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an individual working referred to within the text.
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of all known workings of that service.
While a Link on a month, will take you to a gen sheet
listing all known NB workings (plus a selection of other gen).
Review of the year - 1989
By 'Doc'
The opening month of 1989 featured the "Lostocks" which provided a varied selection of 20's (courtesy of 'Tree'). The Carstairs portions and Scotland itself also produced a variety of no Heat locos eg: 26038 on the 10th with the Arbroath trip. Further south 59001 assisted a failed class 50 loco for a short distance on the 17th and 97204 worked the first of its many Derby - Crewe trips. 47303, one of the rarest 47's worked a HST into Newcastle on one of the Sundays.
The "Lostocks" continued into mid February with a chaotic last day on the 12th! Activity in Scotland died down, but the infamous 1B29 still produced on a regular basis. In the middle of the month, the Cambridge - Kings Lynn services suffered from a shortage of 47/4's and 31250 featured several times. Elsewhere, three different 58's worked between Birmingham NS - Stafford on Sunday 19th after a overrun of engineering work. On the 23rd, a bomb scare at Tring resulted in three Class 56's working into St Pancras, two of which returned to Crewe in the evening. 37671/673 worked the 'up midnight' in the early hours of the 17th, rescuing a failure in Cornwall and running over three hours late.
Engineering work on bridges between Carlisle and Preston at weekends provided the sight of 31120 working specials between Carlisle and Lancaster on the 11th. 37707 worked several trains following the failure of a DMU at Cleethorpes on the 13th. At Easter, 37274 worked Edinburgh - Carstairs portions owing to a late failure, much to the amazement of many people waiting at Carstairs ! At the same time, a 96 hour blockage of the line from Birmingham NS - Rugby meant the ubiquitous FGAT Speedlink 47 worked many trains.
Sunday 22nd April saw the first of the "Midland 150" specials hauled on this occasion by 20114/127 from Derby to Wirksworth. The last week of the month produced an outburst of activity on the Great Eastern after a spate of Class 86 failures and shortages. This week also found 26031 working to Barrow with a failed DMU. During the first week of the new Walsall - Hednesford service, 31108 dragged a DMU on an out and back trip. 20029/097 worked a return Derby - Crewe trip at the end of the month - the first of many such events by this class. 58036 worked its first ever passenger train on Monday 24th when it assisted a failure into Oxford.
May.
The aforementioned 1B29 went out in a blaze of glory producing on it's last eleven days, including four of the first seven 26's! the penultimate day of the loco hauled Aberdeen - Inverness trains saw 37153 on the 20:55 out of Aberdeen. The second "Midland 150" train produced 20054+20138 on the 6th, a date that also included the highly successful Growler Group tour to the Welsh Valleys, 37073 on a Derby - Birmingham NS control special and 37216 on a DMU to Lowestoft! The start of the new timetable brought with it a few DMU replacement turns eg: 47196 on a Liverpool Lime Street - Preston trip, 37070 and 47301 in the North East. The first Summer Saturday saw the expected Norwich - Yarmouth portions produce 37038. Subsequently, this turn was usually worked by 37140, 216 or 219. The following Sunday, the long awaited Diesel Day featured the first passenger working by 58050. The 20's, 145/228, annoyed a few people when the latter failed at Luton on the return trip. 37350 started its reign on the Weymouth line on the 23rd. Saturday the 27th saw many no-heat engines work in Scotland on football specials, but not quite enough for some eg: 37229 and 37098! 37673 and 674 produced in Cornwall on HST failures. The Bank Holiday saw a pair of 20's travel to Skegness, again the first of many.
June.
The start of the month brought chaos in the Manchester area leading to several vice-DMU diagrams being started together with the "unofficial" Blackpool and Southport turns. 31101 & 292 were transferred to the Provincial Sector for these trains. In Scotland, Highland and Carstairs turns (again!) started to produce on a semi-regular basis, and this continued throughout the summer. These trains were worked by mainly FAME of FGAT sectored 47's, but on the 20th 26032 headed the 0933 Glasgow Queen Street - is. 37504/511 worked the "Coalville Cobbler" railtour on the 11th, a day that saw 1M08 have no less than three different NB locos during it's journey from Edinburgh to Manchester - a 31, 37 and 47! 59002 worked to Westbury on the 5th and another Type 5, 56046 worked from there on the 17th. The same day, 37058 worked the morning Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury turn, a train that produced NB locos spasmodically. 56039 worked four specials from Bristol to Westbury on Sunday 25th. The end of the month saw 20090/120 work to Llandudno, the other additional's being worked by 47/4's. On the last day, 31130 worked several Blackpool portions.
July.
On the 2nd, 56002 worked 1M08 from Preston surprising many! The second week of the "Bltyhe Bridge's" produced several pairs of 20's. 37350 was transferred back to the FPEK sector. Thus ending its passenger work, by which time it had worked over 10000 passenger miles without a failure. The first of the month had 37110/203 at work on the Tenby - York from Cardiff whilst on the 24th 37803/37211 were out on the Cardiff - Weymouth route. On the 11th 31276 worked a DMU on the S&C, again a forerunner of a vice-DMU turn. Also in the Sheffield area, a Leeds - Sheffield diagram was often a loco and coaches but only occasionally worked by a NB 31. The 15th saw 20005/208 work to Llandudno on the first of many Saturday visits by the Class. Towards the end of the month, two separate incidents on the same day, derailments at Acton Grange and Harrow, saw the WCML in chaos for almost 48 hours. With 23 different NB loco's working as a direct result, including 56004 from St Pancras to Manchester via Derby and the Hope valley.
The beginning of the month saw an increase in the
vice-DMU turns in the North East, but most enthusiasts attention was focused
on the Crewe - Derby line where for a
two week spell there were two intensive diagrams rostered for 20's on the
route. With a little help, a total of 39 different loco's, (35 different 20's) worked the
line during that period. 47222
worked on consecutive days over the weekend of the 6th, both after failures,
first replacing 47287 on the Skegness road and on Sunday taking over from
37513 ( after replacing an earlier
failure ) on a North Pennine.
The following Sunday 47313 worked several Wolverhampton / Nuneaton drags,
not particularly remarkable, except that it showed on TOPS has 47315!
After the 14th, the attention for Class 20 followers switched to Sunny
Skeggy with the Birmingham weekday train being booked Type 1's. At
the end of the month, during the Bank Holiday period, Weaver Jn was remodelled
causing many WCML trains to be diverted and the inevitable plethora of
No Heat 47's, including over 50% of the 'Stanlow' fleet!
The last weekend in August and into the first week of this month saw the second batch of the Blythe Bridge holiday specials which provided many memorable moments, from stranded Guard at Crewe to the final 1T09 of which I will say no more in order to protect the innocent! September appeared to herald an increase in Newcastle - Carlisle DMU substitution and notable was 31217 which unusually worked three and a half round trips on the 25th. Exeter / Paignton / Barnstaple was another area of the country which saw infrequent DMU replacements during the year, for example 47105 on the 5th. The highspot of the month must be the working of 20199+20202 on the Blaneau diagram, the first working of this Class over the line on a service train. On Saturday the 2nd, 37211 worked the 'Yarmouth' diagram to the surprise of a few people who were "bowled" through the late allocation on TOPS, or in the case of the author, the collection of keys from North London. The month also saw much 31/1 activity on th Kings Lynn road with 31134 the same diagram for a week. On the 12th, 47351 worked a Stranraer - Girvan shuttle due to an unsafe bridge between Ayr and Girvan. The next day 37137 headed a control relief between Newcastle - Edinburgh. The last two weeks of the month saw DMU substitutions around the Birmingham area, especially on Hereford trains. This followed the visit of 20188+20227 to Startford upon Avon the previous Friday. The same pair worked charters in connection with the Gloucester Rail Day. 20128+20168 worked a railtour down the Edwalton branch on the 16th and to round off the month 56062 worked the shuttle to Kings Lynn dragging an EMU for the Cambridge Gala Day. All in all a busy end to the Summer!
The Winter timetable saw yet another set of North West DMU diagrams and little let up in NB workings including several trips by 'Flask' engine 31275. On the 20th, there were no fewer than seven different NB 31's on DMU substitution trains together with two pairs of 20's on the Derby - Crewe's. On Monday 9th, 56036 worked on the Marches line from Hereford - Crewe after the failure of a 37/4. An acute shortage of NSSA 50's mid month saw 47145 complete a full diagram on the Exeter - Waterloo route on the 16th. On Sunday 22nd, a further shortage of engines at Saltley resulted in 58014 being used on 1V96, failing at International and being dragged from thence to Pad by 58015! The 27th witnessed the last of the years 20's on the Derby - Crewe line. The last day of the month saw 37716 on the Rochdale loop.
Remarkably, the exploits of 37716 above, were emulated by classmates 37886 & 37903 later the same week, those engines first journeying to Southport. This was the month of the S&C Saturday trips with three 56's and a pair of 20's. The last trip with 20061+20093 saw a mere 1300 people on board the return working from Keighley. How many for a Deltic then? On the first Saturday, in hindsight, it was difficult to know just where to be. 56104 on the S&C, 37715 and 47368 around Manchester, 31123/232 on a Railtour and 37371 in West Wales on the Ruggex FPEK turn. Inevitably perhaps, with the combination of approaching Winter and increasing Sectorisation, workings tailed off dramatically towards the end of the month. That did not prevent 47291 on 1V97 and 37717 on 1S84 from working in the Manchester area on the 24th. Further O/H Line troubles at the end of the month saw a flurry of workings on the WCML (26th and 27th) between Crewe - Preston and Birmingham - Nuneaton respectively.
There were to be few NB workings in the final month of the year, which was only as expected. 37003 and 37884 both worked into Manchester on the 4th with failed DMU's from the Southport line. On the 7th, 26032 worked a similar failure from Carlisle to Newcastle, prior to its working on a charter to Warcop on the 9th. An engineering overrun on Sunday 10th, produced three 58's around Birmingham and on the 12th, 37207/230 worked a Cardiff - Gloucester FOOTEX duringa busy week for 37's rescuing failures. The final Class 20 working of the year and one of the most "withering" was the visit of 20069/095 to York and back to Wolverhampton on the 18th.
Conclusions.
Although Sectorisation took an increasing grip during the year, the ever present shortfall of DMU's, together with and increasing willingness of the Sectors to hire out their engines. And (in the words of Lennon and McCartney) with a little help from our friends, there was usually something to interest people whatever their favourite class. A shift from the traditional "Summer Saturday" fixation towards activity across the whole week was evident. With the ongoing shambles of "Sprinterisation" and with numerous loco hauled substitutions still taking place, the future may not be too bleak - long may it continue to be so…
"Many thanks to all those who have made this compilation
possible, especially Al Baylis, Mick Dunn, Darren "Stafford", Martin Caitlin,
Rob Fraser and last, but by no means least, "AB"!!" 'Doc'.