Butterly Bulldog tour, August 83

The Butterly Bulldog

DAA “daft as arseholes” Tours Sunday August 14th 1983

Ching £13-95

Power Route

31304} Euston-Bletchley-Weedon-Rugby-Nuneaton

31101}

20153} Nuneaton-Saltley-Dorridge-Hatton N-Stratford

20167}

20167} Stratford-Henley-Shirley-New St

20153}

20077} New St-Castle Donnington-Toton

20178}

37065} Toton-Pye Hill-Ironville

37042}

44004 Ironville-Hammersmith

13809(K) Butterly-Ironville

37065} Ironville-Pye Hill-Toton-Loughborough-Leicester

37042}

31320} Leicester-Bedford-St. Pancras

31315}

The only disappointment on getting tickets for the tour was the loss of the advertised pair of rats from Euston with goyles substituting. A sociable 0915 departure time saw 31304/31101 thrashing up Camden bank followed by a good run down the WCML. At the Southern end of the WCML goyles were still not that common, their only regular work being the ECS unit drags from Ilford to Wolverton works. Passenger haulage was rare.

The rumoured reason for the lack of rats was that they were needed for Rugby-Bletchley drags, 25095/25200 dragging the 0800 Wolves-Euston being one example. A photo stop at Rugby saw the Brum boys advising of even more exotic drag power out of Nuneaton. Do you opt for 20153/20167 on the tour or 37274 on the 1000 Euston-Wolves, or 56002 on the 1100 Euston-Wolves? “The 20’s are bound to be withdrawn first” was the claim, we stayed on, many leapt for the grid. 56002 was to offer few other chances.

20 haulage along unfamiliar track to Stratford-u-Avon, then an hour to phot the power and view the tour buses. The 20’s returned us to New St where the drag men piled on for a second, less ratable pair in 20077/20178. These were attached for a totter to Toton. Class 15 ADB968002 or D8237 was on display with a snowplough at the North end of the depot as were 37065/37042 which although “massive” offered little mileage for the outward run to near Pye Hill and onto the Midland Railway Centre at Ironville. A through BR train onto preserved metals was a first for many on board.

Immaculate green peak D4/44004 Great Gable backed on for a run down the short branch passing old gronk 12077 on Swanwick depot. With just the front 2 of the lengthy 12 coach consist on the short platform at Hammersmith, we all took a while to pile off and phot the green beast. Steam traction in 13809 then shuttled the stock up and down the branch a few times before working us back to Ironville where the real power was reattached. 37042/37065 thrashed us onwards to Leicester passing 20141/20163 on the 1800 Skegness-Derby. A bonus in a new pair of big goyles provided the last thrash of the day down the MML for a St. Pancras arrival just after 10 pm.

“Bulldog” phot spot