York interlude - waiting for a train

The line up of steam locos rostered for the Scarborough Spa Express in the prep yard at the National Railway Museum. A4 60009 Union of South Africa, Princess Coronation class 6233 Duchess of Sutherland and Black Five 45231 The Sherwood Forester. The previous day I caused the evacuation of the Museum after setting off the smoke alarms whilst raising steam on No 9 in their prep bay. Oops :-) !!

A dull evening on York station while I wait for my train back home. 185130 runs in with a Trans Pennine service, 1P30 1634 Manchester Airport to Middlesborough.

Virgin Voyager 220031 departs York station with 1M95 1717 Newcastle to Birmingham New Street. Arriva now has the Cross Country franchise (2010 Arriva is now owned by German railways DBS).

Tucked under the graceful curving roof of York station's train shed at the south end is 185149 and 158861. The sprinter will work 1B44 1904 York to Blackpool North.

West Coast Railways have two class 47 locos on standby for any failures of the steam locos on the Scarborough Spa Express duties. The pair are 47804 and 47826.

A northbound cross country working runs in with 220030 forming 1E48 1459 Bristol Temple Meads to Newcastle.

DRS type 3 37039 sits at York, the reason for the loco being here was never ascertained. The York Eye at the NRM is in the background.

Back in the mid 1980's when I was a regular here, this train, 1F72 1745 Scarborough to Liverpool LIme Street, would have been worked by an ETH fitted class 45 Peak and a rake of mkI stock. Today it is a three car class 185 Desiro 185111. I know which one I would rather have.

Also back then all Kings Cross to Edinburgh services were worked by HST as the overhead wires were a thing of the future. Today 91107 leads 1S25 1700 Kings Cross to Edinburgh.

Desiro 185141 makes its station stop in York' platform 11 with service 1P52 1704 Manchester Airport to Newcastle.

A busy scene on the west side of the famous station, left to right are 185141, 185115 and 220029. The trains are 1P52 1704 Manchester Airport to Newcastle, 1P61 1750 Middlesborough to Manchester Airport and 9O76 1605 Edinburgh to Bournemouth.

York station was designed by William Peachey and William Prosser and was opened in 1877 for the York and Midland Railway and the Great Northern Railway. The long sweeping curved roof looks superb and below it in bay platform 8 is 150211 which will take out a class 2 service from York to Leeds via Harrogate, 2C59 1913 off

The motive power at the country end of service 1A45 1810 Newcastle to Kings Cross is 91106. The through roads were removed when the line was electrified in 1988.

The 1730 Kings Cross to Edinburgh working, 1S26, pauses at York and the driver stands at the door of his loco 91129. Very unusually there is another loco coupled inside 91128 with its pantograph down so it must have failed and some point.

The gentle sweep of the train shed is matched by the gentle sweep of the track and platform below it. 150275 sits in bay platform 8 shut down.

91129 with 91128 DIT gets away from York. With a maximum of 6,300hp available the added weight of a dead class 91 loco, 84 tonnes, will not have any effect on 91129.

220014 makes its station stop whilst employed on 1M97 1820 Newcastle to Birmingham New Street.

Possibly due to an earlier failure 185149 stands at platform 5 with passengers waiting for the doors to open. It will then go forward to Scarborough.

Not all southbound trains use platform 3, sometimes they are routed over to platform 9. Here 91130 pauses with 1E23 1701 Edinburgh to Kings Cross.

185148 comes off the Scarborough branch with 1F73 1846 Scarborough to Liverpool Lime Street.

A short while previously was a cross country working from Edinburgh to Bournemouth, here is a reverse working with 220017 with 9S89 1346 Bournemouth to Edinburgh. The class 9 headcode is an identifier for the signallers that this is a cross country working.

Despite the freight avoiding lines to the west of the station, a good deal of freight traffic is routed through the platforms. One such working is this 4L79 1545 Wiliton to Felixstowe freightliner with 66539 in charge.

As the light fades and I prepare to get my train home, 185149 gets away for Scarborough. During the pleasant two hours I spent on the station I met TV presenter and archeologist Neil Oliver, he took the piss!!