1X36 headcode Gloucester 1963????

[18B]

Would anyone happen to know what the 1X36 headcode on a Hall and a Western in 1963 would have been for? Presumably an express either to or from Paddington?

[keefer]

some sort of special, railtour or excursion train probably

photo of one at Bristol on a blackpool working: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bristolsteam/10361571063/

 

there are a few 1X36 trains on the six bells website: https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/trf/trfindex.htm  but the ones listed for early '60s are not in that area

  

Edited April 6, 2019 by keefer

[The Johnster]

X meant excursion in those days, later replaced by Z for a special working not in the WTT.  As we are talking about Gloucester, presumably Central, and 2 locos are involved, a working from Cheltenham reversing direction to continue to Swindon via Sapperton and probably up line from Swindon suggests itself, but I would be reluctant to commit myself to that idea; it's only a possibility.  We might be talking about a through working from the South Wales direction with a booked loco replacement or a loco failure.

 

The '1' denotes an express passenger train, but not necessarily for Paddington, could be going anywhere.  Under normal circumstances the destination is denoted by the second character letter, X for excursion in this case, and the running number, 63, follows.  Is this a bank holiday?

Edited April 6, 2019 by The Johnster

[The Stationmaster]

 

At that time  'X' was used solely for inter-Regional, excursion, special, or military train and there was only one exception to that (a train conveying a particular sort of passenger or freight trains conveying various exceptional loads).  Intra-Regional special, excursion, and military trains used 'Z' instead of 'X'.

 

Things might have changed a bit later on with the use of 'X' becoming more restrictive but I'm far from sure about that.  'X' was definitely still being used on inter-Regional excursions in the 1970s.

 

A train from Cheltenham to Paddington in those days, and until well into the 1980s, would of course have had an 'A' destination area code for a London Division destination so the trains involved would most likely - as with the Bristol example - have been heading to or beyond the LMR (they might have been coming south instead but it looks as if the code was used for northbound trains).