Saturday 3 October 2009
This article was closed on Friday 9 October 2009
Our preserved train passes beneath semaphore signals
at Worcester Shrub Hill. Photo by Colin Price.
Hastings Diesels Limited’s 40th public railtour was
from Hastings to Worcester. The trip was sold out, and ran to time
except where delayed by other traffic between Cheltenham and
Worcester.
Our outward itinerary was via Kensington Olympia, Reading and
Swindon.
The return route took in the famous
Lickey Incline,
which is believed to be a ‘first’ for a Hastings DEMU. The journey
continued via Birmingham New Street, Banbury, and up the Chiltern Main
Line via High Wycombe. To reach Kensington Olympia, at South Ruislip
we were routed onto the little-used New North Main
Line to Greenford, then via Castle Bar Park, Ealing Broadway, Mitre
Bridge Junction and the West London Line.
Historical data
The train was formed thus: 60118-60501-69337-60529-60116, with motor coach
60118 Tunbridge
Wells leading from Hastings to Worcester and, because of the
route’s circular nature, back again as well.
The publicity leaflet and final timings remain available.
Videos
Footage of this railtour is in abundance on YouTube, and the following
are links to some starting-points:
Photos
The preseved Hastings DEMU approaches Sevenoaks
station (Above), and calls at platform 2 where its Central Door Locking
indicator-lamps are seen illuminated (Below). Photos by
Colin Price.
Above: Our train approaches the end of
the Down Relief line at the site of Challow station, between Didcot and
Swindon. Photo by Andrew Burchett.
Above: Motor coach 60118 Tunbridge
Wells is leading our train into Worcester; it has just negotiated
Norton Junction and passed beneath the M5. Photo by Phil Gosling.
Above: During the three-hour layover in
Worcester, our train was worked to the nearby depot, where Andy Armitage
took this photo.
Above: The DEMU has just been worked from
the depot into the platform at Worcester Shrub Hill to entrain its
passengers for the return journey; the headcode, which should be
displaying 28 (in reference to that trip’s reporting-number
1Z28) has mistakenly been set to 82—a function of
setting them from inside where everything reads back-to-front!
Above: Our train is seen (with correct
headcode) cresting the famous Lickey Incline at Blackwell—another “first”
for our Hastings Diesel Unit. Photo by Phil Gosling.