19th June 1999

Pathfinder Tours
The Spinning Spectre

Route :
1Z90 - Bristol Temple Meads to Goole
1Z91 - Goole to Bristol Temple Meads

Notes :
(1) 60025 on rear.
(2) 47315 on rear.

Source : Gary Thornton.
(joined/left train at Nuneaton)

Tour review
(by Gary Thornton)

37516 and 37679 at Sheffield.

Yet another crazy weekend arrives as my alarm clock goes off at 6am! This weekend was going to be a bit different as on the Sunday I was off to the Czech Republic on a business trip - being picked up at 04.50 to make the flight to Prague! At least my onward journey to Ostrava, my base for a few days, was to be by train as the flights were fully booked. Anyway, back to Saturday and another "spin-and-win" offering from Pathfinder....

Where was I? Oh, yes - another 6am wake up again. My reasons for doing this trip were for the locos (seven scheduled) and the fact that my last piece of passenger track on mainland GB - Kirkby Summit Junction to Newstead - would be covered. A fast car to Nuneaton had me there with time to spare and to catch up with a few colleagues who were also joining at the same station. Confirmation too that the 37's already on the train were 516 and 679 - both required. About 25 minutes down and in they rolled. The tractors took us to Toton via Leicester and once there we had a long wait whilst the 37's were swapped for 56098 and 58001 - two more required haulages :-) At least this caught up the lost time and we departed a couple of minutes ahead of schedule. A straight run to Sheffield now (the final pick-up point) and then we headed off past the Supertram depot towards Worksop.

At Worksop we were routed into the up departure line just before the depot. Here we gave up the grid and bone for locomotive number 5 - both our total for the day and the fleet number of the shed - 66005. Yet another score for me too! Off we now set back in the direction from which we had arrived - but only as far as Brancliffe East Junction where we took the South Yorkshire Joint Line towards Doncaster. As we approached St. Catherine's Junction we were stopped prior to taking the curve down to Decoy Yard. Just then an announcement was made to confirm why - rather than take the "normal" St. Catherine's Curve to the down yard, it had been agreed to allow us to traverse the much rarer "Low Ellers Curve" to the up yard. This we duly did. It is thought that no passenger train has used this curve for at least 20 years, so rare track indeed and obviously required by most on board (including me)! [Note : since writing the above I have been informed that a Branch Line Society tour actually covered this curve a couple of years ago - so I stand corrected] A pause in the "Up Goods 3" line allowed another locomotive change - this time to 47315 (required - 6 out of 6!). Whilst there our seventh locomotive also appeared - 60025 - and was attached to the back of the train. Curses - the first dud loco of the day - I had this one about a year ago.

Setting off to Doncaster station we got a very good look at Doncaster deopt as we passed very close to it using the "transfer line" to Bridge Junction. The locos noted were : 08510, 66081, 08877, 56004 (still in BR Blue!), 56099, 58022, 58017, 47770, 47790, 56110, 56074, 37703, 09014, 37153 and 60042. Phew - fast writing! From Doncaster we headed north taking the freight line from Shaftholme Junction to Knottingley (60034 and 66026 noted) where we reverted to passenger track for the run to Goole. At Goole it was a case of "all off" as we were booked for a layover here of just over 90 minutes.

90 minutes at Goole. My initial thoughts were that this would be quite a boring time but actualy it was quite interesting. Armed with a map given to us on the train a couple of us walked down to the docks for a look around. As there is a right-of-way right through the middle we got a good look at the docks area. Out the other side and we walked down a road between Dutch River and the Aire and Calder Navigation - also quite interesting. Back to the station and our train was just pulling in to the platform as we arrived - thats what you call perfect timing!

60025 was now in charge of the train with 47315 "in tow" just to get it back to where it started. The route again took in some freight track, going via Hatfield & Stainforth and Skellow Junction to Doncaster. A pause here (in the "2 Way Goods 1" line) and it was off on our way back to Sheffield by the "regular" route. At Sheffield our earlier pair of tractors were parked up waiting to take over. On leaving Sheffield it was a case of "deja vu"as we traced our earlier route almost all the way back to Worksop. At Shireoaks West Junction however we took the freight curve to Woodend Junction where we joined the "Robin Hood Line" towards Mansfield.

At Kirkby Summit Junction (or is it Kirkby Lane End Junction?) we took the line towards Newstead and I was on my last piece of required passenger track on the GB mainland. As we reached Newstead I returned to dud track with mainland GB now completed - at least until some other non-passenger track is returned to use on service trains. Our route home was now via Lenton Junctions and Trent. We were held here (on the Up Slow line adjacent to Trent panel) to allow a Bambi-Rail (MML) Turbostar past (170113) and approaching Trent South Junction a Bambi-Rail tram from Derby was also given the road ahead of us. A reasonable run back (pausing at Leicester to set down passengers) and we were soon back at Nuneaton, arriving one minute early. We waited a few moments to savour the sound of 37516 & 37679 powering away towards Birmingham - noting that 516 was sounding rather dubious (to be fair it had been sounding "suspect" all day).

Verdict : Good tour - reasonable weather and a reasonably interesting time was had at Goole in the afternoon. Traversing the Low Ellers Curve at Doncaster was a major high point of the day for many on board. For me getting my last piece of passenger track on the GB mainland and scoring six out of the seven locos made the day a success.

Off to bed then ready for the next days early start, flight to Prague and train to Ostrava - but then, thats another story....

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

Key;
a : arrival time
d : departure time
L : locomotive change
/ : passing time

All distances, in miles and chains (M & C), are taken from the tour booklet. No attempt has been made to verify the mileages given.
Mileages for locations marked ** are approximate.

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