LUPTS history: railtours |
The
success of the Glasgow Tram tour showed that a student society could achieve as
much as a society with a more general membership.
LUPTS went on to prove this by running four railtours between 1964 and
1976 which were critical, if never financial, successes.
Others may have taken place if circumstances had permitted.
The
first of the four railtours was the ‘Liverpool Suburban’.
An ex LMS 0-6-0 Jinty (47487) and three coaches pulled out of Edge Hill
station at 12:30 on Saturday 13 June 1964 bearing the reporting number 1T90,
returning there at 19:00.
The fare was 19/6 (97½p) or 11/- (55p) for under 16s.
The route included the following stretches of line: Edge Hill circular
goods line, Waterloo tunnel to Riverside MDHB, LNWR Alexandra Dock branch,
Kirkby Estate branch, Aintree Sefton Junction to LYR North Mersey goods,
Walton-on-the-Hill branch to Huskisson CLC goods and LNWR Garston Dock Branch.
The total itinerary was 60 miles and it was the claim of the organisers
that 70% of this was over lines normally closed to regular passenger trains.
Pictures
of the train about to pass over the former LNWR Bootle branch and of 47487
running round its train at Huskisson appear in Paul Anderson’s Illustrated history of Liverpool’s railways.
A picture of the tour at Riverside, albeit not credited to LUPTS, appears
in a 1981 book Forgotten railways: North West England.
The
second tour, the ‘Mersey Docks Rail Tour’, is believed to have been unique.
The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board were anxious not to set a precedent
for such tours and it is thought to have been the only steam hauled tour ever to
take place wholly within the Liverpool Dock Estate.
The tour took place on Saturday 8 May 1965 using the MDHB’s 1904 built
Avonside 0-6-0ST No 1 with the passengers being carried in a rake of open
wagons. The
loco was subsequently preserved and now resides in Liverpool Museum.
The loco and wagons were made available to the Society at no cost but
LUPTS charged a fare of 2/6 (12½p) to cover expenses and insurance.
The following is taken from the itinerary produced for the day:
9.00
a.m.
Assemble Princes Locomotive Shed (situated at the eastern approaches to
the bridge separating Princes Half Tide and Princes Dock: about ½ mile north of
Pier Head) for a brief introduction by the Dock Railway Manager and an
opportunity of comparing steam locomotive No 1 with the latest diesel engine No
42. The
locomotive foreman will be present to answer any questions.
9.30
a.m.
Depart on a northerly course accompanied by a Railway Inspector,
following the main dock lines to East Huskisson No 1, where a brief look at
North No 1 and South No 3 Huskisson Branch Dock Sheds may be possible.
Thence via South No 1 Canada to West Canada Dock and a view of West
Brocklebank Shed and Langton River Entrance.
10.15
a.m.
Continue via North No 3 Canada Branch and the main dock lines to the
Gladstone System.
10.45
a.m.
Return via North No 3 Alexandra Branch, West Alexandra (if time permits,
a short look at West Langton Dock), South No 1 Alexandra Branch, following the
main dock lines to Princes Locomotive Shed (arriving at approximately 11.45
a.m.)
A
picture by Ian Holt of the tour arriving back at Princes Dock appears in Ian
Allan’s Industrial steam album.
A short film sequence, taken from a precarious vantage point by John
Ryan’s father, appears in Online Video’s The
Liverpool Overhead Railway.
LUPTS
did try and repeat this tour some years later but the MDHB turned down the
request.
As a gesture, the MDHB gave LUPTS the worksplate from No 26 and the bell
from No 30.
Again the problem of an ever changing membership presented itself and it
was later decided to donate these two mementoes to the Museum as well.
This took place during a LUPTS visit to the Museum’s Land Transport
Gallery on Wednesday 11 February 1970.
The two items are still in the possession of the Museum but currently not
on public display.
Returning
to railtours which did take place, the most ambitious one was ‘The Wirral and
Mersey Special’ which took place on Saturday 22 October 1966.
By this time, steam had only about two years to run and the tour gave
many people their last opportunity to be hauled by particular types of
locomotive on particular routes.
An article and map by Alan Atkinson on this tour appeared in the 1976
LUPTS Journal.
The
tour began at Liverpool Riverside at 09:00 with ex LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T 42233 at
its head deputising for the advertised Stanier equivalent at the head of an
eight coach rake.
From Riverside it was double headed by Stanier Black 5 45015 to give
assistance up the severe incline through the Waterloo tunnel, the Black 5 coming
off at Edge Hill.
It is a sign of the times that, many years later, it was possible to park
a LUPTS bus tour in almost exactly the same location, by then part of the
Wavertree Technology Park, as the locomotive change had taken place.
From the Edge Hill Gridiron, the railtour then turned off onto the Bootle
branch to Bootle Junction, along the Southport line as far as Marsh Lane
Junction continuing to Rainford Junction where the first of a number of
photographic stops took place.
Progressing
from Rainford, the tour then passed through Wigan Wallgate, Tyldesley and
Patricroft, before reaching Manchester Exchange.
The advertised traction from thereon was an ex LMS Jubilee but, again,
circumstances on the day dictated otherwise and Stockport Edgeley provided
Britannia 70004 ‘William Shakespeare’ instead.
Although by that time it was possible to believe that BR steam livery was
dirt and rust, the Brit had been tidied up at short notice and cut an impressive
sight at the head of the train.
70004
took the train through the adjacent Manchester Victoria, Guide Bridge, Stockport
Tiviot Dale, Altrincham and Knutsford before stopping at Northwich to take on
water. The
passengers took the opportunity to visit the steam shed.
On leaving Northwich, the train continued through Delamere, and another
photo stop, Mouldsworth, where it diverted onto the single line goods only line
to Helsby, and onto the Birkenhead Joint line.
On
reaching Green Lane Junction, just north of Rock Ferry, there was the final
change of locomotive.
The Britannia pulled onto Birkenhead shed to be replaced by Hughes Fowler
‘Crab’ 2-6-0 42942, by that time the only locomotive of its class still in
service.
The engine looked pristine due to the efforts of a LUPTS working party
which had been to Birkenhead the previous day.
Polishing had been so thorough that the letters LMS could just about be
seen beneath several layers of paint on the side of the tender.
A picture of this locomotive, being cleaned by a group of enthusiasts,
accompanies a piece about the locomotive’s end of life use on railtours in
Kenn Pearce’s Shed side on Merseyside.
The
Crab took the train north onto the goods only line down to Birkenhead docks,
along the dock road to Bidston and onto the ex GC line to Wrexham.
The final photo stop of the day was at Neston North from where the train
continued to Dee Marsh Junction and Chester, where water was taken on at Chester
Liverpool Road, a station which had closed in 1951.
From Chester the train travelled to Runcorn via Mickle Trafford and
Halton Junction, providing a contrast with the then brand new 25kV electric
trains which were operating the bulk of scheduled services at that time.
Journey’s end was past Speke Junction engine shed and its lines of
derelict steam locomotives and onto the subsequently electrified Gateacre line
and into Liverpool Central High Level.
It
had been hoped that this tour would have been the last steam hauled train into
Central but this was not to be.
However, the tour was viewed as a success and as one of the best tours
ever by many of the passengers.
The finances were not viewed in quite the same light.
Slightly lighter loadings than planned meant that the tour ran at a loss
of £76/13/1 (£76.65½) and put LUPTS into financial difficulties for a number
of years.
Ciné film of the train, by Brian Faragher and John Ryan has recently
been issued on the Online Video Steam on
the Wirral and more is due to appear on Steam
around Liverpool which is currently in preparation.
The
financial failure did not however dampen the enthusiasm of those involved with
organising ‘The Wirral and Mersey Special’ and they began to organise an
even more ambitious event, the ‘Caledonian’.
The date planned was Saturday 11 March 1967 and a display advert appeared
in the February 1967 edition of Railway
Magazine.
The advert promised an “A2 or V2 from Liverpool, 70004 William
Shakespeare from Carlisle” with the train running on high speed timings over
both Shap and Ais Gill and being composed of six LMS coaches plus Buffet car.
It was promised that extra coaches may have been added if demand
warranted and the Committee were of the opinion that this would have been the
case. Unfortunately,
the tour fell foul of a railtour ban introduced by BR and never took place.
Even so, in the tradition of LUPTS railtours, the tour that never was
cost LUPTS the sum of £20/19/6 (£20.97½) in cancellation costs.
A
number of events in the general area of railtour activity took place over the
next few years, including a brake van trip between Woodley Junction and Garston
with Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48684 at the head of a 16 wagon coal train and the hiring
of a special train on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway one Friday
afternoon in June 1969.
On 2 December 1970, a small group travelled from Edge Hill to Huskisson
Dock in the brake van of a train hauled by type 2 D7648.
On arrival at Huskisson, the party adorned the front of the loco with the
LUPTS TOUR headboard.
This is believed to have been the first time the headboard, made by Peter
Eastham from a scrap one from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, was used.
Originally black with white lettering, it was briefly repainted blue and
gold but later reverted to its original livery.
It occasionally still sees service when appropriate.
It
was to be ten years after ‘The Wirral and Mersey Special’ that LUPTS finally
returned to the mainline with a charter special - ‘The Mancunian’.
The full, unexpurgated story of the planning of this event was told by
Jonathan Cadwallader in the 1978 LUPTS journal.
A
newly elected committee of John Forrester, Dave Ventry and Jonathan approached
their task with boundless enthusiasm (Jonathan’s words) when they took office
in May 1975 and an approach was made to British Rail’s Liverpool Division to
get some idea of the cost of chartering a train.
Early plans were as ambitious as anything attempted in the 1960s - a
Class 50 (one of the few remaining in the area) and a rake of blue and grey
coaches to Tyseley and Stratford-on-Avon was one of the early suggestions.
The costs of doing something on this scale proved too much of a risk and
so the plan was scaled down to using a four car dmu and limiting the tour to the
north west of England.
The
date chosen was Saturday 28 February 1976, an uncommon time of year for rail
tours but free from competition from others.
A selling point was to be the fact that it was thought that it would be
the last special train out of Liverpool Exchange before it closed the following
July. As
with the last steam train into Central, LUPTS was to be thwarted, as BR ran a
special train out of Exchange on the very last day.
LUPTS can at least claim to have run the last dmu special.
Advertising
was extensive, booking forms being sent out to all known former LUPTS members,
friends of the Society and other local transport groups.
A press release was prepared and picked up by well read papers such as
the Liverpool Echo and the Bootle
Times and adverts were placed in the railway press.
Unfortunately, the response was disappointing and, by Christmas 1975,
there was a real possibility that the tour would not take place.
With
only a few weeks to go, a meeting was held with BR management and a revised plan
was made.
The tour was now to use a 2 car dmu which brought the finances slightly,
but not much, closer to break even.
The Guild of Undergraduates provided an assurance that any losses would
be covered so the tour was definitely on although, as with ‘The Wirral and
Mersey Special’, the Society was going to have to carry a significant deficit
forward to the following year.
The
tour, with reporting number 1L75, left Liverpool Exchange at 08:37 and also
picked up at Wigan Wallgate and Manchester Victoria.
A clockwise trip around the Oldham loop followed, with approximately 80
passengers enjoying the vista of soot blackened terraces and mill chimneys.
On its return to Manchester Victoria, the dmu (M52041 and M50933)
undertook a shunting manoeuvre to gain access to one of the platforms of the
Bury line, now part of Metrolink.
The tour passed the former steam shed at Bury before reversing in Bury
Bolton Street station, now home to the East Lancashire Railway.
The
tour returned to Manchester and then headed east up Miles Platting bank towards
Stalybridge.
Reversal there produced a surprise as the dmu proceeded via OA&GB,
Ashton Moss South, Crowthorne and Denton Junctions to reach Stockport and
Alderley Edge.
It therefore avoided Guide Bridge, a route not expected by the LUPTS
committee or the relief guard who was waiting on the platform.
He finally caught up with the train at Manchester Piccadilly.
‘The
Mancunian’ then travelled over the former Great Central route as far as
Dinting.
The now closed Dinting Railway Centre had steamed a small industrial tank
engine especially for the occasion, admission being included in the tour fare.
The dmu spent an hour or so in Mottram Yard before returning to take the
participants back to Guide Bridge via Glossop and Hadfield.
Yet another reversal took the tour via Hyde Central and Marple Wharf
Junction to Rose Hill Marple.
The guard on this section remarked favourably on the local scenery,
adding that he had never been on the line before.
Manchester
Piccadilly was revisited via Bredbury before a return was made to Stockport.
At Edgeley Junction, 1L75 took what was at the time the freight only line
via Northenden and Skelton Junction to Altrincham.
A quick run along the former MSJ&A line followed to bring the tour
into Manchester Oxford Road for a final reversal.
Return to Liverpool was via the freight only line to Ordsall Lane
Junction and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway route, setting down at
Earlestown before arrival at Lime Street.
The
tour lost the sum of £181.64½, an enormous amount when viewed in the context
of LUPTS’ Guild grant at that time of £90.
Judicious restructuring of finances and peripheral sales of refreshments
and journals reduced this loss somewhat but, even at the reduced level, it was
something which couldn’t easily be repeated.
In
later years a special train ran on the Welshpool and Llanfair to celebrate
LUPTS’ 25th anniversary in 1983 but LUPTS never did run another on the main
line. A
“serious” suggestion made (it’s not recorded by whom but Jonathan
Cadwallader is certain it was Dave Ventry) at the 500th OGM in October 1983,
that LUPTS run a “celebration ‘Mancunian’ relives tour”, was not
apparently pursued further.
Last updated: 04 March 2002
© Charles Roberts/LUPTS 2001/2002
Page hosted by www.lupts.org.uk