June 1984

June was no doubt the time when for one I had exams: O'grades, although I seem to remember then happening in one straight week in May, at the end of which i expired and didn't sit part II of the art exam. My resulting score card was laughable;: 7 As and one E.


Also I started hanging around with a new gang of more academicie swotty types having selected my science subjects and finding them a better laugh than the basher and heavy metal gangs I had hund out with before my "O" grades.


Therefore my bashing was displaced somewhat in a month which was probably very, very large for 40s, 20s and itinerant NB class 37s on the SCr, dooable on a SPTE transcard for £ 4.99! 20 days in fact without bashing and then only some few "top man" emulating days at the end and into July.

20.06.1984 Trannie

1906 Home Arrochar 37175
19:45: Arrochar Home 37149

Like 37013, we would have received the "gen" from someone or seen 149 on the line, making for a nice little evening "result" or line for the book. I think i got 147, 148, 149 and 150 within a couple of months, all having been associated to scottish metals for much of their lives but resolutely freight!

Funnily enough it looks as though I scored ALL the locos which went on to become 37/9s, probably because they were long in the tooth. I wonder where the original power units ended up?


29.06.1984
17:35:00 Glasgow QS Larbert 26046
18:15:00 Larbert Edinburgh Waverley DMU
19:00:00 Edinburgh Waverley Glasgow QS 47705


This would have been a "covering" day as I progressed back up to ned status from having fallen into insect with my duff day in the east.

Given I travelled into Glesga from home at midday or so, I no doubt rejected some rancidity on the 13:50 and 15:50 Carlisle via Dumfries and covered the weekdays only 17:15 having viewed both the "infamous" 1650 Ft Bill and the incoming Oban which would most often go out at 18:20

So a rather pedestrian run up to larbert, and I remember it enough to say it was bloody slow behind a poorly type 2. Even a good example of a 27 would struggle, and it has to be said that it a syphon got signalled often it would clank in and out of the awkward 40-50 miles per hour field diversion, which rendered them a bit pants on various mid speed routes.


26046 was fairly large and this was either a perth, dundee or actually an Inverness, the Aberdeens having gone shove-duff by this time IIRC.



30.06.1984


10:20:00 Glasgow C Carstairs 86225
13:03:00 Carstairs Glasgow Central 81020
1345 Glasgow C Kilmarnock 26040
15:45:00 Kilmarnock Barrhead 25230
17:55:00 Barrhead Kilmarnock 47194
18:45:00 Kilmarnock Glasgow Central 37147
19:29:00 Glasgow QS low level Helensburgh Central 303


This was an interesting variant on the Kilmarnock moves: now it was possible to bail at kilmarnock due to a new timetable, while the trains still stopped at barrhead ( I think this ceased in the winter or 1985 timetable).

Anyhows, having viewed the Carstairs portions, to our chagrin, we did a nice "ROAR" on an 81 back up to the big station and a fairly decent result for rat bashers followed by a MASSIVE 37147.

It was a very hot day and I remember that 37 147 came in with the contents of a cows stomach and some skin left after a collision with one said beast south of Kilmarnock. Perth Man and various neds were out because I believe it had been another Class 25 booked. Instead a very nice line in the book and good track bed for an NB Class 37/1.



01.07.1984

14:49:00 Home Glasgow QS 37171
17:20:00 Glasgow QS Home 37011

Another lovely little score. ED NB thirty sevens in the 120-200 range were effing hard to bag despite the tantalising ETHEL making their use more possible and the wide range of mark I and II trains running out of QS.

However, even in the summer on some colder dusks and dawns, the Oban and Mallaig lines would steam. And also they probably wanted to keep the NBs for frieghts where they were coaxed rather than recieving the usual thrashing to keep the WHL timetables for passengers. ED had enough boilered syphons but they did seem to stick them to the WHL, maybe just to piss us off!