45029 Sheffield 24th August 1986
45029 waits at Sheffield with the Sunday 16.58 York - Birmingham New Street. I was on this from York to Burton-on-Trent as I was on a rover basing myself in York again for five nights. Peaks had effectively finished in Devon and Cornwall in September 1985. My regular bashing of my favourite locos had ground to a halt and I was faced with having to travel long distances at considerable cost with HSTs, 47s or 50s just to get to the Pennines or Midland Main Line to get some predominantly 45/1 mileage. Summer 1986 saw me having just a handful of peak runs Taunton - Paignton - Exeter in May followed by Exeter - Paignton - Taunton in July and Plymouth - Exeter & Paignton - Bristol in August. I would normally have achieved that sort of mileage in one day yet for 1986 it was the entire summer. So I found myself up north on familiar ground and though I enjoyed my peak haulages it just didn't feel right anymore and after my long weekend was over I decided to call it a day with peaks. If you lived in the area there would be another two years chasing the dwindling numbers on less and less trains but I lived too far away now so that was it for me. I would do two more railtours before they ended, an ultra rare 45113 from Euston to Liverpool on a scheduled service and one last fling out of St Pancras.
45029 Sheffield 24th August 1986
45029 waits at Sheffield with the Sunday 16.58 York - Birmingham New Street. I was on this from York to Burton-on-Trent as I was on a rover basing myself in York again for five nights. Peaks had effectively finished in Devon and Cornwall in September 1985. My regular bashing of my favourite locos had ground to a halt and I was faced with having to travel long distances at considerable cost with HSTs, 47s or 50s just to get to the Pennines or Midland Main Line to get some predominantly 45/1 mileage. Summer 1986 saw me having just a handful of peak runs Taunton - Paignton - Exeter in May followed by Exeter - Paignton - Taunton in July and Plymouth - Exeter & Paignton - Bristol in August. I would normally have achieved that sort of mileage in one day yet for 1986 it was the entire summer. So I found myself up north on familiar ground and though I enjoyed my peak haulages it just didn't feel right anymore and after my long weekend was over I decided to call it a day with peaks. If you lived in the area there would be another two years chasing the dwindling numbers on less and less trains but I lived too far away now so that was it for me. I would do two more railtours before they ended, an ultra rare 45113 from Euston to Liverpool on a scheduled service and one last fling out of St Pancras.