Crompton Cornish Farewell & Cornish Swansong 22nd & 29th October 1988
I was sat at home one evening, after work at the Smeed Dean Brickworks in Sittingbourne, watching ANOTHER re-run of an original Star Trek episode while my Mum got on with her ironing (I say her ironing as no-one else was going to do it!) when the house phone rang.
"Hello it's Eric Tyler from Templecombe station, we've already got enough bookings for the Crompton Farewell train on October 22nd to more than half fill another train. What do you think?"
What I immediately thought was how did he get my number, I don't work for the railway & my booking for the Farewell was as part of a block booking made by someone else?!
Anyway my obvious reply was to suggest running a 2nd train the following Saturday - after all that's double mileage for all of us! "How can we guarantee that we don't get the same locos both weeks, or make it so people want to do a 2nd trip?" Eric & Gerald Daniels (Salisbury Area Manager) were responsible for planning these tours for NSE.
My answer was to ask for a pair of Hither Green class 33/2 "Slim Jims" the 1st week & a pair of Eastleigh allocated 33's the 2nd week. He seemed happy with this suggestion & said "see you on both tours!".
He seemed to imply that I would be doing both trains (of course!), but should I book for the 2nd one or just turn up on the day? When friends asked if I wanted to be part of the block booking for the 2nd train I declined, hoping for a possible freebie.
Friday 21/10/88
With two long distance tours on two Saturdays in a row I decided to take some holidays and do an
All-Line-Rover for the week between the tours, indeed from leaving home on this Friday afternoon I didn't step back inside the premises for another NINE days!
1500 / 1602 / 3152 Sittingbourne - Victoria 44m 59ch
33116 & 4 TC) Waterloo - Woking 2L57 2345 Waterloo - Salisbury / Bournemouth 24m 27ch
3033 / 1221) In Multi with class 33
Only on the Southern could you get such hellfire lash-ups with the loco in Multi with the units.
3115 Woking - Waterloo 24m 27ch
Saturday 22/10/88 Crompton Cornish Farewell
The day of the tour but there was mileage available on the overnight first.
33114 Waterloo - Salisbury 1V01 0140 Waterloo - Yeovil Jn 83m 43ch
33103 Salisbury - Yeovil Jn 1V01 0140 Waterloo - Yeovil Jn 39m 05ch
33103 Yeovil Jn - Basingstoke 2O01 0456 Yeovil Jn - Basingstoke 74m 67ch
3016 / 3074 Basingstoke - Woking 0637 Basingstoke - Waterloo 23m 34ch
As the tour was booked 2 x 33/2 the question was what would be the 2nd loco? As a Southern Loco Controller had 33207 as his favourite loco it was inevitably involved on most tours using the sub-class, the 2nd loco this time being 33211.
33207) Woking - Penzance 1Z20 0727 Waterloo - Penzance 293m 24ch
33211)
Our route was via Andover to Salisbury then up to Westbury, run-round then down the desert via Castle Cary & Taunton. The familiar environs of Exeter St.Davids for a Crew stop then onwards towards Penzance! Top thrash was the order of the day on all of the routes famous Banks & climbs, the pair were performing well. The only down point was the weather which was getting considerably wetter the further we got towards Cornwall, with a rather soggy run along the sea wall at Dawlish.
Has anyone got an Umbrella? The fact that the station roof had been removed for repair didn't help matters. Never mind, a quick dash to the Dolphin Tavern for the mass of Crompton bashers in our party. Let the Beer's commence!
A top Boozer, the Dolphin, I thought I'd better leave to allow time to take in a visit to the Chippy - but there was still a sizeable queue of railtour participants outside. Hold on Clive is at the front of the queue in the shop - I dove in the door & asked him to add Sausage & Chips to his order. This act did NOT make me popular with the masses waiting outside...
We were a good-spirited bunch by this point, also take out supplies of beer had been brought on board for the return run.
With Cornwall behind us it was onwards to Exeter, where time was available for me to nip to the Off License for further beer supplies (I also had to buy some 1664 for a sad person on our table...).
Onward via the Mule, always guaranteed Thrash on the way up to Salisbury. At journeys end, back in Waterloo, time to rush over to the Hole in the Wall pub where we just made last orders. A Top day!
33211) Penzance - Waterloo 1418 Penzance - Waterloo 303m 57ch
33207)
33116 & 4TC) Waterloo - Wimbledon 2345 Waterloo - Salisbury/Bournemouth 7m 19ch
1226 / 3027) In Multi with class 33
Sunday 23/10/88
Time to get back into Waterloo for the overnight.
5716 Wimbledon - Waterloo 7m 19ch
The fun didn't stop there. 33207 & 33211 were in the "Dock" at Waterloo & Control decided these would be ideal for the overnight! The Driver, however, decided (incorrectly I believe) that the pair had insufficient fuel to work it. I would beg to differ after checking the gauges, but he was staff & we were not. "I will use that one" he said, pointing out 33110 to the Shunter. Oh well get our heads down in the compo & wait for the upset when he realises it's No-Heat! Pair off, eventually 33110 backed on. Plug the ETH jumper in & all the lights go off. Could have told you that.
Eventually it transpired that we were the losers in this charade as 73131 was the eventual traction!
Well we will have to suffer the 47miles to Basingstoke with the 73 where a class 33 will surely replace the whirring device. Err no - it went through to Andover on Diesel! A serious loss of Crompton mileage!
73131 Waterloo - Andover 0130 Waterloo - Yeovil Jn 66m 19ch
We were running well late after all the loco changes so at about 4am we had a loco swop in Andover station!
33111 Andover - Yeovil Jn 0130 Waterloo - Yeovil Jn 56m 29ch
This was a great improvement on the ED, so much so that in 1992 our group (the Class 33/1 Preservation Society) bought 33111 from BR!
Although I did get as far as Crewe on my All-Line it was mainly a Crompton based week, the highlight undoubtedly having 33060 (vice class 50 Log / Hoover / Rubbish etc) on the 1910 Waterloo - Exeter St.Davids throughout on the 25th. Back to the Railtours.
Friday 28/10/88
After a full 6 more days on the Bash, today started with 33111 on the overnight out of Waterloo & finished with 87014 from Stoke on Trent back on the 1A80 2000 Man Picc - Euston.
Saturday 29/10/88 Crompton Cornish Swansong
Again there was mileage available on the overnight before the tour.
33102 Waterloo - Salisbury 1V01 0140 Waterloo - Yeovil Jn 83m 43ch
33106 Salisbury - Yeovil Jn 1V01 0140 Waterloo - Yeovil Jn 39m 05ch
33106 Yeovil Jn - Basingstoke 2O01 0456 Yeovil Jn - Basingstoke 74m 67ch
3133 Basingstoke - Woking 0637 Basingstoke - Waterloo 23m 34ch
Todays mileage machines were 33031 & 33033. The timings & routings were basically the same as the previous week, although somehow the GWR had got us into Penzance 9 minutes earlier this week!
33033) Woking - Penzance 1Z22 0727 Waterloo - Penzance 293m 24ch
33031) (Via Salisbury, Westbury (RR) & Taunton)
When it came time for a full ticket inspection, it became obvious that neither Eric or any of his minions were interested in asking me for a ticket, even though they gripped the other 3 on our table - Result!
Of course we legged it straight to the Dolphin again, no desire for food today, our table only interested in the contents of their Pint glasses.
33031) Penzance - Basingstoke 1Z22 1518 Penzance - Waterloo 255m 76ch
33033) (Via Exeter St.Davids (RR) & Templecombe)
It was Dobbin's turn to raid the Off License at Exeter today but in the event he was too far gone to actually get up from his seat so I had to do the honours again...
It has to be said 33033 had recently received attention in Eastleigh Works & seemed to be running with the Fan in "Emergency", something they do as part of the works testing (probably the Load Bank) - someone had obviously forgotten to switch it back over.
This gave a strong sense of travelling behind a Peak, especially when full Thrash was applied. Indeed my brother was visiting his then girlfriend in Honiton that day & when he heard the train pass through he thought something had gone awry & we'd ended up with a Peak for haulage!
Calamity at Basingstoke 33031 felt like a rest (or it was out of Fuel?). We went forward with our "Peak" only.
33033 (33031 DIT) Basingstoke - Waterloo 1Z22 1518 Penzance - Waterloo 47m 61ch
3428 Waterloo - Clapham Jn 3m 74ch
33119) Clapham Jn - Waterloo 1L16 2120 Salisbury - Waterloo 3m 74ch
33116)
33114) Waterloo - Basingstoke 2L57 2345 Waterloo - Weymouth/Salisbury 47m 61ch
(TC's 8006 & 8xxx)
The train split at Basingstoke from where 33106 took the Weymouth portion forward, via Laverstock & Chandlers Ford, which we took to destination in Weymouth! A very long but very top day!
So after Class 33's NEVER having reportedly worked all the way down to Penzance, 2 Pairs on two consecutive Saturdays. Two great days out sandwiching a week All-Line-Rover for myself.
Cheers Richard Mann (Poodle).
Comments
Post a Comment