The Welsh Marches Pullman 20 March 1982

Apologies, more of a "What went on"


The Welsh Marches Pullman 20 March 1982

In true Hollywood tradition, here is the prequel to our recent, and only other, “Welsh Marches”. The train was promoted by SLOA (remember them?) and operated by BR (remember them?). The train (10 coaches) originated in Carlisle and was electrically hauled to Crewe picking up at stations along the WCML; Mrs W and I along with some friends joined at Preston (d 09.21). At Crewe the electric loco was replaced with a diesel (class 40?); 16 minutes allowed (d 10.28)

Off we went to Shrewsbury where the diesel came off and 6201, Princess Elizabeth and her support coach were attached; 15½ minutes allowed, and then off to Hereford. Standing in the vestibules was the accepted norm back then (pre GPS) so that is what we men did whilst the ladies sat and chatted. At Hereford Lizzie was replaced by Stanier Black 5, 5000 and 4930, Hagley Hall; 15 mins allowed – getting quicker! Then down to Newport arrive 14.45.

Not much time to do anything as the locos were quickly detached, watered, turned and we set off back north at 15.30. At Hereford the steam came off and a diesel was attached; 9 mins. Back up to Crewe, diesel off and electric on; 11 mins and back in Preston at 20.16. The southbound run included photo stops at Craven Arms and Hereford, and the northbound a stop at Abergavenny; I am fairly sure that the stops at Craven Arms and Abergavenny took the form of run pasts (my memory is not what it was and I can’t find the photos.) All this was for the second class fare of £14.50.

However, an excellent day turned sour when I went to collect my car from the station car park – it had been stolen and was never recovered. If you know/knew the whereabouts of a Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000, Venetian Red, twin Webers, competition exhaust . . . The events somehow put me off repeating the trip until last week, lightning just might strike twice! We did travel to watch it both before and after, hence my confusion about the run pasts – one did and one didn’t.

It was a route that I had never done behind steam, three locos that I had not travelled behind on the main line so plenty to like. The trip was well planned (Bernard Staite) and a slick operation on the day. Happy memories – well almost; the tickets were relatively cheap but I ended up getting about £500 less for the car than it was worth and it took over two months before I saw any money.