Railtours, Specials and Unusual Workings – Part 1

We welcomed John Day from Ipswich to our May meeting to give an illustrated talk on 40 years of raltours and special and unusual workings. The first tour illustrated was The Broadsman from York to Norwich on 24 July 1983 which utilised 40004. John progressed through the years illustrating numerous tours, with many being shown at locations in East Anglia. A legendary working that was seen was the “Three to the Sea” tour of 2nd May 1997 which took 20064 + 20030 + 20118 from Sheffield to Brighton. Other memorable events included Trainload Coal Motive Power Day on the North Wales line, Inter City Diesel Day on the Midland Mainline, and a Network SouthEast Gala Day in East Anglia on 14th September 1991 which brought exotic combinations of locos and stock such as classes 56 and 59 hauling Class 312s to the Kings Lynn line.

Workings operated in connection with special events included the first electric train to Ipswich in April 1985, the opening of Felixstowe North container terminal in the same year, and the opening of the Bacon Factory Curve at Ipswich.in 2014.

Our thanks to John for illustrating the many tours that he has seen and bringing back some memories.