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Inspiration for this came the cold at Bromley South Station and that a train I was waiting for was preceeded by the a Thameslink service.
Bold = Haulage, Red = Winner, All others are sightings.
Back in mid 1988 while working in the Clapham Junction Travel Centre, one of the leaflets from Intercity was from their ‘Luxury Trips By Train’ series. My then fiancé said to me “I bet you’d like to do that’. Of course, she was absolutely right!
I popped to Euston a day or so later and booked two tickets for us and two for my mate and his girlfriend. Sadly my mate and his girlfriend broke up permanently about a month later so he returned his tickets for a refund.
On Sunday December 3rd, 1988 my fiancé and I were at London Euston at what seemed like an unholy hour. On the platform a set of Pullman coaching stock sat with a class 86 86422 forming the 1T54 Euston to Carlisle. My fiancé looked amazing in a lovely silky black wrapround dress. Remember this was the 80s and we were 20.
The train departed on time, and headed up the West Coast Main Line passing the likes of Milton Keynes, Crewe, Preston and Oxenholme. On route we were served a lovely breakfast (If I find the wife’s old diaries then she may well have written down our meals).
After 299m 11ch we arrived at Carlisle about five minutes late. We were allowed to alight for a photo opportunity which of course we took (I really need to dig out those photos) and we were then ushered back on to the train for our next leg. Attached at the other end of the was LMS Stanier Class 8F number 48151 which would lead us down and over the Settle to Carlisle line (obviously in reverse). The loco had only recently been released from a heavy restoration at Carnforth that same year.
In typical December fashion the rain began to get heavy. En route we were served a lovely lunch with wine. The trip was lagging a little and at the photo stop point at it was pouring down to the point very few people got off to take photos of the loco.
Off we went again and the our next point of call was Hellifield some 76m 75ch from Carlisle. This is one of those stations that over the years I have heard a lot about and was looking forward to seeing it. Alas the night had drawn in and rain persisted which made any photos impossible. From what I could see it was looking rather shabby.
Onwards after the short stop with a new loco on the from. Class 47 [47612] took our coaching stock for 28m 01ch to Carnforth where it was relieved and 86505 was put on the front. We were running a bit by this point and at Crewe we made an unscheduled stop after just 78m 16ch. This was to remove 86505 from the train and 86254 was put on from the next 158m 05ch. By now we were running quite late. From Carnforth we had evening meal aboard and again more wine. We did arrive at Euston about 65 minutes late but all in all it was a lovely day trip. Good food, lovely traction, great company and a wonderful experience.
What inspired me to write this up after all this time was that the other day I was at Victoria with my wife and she mentioned out trip as we saw the Belmond British Pullman. When we looked up the costs of the trip it was over £400 and that was for only one meal!