10th August 1996

33111 Charters
The Multiple Marauder

Locos Used 31271, 31308, 31514, 33030, 33051, 33207 & 47738
Stock Used 99321+99317+99316+99718+99716+99723+99721+99311+99315+99314+99322

Route :
1Z63 : Preston to Kensington Olympia
1Z20 : Kensington Olympia to Kensington Olympia
1Z63 : Kensington Olympia to Preston

Loco(s) Route
31514 Preston - Bolton - Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Cheadle Hulme - Crewe
31308 + 31271 + 31514 Crewe - (via WCML, Trent Valley) - Nuneaton - Coventry - Leamington Spa - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Reading
31308 + 31271 (1) Reading - (via GWML) - Acton Main Line - Acton Wells Jn - Willesden West London Jn - Kensington Olympia
33030 + 33051 + 33207 Kensington Olympia - Clapham Jn - New Kew Jn - Acton Wells Jn - Willesden West London Jn - Camden Road Jn - Lea Jn - Temple Mills East Jn - Copper Mill Jn - Cheshunt - Cambridge - Newmarket - Ipswich - Chelmsford
33030 + 33051 (2) Chelmsford - Ilford - Stratford
33030 + 33051 (2) (3) Stratford - Maryland
33030 + 33051 (2) Maryland - Stratford- Stratford Centre Jn - Camden Road Jn - Willesden West London Jn - Acton Wells Jn - New Kew Jn - Clapham Junction - Kensington Olympia
31271 + 31308 Kensington Olympia - (reverse of outward route) - Crewe
47738 Crewe - (via WCML) (4) - Preston

Notes :
(1) plus 31514, dead in tow after being failed.
(2) plus 33207, dead-in-tow after being failed.
(3) Locos propelling.
(4) Booked route was the reverse of outward from Crewe to Preston.
(5) Two days before the tour, an accident at Watford Junction blocked the WCML, resulting in the tour being diverted Nuneaton - Kensington Olympia (both ways) via Oxford, with consequent delays. After reaching 98 mph before Reading, the effort proved too much for 31514, which was shut down from Reading. 33207 also gave up the ghost after suffering a coolant leak, and was shut down at Chelmsford. Booked loco 31514 having been ditched, 47738 substituted on the final leg from Crewe, running main line instead of via Manchester to regain some time, reducing the deficit from 161 minutes at Crewe to 107 minutes on arrival at Preston.

Sources : Richard Hughes (On the train throughout) & Alan Sheppard

Photo Review


At Kensington Olympia, the 31's are about to come off (photo: Nick Blyth)


33030, 33051 & 33207 at Kensington Olympia (photo: Nick Blyth)


Tour Review
(by Mike Broom)

Humm... An 06.44 departure from Preston with a single ped on a full charter set... Seems like a sensible idea... Mind you I was in a compo, so if we were to get stuck with a failure (85% probability ...) then it'd be reasonably comfortable..

So off we set with 31514 on the front for a crawl (only way to describe it) to Crewe via Manchester.. We did actually get a non-stop run through the through platforms at Manchester Piccadilly, which is a rarity.. Arrival at Crewe was pretty much on time, which surprised most of us. So we awaited the extra pair of 31's (For our triple (x3!!) header to London) And we waited and waited.. eventually they were bolted onto the front of 514 to make a combo of 31308+31271+31514.. We set off 14 late from Crewe, only to grind to a halt at Basford Hall yard. "They've burst!" was one cry.. "Where's Crewes gronk?" was another.. We watched as driver and fitter looked around the 3 locos in a puzzled state.. The fitter got up between the locos and wiggled the multi cables.. Bingo!! We were on the move again.. The plonkers at Crewe had only cocked it up when hooking up the Multiple Working cables.. One of the Ped's wanted to go the other way... :-/

Our timings said we were supposed to go via Wembley to Kenny O. , but due to a nasty incident with a few Dusty Bin's (321's) we couldn't get past Watford.. so across country we went.. Rugby - Coventry - Didcot - Reading.. This led to a reasonably rare working of some 31's on the GW main line... Needless to say our timings had gone to pot totally by this point. However our driver planned on getting to London on-time :) Didcot - Reading a distance of 17.5 miles was covered start - stop in 15.2 minutes... A start stop average of 69mph (not bad for 60mph restricted locos... ) Apparently the magic ton was nearly reached between Pangbourne and Tilehurst... Needless to say 31514 had burst big style by the time we hit Reading.. There was a strong burning smell.. The thing was shut down, and a not to be moved sign slapped on the side.. Smoke was coming out of the engine room of 31514 even when it was shut down... Ooopps...

After a fitter went into 514 with a 6ft crowbar, and isolated a couple of traction motors, we were allowed to carry on to Kenny Olympia (without the help of 514 which by this time was just dead weight..) We hit West London 120 late.. Our southern engines for the day were sat patiently at Kenny O for us.. They were.. 33030 + 33051 + 33207. What no 116??.. Well this was the day's before 116 + 051 became dedicated railtour locos, although 051 was pretty much a regular even then.. We covered a silly roundabout route to head off towards Essex.. (Our route for the day meant we travelled through Willesden Junction FOUR times.. Each time it was straight through, across the mainline, which will probably never happen again, as there were very few trains into Euston because of the Watford crash..)

Newmarket was reached still 2 hours down, were we had a 'photo' stop.. Pretty pointless as all three loco's were off the end of the single platform, with no way of getting alongside the track to photo them. Nearly everybody said we should have carried on to try and gain some time back... Most of the rest of the tour of Anglia region, was missed by me as I caught some Zeds..ZZzzz.. Colchester (uhh where are we?? Ah! I see..) Hmm. Not missed much apparently from what I gathered from those who stayed awake.. Anyway, working our way through suburbia on the way back to Central London was fun.. Our next port of call was Stratford, were we were supposed to pick up a train crew to take us round London. It started of well when we were misrouted through Maryland, and started to head to Liverpool Street. That was halted.. Shame. So we eventually backed up, and crossed to the correct side of Stratford Station.. Here our train crew should have joined us, but no.. we carried on onto the freight curve.. Our crew had to walk from the Station to our train, slowing everything down.. (We'd already lost more time as 33207 had burst en route to London.) when we got back to Kenny O we looked for a red duff to take us back north (well we were expecting it!!) but no, we'd got two-thirds of the ped combo that we came down with.. 31514 was left behind. So with 31271+31308 at the front we left London 137 minutes late.. We passed through Willesden again for the last time, and worked our way round to the GW mainline again. A spirited run back to Crewe followed, (not that anyone cared by now) gaining 30 minutes en route. At Crewe our underpowered friends left us for a big red engine (47738) which took us back to Preston (Via Warrington to gain time) arriving 108 late. Any passengers for Stockport had a bus ride at 1.am from Warrington.. (engineering work had kicked in on the Manchester route stopping us going that way even if we wanted to..) So, all in all a grand day, with a few burst engines, a few storming runs, a few yawns.. A right hotch potch, but almost a classic tour!!

One note, a lot of bashers were well wrecked as this train had a HUGE real ale bar and a lot bailed at Kenny O for a beer festival there.. :)

Mike Broom.

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(by Nigel Benning & Pete Drury)

M.C Location Booked Actual   Booked Actual M.C
0.00 Preston 06.44d ?   00.02a ? 62.23
0.38 Ribble Jn 06/46 ?   ? DIV ?
1.49 Farrington Curve Jn 06/47 ?   23/59 DIV 60.54
5.36 Euxton Jn 06/51 ?   23/54 DIV 56.65
8.50 Chorley 06/55 ?   23/47 DIV 53.53
17.27 Lostock Jn 07/04 ?   23/38 DIV 44.76
20.16 Bolton 07/08 ?   23/34 DIV 42.07
29.07 Salford Cresent 07/23 ?   23/23 DIV 33.16
29.69 Ordsall Lane Jn 07/24 ?   23/14 DIV 32.34
30.40 Deansgate 07/31 ?   23/12 DIV 31.63
30.69 Oxford Road 07/34 ?   23/10 DIV 31.34
31.32 Manchester Piccadilly 07/37 ?   23/08 DIV 30.71
32.10 Ardwick Jn 07/39 ?   23/06 DIV 30.13
33.57 Slade Lane Jn 07/45 ?   23/01 DIV 28.46
36.47 Heaton Norris Jn 07/48 ?   22/58 DIV 25.56
38.22 Stockport 07.50a ~ 07.52d ??.?? ~ 07.52   22.56a ~ 22.57d DIV 25.01
37.44 Edgeley No.1 Jn 07/54 ?   22/54 DIV 24.59
39.43 Cheadle Hulme 07/57 ?   22/51 DIV 22.60
43.38 Wilmslow 08/02 08/02   22/46 DIV 18.65
45.02 Alderley Edge 08/04 ?   22/45 DIV 17.21
57.53 Sandbach 08/20 08/20   22/31 DIV 4.50
61.27 Sydney Bridge 08/27 08/24   22/26 DIV 0.76
- Warrington Bank Quay   DIV 01.23 ~ ??.?? ?
- Weaver Jn   DIV ? ?
62.23
0.00		 Crewe 08L32a ~ 08L45d 08.29 ~ 08.58   22L08a ~ 22L23d 00.55 ~ 01.04 0.00
157.58
1.64 Basford Hall Jn 08/52 09/09   22/05 00/52 155.74
8.06 Madeley 08/57 09/17   21/55 ? 149.52
19.08 Norton Bridge 09/07 09/27   21/46 00/33 138.50
24.23 Stafford No.5 09/14 ?   21/41 ? 133.35
24.37 Stafford 09.15a ~ 09.17d 09.36 ~ 09.37   21.34a~ 21.39d 00.25 ~ 00.27 133.21
30.72 Colwich 09/26 09/45   21/27 ? 126.66
36.29 Armitage 09/36 09/51   21/17 00/11 121.29
41.57 Lichfield Trent Valley 09/40 09/56   21/13 00/06 116.01
47.68 Tamworth Low Level 09/45 10/03   21/08 00/00 109.70
61.12 Nuneaton 09.59a ~ 10.01d 10.16 ~ 10.21   20.54a ~ 20.55d 23.42 ~ 23.45 96.68
75.40 Rugby 10/16 DIV   20/41 DIV 82.18
85.70 Long Buckby 10/26 DIV   20/30 DIV 72.68
94.39 Northampton 10/35 DIV   20/19 DIV 63.19
103.60 Hanslope Jn 10/44 DIV   20/01 DIV 53.78
110.42 Milton Keynes Central 10/51 DIV   19/56 DIV 47.16
113.61 Bletchley 10/55 DIV   19/54 DIV 43.77
122.11 Ledburn Jn 11/05 DIV   19/47 DIV 35.47
128.54 Tring 11/10 DIV   19/42 DIV 29.04
142.72 Watford Junction 11/20 DIV   19/29 DIV 14.66
148.77 Harrow & Wealdstone 11/37 DIV   19/24 DIV 8.61
? Coventry DIV 10.37 ~ 10.49   DIV 23.15 ~ 23.18 ?
? Leamington Spa DIV 11/05   DIV 22/59 ?
? Banbury DIV 11/23   DIV 22/43 ?
? Oxford DIV 11/52   DIV 22/25 ?
? Didcot Parkway DIV 12c04 ~ 12c07   DIV 22c13 ~ 22c14 ?
? Reading DIV 12.23 ~ 13.08   DIV 21/56 ?
? Ealing Broadway DIV 13/43   DIV 21/32 ?
? Acton Wells Jn DIV 13/49   DIV 21/28 ?
155.04 WillesdenWL Jn 11/41 13/52   19/17 21/24 2.54
155.33 Mitre Bridge Jn 11/44 13/53   19/17 21/23 2.25
155.70 North Pole Jn 11/46 13/53   19/15 21/22 1.68
157.58 Kensington Olympia 11L50a 13.59   19L00d 21.15 0.00

 

M.C Location Booked Actual
0.00 Kensington Olympia 12L10d 14.20
2.63 Latchmere Jn 12/19 14/25
3.17 Clapham Junction 12/23 14/30
6.30 Barnes 12/30 14/39
8.57 New Kew Jn 12/36 14/44
9.16 Kew East Jn 12/39 14/45
9.76 South Acton Jn 12/41 14/48
11.62 Acton Wells Jn 12/45 14/51
13.18 Willesden W.L. Jn 12/48 14/55
16.67 Camden Jn 13/02 15/01
17.57 Camden Road Jn 13/05 15/03
18.02 Camden Road East Jn 13/07 15/04
20.45 Dalston Jn 13/12 15/10
23.29 Lea Jn 13/19 15/18
24.07 Temple Mills East Jn 13/23 15/24
26.55 Coppermill Jn 13/29 15/29
32.42 Brimsdown 13/36 15/34
35.62 Cheshunt 13/40 15/37
38.78 Broxbourne 13/43 15/40
40.16 Broxbourne Jn 13/45 15/41
44.40 Harlow Town 13/49 15/44
50.31 Bishops Stortford 13/59 15/52
53.32 Stansted Mountfitchet 14/03 15/55
55.49 Elsenham 14/07 15/57
61.59 Audley End 14/14 16/02
73.07 Shepreth Branch Jn 14/29 16/11
75.56 Cambridge 14/33 16.18 ~ 16.26
76.55 Coldham Lane Jn 14/36 16/30
87.06 Dullingham 14/50 16/49
90.13 Newmarket 14p56a ~ 15p14d 16.54 ~ 17.12
91.36 Chippenham Jn 15/20 17/17
103.76 Bury St. Edmunds 15/40 17/33
116.04 Haughley Jn 16/00 17/49
130.24 Ipswich 16/15 18/05
139.48 Manningtree 16/25 18/14
147.31 Colchester 16/35 18/20
152.34 Marks Tey 16/41 18/26
160.35 Witham 16/51 18/32
169.18 Chelmsford 17/00 18.42 ~ 18.46
178.67 Shenfield 17/12 18/56
185.42 Gidea Park 17/19 19/01
191.55 Ilford 17/25 19/07
193.20 Forest Gate Jn 17/27 ?
193.62 Forest Gate 17/28 ?
? Stratford DIV 19.12 ~ 19.15 [P9]
? Maryland DIV 19.17 ~ 19.19
195.00 Stratford 17/31 19.21 ~ 19.22 [P10]
195.43 Channelsea Jn 17/34 19.25 ~ 19.53
198.40 Dalston Jn 17/44 20/02
201.20 Camden Road East Jn 17/52 20/08
201.45 Camden Road Jn 17/54 ?
202.35 Camden Jn 17/59 20/14
206.04 Willesden H.L. Jn 18/04 20/21
207.40 Acton Wells Jn 18/07 20/24
208.20 South Acton Jn 18/12 20/28
210.06 Kew East Jn 18/14 20/30
210.45 New Kew Jn 18/18 20/32
212.72 Barnes 18/24 20/38
216.05 Clapham Junction 18*30a ~ 18*40d 20/42
216.39 Latchmere Jn 18/44 20/45
219.22 Kensington Olympia 18L50a 20.51

Timings continue in first table.

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