In February 1986, British Rail offered bargain saver fares which enabled the creative enthusiast the chance to travel all around the country for peanuts. I mean, you’d obviously go from Coventry to Thurso via Portsmouth, wouldn’t you? Pip Dunn did…
Loopholes. I’m sure we’ve all exploited them at one time to another. Rail enthusiasts certainly have the knack of doing so, and 40 years ago, just that happened when BR ran its Fantastic February Fares offer.
Let’s face it, not as many people undertake leisure travel in February as they do in, say, August. As the railway moved to sectors, all looking to make themselves accountable, at the start of 1986, BR hit on an idea to generate some extra patronage in an otherwise quiet month with a promotion that, put it this way, was open to interpretation.
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Four decades on, my memory isn’t as good as it was, but basically, BR offered discounted saver ticket fares at just £4, £8 and £12, depending on how much they were to start with.
The loophole, however, was the word ‘via’ – soon, ticket staff were being asked to sell Birmingham NS to Penzance, out via Mallaig and Wick, returning via Brighton and Aberystwyth and other utterly ludicrous journeys that no one in their right mind would take. In fact, if you worded it carefully, you could go out and back ‘via’ all manner of destinations.
It was basically people getting all-line rail rovers for £12, and because the staff neither knew nor cared, they issued the tickets. Outward journeys that would take three or four days alone were followed by the same for return journeys, and the latter also already had a validity of four weeks – with breaks of journeys allowed!
Also, some of these tickets were issued not at ticket offices, but in WH Smith’s travel agents and other places. They were also paper tickets, often written out by staff… some people added additional ‘vias’ on these, and no one noticed. They were, effectively, a licence to print travel!
Before the revolution
Back in February 1986, the Sprinter and Railbus ‘revolution’ (BR’s words, not mine!) was only just beginning, but the first of these horrible trains was mainly used to replace older DMU types on secondary lines and had not really impacted on the loco haulage scene just yet.
Cornwall, the Scottish Highlands, East Anglia, the Pennines, the Home Counties… well, most places actually, still had lots and lots of loco-hauled trains. There was also an abundance of overnight and sleeper trains, and the last steam-heated trains were still running – in Scotland using 27s, 37s and 47s, although the ScR’s ETH 37s were nearly all delivered. Accordingly, across the UK were regular booked passenger work for Class 27s, 31s, 33s, 37s, 45s, 47s, 50s and 73s and a host of AC electric loco types.
I was 16 years old in February 1986, a month shy of my 17th birthday. I was still at school, attempting – rather badly – to study three hard A-levels that I had no interest in whatsoever. There was a half-term week in the middle of February, so to exploit these fares, off I went on my travels with my brother in search of places I’d never before been – namely Thurso. And Romford. Though the latter wasn’t part of any desire to go there!
Compared with others, my ticket was quite tame, just a Coventry to Mallaig via Portsmouth Harbour. Oh… and Wick!
The trip started on Saturday, February 15, boarding 310076 on the 06.19 Coventry-Birmingham NS all stations train. That made 1V62, the 23.45 Glasgow Central-Bristol TM ‘sleeper’ at Birmingham New Street, and 47509 Albion has just replaced the booked 86 that had headed overnight from Scotland.
My brother was a big fan of Class 33s, so day one was to be spent on the Bristol to Portsmouth line, and we started with 33017 on the 10.10 Bristol TM-Portsmouth Harbour. We took this all the way to Bath and waited for the train an hour behind. In that time, I went to an electrical store to see if they’d heat up a Cornish pasty for me in a microwave. Guess what… they wouldn’t!
Behind was 33208 on the 11.10 from Bristol TM, one of the rarer – at the time – slimline 33/2s, and we did that to Eastleigh, the train was being diverted via Chandlers Ford, and then had another hour’s wait for 33037, following on the 12.05 from Bristol TM, which we took through to Portsmouth Harbour. The first part of our outward run to Mallaig was done!
33208 took us back to Eastleigh, and a few short runs with 33043, 33039, then 33023, 33040, 33039 again and 33002 wound us up back at Portsmouth and Southsea to have 33040 back to Southampton.
Now for the first overnight. That was courtesy of 73126 on the 22.53 Weymouth-Waterloo, which we did to London, for 33046 back to Portsmouth and Southsea on the 03.10 departure. Not a great way to get any sleep during the night… in fact, it was an utterly rancid overnight, but we were young and didn’t care. 33113 took us to Basingstoke on the 07.08 Portsmouth-Reading, where I was less than happy to see the 08.25 Salisbury-Waterloo arrive not with its booked Class 50, but 47491 Horwich Enterprise. You can’t win them all! Still, we had to get to London, so the Crewe ETH 47 took us there.
The delights of Romford
There was a reason for being in London that Sunday morning. Some of the EMUs out of Liverpool Street were being dragged and so we were expecting some nice big no-heat locos, with especially high anticipation of some of the rare Stratford 37s.
Indeed, the station was alive with other ‘bashers,’ and the news was good as we were rewarded with 31105/311, 37055/057 and 47277 allocated to various trains and throughout the day we could have rides with them all, although we didn’t enjoy 31105, maybe because we didn’t need it for haulage, and the day saw us getting as far out as the dizzy heights of Romford. We finished on the 17.00 Liverpool St-Shenfield behind 47277 before tubing it back to Waterloo.
By now, we had found out that 47491 had been taken off its diagram and 33209 had taken over and that we could get out to Basingstoke for it. I was rewarded with 50016 Barham on 1V20, the 20.10 Waterloo-Exeter St David’s, out to Basingstoke for the ‘Slim Jim’ back on 1O25, the 18.25 from Exeter.
This move demonstrated the naivety of youth. 1O25 was due in London at 21.51, but being a 33, it was always going to be late, and so it was. Our next train was the 22.40 Euston-Inverness, and despite Waterloo and Euston both being on the same Northern line route, it was going to be tight. I recall running off the tube and literally boarding on the rear guard’s van of 1S25 as the whistle blew. We had made it… just. If we had missed it, the back-up plan was to take the 23.00 to Glasgow Central and hope it was on time at 05.40 to make the 05.50 to Fort William! Anyway, that was academic… we were on our way.
I’m not sure how we found out, but 86236 Josiah Wedgwood was hauling the train; maybe we asked the guard or met someone on board who told us. Either way, we found some seats and tried to sleep. That continued after Mossend Yard, where 47614 replaced the ‘sparky,’ presumably at its booked time of 04.33.
In the Highlands
Arriving at Inverness at 09.20, we had time for breakfast. This wasn’t my first visit to Inverness by any stretch, but all previous visits had seen me get no further west than Achnasheen or north of Lairg.
A month before, the Inverness steam-heat 37s had just come off the duties north of the then town and displaced from those workings; 37114/260-262 were now regularly being used on the Aberdeen route instead of 47s and we were able to see 37114 Dunrobin Castle leave on the 10.32 to Aberdeen.
We, however, were off to Thurso. The eight Inverness 37/4s – 37414-421 – had recently arrived and replaced those 37/0s. Steam-heating was good when it worked but often took an age to get the train up to a decent temperature, boilers were always prone to failures, and there were usually leaking pipes along the train. ETH was much more reliable and consistent.
37419 was on the 10.55 to Kyle of Lochalsh, so we did that to Dingwall and followed up with 37415 on the 11.35 to Wick. In terms of haulage, I’d had 37291 as a Lickey Banker, but it was nice to have a ‘proper’ haulage off it, but 37277, which was now 37415, I’d never had a chance of travelling behind. It was a ‘winner.’
Sadly, it only made it as far as just near Alness, where it failed. The local school kids, obviously having a different half-term to use, hurled abuse and, probably, a few missiles at the train which had broken down right by their playground. We had to wait about two hours until a replacement loco, 37414 – the ex-37287, also another new haulage, which duly pushed us as far as Tain, where it was able to run round, removed 37415, and dump it in a siding before taking over for the rest of the journey. I’m not sure why it didn’t dump 37415 at Invergordon.
This was my first trip north of Lairg on the Far North line, but the delay and short winter days meant I didn’t see too much of the scenery. At Georgemas Junction, 37420 – previously 37297, another Lickey banker for me! – took us to Thurso, and the delay meant getting a bus to Wick was no longer an option. I would have to wait two years before I highlighted that last few miles north of GJ in my rail atlas!
The return to Inverness was at 18.05 from Thurso to join up with the 18.00 Inverness-Wick, obviously with 37414 in charge. This was all in the dark, but on time, so we made the 23.30 to Glasgow QS, which wasn’t a Scottish 47, but Bescot’s 47465! Time to get some kip. At Stirling, the Edinburgh portion was hauled by the equally interloping 47558 Mayflower from Old Oak Common.
A farewell to kings
At Stirling, I parted ways with my brother as he was off to Mallaig. I had decided on a change of plan: to see if I could get a ride with a 27 to Dundee, the Type 2s having been the kings of the ‘Circuit’ – the name given to the Edinburgh-Dundee route by ‘bashers’ – since 1982.
Theoretically, there were six diagrams for 27s a day between the capital and Dundee, but the reality was by this time totally different; you’d be lucky if there were three 27s out at best. Often, there was just one or two, or even… none. Steam-heat 47s were far too common as they had better reliability – both in their engines and boilers!
And so it turned out. I covered the booked 27 turns, and one by one they appeared with 47s, with 47017/018/209 all out, although 47209 was a score for me. No 27s were out, so I decided to take things into my own hands and walked down to Haymarket depot to see if there would be any 27 action at all that day – or if I could suggest some!
Now, I can’t claim to have fixed it. I’d like to think I had, but the foreman told me to watch the 13.15 from Waverley, so I did 47018 back into the capital and waited. At last, the spluttering sound of a 27 could be heard and 27017 dropped on 2J01 – which actually should have been booked for 47018. Maybe HA depot had changed it for me?!
It was also a required one, one of the few steam-heat 27s left in traffic that I needed for haulage – it was a double whammy.
So off I went to Dundee. I’m not sure about the validity of my ticket as such, but I soon realised guards, especially north of the border, just didn’t seem to care. If you had ‘a ticket,’ they usually just thanked you and wandered off, and so it was on this day!
I enjoyed my 27 over the Forth and Tay bridges and on arrival at Dundee, 26023 backed on to shunt the stock. Here, I mysteriously remembered I’d ‘left something in the toilet’ and returned to ‘retrieve it’ and ‘oh dear,’ the train pulled out and I ‘accidentally’ ended up having the 26 on the shunt! You did those things back then and no one cared.
I didn’t know if for sure at the time, but I had a high suspicion that this might be the last Class 27 I would ever have on the main line. As I say, the diagrams were erratic at best and were due to end in May anyway.
27017 backed on for 2J42, the 15.30 to Edinburgh, taking me with it, and I enjoyed it as the dusk settled. It was dark by the time I had to bail off at Haymarket – I couldn’t go to Waverley as I needed to get the 17.00 ‘shove’ over to Glasgow QS to make the 18.20 Oban. That was pushed by 47704 Dunedin, and I made 1Y17 with 37404 Ben Cruachan comfortably. I was able to take that to Arrochar & Tarbet for ‘new’ 37412 heading south on the 18.00 Oban-Glasgow QS. I got off at Dumbarton to wait for the 15.50 Mallaig-Glasgow QS, which was 40 minutes behind and worked by 37402 Oor Wullie, and where I met back up with my brother, who, as planned, had been to Mallaig.
The 37/4 took us into Queen Street where 47465, again, backed on to take us to Mossend Yard, via Stirling, where 86225 Hardwicke took over on what was now the 19.30 Inverness-Euston. Now, the sensible thing would have been to do 1M16 to London, or at least Crewe, and make our way home, but that was, as I say, what sensible people would do. We got off at Carlisle at 02.01!
Hindsight tells me I should have then got on 1S06, the 21.10 Euston-Stranraer, due off just five minutes later as 02.06; if I had, I would have enjoyed 20156 on the pilot turn from Ayr to the Galloway terminus. I can’t remember all these years on if that connection was even made… instead, we got our sleeping bags out and kipped in the thankfully open and very warm waiting room until the morning. Woken up by ‘normal’ passengers coming into the room to wait for their trains, it was time to grab some breakfast and fester some more for the 10.40 to Leeds.
Another failure on the way home
This was because we’d never covered the Settle and Carlisle line, and there was talk of its impending closure, and with just two trains a day, this was a good chance to get a first trip over this scenic line. Instead of the booked Class 47, we had a bonus with a bit of Type 2 power as 31444 was our loco, but at Birkett… it duly failed. It was snowing outside and the heating went off, but we had our sleeping bags, so we got in those and discussed what freight loco might come and rescue us. 40122 from Carlisle, maybe? A 25? A 31, possibly a 37? I’m not sure how the assisting loco was arranged; we were nearly two miles from the nearest signalbox at Kirkby Stephen and, of course, there were no mobiles, and even if there were, I doubt there would have been any reception. I assume the guard walked back to call for help.
Some three hours later, 47588 had been found from somewhere – Holbeck, I assume – so sadly, no big freight loco coming to our aid, though I think deep down, by this point we were actually quite pleased it was a loco that had ETH as it was cold and quite grim outside.
The Crewe-based 47/4 took us to Leeds, and 45142 was on 1M77, the 15.53 Scarborough-Liverpool LS – which was due off Leeds four hours after we should have got to the Yorkshire city! So we joined the Peak and headed west across the Pennines in the dark, going as far as Stalybridge for a single-car DMU, 55005, down to Stockport to join 18.55 Manchester Piccadilly-Paddington, which was worked by 86323 to Birmingham NS and then replaced by 47632 forward, and at Coventry it was finally time to go home and sleep in a proper bed.
I totted up the stats: I’d have haulage behind 45 locos and four multiple units, which was a single Class 26, yes!, a single Class 27, two Class 31s, 11 Class 33s, nine Class 37s, a single Class 45, 15 Class 47s, a single Class 50, a single Class 73 and three Class 86s. Over the five days, I travelled 2497¾ miles, 2465 of them on loco-hauled trains, so less than half a penny per mile!
Remarkably, BR repeated its promotional exercise in 1987 and again in 1988. I didn’t do anything that following year, girlfriend and pubs, but in 1988 I decided to have a more relaxed trips down to Cornwall bashing 50s. What a time to be alive!
