15th March – The “Eric & Ernie” tour

15^th March – The “Eric & Ernie” tour

When the three days of tours was announced back in January, the Sunday was the only day which was appealing (as was the Friday, but I have no holiday left so it was a non-starter), mainly for the novelty of loco haulage via the Harrogate loop, plus some new track in the Leeds area.  It was meant to be a 56 leading but a couple days before hand the 56 was replaced with a 37, bit of a disappointment but these things happen.  Due to timings I would have to bail at Wakefield rather than staying on all the way to Morecambe, but it would hopefully be a good few hours “mini” tour.

The day began with a leisurely start, grabbing lunch from Greggs and breakfast from McDonalds before heading to Doncaster station, where the tour was going from platform 3, and on time the ECS arrived from south of the station.  Winner 47832 would be leading the Mk1 coaches with 37706 on the rear, I took my seat in a lightly loaded coach (this is effectively a positioning move) and the tour set off heading north towards York.  The first bit of unusual track it did was the Selby Canal curve (came off the ECML at Temple Hurst and turned left to join the Leeds – Selby line), and rejoined the ECML at Hambleton Junction.  The tour continued to York where it picked up some more passengers and waited time before heading towards Poppleton where due to the single track ahead, it had to wait for the 170 from Leeds to clear the line first.

37706 at Doncaster

47832 at Doncaster

Onto the single track line, passing all the many stations which have been closed, and many flooded fields, pausing at both Cattal & Hammerton for token exchanges, and again at Knaresborough, before the train continued towards Leeds, it was meant to go via the through line at Harrogate, but there was a 170 parked in the way so instead it went via platform 1, before carrying on towards Leeds.  This is a pretty line until it reaches West Yorkshire and the Leeds suburbs, a bit of a wait outside Leeds waiting for a platform before a quick reversal with 37706 taking charge for the trip towards Woodlesford, passing the Freightliner depot (lots of 70s), and into a goods loop, reversing near Stourton junction (where the loop comes to an end, giving access to a freight terminal).

The 47 was back in charge for the run back towards Leeds, taking the Whitehall curve and reversing beyond Whitehall Road Junction, to go into the Whitehall Road freight yard.  However an issue with signaling meant the train hadn’t cleared the section, blocking the main line towards Huddersfield (oops!)  A quick reversal back onto the main-line and another reversal back onto Whitehall curve to allow a 802 to continue its journey towards Liverpool.  The 37 was in charge for the run to Wakefield Kirkgate, where I alighted from the train, taking a couple photographs of it departing before having a walk towards Wakefield Westgate station.

The tour departs Wakefield

Purely as a time wasting move (also due to wanting to board my train to London at Leeds rather than at Wakefield), I purchased a ticket to Cross Gates, it was the same price as to Leeds, but there was a small potential of a bonus station revisit, assuming I could make a tight connection at Leeds.  The first train was my former foe 91114 leading DVT 82211 for the trip to Leeds, arriving into platform 8 and giving me a small chance as I headed over the footbridge towards platform 14, jumping onto 155347 working the Selby stopper just as the whistle was being blown.  I took this 155 to Cross Gates which clears another West Yorkshire station, and waited for the delayed service back, this was a 158 so I turned it down for there was a stopper from York due less than 10 minutes afterwards.  I was in luck as that stopper from York was winner 195127, not cleared for 10 miles, but gives it a good start.

Voyager at Cross Gates

Back at Leeds, I had time to pop to the shop for dinner before heading towards platform 6 where the LNER service from Harrogate was due.  I noted from the seat reservation levels, the rear 5 coaches were busy but the front 5 were unreserved, so I headed towards the front (also helps at Kings Cross, as less distance to walk).  Winner 800208 was leading winner 800209 (although considering I haven’t had any of the 5 coach 800/2s they were bound to be required!), no seat reservations were in place with announcements from the guard that the rear unit was busy the front unit was quieter so feel free to change units at Doncaster.

Other than that, it was an uneventful run towards London, other than going via the Hertford loop due to engineering works, and catching up with a stopper.  Arrival into Kings Cross was pretty much on time, giving me 40 minutes to head to Waterloo, which was easy  enough (Victoria 11025/11026 followed by Bakerloo 3235/3532, changing at Oxford Circus).  I got a nice seat on the 19:45 service towards Salisbury, with 159002 leading 158883 for the run to Grateley, followed by a walk home.

Reflecting on today, a couple new locos in my book, plus a bit of new track, main highlight was loco haulage via Harrogate, with a small bonus in getting a photograph of Cross Gates.  I should be back in that area mid-April, assuming the country hasn’t been locked down due to the virus.  On that note I shall leave you with this picture (if it loads this week) of a 333 outside Leeds, taken from Whitehall Road sidings.

A 333 near Leeds, taken from Whitehall Road sidings

Looking ahead, my plans have been put on the back burner due to the current virus in the UK, although at the time of writing I'm hoping TrainSplit will do away with the £10 amendment charge to change some advance tickets so I can change some tickets for Liverpool (early April) and a trip to Manchester (again in April), only losing out on a guest house in Blackpool on the Saturday night of that trip [was hoping to do the Dalesrail service to Hellifield].  I will probably still head to Hull this coming weekend, although the Saturday will be a "wing-it" day, but other than that my rail trips will be reduced until the end of the duration.