RAILTOURS

Plans for a steam-hauled anniversary charter look to be thwarted.

SRPS hits 50 years of running tours.

THIS year is the 50th anniversary of the first railtour run by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS). To mark the event, and with the imminent retirement of former Haymarket A4 steam loco No. 60009 Union of South Africa, the SRPS was hoping to organise No .9’ sf are well run from Edinburgh-Aberdeen on April 21 with the blessing of the loco’s owner John Cameron.

The society was also hoping to run a Forth Circular run with No. 9 on the 19th.

These plans are now looking in doubt, however. With problems ensuing, and to try and push the matter forward, Mr Cameron has approached Network Rail’s chairman Sir Peter Hendry to see if higher intervention can prevail to ensure the farewell run takes place.

The tour, if it runs, would use the set of Mk.1 carriages owned by the SRPS and kept at Bo’ness.

It was on August 22, 1970 that the SRPS ran its first tour, ‘The Clansman’, in conjunction with the Stephenson Locomotive Society. This ran from Falkirk Grahamston to Mallaig with traction in the form of Sulzer Type 2s Nos. 5350 and 5355 (these later became later Class 27s Nos. 27004 and 27009 respectively). The SRPS carriages used were LNER (Thompson) Brake Composite No. 80417E, LMS Corridor Composite No. 24725M,

LMS Third Opens Nos. 27389M and 27407M with Caledonian Railway

Brake Composite Corridor No. 7369M. What a wonderful pre-BR rake of carriages, and they all survive today at Bo’ness (thanks to the excellent www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk website for these details).

Meanwhile, the SRPS’s 2020 programme has been announced: May 2,

Dunfermline Town to Glenfinnan;

May 30, Dunbar to Dunrobin Castle and Brora; June 20, Glenrothes to York and Scarborough; August 9, Forth Circle steam tour; August 16, Linlithgow to Aviemore and Inverness steam tour; August 23, Fife Circle steam tour. The SRPS is also intending to usemain-line certificated No. 37025 on a number of these charters if available.

■ The Scottish tour operator says it has been experiencing several problems organising tours, and is feeling the rules are not being applied uniformly. The SRPS has been told it cannot visit Kyle of Lochalsh or Oban and can only run as far as Glenfinnan on the Mallaig line, yet other operators are visiting Kyle, Oban and Mallaig. Furthermore, signal resiting issues on the Highland Main Line have seen a further restriction imposed due to the inability to pass lengthy trains at one of the stations. Representations are being made to Network Rail.