Saturday 15th February 1997 "The Robin Reliant "

Following on from the success ( and Total Riot!) of our 1st tour "The Multiple Marauder" of 10/08/96, a 2nd tour, once again planned by myself using my home in Nantwich for all bookings etc.

Once again we needed some points of interest to attract the crowds so the initial plan was to start from London Kings Cross and go ECML to Grantham then via Nottingham to traverse the Robin Hood line up to Worksop, a first over the route for the class. We would go round the curve Shirebrook East Jn to Shireoaks West Jn then via Sheffield (run round) then up to York for more new class 33 track through to Scarborough.

After a 90 minute break a class 56 would haul us to York (Run Round) then via Harrogate, Leeds & Hambleton Jn's to Doncaster where we would swop back to our pair of class 33's and run via Gainsborough Lea Road to Newark then back on the ECML.

I again did the timings for this, the tricky bit was the Harrogate Loop where due to the length of the platforms we would have to pass a unit in a minor station by running straight through, while the unit sat in the platform loop an extra couple of minutes. I could then get the unit back into it's booked path after it's next stop so as to not miss it's booked slot into a busy York station.

The rarity (bashing wise) of the loco that would take us from Scarborough to Doncaster was where we would be looking to make extra money from pay-on-the-day passengers (all profits again going towards returning 33111 & the recently acquired 33108 to traffic).

As for a name for the Tour, the Robin Hood line was the main attraction. How to get a reference to that & Crompton's? Class 33's were long known for their high availability & reliability so I came up with "Robin Reliant" and even got permission from the 3 wheel car company to use the name, albeit with the two words now reversed.

The advert that appeared in Traction magazine November 1996

Once again bookings came in to the extent that we were sure to make a small profit on actual passenger numbers, we would make more through running the Buffet & Bar on board ourselves, but it would be the pay-on-the-day Punters that would make it a good day takings wise.

As can be seen in "Revised Routing" the Bods at Railtrack failed to agree with my proposed timings, so much so that the route via the Harrogate Loop was declined (at very late notice) but on the bright side we received some financial reimbursement for this. Due to this we decided to swop the class 56 haulage round to the York to Scarborough leg, this would mean the 33's worked back out of Scarborough after a 2 hour break. Nice!

Please also note the wording "Ticket Checks: This is to enable us to apprehend those that think they can travel without paying" more on this later...

Just the 15 Real Ales to quench the thirst this trip, however we kept a 16th locked away in reserve for myself & 3 others to enjoy later after my Train Manager duties & their Stewarding duties all day.

Our headcode was 1Z33 all day, our locos were 33051 & 33116. Sadly gone were the days when any old Crompton could produce - Charter pool loco's only these days.

We departed Kings Cross a little late but by the time we rolled into Nottingham we were bang on time - onwards to cover the Robin Hood Line. (I myself had never done this route before on anything!)

33116 & 33051 at Sheffield about to Run Round before heading for York. Photo used with courtesy of Steve Kemp.

With the cooling towers from Blackburn Meadows prominent in the background, 33051 + 33116 round the sharp curve into Rotherham Masborough with 1Z33 0732 Kings Cross to Scarborough. Photo used with courtesy of Steve Bennett.

Our two man gripping team, myself & Mike "Grippenführer" Tyrer worked our way through the train, we needed to check all tickets before arriving at York, to make it easier to sort out anyone joining there to pay-on-the-day.

It was during this process when we came across a group of lads, most of them had tickets but one individual said he had one - but wouldn't show it! "If you've got it, show it" I said. "I've been Bashing for fifteen years and no-ones ever accused me of travelling without a ticket before" he said. "If you don't show one you haven't got one - & we are only running the tour to make money to preserve our locos". He had been well shown up, his cocky attitude at the start of all this was gone - and his 15 year good reputation (yeh right...). On with the show!

33051 "Shakespeare Cliff" and 33116 "Hertfordshire Railtours" charge round the curve at Burton Salmon with the "Robin Reliant" charter from Kings Cross to Scarborough. Photo used with courtesy of Neil Harvey.

We arrived at Colton Jn about 15 minutes early, we sat at the signal waiting for our booked path forward into York. We were soon passed by 56066, our forward loco to Scarborough, running light engine to get into position for the loco change at York. Result! 

We had asked Bernie McDonaugh (RIP) to fix a "rare" Grid, he said we had a choice of 3 biggies - but that this was by far the biggest one at the time.

33051 & 33116 stand at York with the "Robin Reliant" railtour from Kings Cross to Scarborough. Photo used with courtesy of Bantam61668.

56066 backs on at York. Photo used with courtesy of Steve Kemp.

Me & Mike set up a queue for the pay-on-the-day crowd at the front of the 2nd coach - the queue stretched nearly the full length of the train! We made as much profit from this (a fare of £15 return) as all the other revenue sources combined.

An entertaining run to Scarborough, the 56 hadn't worked a passenger service for 10 years - hence the big attendance to cane it in.

33051 & 33116 on the blocks at Scarborough after running light engine from York. Photo used with courtesy of Steve Kemp.

33116 gets an admiring glance from the person sitting on Scarborough station. Photo used with Courtesy of Jim Mosley

56066 on the blocks at Scarborough after bringing in the ECS for the return, the 33's prepare to drop onto the business end. Photo used with courtesy of Steve Kemp.

Here the Robin Reliant tour waits to leave Scarborough in the evening. Photo used with courtesy of Steve Robinson.

In stark contrast to our previous charter, nothing went wrong all day! We had a good run all the way back South. I would like to thank all the members of our group who either Stewarded or manned the Buffet/Bar, or indeed went thru the train doing the onboard raffle. On departure from Peterborough we got the "Staff Only" polypin out of the store cupboard - I must have been thirsty, I managed 8 pints on the way to the Cross! 

There were a large number of tours, with numerous operators, in this the final year for class 33's in regular mainline use. Myself and the rest of the Crompton roadshow did nearly every tour! 

The next Crompton tour we managed to organise didn't run until 2002 (the Rhins & Machars Crompton to Stranraer) & involved one of our own locos! More on that at a later date...

Cheers Poodle

PS: In September 1998 me & about 8 others were staying IN the St.Georgen brewery in Buttenheim (less distance to walk to get a beer) & were in their Bierkeller one evening (after drinking all day around various Bavarian villages / Brewpubs) when one of the servers came out & was the Dead Spit of Mr 15 years from the Robin Reliant Tour! 

The cry of "Fünfzehn Jahre" (15 years) would go up every time he came out with food or drinks!