31601 with 31468 tailing arrives at Bletchley with the 1746 from Bedford on April 1st 1999
An unseasonably warm April afternoon meant it looked like a good evening to sample some more class 31 action on the local branch. The odd hours turn from Bletchley was booked for the 31’s so a packed 321 whizzed me forward from Leighton to a sunny Bletchley.
The chocolate/cream stock plus top and tail Fragonset “goyles” looked superb awaiting departure time on platform 6. A surprise was that 31452 had been swapped for 31468 since the “foodex” press turns a week or so before. At 1900 with a few commuters and small knot of bashers aboard the largely empty train left Bletchley. On departure from Fenny Stratford 468 sounded really rough with a class 37 like growl which grew louder still once clear of the 20mph restriction and onto the double track near “the lake”.
Prior to blowing up, 31468 at Bletchley with the 1900 Bletchley – Bedford, April 1st 1999
The guard joked “the local’s won’t like this noisy un, been like it all afternoon” as we inflicted much of Woburn Sands with a deafening, growling engine sound with the odd puff of white smoke to boot! “Goyles” have come in for much stick from many Bletchley drivers as “overweight and underpowered” though the past history in being Eastern region and their replacing the much liked class 25’s locally hardly helped and most local enthusiasts hardly welcomed “mouldy goyles” replacing “our rats”. So a small chuckle on leaning out of the Mk 1 during our extended stop at Lidlington where the goyle was steaming away merrily as her coolant hit the track bed! Despite this we departed Lidlington with 468 still powering before she was declared a total failure at Stewartby.
I feared a taxi rescue but to the credit of the train crew we were back on the move in 4 minutes with 31601 being driven from the rear with another train crew member (the guard?) aboard the now very silent 31468. The Stewartby Box signalman leant out shouting “dead” as the silent lead loco passed by.
A quick turnround at Bedford saw us leave just a few minutes down with 31601 powering, This was an atmospheric run as dusk was descending into darkness and a whipped up driver was keen to get home. 31601 purred along with a loud blast of that familiar warbling “goyle” sound as we attacked Lidlington bank. A slight early arrival back in Bletchley saw me happy with my runs though the return 2100 working caped. A normal shouted “you bring in new trains and now these break down as well” perhaps she read “ned news” I thought.
On April 3rd 31468 is stabled outside Bletchley depot receiving some maintenance after her failure 2 days earlier.
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