September 2023 – RailwayWorld.net

XC HST farewell on the Swanage Railway

At 23.35 on Monday, 18 September 2023 an era of main line HST-worked services finally drew to a close when retro-liveried 43007/43008 brought 1E73 from Plymouth into platform 12 at Leeds, just a minute behind schedule, and the curtain came down on HST working by Cross-Country (XC).

But for one final hurrah, a week later (on 26 September 2023) the celebrity set was out one more time, to work a sold-out charter (1Z43) from Leeds (06.35) to Swanage, with a short lunch-time working to Bournemouth and back before returning from Swanage to Leeds (1Z44) at 16.18.

Parliamentary train to Brigg

Five years after my previous visit (blog January 2018) it is time to take a day return trip to North Lincolnshire and spend a couple of hours in a town which for 29½ years only enjoyed a rail service on Saturdays, but since May 2023 has instead had a single train on weekdays only.

While the three trains each day on Saturdays between Sheffield and Cleethorpes did at least allow Brigg residents a day in the Steel City, the current one-train service on Mondays to Fridays is pretty useless to the folk in Brigg, unless they happen to want to make a quick shopping trip to Grimsby or Cleethorpes.

HST Swansong in Somerset

43008 heads 1V50 through Bridgwater – its final scheduled service

Only days before most of the GWR “Castle” sets are stood down, and just a fortnight before the final scheduled XC HST workings, seemed like a good moment to pay my respects by trying to see and photograph most of the two working HST fleets in action.

Picking a day of fine sunny weather (5 September 2023) my plan was to spend time at Taunton, Bridgwater and three other stations on the route to Bristol Temple Meads when, with luck, I would be able to see six of the seven diagrammed GWR sets in action, and both the XC sets.

Semaphores and loco action at Shrewsbury

67012 approaches signal SUB57 with 1V42 from Manchester Piccadilly (12.30) to Cardiff Central

SHREWSBURY remains a must visit location for anyone interested in our signalling heritage, so returning to Shropshire’s county town for the first time in over a year, my challenge this time was to attempt to photograph both semaphores and a variety of loco-hauled workings that were scheduled to pass on 31 August 2023.

Selecting locations on either side of the town, my hope was to be able to photograph Class 66-working of the regular Dee Marsh-Margam freight, Class 67-worked TfW services between Cardiff and Manchester, a Class 37-powered scrap move of ex-Merseyrail units to Sims at Newport, and a steam-hauled special from Woking.