to discover that all Thameslink services were being diverted as a result. To cut a long story short, I ended up on a 319 to Elephant & Castle, a 465 from there to Peckham Rye and another 465 from there to Lewisham. Here I discovered that there were some trains to London Bridge and Cannon Street (usually closed on Saturdays) - to get there involved passing Spa Junction! I decided on a change of plan and hopped aboard (yet) another 465 for a run to London Bridge. At Spa Bridge there was a breakdown crew (train headed by 73131) and the two errant trains - a 319 and two older slam-door units. No real evidence of damage although the slam-door units were both derailed. I spent the rest of the morning retracing my steps to Peckham Rye then on to Victoria in plenty of time for the arrival of 35005 "Canadian Pacific" with it's railtour. It arrived a few minutes late but even so there was no sign (or sound) of D9000. Eventually, after a friend and myself had found our seats in coach D, we heard RSG running onto the stock. Once RSG was hooked on there was much whistling but no movement (save a few inches the first time the whistle blew). I later heard that there was a problem with the brakes - the stock was being worked on vacuum rather than air because of the kettle support coach (still attached to the back of the train) which was apparently vacuum brake only).

Departure was eventually made around 20 minutes down. An anouncement was soon made on the pa system to explain the reason for the delay in the arrival of D9000 into Victoria - apparently when it came to get D9000 out of the loco shed at Stratford there had been a problem getting the shed doors open! Our route was quite interesting and certainly a lot of it was rare track for a Deltic-hauled train. Out of Victoria and we used the "Battersea Reversible" line past Stuarts Lane depot to get us to Clapham Junction. Here we passed 47739 with a rake of chocolate & cream coaches and EPS 37603 with two Eurostar barrier vehicles. I am sure our train made an impressive sight as we powered through the many suburban stations along the route through Barnes, Richmond, Twickenham and Staines. All along this stretch we passed many golf courses and the sound of D9000 accelerating sure turned a few heads of the golfers out playing a round. At Virginia Water we took the line towards Chertsey and put us in the direction of Woking.

With Woking behind us we were soon at Guildford then on to the Dorking line towards Reigate and Redhill. Along this stretch D9000 had a chance to get up some speed as, to this point, it had mostly been mid-speed and slow speed running (just too many stopping services about!). Even so, I suspect we probably only hit a maximum of around 70mph. Soon after Redhill and we arrived at Stoats Nest Junction and made our way onto the Brighton Line (in the direction of London). East Croydon was passed in style and there was chance for one last real burst of speed before we came to Selhurst where we took the line to Streatham, passing then through Balham and Clapham Junction (35005 noted as we passed through) and back round the Battersea Reversible and tours end, Victoria.

As I had managed to avoid London Underground in the morning, I decided to do the same getting back to Potters Bar and went via Bromley South (365), Blackfriars (465) and Kings Cross Thameslink (319). Another 365 unit got me from Kings Cross to Potters Bar. I later found out that I had made the right choice not going from Northampton by train - services out of Euston were in chaos most of the evening due to some failure or another.

All in all, the tour was quite a nice way to spend an afternoon!

Gary Thornton.

Timings (Booked and Actual)

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