27th November 1999

Past Time Rail
The Edinburgh Explorer

Route :

Notes :
Tour was due to start at Euston but because of "operational difficulties" on the day it actually began at Milton Keynes. Also missed out Northampton loop on outward leg to regain lost time. Passengers from stations before Milton Keynes and also Northampton had to use scheduled servies to get to Milton Keynes.

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

Tour review
(by Gary Thornton)

90024 is seen at Edinburgh Waverley upon arrival.

Another of my rare outings on a "normals" tour, though on this occasion the four of us who booked on it together decided to treat ourselves to Premier Class seats which included the full dining option.

With a Northampton pick-up at 07.35 and no need to take time out for breakfast before leaving home it allowed a little longer in bed than for most Saturday railtour outings. On arrival at Northampton station our train was showing on the departure screens, though somewhat unusually it was given as departing from platform 1, the southbound platform (wrong way for Edinburgh!). There was also a comment about the train starting from Milton Keynes which was odd as it was due to start at Euston. Other would-be passengers soon turned up and they also seemed confused about the departure information, so much so that one went and found a member of station staff who told him that the train would not in fact be calling at Northampton, despite being advertised as such! "Listen for Announcements" was the final comment. A whiteboard was hastily found and this was put out by the ticket barrier, giving the same basic message and suggesting we would have to travel to Milton Keynes to board the train. Another member of station staff then volunteered that the train may not have left Euston and was hence likely to be running very late indeed. Things were not looking good.

The platform 1 screen then began to display the train detail (though a spelling mistake had it called "The Edinburgh Exploaer" - at least the wrong letter wasn't a "d"!). The screen went on to confirm that we would have to travel to Milton Keynes on the 07.38 Silverlink service then "listen for further announcements" once at MK (don't you just hate that phrase?).

After a few more minutes on the platform, 321423 became our home for the next 20 or so minutes as we headed further away from our intended destination. Having Premier Class tickets we decided to sample the 1st class on a "dusty-bin", though we were half expecting an arguement from the gripper when he appeared. He duly appeared, inspected the tickets, said thank you, and went about his duties in the standard class. Can't say we were so impressed with the 1st class accomodation though, more roomy yes, but the seats were quite upright and unyielding.

We arrived into Milton Keynes just about 8am and were dissapointed not to see a rake of coaches waiting to welcome us. We were however pleased to see the train on the departure screen with an 08.09 expected departure time (against 07.15 booked). By now my stomach was beginning to wonder what was going on as I'd only downed a glass of milk when I'd got up.

Finally at 08.16 our train rolled into view, headed not by the expected EWS class 86 but by a class 90. As it rolled past me in the early morning gloom I was puzzled not to see any number on the cabside and also that it was an all-over very dark colour and not two-tone freight grey. As I saw the red band half way along the bodyside I clicked - it was GNER liveried 90024! Not required for haulage but unusual anyway for a journey along the WCML. Behind it was a complete rake of green mark 1's and our carriage turned out to be the very rear one. Departure from MK was at 08.19, 64 minutes late.

Now for the food bit.....

As we sped northwards (at a fair rate of knots) we enjoyed breakfast which consisted of;

Great British Breakfast

Fresh Orange Juice

Your choice of:
Breakfast Fruit Compote
(with a selection of citrus fruits & melon)
or
Cornflakes, Bran Flakes, Muesli
Porridge
or
Stewed Prunes

The Grill Tray :
Grilled Bacon, Pork Sausage, Fried Egg, Mushrooms,
Tomato, Hash Browns, Fried Bread and Black Pudding
or
Grilled Kippers

....all washed down with lashings of tea or coffee and plenty of Croissants, white or wholemeal toast, crispbreads and a selection of marmalade, fruit preserves, Marmite or a pot of honey!

Being seated in the rear coach the ride was somewhat lively and drinking the hot drinks was a bit of a challenge! Mind you, this was noticed by the on-train staff and a PA announcement was made to apologise and explain it was due to the driver trying to regain time. The reasons behind the late start were also explained - a sorry state of several cock-ups between EWS and Railtrack apparently. Breakfast was completed on the approaches to our last pick-up point, Crewe.

At Crewe the only sighting of note was maroon liveried 50017 on Crewe Carriage Shed. We then headed northwards towards Edinburgh, running around 45 minutes behind schedule. We slowed approaching Wigan which gave ample opportunity to view the derelict locos at the EWS component recovery depot.

The next notable event occurred at Crawford, just as we were being served our next meal;

Light Lunch

Lancashire Hotpot with peas

...again washed down with coffee or tea. The notable event was passing a rake of blue and cream coaches in the down loop at Abington - the Regency charter to Edinburgh with Deltic D9009 "Alycidon" at the helm. I chuckled a bit at this as I knew Ralph Barrett was on that train. I guessed he would also realise that I was on the train that had just passed him! (see Regency Edinburgh Experience for more details). We arrived into Edinburgh at 13.13 compared to the booked 12.24 so the fast running had gained us very little. A few minutes behind us and in rolled D9009 on her train. Time to catch up with Ralph for a quick chat before we each went our own way.

I spent a while at the platform end observing the various trains coming and going. In total I saw three of the new Scotrail turbostars (including brand-new looking 170409) and loads of 150's, 156's and 158's. Good to see a number of recently named 91's about too including "City of Leeds", "Holyrood" and "Queen Elizabeth II". It was reported to be the last day of operation for the Scotrail first-generation DMU's but none put in an appearance while I was stood at the platform end. It then started to get a bit chilly...

I decided to go for a wander off Edinburgh Waverley station, though I only got as far as the Hard Rock Cafe for a pint! On my return I walked over to the suburban platforms just as D9009 pulled back in with the Regency railtour (it was due out 2 minutes after we were). Our train soon followed, still with 90024 at the helm. With our coach now at the front we sat looking and listening to the Deltic on the adjacent platform.

The journey home......

Dinner

Haggis & Neeps
or
Chef's Soup of the Day

******************

Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding
Roast and New Potatoes
Vichy Carrots
Brocolli

******************

Double Choc Cheesecake
with Fresh Cream

and a selection of cheeses, served with
celery, grapes and biscuits.

******************

Coffee
Chocolates

...and in our case taken with a very nicely chilled bottle of Australian Chardonnay.

Arrival back into Northampton was just three minutes down at 22.11 - nothing much else of note to report (mind you I was too busy feeding my face to bother peering out of the window into the dark, sometimes wet, night!).

Verdict : A nice bit of luxury. The food was excellent and the service was pretty much perfect.

Route, Distances and Timing's (Actual only)

No timing sheet was supplied to passengers so the tabulation below is solely actual passing timings as recorded by myself.

Key;
a : arrival time
c : crew change
d : departure time
RR : re-routed, did not call/pass this timing point
/ : passing time

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