For far longer than I'd care to mention, the grubby recesses of my existence have been dedicated to establishing what traction worked the Waverley Route. Obviously this process went warp-speed with photo-sharing sites and this forum literally opening up a new vista of data that, even five years ago, who'd have believed existed out there. Take a bow all you photographers and chroniclers of legend who kept hold of your collections, no matter how fragmented or ill-structured for 40-plus years, in the belief that they would be useful to someone, some day. Their value cannot be overestimated.

Elsewhere I've got the W/B blog running, and even more sporadically the Teviotbank layout gets a look-in, and so do you dear reader, into the twisted shapes that grow in 1:76 from the contortions of my researching this lamented railway. On the New Image Links thread there's energetic discourse about prototype workings, gleaned from - if you're new to all this black magic - you guessed it, found images from anywhere on the net.

So what's the point of all this throat-clearing, well it's simply this: we are nowhere near having a definitive list of what worked over the route and its branches, but we can gradually shade closer to that particular grail. On this blog I plan to launch the process publicly. For no better reason than I can begin to chuck out scraps of paper and random jottings relating to the various home classes.

During the final years of the route, Haymarket assumed the lion's share of traction responsibility for the captive traffic: including freights running between Kingmoor and Millerhill yards, the stopping passenger services (2M52 and 2S52 diagrams) and parcels trains which formed portions at Carlisle. Haymarket locos in the diesel era therefore dominated the regular sightings.

In best trainspotting tradition, it can't be assumed that every loco or DMU allocated to Haymarket (add St Margarets and Leith Central) between 1960 and 1969 worked over the Waverley. What can be done relatively easily though is an analysis class by class of what Control had at its disposal during the Waverley's diesel twilight. And what easier place to start than the venerable EE Type 1

Haymarket had a small allocation of 20s whilst the Waverley Route was open, ten different locos in total, but no more than 8 at any one time. All were reallocated away before the end, Claytons being drafted in to replace them. The days of the Fife coalfield's innate association with triple twenties were some years away.

Happily the fleet is split into 5 disc and tablet-catcher fitted engines, D8028-32, and five late build headcode fitted locos, blue from new D8316-19/23. It is extremely likely that the early ones stayed in GSYP, adding to the alluring symmetry.

Loco by loco:

8028 2/66 - 6/67 4 months

8029 2/66 - 8/67 6 months

8030 2/66 - 6/68 16 months

8031 9/67 - 6/68 9 months

8032 10/66 - 7/68 9 months

8316 5/67 - 5/68 12 months

8317 11/67 - 5/68 6 months

8318 11/67 - 5/68 6 months

8319 1/68 - 5/68 4 months

8323 10/67 - 2/68 4 months

NOTES: 8028-30 from Kittybrewster, from Polmadie (8031), Inverness (8032); to Gateshead (8028/9), Toton (8030-32)

8316-19/23 new to Haymarket, all to Eastfield, 8323 via Polmadie for a couple of weeks.

What my handwritten commentary said:

"Class 20s statistically had a very short window for diagrammed service over the Waverley. 64B had at most 8 locos at any one time in early '68 but lost these at the Summer timetable change. In modelling terms, a pair can be justified, but only just. These would most likely be GSYP 8030 and BFYE 8316."

It's worth noting that the locos were operated singly in this period, unlike the Claytons, and their principal duties were similar to 64B's small allocation of Class 25s: branch freights. They did appear on the Waverley route's northern reaches, diminishingly so south of Newtongrange (Lady Victoria Colliery). It is thought that a handful reached Hawick on the 0450 freight. However, the only recorded examples - on camera at least - worked in via Kingmoor on the Langholm branch freight. There's a possibility these reached Hawick on the Carlisle tripper too. As for an EE Type 1 going all the way, that seems unlikely, unless paired or rescuing another service. We'll have to wait and see...

Next I'll tackle the 64B Seven, the BR-Sulzer Type 2s mentioned above.