It was February 1986 and British Rail were running a Young Persons Railcard promotion with Flat Fares available across the country. Depending on the distance travelled it was £4, £8 or £12. It would have been rude not to take advantage of the offer and visit some new places. This was effectively freedom of the country at very cheap prices. The same principal would apply with the trip as had been done previously with the Scottish trips. We would go away in 2 day blocks returning home for a good meal, a shower and sleep. We wanted to do the same mix of covering new lines and visiting maintenance depots in search of new numbers.

We all managed to get the week off work and a complex plan was drawn up which involved going to all parts of the UK including Penzance and Thurso including a number of overnight trains. We would again sleep in the seating carriages as we did not want to pay the additional sleeper charge.

The week we had chosen to travel turned out to be extremely cold with every day failing to make it above freezing and snow fall taking place particularly in Scotland.

Saturday 15/02/86

This day was principally a new number day we set off on the first train to London and across to Waterloo. The plan had been to cover a loco hauled to Basingstoke then down to Eastleigh and a trip round the depot. The cross London transfer was a little quicker than planned so to keep warm we went of the first train down to Woking to wait for the train we had planned to catch. We managed trip round the depot and back to the station for the return trip to London again changing at Basingstoke.

The next part of the journey was up to Norwich. During this period the line was being electrified and a temporary timetable was operating which involved electric locos to Ipswich and diesel from Ipswich to Norwich.  We wanted to go to Norwich by diesel before the electrics arrived.

We then came home via Nuneaton and Crewe.

Sunday 16/02/86

Sunday travel from our part of the world was very difficult with no trains before mid afternoon. We decided to drive to Preston in order to travel on a Manchester and Glasgow train. These trains were normally routed via the West Coast but during this timetable the first Sunday train went via the East Coast and also went on the route via Shotts between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central. This was very unusual, the trains were normally routed via Carstairs.

We then came directly home.

Monday 17/02/86

This was by far the most ambitious part of the trip. It was 4 consecutive days travel with 3 overnight trains and involved several depot visits including Penzance and Thurso on the way.

We were heading to Cornwall for two reasons Class 50 have returned to the local trains between Plymouth and Penzance and we all needed 08945 that had resided in Penzance as station pilot for a number of years and this is the only way we were going to see it.

The train we caught at Plymouth was indeed Class 50 hauled we had also worked out that by leaving the train we were on and catching the following train we could ride on a number of 50s in Cornwall. The places we chose this were specially selected to do this. The first was Par and we could have a walk out to St Blazey depot. We didn’t need to go round as we could see all the locos from the approach road. The next train we selected was St Erth as we could go for a trip up the St Ives branch and back between the two trains. It was finally into Penzance to wait for the sleeper. The sleeper was an interesting train as it  was booked to be hauled by 2 Class 50s between Penzance and Plymouth.

Tuesday 18/02/86

Arrived in London off the sleeper and went for a quick tour of the South London Termini ending up at Charing Cross.  The route between Tonbridge and Bo Peep Jn had not been electrified so required diesel traction. At the time  the route was operated by Diesel Electric Multiple Units. One of the units that worked the route 1001 is still in existence and passed for mainline use. These units were superb they were driven by electric motors but the electric was provided by a large English Electric diesel engine in the front and rear carriages. These units were specially built for the route with narrow bodies because when the line was built it had substandard clearances in the tunnels to save money. These were the only units that could work on the route. A batch of narrow bodied Class 33 (33/2) were also constructed for the route. When the line was electrified it was singled in the tunnels to allow standard width rolling stock to be used.

The interior of the vehicles were wooden panelled and based on MkI carriages. We discovered if you went to the toilet approaching a station and the driver had braked harder than normal to make the stop you could not open the toilet door as the panels moved slightly and were trapped. You could only get out once train accelerated away from the station stop. Alighted from the train to West St Leonards and walked out to St Leonards depot.

The weather was very cold with strong winds and you could see the waves crashing in as you looked towards Bexhill. We managed a visit around the depot and back to the station. We had decided to come back on the electric units via Bexhill and East Croydon to Waterloo East. We went across to the mainline station and on to Vauxhall for a trip round Stewarts Lane depot.

It is amazing to look back at this trip and think that we were allowed to visit depots which has 3^rd Rail electrification. We were taken round by a member of staff and were told to step over the rail. This is another thing that modern day health and safety would not allow.

After the depot visit a quick trip to Clapham Jn and briefly back home via London for a shower and warm meal and back to Preston on the last train.

Wednesday 19/02/86

This was going to be the second overnight train in a row, the sleeper to Inverness. The sleeper at this time was still travelling via Mossend Yard during this timetable, where the Fort William portion was detached. We woke to find the weather had turned even more cold and as we progressed north the higher ground in Scotland was covered in snow. The railways in Scotland are prepared for this weather and despite the conditions the trains continued to run on time.

From the earlier trip to Scotland I had one piece of line that had not covered and it is the part from Georgemas Jn to Wick. This was quite difficult at the time as the trains split at Georgemas Jn so could go to one or the other and not both. The situation was complicated slightly by some of the team also needing to go the Thurso and we wanted to ride behind the second engine on the shuttle. We had devised a plan we would go to Thurso then look for a bus to Wick and travel back to direct Inverness.

As it turned out this plan worked and we got back to Wick in time for the return train.

It was then back on the overnight train to Edinburgh. The 3^rd overnight in a row.

Thursday 20/02/86

Steam heat in action 27017 on 17:15 Edinburgh - Dundee 20/02/86

We had come back to Edinburgh for some steam heat action on the Dundee trains. These were still operated by Class 27s. Steam heating involves having a big boiler in the locomotive and pushing steam down the train to heat radiators in the carriages. The locos were built like this so that when the replaced steam they could still heat the train. Scotland was one of the few places in the Britain where this took place and it was working fine on this day despite the bitter cold conditions. It was always an event travelling on a steam heated train in winter as plumes of steam came out between every carriage and  has much more character than plugging in an electrical socket. This practice ceased in Britain the following year. We had a trip to Dundee and Aberdeen and back home.

We had Friday off as was had a trip arranged to Derby Works and Toton for the Saturday.

The end of an exhausting week but very enjoyable.

Traction Log: