For the last nine years, the Railway Touring Company have operated a multi-day railway tour covering the a large part of the Country. Although primarily steam hauled, due to the non-availability of certain locomotives, on all but two of the days, a diesel was attached to the rear and often gave considerable assistance.
Day 1: Tuesday 26th April 2016. The train started from London Victoria station and ran via Taunton to Exeter and Plymouth, hauled throughout by ex-LMS ‘Royal Scot’ Class 4-6-0 46100 ‘Royal Scot’, recently restored to mainline working. The train had been scheduled to be double-headed with ex-LMS Class 5 4-6-0, but it had suffered a mechanical failure a few days beforehand. Due to lack of facilities west of Plymouth to turn the locomotive, the train was worked on to Penzance by diesel alone, 46100 being subsequently turned at Plymouth and working down light engine tender-first to Plymouth ready to haul the train on Day 2.
Day 2: Wednesday 27th April 2016. The train was worked from Penzance via Plymouth and Exeter to Bristol by 46100 ‘Royal Scot’ throughout.
Day 3: Thursday 28th April 2016. This leg of the trip used ex-LMS Class 5 4-6-0 44871 from Bristol via Hereford, Shrewsbury, Crewe, Preston and Carnforth to the overnight stop at Grange-over-Sands. All stops had been pulled out to get the engine repaired, and it was able to run down to Bristol on the Wednesday evening. Throughout much of the rest of the trip, 44871 had been due to be assisted by ‘classmate’ 45407, but this too was under repair and despite all efforts could not be made ready in time. Consequently, the need again for a diesel on the rear.
Day 4: Friday 29th April 2016. Whilst 44871 ran light engine to Edinburgh, the train was hauled from Grange-over-Sands to Edinburgh via Whitehaven, Carlisle and Beattock by ex-LMS ‘Jubilee’ Class 4-6-0 45699 ‘Galatea’, again with diesel on the rear.
Day 5: Saturday 30th April 2016. 44871 has taken over again to take the train from Edinburgh to Inverness, via Perth and the former Highland mainline, to spend the next three nights.
Day 6: Sunday 1st May 2016. A day trip from Inverness to Thurso, the most northerly railhead in Britain. 44871, with the diesel on the rear, hauled the train north from Inverness to Georgemas Junction, where the line splits between Wick and Thurso. Because of the layout of the junction, the short run to Thurso was diesel hauled, but steam hauled back to Georgemas. The train returned to Inverness hauled by the diesel, with 44871 on the back.
Day 7: Monday 2nd May 2016. With a shorter train and weight restrictions for the diesel, 44871 made the return run from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh unassisted.
Day 8: Tuesday 3rd May 2016. The train is returned from Inverness to Oxenholme, whence it was more convenient to transfer the passengers to Grange-over-Sands by bus rather than the train making a reversal at Carnforth. 44871 hauled the train to Glasgow, where 45699 ‘Galatea’ worked it on to Oxenholme.
Day 9: Wednesday 4th May 2016. On the final day of the trip, the train returned from Grange-over-Sands to London, Kings Cross. Ex-LMS ‘Jubilee’ Class 4-6-0 45690 ‘Leander’ worked via Hellifield and Leeds to Doncaster, where diesel took over for the run down the East Coast mainline to London.
Laurie Golden