roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,256
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Post by roythebus on Sept 24, 2011 8:38:44 GMT
Not a figment of my imagination or a wind-up, but many years ago, maybe the early 1980's when my mate BigAl was inspector at South Ken, he called me one night to say he'd just seen BR inter-city coaches passing through South Ken.
He phoned the line controller in disbelief, who indeed confirmed that is what he'd seen. It was apparently a gauging train of Mk2 stock to see it it was clear to run on a railtour round the south of the Circle. I can't remember if he said it was hauled by Sarah or a couple of battery electric locos.
It was found the coach slightly fouled the tunnel top in a few places, so the proposed tour never went ahead. It was proposed to use Mk2 stock as it did not have opening windows that people could lean out of!
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Oracle
In memoriam
RIP 2012
Writing is such sweet sorrow: like heck it is!
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Post by Oracle on Sept 24, 2011 8:59:21 GMT
I think that it was two 'Batteries' that were coupled to two Mk2F coaches. 2Fs had (and correct me here by all means) air conditioning so had closed windows. There was a write-up in Underground News at the time.
My memory fails me as I advance in age but I seem to recall that the stock was borrowed off a stabled set that was not used at weekends, and may have usually been on the Liverpool Street to Norwich run.
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Post by alfie on Sept 24, 2011 9:38:32 GMT
Intercity stock Baker Street to Chesham ?  |
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Post by Dstock7080 on Sept 24, 2011 10:13:23 GMT
It was actually 11 September 1988, when a gauging run was made in preparation for a forthcoming Tour, with 1985 batteries L66 & L67, with a MkI BSK and a MkII TSO between them. This trip visited 'various parts of the District and Circle lines', including Barking and Putney Bridge bay.
The two Tours on 2 October started with L65 & L67 but L65 was swapped during the Tour at Barking with L66. Between them were 5 Gatwick Express MkII coaches (4x standard class, 1x first).
The morning trip started empty, on battery power, from Wimbledon Park depot picking up passengers at Wimbledon pfm8, then continuing via Kingston, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham to Richmond. Shunting to pfm3 the train ran via the District, on current, to Barking. Passengers were detrained while the locos were swapped in Barking sidings.
This Tour then went via Aldgate East, Liverpool Street, Edgware Road, Earl's Court to Wimbledon pfm4.
The afternoon trip worked from Wimbledon to Barking via the District, due to "clearance problems on the Outer rail route", then returning to Richmond via Edgware Road etc. At Richmond direct access to platform3 should've been made - although i remember being on this run and thinking 'i wonder if they have thought about signal GB17?' (this being the home signal to Richmond allowing access to platforms 3-7). Unfortunately platform3 is not 4-rail equipped so the trainstop on GB17 stays up when a proceed aspect to pfm3 is made, to prevent LT trains from getting gapped. The crew of the battery loco had obviously forgotten this and we ended up in a heap outside Richmond cabin after passing a yellow 'proceed' aspect!!
The Tour continued from Richmond pfm3 running on battery power via Twickenham, Strawberry Hill, Kingston ending at Wimbledon.
A fare of only £11.50 was charged for each trip! (although this did allow travel on the rest of the network for the day)
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Post by norbitonflyer on Sept 24, 2011 11:19:07 GMT
2Fs had (and correct me here by all means) air conditioning so had closed windows. Correct - Mk 2d onwards have aircon. The only opening windows are the droplights in the doors - also a feature of the Mk 3s in HSTs. Of course Mk 1 stock sees occasional use on the Met - most recently a couple of weeks ago, in the form of the TC unit. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2011 11:27:04 GMT
The famous citytransportinfo on youtube has footage of this working. I would link it, but I can't access it from my phone.
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Post by alfie on Sept 24, 2011 11:40:48 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2011 12:50:18 GMT
pity we cant have a tour like this again. I would certainly like to do it.
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Post by 21146 on Sept 24, 2011 15:16:37 GMT
pity we cant have a tour like this again. I would certainly like to do it. Indeed. I know we are supposed to be grateful for any form of railtour nowadays but I find it harder and harder to be enthused by the 38TS and Sarah+TC, the same old thing, invariably operated at the far north of the Met. In fact that's why I didn't bother with the Amersham Heritage Day this year. Better that than nothing, yes; but the occasional something different would be welcome. What happened to the idea of running a C Stock tour 'off-piste' which was around a few years' back. Casualty of District Line management changes/voluntary severances I wonder? |
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Post by barrybahamas on Sept 24, 2011 20:50:00 GMT
could they hook up the brakes on the MK2Fs ( so that the battery loco could apply them), and what about the electrical equipment on the MK2Fs (lighting, air conditioning) were they able to take power from the current rails
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Post by Dstock7080 on Sept 24, 2011 20:54:32 GMT
could they hook up the brakes on the MK2Fs ( so that the battery loco could apply them), and what about the electrical equipment on the MK2Fs (lighting, air conditioning) were they able to take power from the current rails The brakes were operated from the battery locos. The car lighting etc. was only provided by their own batteries. |
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,256
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Post by roythebus on Sept 24, 2011 21:01:14 GMT
As Dstock says, the battery locos' air brake system is the "standard" air brake system used throughout most of the world and is compatible. The BR stock uses the running rails to return current from electric train heating, so if connected via a loco jumper (as fitted on the Met locos), this would cause all sorts of signalling problems on the DR which uses the 4th rail as the return.
I suspect the Mk2f's were a bit stuffy with no aircon in the tunnel sections!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2011 22:15:47 GMT
pity we cant have a tour like this again. I would certainly like to do it. Indeed. I know we are supposed to be grateful for any form of railtour nowadays but I find it harder and harder to be enthused by the 38TS and Sarah+TC, the same old thing, invariably operated at the far north of the Met. In fact that's why I didn't bother with the Amersham Heritage Day this year. Better that than nothing, yes; but the occasional something different would be welcome. What happened to the idea of running a C Stock tour 'off-piste' which was around a few years' back. Casualty of District Line management changes/voluntary severances I wonder? I wonder if we could some day see a return of steam on the met? shame as i was very young the last time this event happened. |
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pitdiver
No longer gainfully employed
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Post by pitdiver on Sept 25, 2011 14:35:29 GMT
As a matter of interest although slightly off forum can I ask what is the most unusual railtour or as they used to be called "Merrymaker" anybody has done starting in London. My was to Newport in south Wales from St Pancras.
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castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
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Post by castlebar on Sept 25, 2011 16:31:44 GMT
You have reminded me that BR advertised the "Merrymaker Tour" brand for a short while in the late 70s and early 80s. I still have a handbill/timetable for a Christmas/Merrymaker of that period from S.Ruislip, Denham and stations up to Aylesbury then on up the old G.C. stub to Calvert (the route Undergound stock was delivered and the route that the DMUs took to be serviced at Bletchley), then along the bit of Varsity Line to Bletchley and Milton Keynes. One day I'll find it and give the exact dates, - from memory it was the two or three consecutive Saturdays before Christmas 1980. Merrymaker was definately a B.R. branding at that time.
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slugabed
Zu lang am schnuller.
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Post by slugabed on Sept 25, 2011 17:51:24 GMT
Also,around the same rime,there were a couple of trains from Winslow to Milton Keynes (and Aylesbury?) by the same route,organised by a group in Winslow and advertised as "shopping trips".
Was this the same one as you mentioned,Castlebar?
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pitdiver
No longer gainfully employed
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Post by pitdiver on Sept 25, 2011 19:22:21 GMT
Forgot to add also went once on a private charter from Bowes Park to Blackpool.
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castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
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Post by castlebar on Sept 25, 2011 20:27:18 GMT
@ Slugabed
Quite possibly
I am told that (at least) one of the trips stopped at Winslow on the way there (and back), but also, whoever had nicked an original station sign, had it back on the platform and visible for the train's stops, so photos probably exist. I was also told that on one trip somebody from Denham or GerX actually got OFF at Winslow on the outward journey to MKeynes, and got the train back south on its return!
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Post by Dstock7080 on Sept 25, 2011 21:43:58 GMT
Moderator comment:
Think we need to bring this back to LU Tours or more specifically 'District Inter-City Stock'.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2011 13:16:15 GMT
Whether it was a precursor to a tour or not, main line stock arriving at my underground station station in the middle of the night certainly got me up and running. I was just in the middle of a very nice dream as well. When I told my governor about it the following week he muttered something about reading the engineering notices before passing a very rude comment about my work output overnight.
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