Operations Track Record
Class 68 No. 68010 Oxford
Flyer was noted on Sunday, November 21, from a passing train, on its train of Mk.3 stock in Wembley Siding by Wembley Stadium station. A little later it was seen arriving at Marylebone station propelling empty stock train from Wembley Light Maintenance Depot to London Marylebone, with DVT No.
82304 at the head of the train to form the 17.00 from London Marylebone to Kidderminster. On the same day No. 68008, in DRS livery, was noted, from a passing train, at Wembley Light Maintenance Depot.
It is reported that Westminster and Birmingham city and Oxfordshire County councils, and the Mayor of the West Midlands have written to the Department for Transport calling for the next Chiltern Railways operating contract to require an immediate end to the use of Class 68 diesel locomotives, as well as the immediate conversion of Chiltern’s DMUs to a hybrid traction system, from using Marylebone station due to the high emissions generated by diesels. Marylebone is the last London terminus only used by diesel trains.
Class 730 No. 730003 was top-and-tailed from Old Dalby to Oxley on December 10 by Class 37 Nos. 37611 Pegasus and 37510 Orion.
Further Class 222 Meridian units Nos. 222003/05/07/17/19/20/23 are now repainted in EMR deep purple.
Class 153 units Nos. 153379+ 153384 were due to be moved to Long Marston for storage on December 15, with the four Angel examples to move to Ely on December 21.
It is reported that on Saturday, November 20 trial running restarted on the central section of London’s Crossrail project, ahead of the launch of Elizabeth Line services between Paddington and Abbey Wood in the first half of 2022.
Elizabeth Line services will initially be operated in three separate sections, with passengers from the west needing to change at Paddington for services onto the central section, and passengers from the east changing at Liverpool Street. The earliest date for linking up the routes is autumn 2022, with the full timetable to be in place from May 2023.
The 17.35 Victoria to Southampton and Bognor Regis on November 25 was diverted from Three Bridges to run nonstop to Barnham via Hove and Worthing due to a points failure north of Three Bridges meaning the train had to divide at Barnham. The Southampton portion terminated at Fareham after departing Barnham some 25 minutes late and the Bognor Regis portion ran through to Bognor some 20 minutes behind schedule.
During the week commencing November 15 Class 377/3 units were drafted into service along the west coastway route on various services between Brighton and Portsmouth Harbour including the Littlehampton and the Bognor Regis shuttle services. Units noted were Nos. 377317 and 377325. On December 4 further Class 377/3s Nos. 377302 and 377324 were noted on the Brighton to West Worthing services all day, replacing the more usual Class 313s along the West Coastway route.
Class 66 No. 66793 passed through Barnham working a Three Bridges to Eastleigh engineer’s train from the Mainline blockade on November 20.
With no clear date for the Class 701 to enter service, yet with the Class 707 progressively being transferred to Southeastern, there is some evidence that South Western Railway is running short of trains to run its inner suburban services. During November, several instances have been noted where trains on the Kingston Loop have been formed of a Class 455 four-car unit and a pair of Class 456 two-car units. On Monday, November 1, a journey from Barnes to Richmond on the 11.33 from London Waterloo to London Waterloo, was formed of Nos. 455873+456009+456007.
The following day, Tuesday, November 2 a journey from St Margarets to Richmond was made on the 10.27 from London Waterloo to London Waterloo, which was formed of Nos. 455742+456010+456002. Later the same day a journey from Clapham Junction to Richmond was made on the 21.33 from London Waterloo to London Waterloo, which was formed of Nos. 456007+456009+455873.
On Thursday, November 25 a journey from Norbiton to Wimbledon was made on the 09.33 from London Waterloo to London Waterloo, which was formed of Nos. 456012+456003+455701.
The Island Line reopened on Monday, November 1, some eight months later than originally planned. The first passenger service was the 2U02/05.35 from Ryde St Johns Road to Ryde Pier Head, formed of unit Nos. 484001 and 484004.
Unit Nos. 484001-04 have all been in use since the reopening with No. 484005 still to be delivered to the Island.
The Class 701s continue to attract attention from our correspondents. On Wednesday, November 17, No. 701011 and one other unidentified were noted, from a passing train, in the sidings at Feltham. Later the same day No. 701025 was seen arriving at Reading station forming the 5Q05/15.55 test train from Staines Up Loop to Reading. The same set then formed the 5Q06/17.32 test train from Reading to London Waterloo.
New No. 701001 was reported taken from Derby to Worksop by Class 47 No. 47727 and Class 56 No. 56081 on December 6, the pair returning to Derby with No. 701026. A further move to Worksop from Derby followed on December 10 when No. 701039 was top-and-tailed by Class 37 Nos. 37521+37688.
A trip by a correspondent to travel over the newly reopened line to Okehampton on Saturday, November 27 turned out to be far more interesting than planned. The 09.06 from Basingstoke (ex-Waterloo) to Exeter St Davids was on time, but approaching Salisbury the guard announced that passengers for stations between there and Yeovil Junction would have to leave the train due to a tree blown down by Storm Arwen. The train then ran directly to Westbury where it reversed. It then operated via Castle Cary and Yeovil Pen Mill to Junction.
Time left to change trains at St Davids was now reckoned to be 12 minutes. Fortunately, no further time was lost, and the correspondent caught the 12.37 to Okehampton – and not wanting to spend nearly two and a half hours there, returned on the same train.
Trains from Waterloo were still running late and the next arrival which should have formed the 14.25 to Waterloo ran in with the guard telling people not to get on. The doors were locked and the train was cancelled.
Next, the departure screen showed a 15.25 to Waterloo. A station announcement said the train was for Exeter Central and Salisbury only. Leaving St Davids at 15.22, the train departed Central at 15.30, by which time the ‘real’ 15.25 was coming up the bank behind. It really would have been nonstop, except for a very brief pause at Honiton to drop off a person who had not
heard the announcements. The correspondent has yet to travel nonstop through Yeovil.
After stopping just outside Salisbury at 16.48, the train waited so that it could be redirected into platform 4, the nearest to platform 6, the ‘up’ bay where a stopping train to Basingstoke was being held for a connection. The guard kept passengers informed, along with apologies, but the train was on the move in about eight minutes.
Charter Trains
The Belmond British Pullman ran on Sunday, November 21, from London Victoria to Dover Priory, hauled by Southern Region 4-6-2 No. 35028 Clan Line and Pullman liveried Class 67 No. 67024. Later the same day, the two locomotives were seen bringing the train back to Victoria. The train had originally been rostered for Clan Line and ‘A1’ 4-6-2 No. 60163 Tornado, but the Class 67 was used after Tornado had to be withdrawn from the main line for the remainder of the year due to severe wheelflats. The British Pullmans had a day out on November 24 when Pullman-liveried Class 67 Nos. 67021+67024 top-andtailed the 1E02/08.46 London Victoria-Chesterfield and 1O07/17.09 return for a visit to Chatsworth House. On Thursday, November 25 Class 67 No. 67024 was seen arriving at platform 2 at London Victoria at the head of empty stock train 5Z81 from Stewarts Lane Traction & Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot. The train, now headed by No. 67021, then formed the 1Z82/17.48 departure to Canterbury West. Two steam-hauled charters were observed in Sussex recently. LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No. 44871 worked the 10.50 London Victoria to Eastbourne, ‘The Christmas Sussex Belle’, on November 25, with Class 47 No. 47802 on the rear of the train. A second charter through Sussex followed on November 27 with the ‘Cathedrals Express’ from Victoria to Chichester and Portsmouth & Southsea hauled by ‘Black Five’ No. 45212 with Class 47 No. 47746 on the rear. Having used Farlington triangle for run round purposes, the train was later parked in Chichester sidings ready for the return trip to London via the scenic route of the Arun Valley and Crawley before joining the main line. November 27 was a gala day for charters through Market Harborough. First came Class 47s Nos. 47614+47828 in BR Blue and Intercity Swallow respectively, double-heading the 1Z70/06.17 ChesterfieldBath ‘Bath Christmas Statesman’. Shortly after came the treat of former LMS ‘Princess Coronation’ 4-6-0 No. 6233 Duchess of Sutherland making a fine sight storming through the snow showers on the 1Z25/06.12 Ealing Broadway-York ‘York Yuletide Express’ with WCR Class 47 No. 47802 on the rear. The train was 20 minutes late through Market Harborough and was then due for a layover in Humberstone Road Yard, Leicester, for a water stop. However, the road water tanker coming to supply the loco was heavily delayed, so the decision was made to remove the steam loco at Humberstone Road, the train going forward to York behind WCR Class 47 No. 47802. The LMS Pacific and support coach later ran light to Barrow Hill where they awaited the return train, the 1Z28 York-Ealing Broadway, in the afternoon, taking over from the diesel at Barrow Hill as planned for the journey home. The afternoon produced LSL BR Green Class 47 Nos. 47805 Roger Hosking MA 1925-2013+47501 Craftsman top-and-tailing the 1Z45/12.05 Manchester Piccadilly-London St Pancras private charter. The private charter returned ECS as the 5Z46/16.19 London St Pancras-Crewe, the steam charter returned as the 1Z28/15.14 York-Ealing
Broadway, and finally the ‘Statesman’ headed home as the 1Z72/16.55 Bath-Chesterfield, the latter running about an hour late after being delayed at Reading. Class 60 No. 60044 was noted in charge of the 08.35 LindseyNeville Hill loaded tanks on November 11, while it was observed on December 6 with No. 60040. The regular Cardiff TidalBurton-Cardiff Tidal steel trains reported included Class 66 No. 66142 on November 14, and No. 66003 on November 16 and 26. Class 60 No. 60039 had charge of the Bescot-Boston-Swindon steel working on November 15, and on November 17 when it ran back from Boston to Wolverhampton. No. 60044 was in charge on December 1 and 6 when it worked Bescot-BostonSwindon. The ‘run-as-required’ Mossend (dep 06.59) to Daventry container train operated on November 15, 16 and 17 when it was pulled, on each day, by Class 66 No. 66172. Scrap metal trains reported include Class 66 No. 66050 on a Liverpool-Sunderland-Liverpool diagram on November 26 and No. 66149 on a LiverpoolSwindon-Liverpool working on December 6.
The Isle of Grain-Tallington empty working was observed on December 6 hauled by Class 66 No. 66144. Red-liveried Class 59 No. 59205 was seen between Raynes Park and Motspur Park on Wednesday, November 3 when working the 7O02 from Acton Terminal Complex to Tolworth Day Aggregates. Observed through Woodlesford on November 11 were Nos. 66557+68001+66433 plus a long rake of empty freightliner flats heading through on the 11.13 Hunslet Yard-Crewe Basford Hall train which usually consists of one or two freightliner locos only. Normally a Class 70 working, the Hardendale Quarry, Shap, (dep 11.35) to Tunstead mineral wagon train was pulled by Class 66 No. 66601 on November 15. An orange-black Genesee & Wyoming-liveried Class 90 No. 90010 headed the 4M87 from Ipswich with classmate No. 90045 inside passing Marks