A Privileged Journey

by David Maidment

  Churchward 2-6-0, 6329, prepares to take the Pembroke Coast Express on its Camarthen - Swansea leg, 13 August 1957.

  1001 County of Bucks, on which the author was given a lift from Landore shed back to Swansea High Street, 13 August 1957.

  Carmarthen shed on 13 August 1957, with ex-GC Robinson ROD 3041.

  Job done, it was off to Landore shed, where I noted on the chalked engine-allocation board that 5077 was booked for the ‘Pullman’ back to London later that day, on which I’d made a reservation. I’d seen everything there was to see and was making my way to the shed gate when I was hailed by a driver who’d been watching me. ‘Want a lift back to High Street?’ he called, and I found myself invited into the cab of Neyland’s 1001 County of Bucks.

  There followed a quick trip to Carmarthen, behind 5981, and another shed visit, which elicited a couple of rarities (for me anyway) — ROD 3041 and 2-6-2T 8103 — and Mogul 6329, complete with headboard for the ‘Pembroke Coast Express’, on which I returned to Swansea. When, on arrival there, I saw Canton’s burnished 5030 Shirburn Castle couple up I was tempted to get back on, but I resisted and took my reserved window seat in the luxury of the ‘South Wales Pullman’, for which the promised 5077 Fairey Battle duly appeared. The return journey was comfortable rather than spectacular, and signal checks on the last leg into Paddington made our arrival eight minutes late.

  There are some classes people consider ‘hard to get’. In the latter years of steam, whilst ‘Duchesses’ were fairly common (though every time I made a sortie on the West Coast I seemed to find the same few turning up for my train — 46225, 46228, 46229, 46235, 46237, 46238, 46244, 46250), ‘Princess Royals’ seemed to be rarer beasts. And here I was fortunate. In early June I had decided to use one of my ‘priv’ tickets to visit ‘Mecca’ — Crewe. After watching the departure of the ‘Royal Scot’ I joined the 10.40 Euston–Perth, with the powerful combination of 46237 City of Bristol and a pilot in the shape of rebuilt ‘Patriot’ 45540 Sir Robert Turnbull, the latter presumably wanted back at Crewe, as I don’t think our load warranted such resources. I seem to remember spending most of the time — along with myriad ‘spotters’ — on the footbridge at the north end of the station, overlooking Crewe North shed (today a car park, where my 1996 VW Passat estate is even now residing as I type this sentence on a London-bound ‘Pendolino’). When I saw a ‘Royal Scot’ backing onto a local for the North Wales coast I bought a return ticket to Beeston Castle to enjoy a short trip behind 46123 Royal Irish Fusilier, and after I’d had a brief glimpse of the crag on which the castle was perched opposite, 46137 The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire) rushed in on a balancing return local. Back at Crewe I began to start looking for attractive turns for my return south and watched with interest as a very clean ‘Duchess’, Camden’s 46229 Duchess of Hamilton, complete with headboard, positioned itself to take over the up ‘Midday Scot’. I’d just decided to take this when 46205 Princess Victoria swept in with the up ‘Red Rose’, and I made an instantaneous decision to take that instead. I’m glad I did. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to ride 46229 since, but I never even saw 46205 again after that splendid journey. It was long before the day when a college friend coached me in the intricacies of train timing, but I remember occupying the rear coach and standing enthralled in the empty corridor as we raced towards London. Somewhere around Hemel Hempstead I can remember being exhilarated by the sheer speed (memory tells me it was probably in the high 80s if not 90mph), and seeing the locomotive hard at work as we rounded a curve — probably Berkhamsted — was most impressive.

  I decided to expand my experience of the London Midland further in early September with a triangular trip to Rugby, Nottingham (via the Great Central) and back, on the Midland main line. Camden’s ex-works 46168 The Girl Guide got me to Rugby without any undue alarms, and one of Neasden’s three ‘Standard 5s’, 73157, appeared on the 10 o’clock from Marylebone, which I took through to Nottingham Victoria. From here I went to Derby Friargate and then walked back to Derby Midland before returning to Nottingham behind Fowler 2-6-4 tank 42373. The up ‘Waverley’ was headed by a very clean Holbeck ‘Jubilee’, 45564 New South Wales, which, against the grain of most of my ‘Jubilee’ runs, performed admirably.

  My next encounter with a ‘Princess Royal’ was also in 1957, on my return from a holiday at Dunoon. I chose the ‘Midday Scot’ and was overjoyed to see 46203 Princess Margaret Rose (a favourite from my early train-spotting days, when I had seen her in blue livery at Euston) backing onto the huge train at Glasgow Central, blowing off furiously from all four safety valves. Excitement turned to chagrin as we limped through the industrial suburbs, the excess steam replaced by turgid black smoke until we ground to a halt at Carluke to raise steam for thirty minutes. After a painful climb to Beattock (at an estimated 10mph at the summit) we let fly down the other side and swept through Beattock station at a full 90mph. At Carlisle an unkempt ‘Black Five’ was hitched on as pilot, and we careered through the Lake District and the Lancashire industrial scene on a murky afternoon, regaining time in handfuls and with 46203 now blowing off steam at intervals to show the crew of 45382 that their efforts were unnecessary. At Crewe we were only twenty minutes down, and lo and behold, the pair were relieved by another ‘Princess’, Camden’s No 46209 Princess Beatrice. She swept south into the darkness in fine style, and arrival in Euston was barely ten minutes late.

  The ‘Princess Royals’ had a reputation for beautiful riding (even if they were sometimes shy for steam), and drivers were certainly prepared to let them run fast. In their latter days I was fortunate to enjoy long runs behind 46201 Princess Elizabeth (Carlisle–Perth), 46206 Princess Marie Louise (Rugby–Euston) and, right at their end, on 6 August 1962, 46208 Princess Helena Victoria, of Edge Hill shed, from Crewe to Euston on the ‘Red Rose’, a mirror image of my 1957 run with Princess Victoria. This time I had my stopwatch, and we touched 85mph after Norton Bridge, 83 at Castlethorpe, 82 at Apsley and, after a Watford stop, 80 at South Kenton. We were five minutes early into Euston (Appendix Table 16).

  The 1957 holiday at Dunoon, on the Firth of Clyde, gave me my first experience of Scottish steam. A return ticket from Euston to Gourock cost exactly seven pounds and tuppence (but this was two weeks’ wages). I’d had a crisis of conscience — I had finished my six months at Old Oak between school and college and was tempted to buy a privilege ticket for my Scottish trip before I left. However, I did the right thing with a clear conscience, even though it nearly bankrupted me at the time, for I did not want to risk future BR employment options. It enabled me to sample the summer non-stop ‘Royal Scot’ (well, not quite — we stopped to change crews at Carlisle Kingmoor) behind Camden’s blue ‘Duchess’ 46244 King George VI.

  Summer drizzle over the Clyde kept the foghorns going for three days on end and encouraged me to seek items of railway interest away from the coast. A day in Edinburgh was very fruitful. I crossed to Craigendoran on the steamer and caught a precursor of the ‘Blue Trains’ behind a ‘V1’ tank to Glasgow, where I luxuriated in the 11am ‘Queen of Scots’ Pullman from Queen Street behind Haymarket’s 60004 William Whitelaw. The sun emerged briefly, and I spent an hour or two taking photos at Waverley and from Princes Street Gardens of ‘V2s’, ‘A2s’, ‘B1s’ and ‘D49s’. Then the clouds returned, so I went out to Longniddry to see a row of Scottish ‘Directors’ (Class D11/2) and ‘C16’ 4-4-2Ts stored in the soaking rain. The next day it was still pouring, so I explored the GSW line from Glasgow St Enoch and went out to Kilmarnock behind one of Holbeck’s ‘Scots’ (46108 Seaforth Highlander). There were plenty of LMS ‘2Ps’ everywhere, so I hardly gave them a second glance, but on my return I spied a Pickersgill 4-4-0, 54506, on a local (4.12pm to Greenock Princes Pier). I dashed to the booking office and got myself aboard, alighting at Paisley Gilmour Street to connect with a Gourock train, a ferry across the Clyde and evening dinner.

  I had seen enough of Scotland through the clouds to be tempted to return, and the f
ollowing year I was blessed with a fortnight’s heatwave. This time I went via East Coast route, taking the Saturday ‘Elizabethan’, with my old favourite 60033 Seagull at the business end, and a Haymarket (64B) ‘A3’, 60087 Blenheim, on to Glasgow Queen Street.

  Gresley ‘V1’ three-cylinder 2-6-2T 67601 at Glasgow Queen Street with a stopping train along the Clyde coast from Craigendoran, 19 September 1957.

  ‘A2’ 60535 Hornet’s Beauty threads Princes Street Gardens with a local from the Fife coast, 19 September 1957.

  LMS ‘2P’ 4-4-0 40667 at Glasgow St Enoch with a train for the Ayrshire coast, 20 September 1957.

  Pickersgill ‘Dunalastair’ 4-4-0 54506 at Paisley Gilmour Street with the 4.12pm Glasgow St Enoch–Greenock Princes Pier, 20 September 1957.

  ‘Top Shed’ favourite 60033 Seagull on the Saturday ‘Elizabethan’ at King’s Cross, 5 July 1958.

  Although most of the holiday was spent hiking the glens with other students, using the Craigendoran–Arrochar push-pull with a ‘C15’ (67460 or 67474) to get into the hills, I could not resist a further foray to Edinburgh. This time ‘A1’ 60159 Bonnie Dundee was motive power for the ‘Queen of Scots’ Pullman. I returned to Waverley to see what was up, and ‘Ah!’ — there was a ‘D34’, all ready to leave for the Fife coast. Another dash to the booking office, and, clutching my return to Inverkeithing, I joined the LNER non-corridor coach behind 62487 Glen Arklet. I released the window droplight for the crossing of the Forth Bridge, and my ‘Ah!’ became an ‘Aaaaagh!’ as the wind knocked all the breath from my body! I had scarcely crossed the platform at Inverkeithing when 62488 Glen Aladale swept in with a following northbound local.

  I returned to Edinburgh almost immediately behind a Class D49/1 ‘Shire’, 62708 Argyllshire, and was so pleased with myself that I decided to repeat the experience. Another local was standing ready with ‘V2’ 60969, but as we left Waverley I saw a ‘Director’ backing onto coaches at an adjoining platform. The ‘V2’ stopped at Dalmeny, at the southern approach to the Forth Bridge, and I decided to get out and chance my luck. Sure enough, it was my day. Some twenty minutes later 62677 Edie Ochiltree hove into view, and, joy of joys, it slowed down and stopped. So, for the second time that day, I lowered the window high above the Forth and gulped in the air as we clanked over the famous bridge behind a pre-Grouping-design 4-4-0. I was reminded of another well-remembered passage from Trains Illustrated (possibly a witticism from someone like Hamilton Ellis), in which the caption to a photo of 62678 remarked that its name, Lucky Mucklebackit, sounded like the engine’s motion when in a run-down condition. I got back to base courtesy of another Haymarket ‘A3’, 60037 Hyperion, on a semi-fast Edinburgh–Glasgow Queen Street train.

  NBR ‘D34’ 4-4-0 62487 Glen Arklet at Inverkeithing with a semi-fast from Edinburgh to the Fife coast, 9 July 1958.

  ‘C15’ 4-4-2T 67474 at Craigendoran with the push-pull train to Arrochar & Tarbert, 8 July 1958.

  Edinburgh Waverley on 5 July 1958, with Haymarket ‘A3’ 60043 Brown Jack arriving a few minutes behind the ‘Elizabethan’ with the 8.40am King’s Cross.

  I returned to London a fortnight later, surprisingly bronzed from the unaccustomed sunshine, and decided to start off on the ‘Queen of Scots’ Pullman again, but disappointingly it produced only an Eastfield ‘Standard 5’, 73105, although we were banked up to Cowlairs by North British ‘N15’ 0-6-2T 69181. Bonnie Dundee was on the ‘Heart of Midlothian’, so I chose its relief behind ‘A2’ 60530 Sayajirao to Newcastle, ‘A1’ 60122 Curlew to Grantham (an engine that I subsequently had several runs behind) and, disappointingly, a ‘V2’, 60874, on to King’s Cross.

  I’d left August and September free for a further spell of working at Old Oak, so I was again able to enjoy free tickets, which I utilised to the full with further Saturday trips to Grantham (60112 out, 60115 back) and to Newport (70027 out, 5004 back). I also had an unofficial footplate ride to Swindon behind the current ‘Bristolian’ engine, 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, invited by a driver who’d seen my disappointment when my request for an official cab ride had been turned down by the authorities (who’d put a black mark against me after ‘losing’ the inspector on the Wolverhampton run the previous year).

  Soon enough it was time to give up my ‘priv’ tickets and go back to college again. However, I interrupted my studies and my daily see-saws between Woking and Waterloo, as I was determined to get a run on the weekday ‘Bristolian’, and ‘dieselisation’ of the route was looming. In March 1959, therefore, accompanied by college friend Alistair Wood, who helped me log the journey, I travelled down to Bristol behind the now double-chimney 5084 Reading Abbey (which ran punctually, achieving a top speed of 94mph at Dauntsey), returning on the up ‘Bristolian’ with Bath Road’s 5054 Earl of Ducie, which struggled against a severe side wind and, despite speeds in the upper 80s, was unable to recover time lost by permanent-way slacks and arrived eight minutes late.

  ‘D11/2’ (‘Large Director’) 4-4-0 62677 Edie Ochiltree at Inverkeithing with a stopping train from Edinburgh to Dundee, 9 July 1958.

  Chapter 11

  Weekly season ticket to Reading, 1959/60

  In Chapter 8 I described my experiences as a student undertaking work in my university vacations at Old Oak Common depot during 1957 and 1958. Having lived among the locomotives and men there I was keen to experience them ‘on the road’ and decided to celebrate the end of my second-year exams in June 1959 and Finals the following year by purchasing a weekly season ticket from Paddington to Reading and spending most days travelling to and fro, timing the trains and keeping records — an interesting comparison with my experiences from Woking to Waterloo and not unlike the ‘free days’ I spent going backwards and forwards as described in Chapter 6.

  On Monday 15 June 1959, therefore, I came up to London on the 7.51 from Woking, ‘Lord Nelson’-hauled as usual, and quickly purchased my weekly season, the cost of which I cannot now exactly recall, but I have a feeling it was about 15/- (75p). I was just in time to dash up to the front of platform 2 at Paddington to ascertain that a Landore ‘Castle’ was at the head of the heavy (13 coach) 8.55 to Swansea and West Wales and find myself a corner seat in the front BSK when whistles blew, and 7009 Athelney Castle gave its first few emphatic exhaust beats and drew the long train steadily out past Ranelagh Bridge sidings and on towards Old Oak Common. I knew from my Old Oak experience that there were three Landore turns going down from London in the morning — the 8.50 ‘South Wales Pullman’, the 8.55, which was the back working of the ‘Castle’ on the previous evening’s ‘Pembroke Coast Express’, and the 10.55 down ‘Pembroke Coast Express’, with the engine off the up ‘Pullman’.

  I soon learned that there was a severe speed restriction to 15mph at Hayes because of a bridge rebuilding, and this caused late running in both directions for most of the week, especially in the down direction, as there was no recovery time built into the schedules until Swindon or Westbury was reached. This slowing caught the down trains just as they should have been reaching a reasonable speed to maintain on the level track, and it meant that drivers had either to work their engines hard immediately — and risk damage to the fire before it had properly burned through — or take it easy and lose time. The majority of drivers, I found, took it quietly and relied on time recovery later. We had made a slow start to Southall anyway, taking a little over 14 minutes, and had just reached 61mph when we got signal checks from the ‘Pullman’ as it slowed for the Hayes slack and then ourselves crawled over the suspect bridge at the required 15mph. We got back up to 64mph by Slough but only maintained this speed thereafter and took a full 44 minutes to the Reading stop, against a 40-minute schedule.

  By this time I had long since ceased collecting locomotive numbers, but I did keep records of engines behind which I’d travelled and sought where possible to experience ‘new’ ones. I tended during this week to let some trains go, in the hope of a new loco on the following train, a hope not always fulfilled. I therefore had a fifty-minute wai
t before I decided on my return, which was with an up Weymouth train regularly hauled by a Westbury ‘Hall’. 6955 Lydcott Hall was the motive power that morning and ran with energy when the signalman allowed. We were checked even before we cleared the platform but reached a rousing 75mph by Taplow before Slough brought us down to 15mph, then just reached 63mph again before the Hayes slack. Another acceleration to 66 was cut short at Acton, and a dead stand outside Paddington was the coup de grâce, making us ten minutes late in. Although difficult to calculate, net time was well under schedule — I estimate around 37 minutes for the 36 miles.

  My records show that I did not return to Reading until the 1.18pm Paddington–Bristol. I often used the 11.30 West of England train that week, but the Weymouth would not have pulled in until 11.25, and unless there was a particularly attractive engine on the 11.30 I would have let it go, without a charge across the station. The 11.45 to Worcester did not then stop at Reading, and I’m not sure if the 11.55 South Wales express stopped either that year; it certainly did in 1962, when I did my management training at Old Oak, but I can’t understand why I didn’t take it if so. Of course, there were DMUs to Reading and Oxford, but main-line steam services were not so frequent in those days, and they certainly didn’t stop as often as diesel and electric trains today because of the additional fuel cost and time penalties in stopping heavily loaded trains hauled by steam traction. Anyway, the 1.18 it was. A Bristol engine, 5062 Earl of Shaftesbury, backed onto ten coaches at platform 1, and it looked in good nick, well polished and steam tight. A fine run ensued. We made a fast start, passing Southall in under 12½ minutes at 65mph, and accelerated after the Hayes slack to 72 at Slough and a top speed of 75mph before a punctual Reading stop in under 40 minutes (just over 36 minutes net) — which, I have to say, was one of the few punctual down runs that week.