12th March 2005

Pathfinder Tours
Aggregated Syphons

Locos Used (7) 37427 & 59202
Stock Used 5365+5376+5276+5366+5292+17056+1842+3148+3110+3100+6310

Route :
1Z55 : Derby to Brentford
1Z56 : Brentford to Ardingly (via Colnbrook)
1Z57 : Ardingly to Derby

Loco(s)

Route
37427 Derby [P4] - Burton-on-Trent - Wichnor Jn - Tamworth - Water Orton - Park Lane Jn - Sutton Park - Ryecroft Jn - Walsall (Station Avoiding Line) - Bescot - Perry Barr North Jn - (3) - Soho South Jn - Birmingham New Street [P3] - (3) - Stechford - Birmingham International [P5] - Coventry [P2] - Leamington Spa (Up Middle) - Banbury [P3] - Bicester North - Princes Risborough - Greenford West Jn - Greenford South Jn - Drayton Green Jn - Hanwell Jn - Southall Yard (West Loop)
59202 (1) Southall Yard - Brentford (via Down Loop)
37427 (2) Brentford (via Down Loop) - Southall Yard (via West Loop) - West Drayton - Colnbrook
59202 (1) Colnbrook - West Drayton - Acton Main Line - Acton Wells Jn - South West Sidings - Mitre Bridge Jn - Kensington Olympia - Clapham Junction - Balham - Streatham Common - Selhurst - East Croydon - Purley - Redhill - Gatwick Airport - Haywards Heath (4)
37427 (2) (4) Haywards Heath - Gatwick Airport - Redhill - Purley - East Croydon - (5) - Selhust - Streatham Common - (5) - Tulse Hill - Herne Hill - Factory Jn - Kensington Olympia - West London Jn - Acton Wells Jn - Acton Down Goods Line
37427 Acton Down Goods Line - Slough - Slough West (Down Relief to Down Main) - Ruscombe (Down Main to Down Relief) - Reading (Up Main Centre Road) - (via Up Main to MP 36.40, cross to Down Main) - Didcot East Jn - (6) - Didcot Parkway - (6) - Didcot North Jn - Oxford - Banbury [P2] - Leamington Spa (Down Middle) - Coventry [P3] - Birmingham International [P3] - Stechford - Aston - Sutton Coldfield - Lichfield Trent Valley - Wichnor Jn - Burton-on-Trent - Derby [P2]

Notes :
(1) with 37427 on rear.
(2) with 59202 on rear.
(3) Booked route was direct from Aston to Stechford. Diverted owing to "a major power failure in the area".
(4) Train supposed to go to Ardingly but didn't due to paperwork issues.
(5) Booked route was East Croydon - Norwood Junction - Crystal Palace - Tulse Hill. It was however reported that: ...before departing Haywards Heath the driver was informed by the signaller that “Coaching Stock without window bars is not permitted through Crystal Palace Tunnel”, hence the diversion taken.
(6) Timed to go direct Didcot East Jn to North Jn (Station Avoiding Line).
(7) Booked to use 2 x class 37's, but 37669 was found to have "Severe Wheel Flats" the day before the tour.


59202 leads the tour into Haywards Heath (photo: Rob Fraser)

Sources : various including Alan Sheppard (on the train throughout)

Tour Review
(from Janet Cottrell)

This tour was originally scheduled to run last November, but had been postponed due to the dispute between the RMT and EWS. When the new date was announced, I decided to stick with it and use a precious day’s leave up as it was looking like there would not be too many more opportunities for class 37’s on railtours.

It was bright and sunny as we made our way to Banbury to join the train, we arrived in plenty of time only to be told that the tour was running half an hour late. 30 minutes turned out to be more like 20 and I was most surprised when 37427 came into view on it’s own at the head of a rake of 11 coaches. Once on board an announcement was made that 37669 had been failed with defective wheelsets so we would have to “make do” with just the one tractor, there being so few left in service now that there was no chance of another one. The one good thing about all this was that it increased the thrash factor, I’m sure that most people were grateful to whoever was responsible for allowing ‘427 to go out on it’s own.

An entertaining run was had over the Chilterns, apart from a wait at Bicester North for the preceding unit to clear the section, before we took the rarer of the two routes at Drayton Green and went to meet our class 59 in Southall Yard. This turned out to be 59202, one of the three 59/2’s that I needed and the only thing that I would score all day, the three branches all being dud.

Last time I went to Brentford the train had managed to get right to the end, thanks to a local supervisor who went out beforehand and secured the points. No chance this day and age surely, but I was very pleased to be proved wrong when the West Waste sidings appeared next to the window. From my position in the rear coach it was not obvious how far we had gone, but I don’t think the train could have got much further without encroaching onto the A4 road!

The next leg of the journey proved rather raucous despite the low speed on the branch as 37427 now had a dead 59 on the rear to contend with as well as the 11 coaches. There was plenty of time for a breather back in the loop at Southall Yard before a quick sprint down the main line to West Drayton and our next branch to Colnbrook. This I found most interesting as it gave a chance to see the new sidings and equipment that had been recently installed to deal with the construction materials for Heathrow Terminal 5, in fact there was a train in there complete with engine. Here again we treated to full line coverage, right to the gates of the Elf oil sidings – an excellent result.

Time now to let the class 59 do it’s stuff and whisk us towards Brighton, or perhaps trundle would be a better word as we appeared to follow every all stations service going. We arrived at Haywards Heath, the driver changed ends and we waited and waited….. Eventually we were told that we could get out and stretch our legs, something was obviously going rather pear shaped. Needless to say the inevitable happened and everybody was ushered back on board an hour later and the signal cleared for the main line, apparently no paperwork had been issued to authorise a passenger train to visit Ardingly. Personally I find this hard to believe with all the advance planning that is required to run such a train these days, that nobody on the Southern Zone was aware of the need to issue special instructions. Pathfinder have promised to write to everybody with an explanation when it is known – I look forward with interest to hearing the excuses, it must have been especially galling to anybody who needed the line particularly when we had already done the previous two lines to their full extents.

Nothing left to do now except sit back and enjoy the 37 return it’s load to Acton, with 120 odd tons of dead loco on the rear it was equivalent to 14 or 15 coaches, great fun! Further riots were evident when we passed Windmill Bridge Junction and somebody piped up “shouldn’t we have gone down there?”, instead we went down to Streatham Common before turning right. The excuse about Crystal Palace tunnel and coaching stock with window bars does not ring true I’m afraid, been there and done that before, as recently as last November.

We managed to get back to Acton Goods lines without further problems, where 59202 was dropped off and we even left early. It was a bit of a stop – start journey due to engineering possessions en route but we got back to Banbury at the stated time so no complaints on that score.

All in all, an excellent day out apart from the fiasco over Ardingly, hopefully this will not set a trend for the future.

Janet Cottrell

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(From Alan Sheppard)

M.C
[revised]

Location Booked Actual Booked Actual
M.C
0.00
Derby 06.45d 07.08 23.12a 23.13 211.28
4.64 Stenson Jn 06/52 07/14 23/06 23/06 206.44
? North Stafford Jn 06/52 07/15 - ? ?
11.01 Burton-on-Trent 06.58a ~ 07.01d 07.21 ~ 07.23 22.52a ~ 22.55d 22.57 ~ 22.58 200.27
16.44 Wichnor Jn 07/08 07/29 22/45 22/50 194.64
23.72 Tamworth High Level 07/14 07/37
29.53 Kingsbury Jn 07/21 07/43  
33.48 Water Orton 07/24 07/46  
34.09 Water Orton West Jn 07/26 07/47  
34.78 Park Lane Jn 07/28 07/49  
46.67 Ryecroft Jn 07/52 08/05  
47.09 Walsall 07/54 08/06  
47.74 Pleck Jn 07/56 08/07  
48.61 Bescot Stadium 07/58 08/09  
53.18 Perry Barr North Jn 08/02 08.15 ~ 08.17  
[53.48] Perry Barr West Jn DIV 08/18  
[55.47] Soho East Jn DIV 08/22  
[56.04] Soho South Jn DIV 08/23  
[58.01] Birmingham New Street DIV 08/28  
- Alrewas Level Crossing   22/43 ? 193.50
- Lichfield Trent Valley HL Jn   22/38 22/40 189.54
- Lichfield City   22/34 22/24 188.20
- Blake Street   22/23 ? 182.68
- Four Oaks   22/18 ? 180.74
55.40 Aston 08/08 DIV 22/09 22/03 174.48
58.33
[61.66]
Stechford 08/13 08/34 22/03 21/58 171.55
62.66 Birmingham International 08.18a ~ 08.20d 08.39 ~ 08.43 21.55a ~ 21.57d 21.49 ~ 21.51 167.22
73.42 Coventry 08.31a ~ 08.33d 08.55 ~ 08.56 21.43a ~ 21.45d 21.34 ~ 21.36 156.46
? Coventry Park Jn 08/36 08/58 ? ? ?
78.22 Kenilworth 08/41 09/03 21/36 ? 151.66
82.08 Milverton 08/47 09/07 21/17 21/14 148.00
83.14 Leamington Spa 08/53 09/09 21/15 21/12 146.74
94.43 Fenny Compton 09/04 09/22 21/04 ? 135.45
103.23 Banbury 09.12a ~ 09.14d 09.30 ~ 09.32 20.48a ~ 20.55d 20.47 ~ 20.50 126.65
108.27 Aynho Jn 09/20 09/39 20/41 20/41 121.61

 

M.C
[revised]

Location

Booked
Actual
117.29 Bicester North 09/37 09.50 ~ 09.58
135.75 Princes Risborough 09/56 10/18
139.18 Saunderton 10/00 10/22
144.16 High Wycombe 10/10 10/29
153.27 Gerrards Cross 10/23 10/42
158.57 West Ruislip 10/30 10/47
160.38 South Ruislip 10/33 10/50
? Greenford West Jn 10/37 10.55 ~ 10.56
163.41 Greenford South Jn 10/39 10/59
164.79 Drayton Green 10/46 11/03
165.39 Hanwell 10/49 11/04
166.73 Southall East Jn 10/51 11/06
167.51
0.00
Southall Traffic Centre 10L54 ~ 11L20 11.10 ~ 11.30
3.26
0.00
Brentford Town 11.35 ~ 11.45 11.49 ~ 11.55
3.26 Southall Traffic Centre 12*00 ~ 12*39 12.14 ~ 12.42
3.56 Southall West Jn 12/42 12/43
5.13 Heathrow Airport Jn 12/45 12/46
7.16 West Drayton 12*50 ~ 12*53 12.51 ~ 12.53
10.19
0.00
Colnbrook ELF Oil 13.08 ~ 13.18 13.11 ~ 13.23
3.03 West Drayton 13*33 ~ 13*37 13.35 ~ 13.43
5.06 Heathrow Airport Jn 13/41 13.47
7.14 Southall 13/44 13/48
9.59 West Ealing 13/47 13/50
11.25 Acton West 13/51 13/53
12.04 Acton Main Line 13c53 ~ 13c55 13.54 ~ 13.59
12.56 Acton Wells Jn 14/01 14/02
14.12 Willesden, West London Jn 14/03 14/06
14.41 Mitre Bridge Jn 14/07 14/07
14.78 North Pole Jn 14/08 14/08
16.66 Kensington Olympia [P3] 14/11 14/10
19.49 Latchmere Jn 14/21 14/15
20.03 Clapham Junction [P17] 14*24 ~ 14*31 14.17 ~ 14.32
21.78 Balham [P1] 14/37 14/37
23.74 Streatham Common [P1] 14/41 14/40
26.57 Selhurst [P1] 14/45 14/45
27.27 Windmill Bridge Jn 14/50 14.47 ~ 14.49
27.66 East Croydon [P5] 14/54 14/53
28.59 South Croydon [P4] 14/56 14/55
30.67 Purley [P4] 14/59 14/59
31.58 Stoats Nest Jn 15/01 15/00
38.14 Redhill (Down Centre Road) 15/15 15/13
39.03 Earlswood 15/17 15/16
44.00 Gatwick Airport [P3] 15/27 15/27
46.54 Three Bridges [P3] 15/33 15/33
48.61 Balcombe Tunnel Jn 15/43 15.38 ~ 15.40
55.12
0.00
Haywards Heath [P1] 15.50 ~ 15.55 15.50a ~ DIV
2.37
0.00
Ardingly (4) 16.05 ~ 16.35 DIV
2.37
0.00
Haywards Heath [P1] 16.49 ~ 16.54 DIV ~ 16.55d
6.31 Balcombe Tunnel Jn 17/03 17/05
8.38 Three Bridges [P2] 17/06 17/07
11.12 Gatwick Airport [P2] 17/11 17/11
16.09 Earlswood 17/17 17/18
16.78 Redhill (Up Centre Road) 17/21 17/21
23.34 Stoats Nest Jn 17/28 17/30
24.25 Purley [P3] 17/34 17/32
26.33 South Croydon [P3] 17/37 17/36
27.26 East Croydon [P4] 17/40 17/39
27.65 Windmill Bridge Jn 17/42 17/40
28.79 Norwood Junction 17/44 DIV
29.52 Bromley Jn 17/46 DIV
30.38 Crystal Palace 17/49 DIV
32.12 West Norwood 17/53 DIV
[28.37] Selhurst [P2] DIV 17/41
[31.20] Streatham Common [P2] DIV 17/49
32.70
[33.29]
Tulse Hill [P1] 17/56 17/57
33.76 Herne Hill [P1] 18/00 18/00
34.58 Brixton 18/02 18/03
36.05 Factory Jn 18/05 18/06
36.44 Longhedge Jn 18/06 18/06˝
37.29 Latchmere Jn 18/12 18.09 ~ 18.14
40.12 Kensington Olympia [P2] 18c22 ~ 18c28 18.24 ~ 18.25
42.00 North Pole Jn 18/34 18/30
42.37 Mitre Bridge Jn 18/35 18/31
42.66 Willesden, West London Jn 18/43 18/32
44.22 Acton Wells Jn 18/45 18/35
44.74 Acton Down Goods Line 18L50 ~ 19L10 18.44 ~ 18.58
45.53 Acton West 19/15 18/59
49.64 Southall [P3] 19/23 19/08
51.72 Heathrow Airport Jn 19/28 19/12
59.14 Slough [P4] 19/41 19/22
64.77 Maidenhead [P1] 19/47 19/35
71.59 Twyford [P3] 19/53 19/41
76.56 Reading (Up Main) 19/58 19.48 ~ 19.50
93.44 Didcot East Jn 20/14 20/09
[93.58] Didcot Parkway [P3] DIV 20/11
94.43
[94.52]
Didcot North Jn 20/15 20.12 ~ 20.15
101.57 Kennington Jn 20/22 20/23
104.10 Oxford (Down Main) 20/25 20/26
107.01 Wolvercot Jn 20/29 20/28
115.70 Heyford 20/36 20/36

Mileages are as shown in tour brochure and do not take into account the diversions from booked route. Thanks go to Rob Fraser for the adjusted mileages.

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