Saturday 10 September 2011
This article was last modified on Monday 19 September 2011
Above: As the sun rises at St. Leonards
Depot, motor coach Tunbridge Wells is waiting to begin its
work. Photo by Andy Armitage.
Hastings Diesels Limited’s 50th
public railtour was from Hastings to Butterley (for the Midland
Railway Centre). This was one of the first through
passenger-workings from the national railway network. Our excursion ran
via Clapham Junction and up the Midland Main Line to call at Leicester,
and at Loughborough (for the Great Central
Railway).
This tour enjoyed a healthy turnout of passengers: some perhaps
wishing to sample the High Level Goods Line round the Trent area and to
pass Toton; others wishing to enjoy Hastings Diesels’ on-board
hospitality whilst rumbling through to Derbyshire, itself an unusual
destination for our train.
We set off on time and arrived back at Hastings on time, and arrived
arrived at Swanwick Junction (for the Midland Railway Centre) a few
minutes ahead of time. In the course of the day’s journey our train and
some of our passengers suffered a few minutes’ delay but these were soon
recovered—in spite of the faster timings we had been allocated on this
outing.
Historical data
The train was formed thus: 60118-60501-69337-70262-60529-60116, with motor
coach 60116 Mountfield leading on departure from Hastings.
The publicity leaflet, final timings, and map of the railtour route remain
available.
Videos
Various photographers have taken video-footage depicting this railtour
and have uploaded it to YouTube; the following are links to some
starting-points but do not represent a definitive collection:
Photos
Above: The railtour approaches Clapham
Junction. The Shard can be seen under construction in the
background. Photo by Phil Barnes.
Above: An HST waits alongside the HDL
Midland Pioneer Railtour at Leicester station. This view was captured
from Swain Street bridge.
Above & below: 1001 passes Oakley,
just north of Bedford, as captured through the lens of Ian McDonald.
Above: The Midland Pioneer railtour
shortly after arrival at Swanwick Junction station. Photo by Phil
Barnes.
Above: Three diesel trains at Swanwick
Junction … and not a locomotive in sight! Beside our train is a
first-generation DMU, Class 127, and behind that the only railworthy
preserved Pacer-type Class 141 bus-derived railcar. Photo by
Phil Barnes.
Above: Our train departs for Butterley.
Photo by Phil Barnes.
Above: Preserved diesel trains meet at
Butterley. As our train has its water-tanks refilled, a Diesel
Mechanical Unit (DMU) departs from the adjacent platform. Photo by Andy
Armitage.
Above: Because of the intensive service
being operated that weekend by the Midland Railway Centre, the only
timetable-path through to Butterley for our train would see it routed as
depicted, into a platform currently without pedestrian access—effectively
a siding, for operational purposes. Our passengers were granted use of
our host’s trains to travel to Butterley or even Hammersmith. Photo by
Andy Armitage.
Above: The return leg of the Midland
Pioneer railtour entrains its passengers at Swanwick Junction for the run
back to Hastings. Photo by Phil Barnes.
Above: Robert Stewart captured this
‘long’ view of 1001 approaching on the viaduct which carries the Midland
Main Line over the River Great Ouse, between Sharnbrook and Radwell, just
north of Bedford. See also the next pair of photos.
Above & below: Ian McDonald
positioned himself at Radwell, just south of Sharnbrook Junction, to
capture the return working of our railtour up the Midland Main Line. We
were unexpectedly routed via the Fast Line instead of the booked Slow
Line, hence the train is ducking beneath the rays of afternoon sunshine
in which it would otherwise have bathed. The resulting images are still
picturesque.