11th December 1999

Pathfinder Tours
The Chester Jester

Route :
1Z39 : Reading to Preston
1Z40 : Preston to Reading

Notes :
(1) 60087 coupled between 92018 and train, did not provide power.
(2) Also operated with two tour options which carried the name "The Chester & Llangollen Excursion".

Source : Gary Thornton (joined/left train at Didcot Parkway)

Tour review
(by Gary Thornton)

One of 1999's rare chances to get some decent Deltic mileage was given with this tour from Pathfinder. Starting at Reading at a suitably un-godly hour it meandered to Crewe via Gloucester, Newport, Wrexham and Chester. A change of locos there (to a 92 and a 60) for a spin back to Chester (via Preston) where we would be re-united with the Deltic for the journey home.

With the announcement that D9016 "Gordon Highlander" (alias The Purple Peril) was about to be certified for mainline operation, word soon spread that it was hoped that this railtour would be the first public run for 16. Alas it was not to be as 16 went up in smoke (literally) on its first test run a week or so before the tour. It was therefore down to an old friend, D9000 "Royal Scots Grey", to whisk us round the country.

When the tickets arrived I was glad I was sitting down when I read the confirmed timings - joining at Didcot Parkway would mean I had to leave home a little after 05.30 to make the 07.04 departure time. The return was 23.54 meaning I wouldn't make it home until after 1am! And so it was that I arrived at Didcot on the approach to 7am and a little ahead of D9000 and the train which rolled in just a couple of minutes away from plan. I was in coach B which turned out to be the third in the formation - the first being a generator car (providing power for heat and lighting). Mixed feelings about the formation of the stock - with a reversal at Newport this would put us at the back from Newport to Crewe and with other reversals at Crewe and Preston we'd also be at the back from Preston all the way back to Newport!

A colleague travelling with me had opted for the slightly more sane 08.33 pick-up at Gloucester but there was no shortage of other friends with whom to catch up with as we headed for Swindon and Gloucester. In coach A a group of friends had come equipped with a polypin of beer and it was already in full flow with the time yet to reach 8am - yep, we were in for a fun day out. After picking up passengers at Swindon we turned off and took the route via Stroud to get to Gloucester, making additional stops at Kemble and Stroud where quite a number of others joined the train. D9000 could be heard working the train along nicely.

After Gloucester we headed down the picturesque line towards Newport, stopping at Chepstow to shovel some more passengers on board. The ones we picked up looked a little wet as it was raining quite hard and there was virtually no cover on the station. A fast-ish run past Severn Tunnel Junction and Llanwern Steelworks soon had us running into Newport station. Due to pathing requirements there was an hours break here, plenty of time to run D9000 round the train. Only a solitary 47 and an 08 shunter on the adjacent stabling point, though during our stay 60044, 66069 and 66100 passed through.

Newport : run-round and ready to head for Chester!

We now headed north along the "Welsh Marches" towards Shrewsbury. Despite the weather there was some quite nice scenery on offer. Me, I'd begun to sample the real ale on offer from my colleagues in coach A....and enjoy the scenery too of course! With some slack timing we soon turned a small deficit into a near quarter hour early arrival into Shrewsbury. Here we were to take the single line to Wrexham behind a service train to Chester. Let the farce begin....

Although we'd arrived early, our new driver was on the (late running) Chester service train so we had no choice but to wait. It was a bit cold but at least we had another chance to get off and stretch our legs on the platform. The sprinter for Chester duly turned up and left quickly having dropped off its passengers, and our driver. We piled back aboard but then watched departure time come....and go.... We heard an announcement for a train to Manchester Airport which duly arrived alongside us, formed rather unusually as a three car class 158 - 52830 coupled to unit 158827. Tony who was sat next to the window then pointed out the slight problem the train would have in departing to Manchester - it had arrived into a bay platform so could only depart again in the direction from which it had arrived. We were blocking the through platform it should have used. We then sat and watched it leave southbound and a few minutes later pass us on our other side (the track and signalling layout plus north and south station signalmen being duly tested!). We finally set off 10 minutes down after a 35 minute wait.

Our next booked stop was at Ruabon where a number of passengers got off to make a visit to the Llangollen Railway (poor souls - I've twice experienced the Llangollen and on both those occasions it was cold and wet like today - not so much fun, but a nice preserved railway all the same!). At Wrexham General we had a short operational stop to wait for the single line to Chester - we were actually waiting for the same Chester bound unit that had delivered our driver at Shrewsbury, now on its return journey. A profitable wait though as 66174 (a required sight) appeared off the Bidston line and had to wait the road south as we were fouling the junction.

Arrival into Chester was more or less to schedule and here we lost a fair number of passengers - but gained a load more who were on for the "mini-wander" to Crewe, Preston and back to Chester. D9000 stayed on as far as Crewe where we lost her in favour of a 60 and a 92. 60087 "Slioch" was the first loco to be added to the train - but on the other end from that expected. This was because a class 92 cannot be coupled directly to hauled stock for fear of fouling with the corridor connection. As a result the 60 would act as the barrier to Preston where the 92 would be removed and 60087 run-round for the journey to Chester. One of the new CT Turbostars (170512) was noted whilst we watched the loco change, otherwise nothing very exciting seemed to be going on at Crewe.

An interesting comment about the choice of 92 - 92018 "Stendhal" - arguably NOT a British locomotive as this is one of the SNCF owned examples. One friend of mine claims he "doesn't do foreign locos". Does he count 92018 then?

The SNCF-owned "hairdryer" at Crewe.

A fairly boring run was had to Preston with the only excitement being the "up-and-over" move between Winwick Junction and Golbourne Junction, via Earlestown. Of course we also passed Newton-le-Willows, birthplace of D9000 and the other Deltics. At Preston we had 20 minutes or so for the run-round. Being as I'd set off at 05.30 and had forgotten most of my food supplies for the day I used this time to get re-stocked. I ended up with a thing called a "1 foot roast beef hot sub" from an American theme sandwich bar called "Blimpies". After consuming the sandwich I can understand the thinking behind the shop name! Departure from Preston was delayed as the stock was being watered and we set off for Chester about 20 minutes down.

Another comment here - having joined at Didcot at a little after 7am I like many others had been on the train some 10 hours aready - and still had another 6 hours to go before getting off again! We pulled into Chester at the time we should have departed and by the time we swapped from the 60 back to D9000 our departure was 20 minutes down. Never mind, the schedule on the way back should enable it to be caught back.

With our passengers back on board at Ruabon we sped southwards on the reverse of the same route we'd taken to get to Chester. At Newport the run-round was a bit quicker and we departed 8 down - but now with D9000 at our end of the train. For me the days highlight was undoubtedly the run from Gloucester to Sapperton Summit (between Stroud and Kemble) as a good amount of thrash from D9000 was enjoyed. During the stop at Stroud an infrastructure train passed going the other way with 66168 at the head (required sight!) and 66072 on the back - though I never even noticed it, just heard it from others who did! Departing from Stroud we very rapidly gained speed then kept it more or less all the way to the summit beyond Sapperton Long Tunnel. D9000 sounded simply superb!

The remainder of the journey back was uneventful, though we seemed to loose a minutes or two at every timing point despite a good performance from D9000. We were deposited at Didcot at 00.11 on the Sunday morning - a mere 17 hours after leaving! Just the hour or so drive home now....

Verdict : Top day out - well worth he sleep sacrifice to be on the trip!

Timings (Booked and Actual)

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