Huntigowk!

[Richard Hall]

Fifty years ago today...

 

 

Out of curiosity, does anyone know where D5307 and inspection saloon went, after Bruce McCartney photographed them exiting Whitrope Tunnel?  Did they get as far as Carlisle and come back?  I don't recall seeing any photos of the return leg.

 

Richard

[keefer]

I thought derbysulzers might have something but it's not very helpful:

"On April 1st 5307 with several passenger coaches was noted on the former Waverley Route in the vicinity of Hawick. The train carried BR staff involved with the track lifting operations on this route."

EDIT: a very quick image search shows the inspection saloon going south through Stobs:

 https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/59/19/ 

And on Shankend Viaduct:

https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/59/125/

Edited April 1, 2020 by keefer

[Bill Jamieson]

Given that the LMR and ScR lifted their respective sections independently (working south and north from the regional boundary just south of Riddings Junction), I would have thought this was a Scottish Region jaunt and ventured no further south than the boundary at 84 miles and 1170 yards.

Will alert Bruce regarding this thread and hopefully he will be able to shed more light.

Bill

[62440]

The late Willie McKnight phoned me on the evening of Tuesday 31 March 1970 to say that a train carrying contractors would be running next day.

 

I thought he was leg pulling, but sure enough there was the train at Hawick station and I took some photos of it travelling south. I didn’t hear it come down the line back north. 

 

Fast forward almost 40 years to 2010

 

The report/mention of a Hallade recorder in the railway press comes to light again. 

 

Fast forward almost 50 years to 2019. 

 

I am involved in the disposal of a collection of books: I flipped through these two

 

1). “The History of BR’s NE Region” has a picture of a Hallade trolley in use by John Addyman (his son is Daddyman in RMWeb) - it’s small; I could easily lift it.  I had had visions of a large contraption needing a whole special coach. 

 

2) ... and an eye opener, and maybe a game changer, is in the Oakwood Press book on the Rothbury branch.  It mentions a special run for the engineers’ outing almost a full year after freight, ie complete, closure of the branch. 

 

If I am correct in stating that BR eventually lifted the Hawick line, not contractors, makes me wonder if this April Fool special was really for contractors, or was it a “jolly” - which would have been dynamite if made public? - thus kept disguised by carrying a Hallade trolley.

 

If the BR weekly notice for the period could be found, that might settle the story.  Poor Willie must have heard of it from something - he was employed by BR. 

 

Until the official BR notice is unearthed, I rather like the idea of a “jolly” - not unlike the local Town Council’s yearly jolly to inspect the waterworks.

 

_____00000_____

 

There's a FaceBook page on the Waverley Route and branches, I would have no objection to someone with a FaceBook account cutting and pasting the above.

 

_____00000_____

 

London Midland Region lifted the opposite line from Scottish Region: if this had started by April 1970 it would have made through running impossible.  

 

Also; Longtown still had a freight service until August 1970.  I'm sure the appearance of a loco and coaches from ScRegion would have made a mention in a LMR publication had LMR lifting not started.

 

If there's a Special Traffic Notice surviving, it might once and for all find the purpose of the "Huntiegowk" train.

 

Here is my description in my book:

 

     April Fool’s Day dawned and very sceptically I went to Hawick station, and there it was: a single coach and a locomotive, D5307! A quick enquiry got the answer that it was going further towards Riddings, the limit of Scottish Region.

     After taking a photograph at Hawick station, I drove to Stobs station, settling on the footbridge to wait for the train. On the track to the Hawick side of the bridge there was a man was walking his dog and as he approached, I told him there was a train coming. ‘Huntiegowk!’ he shouted, passing under the footbridge, still on the track, walking towards Shankend.

     About a minute later, I could feel the vibration of the bridge as the approaching train crunched the rust on the track. After photographing the train to the north of the bridge, I turned round to take the photograph on the previous page with the dog-walker scrambling to avoid the train. Once it was past, he returned towards the footbridge, mumbling to me, ‘Ye *****, ye were right!’ He continued his walk with his terrier but this time away from the railway.

     From Stobs, I drove a few miles to watch the train cross Shankend viaduct – memories came flooding back to me of the last night watching the Clayton crossing the viaduct in the darkness towards Hawick.

 

I look forward to any light being shed!

 

Bruce

Edited April 2, 2020 by 62440

[Richard Hall]

Two months late, but finally: