Page last Updated :  06-06-04  Below, a selection of gen, moves and anecdotes from the day in question...  Saturday 9th June / Sunday 10th June 1984 by Chris Walker "Had just started the night shift in Willesden TOPS Office on Friday 8th June 1984 when I received an urgent telephone  call from my parents to say that my grandma had been taken into intensive care in Darlington Hospital and could I try  to get up to County Durham the following day?  Too late, really, to bale out of work and try and catch the last overnight out of the Cross, so resigned myself to doing  the night shift and heading north first thing in the morning.   0600 Sat: Hectic night shift over and dropped into Euston on a pair of my ‘hated’ 501 units. Walked along Euston Road  and rejected the 0730 tram to Edinburgh in favour of breakfast in KX buffet (could be a long day ahead) and then do  the Aberdonian tram instead. Turned out to be good move as the 0730 departure got stuck behind a failed unit at  Welwyn GC and the Aberdonian was diverted via the Hertford Loop and overtook it!  By the time I got to Darlington, grandma was stable and, after a few hours with her, my parents offered me a lift back  to Llangollen, North Wales, where they were living at the time. After several hours on the A1/M62/M56, I was acutely  aware that I had dated a ‘staff’ box and had another full night and day of all-line validity available to me. I therefore  negotiated a drop off at Chester!  45124 took me back to Warrington BQ and a ‘can’ north to Preston where I hoped that a good Saturday WCML  bash might begin. I had no idea as to how good (and stressful) the night would be…  The 2035 Euston – Blackpool finally rolled in very late with 85039 topping 87035 which had failed earlier at  Berkhamsted.  Didn’t matter what took it forward at this time of night as there was no way of getting back to Preston  off it! Minutes later, this decision had to be reconsidered rapidly as, with a massive whistling noise, 40122 dropped on  the front of the stock! Quick discussion with the local bashers revealed the gen that there was an outside chance of  making the last Blackpool – Preston bus at Kirkham if no more time was lost.  Lets go for it – Goodness knows how long I will have to fester at Kirkham if the move ‘blows up’ but its one of  those occasions you just have to go for it!   In less than 8 miles, a desperate TTI got through an impressive amount of his excess fairs pad before a mass baling  occurred and the driver of Ribble bus number 1391 took an equally impressive number of late night £1 singles back  to Preston.  By the time I had walked down the ramp onto the concourse of Preston station, it was seriously late and the only  train appeared to be a lengthy DMU with plenty of weary looking passengers on board but no noise coming from  its engines.   By this time there only 5 ‘hardcore’ bashers left and they were duly rewarded by discovering the DMU was the return  1Z16 1730 Swansea – Nelson Adex that had failed somewhere (Swansea - see below) and 37302 xot LE (My Lords  – what a monster!) had rescued it and was in the process of running round and taking the demic unit forward to Nelson!  Now, if the move off 40122 had been dodgy, taking 37302 fwd was positively ‘suicidal’ in terms of getting back  into position.  Given Preston’s links to high-ranking snooker tournaments, this was akin to a good break collapsing!  This was a monster but no one in their right minds would go for it at this time of night with no return move! But hang on,  I got out of bed on Friday lunchtime, I’ve worked a night shift in London, I’ve ‘trammed’ it up to County Durham to  visit a sick grandma and sat in the back of a hatchback for a couple of hundred miles back to Cheshire and just had a  dose of D200 – do you really think I’m in my right mind by this point?  Of course not!  And so five foolhardy idiots got the mega-rare 37302 ‘in the book’ for the pitiful four miles to Bamber  Bridge!  Got to Bamber Bridge just as the local taxi rank was shutting for the night. There were five of us and his last taxi  was licensed for just four. Guess who drew the short straw?  I no longer possess a 1984 summer timetable but suspect  I would have been in for a long wait at that Godforsaken station on a Sunday morning (until 0846) if it hadn’t been for  the best efforts of the cheerful Cockney taxi rank owner who flagged down a Preston Black Cab for me – legally he  couldn’t pick me up  as he was outside the Preston area. I gave him a £1 tip (seems pitifully low now – but he saved  my night!)  Long time since I got out of my bed now, so I’m just hoping to find anything southbound that stops at Watford Jn –  from where, at a push, I can walk zombie-like to my bed – I have to be back at work tonight!   But, wait, I hear whistling! Oh my Lords! – 40122 has not finished for the night! 1M09 the 2210 Glasgow – Euston  ‘Nightrider’ (didn’t you just love those bluish fluorescent lights – guaranteed to keep you awake all night?) needed  dragging to Crewe via the Chester triangle.  Yes, thank you, I’ll have a dose of D200 on that duty followed by 47381 heading back to Preston by the same route  on 2D03 0333 Crewe – Preston!  By this time, I’d managed to get enough snatched hours of sleep to somehow find myself in London in time to catch  a required 47115 on 1H12 1435 Liverpool St – King’s Lynn as far as Cambridge and get back to London in time for  a film at Leicester Square (not recorded which) before a dreaded 501 unit back onto night shift…  After that ‘Hellfire’ bash, I’m not sure how much productivity BR got out of me that night, but I’m pleased to report  that grandma recovered and lived for another few years!" Mark Hornby tells us... "I had probably the most outrageous working of the day and it was a complete fluke.  I was on a Nelson to Swansea 'Rail Rambler' Merrymaker - a 6 car DMU rake.  Whilst taking a few photos  of 37s during a visit to Llandore depot a fitter said to us 'Your DMU's knackered'.  Thought no more of it until departure time when 37302 dropped off LE and coupled onto the units.  Had it over  the Central Wales line and up the WCML to Preston, where it ran round and continued all the way to Nelson.  Loco hauled over the Central Wales was mega-rare at the time and a 37 north of Crewe in 1984 was unheard of.  It was probably the first ever 37 on passenger between Gannow Junction and Nelson as well?  I can still vividly remember sitting at the front of the DMU watching 302 thrashing away through the night - hellfire!" John Evans recalls... "My move of the day was of such monstrously neddish proportions that I am embarrased to reveal it. Suffice to say  that the 0910 Paignton - Newcastle had  45076 to Derby and was re - engined for 45064 forward." Pip Dunn says... "Started off with the standard move of a pair of units on the 0639 Cov-New Street....  310081/095     2G49     0639     Coventry - BNS     Coventry    -  New Street  43175/136     1E04     0558     Bristol - Newcastle     New Street - Derby  20174/164     1E85     0932     Derby - Skegness     Derby     Long Eaton  a massive, massive double score of 20s, neither of which I ever had again!  DMU     ?     0833     Lincoln-Crewe     Long Eaton   - Derby  47463     1E54     0650     Paddington - Hull     Derby - Sheffield  DMU     ?     1150     Sheffield - Donc     Sheffield - Doncaster  47301     1N13     0910     Yarmouth - Newc     Doncaster -     York  43099/063     1Exx     0920     Inverness - KX     York - Doncaster  47463     1O86     1322     Hull - Brighton     Doncaster - Sheffield  31436     1E43     1341     Manchester - Hull     Sheffield - Rotherham  37032     1E45     1240     Blackpool - Sheff     Rotherham - Sheffield  a nice big winning Thornaby tractor...  31272/196     1E28     0855     Weymouth - Bradford     Sheffield - Rotherham  another man of steel leap for that "famous" 5 1/2 mile spin....  DMU     ?     1520     Sheffield-Donc     Rotherham - Doncaster  31441     1M54     1513     Hull-Manchester     Doncaster - Rotherham  31436     1M52     1700     Hull-Manchester     Rotherham - Sheffield  nearly 20 years on, means I can't actually understand this move... a serious delay on 1M54 I assume?  31434     1E52     1738     Manchester-Cleeth     Sheffield - Rotherham  37202     1M84     1410     Scarborough-Notts     Rotherham - Chesterfield  this was three hours plus late after, I believe, 45123 was 'quarantined' after its driver died at the controls.   The 37  was greeted by 300+ cranks at Rotherham and Immingham tractors were absolutely massive on Class 1 trains.  43091/057     ?     2035     Sheffield-St panc     Chest'field - Derby  43136/175     1V98     2124     Derby-Bristol     Derby   -  New Street  310064     2A06     2221     New St-Euston     New Street    - Tile Hill  Not a bad day out - 9 newies and four winning power cars...  I think this was my first day nedding in Sheffield, and proved to be the first of many.  The following day the two big dual-braked '20s' did work a Skeg train, but only to Toton (where the train reversed  and went forward behind another pair)... I don't think they worked much else afterwards and a lot of people were  withered on them..." 'UD' recalls... "Not out (as such) for reasons long forgotton, but records state that I let the house early to phot a York bound charter,  which I'd been informed, by a usually reliable source, it would be 40 hauled...  However... 85032 turned up!  I walked away in disgust (any other time I would have happily taken a shot of the  roarer) only to get back home to a message by the phone... "Don't bother with the Charter, 40 on at Stockport..."  A selection of other NB workings out that day:   25321+25265 1J20 0735 Euston - Aberystwyth, from Wolves    25321+25265 2J84 1400 Aberystwyth - Shrewsbury    25288+25315 2J61 0744 Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth    25288+25315 1A46 1010 Aberystwyth - Euston, to Wolves    25037+25195 1J24 1010 Euston - Aberystwyth, from Birmingham    25037+25195 2J87 1705 Aberystwyth - Shrewsbury    31114 1E62 0210 Manchester P - Cleethorpes    31114 1E06 1327 Yarmouth - Chesterfield, from Norwich    31117 1F18 1050 Paddington - Oxford    31117 1F33 1240 Oxford - Paddington    31196+31272 0855 Weymouth - Bradford, from Reading    31205 1D20 0900 Leeds - Skegness    31205 1L19 1333 Skegness - Leeds    31222 1E83 0723 Chesterfeild - Yarmouth, to Norwich    31256 2C19 1010 Hull - Sheffield    31312 1E73 0943 Yarmouth - Leeds, from Norwich    37027 1E28 0835 Glasgow QS - Scarborough, to Edinburgh    37032 1M89 0749 Sheffield - Blackpool    37032 1E45 1240 Blackpool - Sheffield    37096 1V31 10:30 York - Plymouth relief    37202+45123 1M84 1410 Scarborough - Nottingham, from Rotherham    37285 2M70 1723 Hereford - Birmingham NS, (hauling DMU)    37285(hauling DMU L591) 2V11 1532 Birmingham NS - Hereford    37285+L591(Failed) 2M89 1332 Hereford - Birmingham NS    40035 1Z12 ???? Warcop - Carlisle troopex    40082 1Z94 1730 York - ? The York Excursioner Railtour York ,to Wolverhampton charter    40122 1Z41 ???? Leeds - Carlisle kettlex    40122 1P79 1805 London Euston - Blackpool North , from Preston    40135 1T05 ???? Rhyl - Crewe charter    40135 1T05 ???? Crewe - Rhyl charter    40181 1M66 0725 Newcastle - Blackpool    40181 1E34 1340 Blackpool - York    40192 1S81 2050 Carlisle - Perth , from Mossend Yard    45017 1E22 10.04 Newquay - Newcastle, from Birmingham NS    45019 1E17 0710 Sheffield - Skegness    45019 1E02 1041 Skegness - Sheffield    45038 1S84 1020 Paignton - Glasgow C , to Birmingham NS    45042 1M22 1128 Paignton - Manchester P , to Birmingham NS    45068 1E33 0910 Paignton - Newcastle , to Bristol TM?    45076 1E33 0910 Paignton - Newcastle , from Bristol TM?    45148 1E00 0705 Liverpool - Scarborough    45148 1M63 1100 Scarborough - Bangor    46010 1E22 1004 Newquay - Newcastle, Plymouth-Gloucester, fld?    46026 1M51 0800 York - Blackpool    46026 1E71 1215 Blackpool - Newcastle    47016 1O01 0621 Wolverhampton - Poole    47018 1E28 0835 Glasgow QS - Scarborough, Edinburgh - York    47082 ???? 1105 Paddington - Weston vice HST    47085 1C19 0750 Swansea - Penzance    47087 2C26 0740 Milford Haven - Bristol T.M, from Swansea    47089 1V25 1110 Portsmouth - Cardiff, from Bristol T.M    47101 1B16 0918 Paddington - Fishguard    47121 1E39 0918 Tenby - Hull    47140 1E14 1025 Portsmouth - Leeds    47186 1B22 1007 Paddington - Pembroke dock    47191 1O11 0900 Bradford - Weymouth, to Birmingham    47215 2H10 0805 Chesterfield - Scarborough    47215 1J11 1140 Scarborough - Sheffield    47277 2B77 0710 Cardiff - Swansea    47301 1N13 0910 Yarmouth - Newcastle, from Norwich    47315 1E71 0802 Manchester P - Yarmouth, to Norwich    47315 1M74 1412 Yarmouth - Manchester P, from Norwich    47317 1M86 1000 Paignton - Liverpool Lime Street , to Birmingham NS    47330 1O13 0530 Bradford - Weymouth, from Birmingham    47344 1N35 1033 Scarborough - Newcastle, to York    47344 1E28 0835 Glasgow QS - Scarborough, from York    47344 1S51 1520 Scarborough - Glasgow QS, to York

Additions, Comments and Suggestions

Please send me mail .

Return to  Where were you??? main menu?

Contact Information