Class 121 Units Working in Multiple/with Trailers

[The Stationmaster]

Anyway - don't know BUT I guess via Maidenhead. The reason for my guess is that in 65-66 there was a 17.33 Padd - High Wycombe via Bourne End, formed 2 3-car sets and drive end trailer, and an 18.23 Padd - High Wycombe via Maidenhead, formed 2 3-car sets. Quite why one was described as via Bourne End and one as via Maidenhead is one of those fascinations but I put it down to Chris's first law of government, which states that things are not the same because they don't have to be.

Chris

Having now looked at the 1965-66 timetable it did indeed go over the Wycombe branch and via Maidenhead. Clearly quite a change since 1963-64 Winter I quoted above as not only had the 07.22 High Wycombe to Paddington moved onto the branch but in 1965-66 there was also an 07.22 High Wycombe - Marylebone although it called at virtually all stations up the Joint Line.

 

Hard to recall now but the train service in the 1960s was subject to a lot of changes especially on the London Division after the debacle of the Fiennes' 'Hogsnorton' episode.

 

 

Edit - correct spelling of Gerry Fiennes name, oops.

[Gwiwer]

In partial response to the question of "via Maidenhead" many workings on the former Maidenhead - High Wycombe line actually terminated at Bourne End no matter which direction they came from. Through workings existed but were confined to peak hours. By the end of service on the through route the up trains were the 07.22, 07.52, 08.32, 17.15 and 18.22 High Wycombe - Paddington (Mondays - Fridays) and at 07.00 Saturdays. Down weekday trains were the 06.15 Slough - High Wycombe and 17.50 Paddington - High Wycombe with an 05.27 Paddington - High Wycombe on Saturdays. (Local area timetable dated February 1970).

 

The Met-Camm class 101 trailers ran in certain class 117 sets strengthening them to 4-car but at a loss of power : weight ratio and I believe these were confined ( officially at least) to specific rosters where a little more seating was required and a little extra time was allowed accordingly.

 

Back to the OP and the class 121 working restrictions have been given above and it remains for me to add that the Ealing Broadway - Greenford shuttle (just one 2-car set in those days and not working into Paddington) was normally a bubblecar+driving trailer formation as was a set which performed a few odd fill-in turns including an unusual Ealing Broadway - West Drayton service which ran for a few years. The Staines West and Uxbridge Vine Street branches were (at least in their latter days when I used them) only ever a single car, Windsor was likewise a single car much of the time but with a drive end trailer added at times. I don't have records going back far enough but that might have been to help with peak or weekend loadings to and from Windsor.

 

My memory of the other Thames branches is that both Henley and the Maidenhead - Bourne End service could be relied upon to produce a 2-car formation while the Marlow "Donkey" was a single bubblecar. Peak trains to and from London were often much longer due to the heavy commuter traffic these branches generated.

 

Moving west I cannot recall having seen a drive-end trailer in the West Country at any time. The gradients are challenging and on single lines with important main line connections timetables have to be kept and suitable power provided. Gunnislake - once it became the only operation out of Plymouth on the former LSWR route - was always a power twin due to the steep gradients and sharp curves beyond Bere Alston. Looe was often a brace of 122 bubblecars but sometimes a 3-car 120 in summer to manage the loadings. That got interesting as the new Looe station cannot quite accommodate a 3-car set!

 

Newquay has been anything from a single car to the full locomotive-hauled direct trains loading to at least 12 Mk1 coaches but for most of the time 2 bubblecars coupled were provided or a power twin from one of the other classes. Falmouth was usually good for a 3-car set being perhaps the busiest true Cornish branch (Gunnislake is often quoted as the busiest branch year-round but most of it isn't in Cornwall) and again had a through train to Paddington until quite late; 1973 IIRC.

 

St. Ives is possibly the branch with the most seasonality of traffic. Two car trains were the norm though single cars certainly appeared in winter. The two were typically a power twin rather than two bubblecars although that combination did appear. As the summer came in so more cars were added until 5 or occasionally 6 could be found tripping the holidaymakers those 12 minutes over the cliffs. Anything available seemed to be used whether suburban style or cross-country units and sometimes a pairing of both.

 

But no drive-end trailers. And in Cornwall fewer 121 bubblecars as the allocation there was mostly of the class 122 type.

[The Stationmaster]

Drive End Trailers (DETs) were quite rare on the Henley branch and not part of the regular two unit timetable although they sometimes appeared (mainly on Saturdays). The service was originally dieselised with a pair of Gloucester cars (later Class 122) and went over to Pressed Steel cars (Class 121) when they became available. The only time anything other than SPCs were booked to be used was at Regatta time when 3 car units were drafted in for the latter part of the week and a usually a 6 car set on the Saturday.

 

Beyond that the only units regularly employed on the branch before the arrival of the appalling Park Royal (?) power twins (which fortunately didn't last long) were the Swindon Inter-City sets which replaced loco hauled stock on the two through London trains (2 up in the morning and back in the evening).

[Gwiwer]

Beyond that the only units regularly employed on the branch before the arrival of the appalling Park Royal (?) power twins (which fortunately didn't last long) were the Swindon Inter-City sets which replaced loco hauled stock on the two through London trains (2 up in the morning and back in the evening).

 

I well recall the furore which ensued when the buffet cars were taken out of use and, shortly afterwards, the IC sets were replaced on a regular (whether rostered or not) basis by a pair of 117s. The peak Paddington - Bourne End "club" trains similarly produced IC sets for a short while IIRC before going over to pairs of 117s sometimes with a SPC as additional capacity. We were on a boating holiday one year when I was quite surprised to count "7" as one of those trains ran past.

[Xerces Fobe2]

Drive End Trailers (DETs) were quite rare on the Henley branch and not part of the regular two unit timetable although they sometimes appeared (mainly on Saturdays). The service was originally dieselised with a pair of Gloucester cars (later Class 122) and went over to Pressed Steel cars (Class 121) when they became available. The only time anything other than SPCs were booked to be used was at Regatta time when 3 car units were drafted in for the latter part of the week and a usually a 6 car set on the Saturday.

 

Beyond that the only units regularly employed on the branch before the arrival of the appalling Park Royal (?) power twins (which fortunately didn't last long) were the Swindon Inter-City sets which replaced loco hauled stock on the two through London trains (2 up in the morning and back in the evening).

 

 

 

The Park Royal Class 103's were power trailers apart from P200 which was formed after their transfer to Laira, from 2 Class 103 MBS's

 

XF

[Karhedron]

The peak Paddington - Bourne End "club" trains similarly produced IC sets for a short while IIRC before going over to pairs of 117s sometimes with a SPC as additional capacity.

That is an interesting one, I have never heard of the IC sets going up the branch to Bourne End. I don't suppose you know of any photos?

[Xerces Fobe2]

That is an interesting one, I have never heard of the IC sets going up the branch to Bourne End. I don't suppose you know of any photos?

 

Living in Maidenhead I will have a word with a couple of friends to see if they have any photos of IC sets (which I assume are Class 123 Swindon units) on the branch.

 

XF

[Gwiwer]

As always if memory has played tricks on me I am happy to sit corrected but I do seem to recall that the club trains to both lines were in the hands of class 123 units for at least a short time.

[The Stationmaster]

AFAIK the IC units were not used on the Bourne End branch although they were very definitely used (in 10 car formations) on the two Henley through trains - where they were very definitely not known as 'Club trains' but were simply 'the through Henleys' (and were sometimes regard in much ruder terms by some members of staff due to the attitude of some Henley branch commuters). However I left the London area for South Wales in 1972 so don't know if there were any changes to their working before they went westwards.

 

Incidentally as far as I know they never ran with the buffets in use on the London Division (except possibly on excursions?) and I've an idea that the buffet cars weren't even formed in the sets in normal working in order to provide sufficient seating space. The original formations were definitely broken up and altered when they arrived at Reading in order to create 10 car formations. I'm not sure which were the two car sets but in 1971 the 10 cars (2x4 car + 1x 2car) were on diagrams D63/D62/D61 and D68/D67/D66 while D65/D64 ran as two 4 car sets coupled on a Bedwyn commuter turn. I can only pick-up sets which were running into Paddington so there might possibly have been another diagram as these turns accounted for 28 of the original fleet of 40 but I've an idea some might have been used as spares to improve reliability. I occasionally see one of the former Reading Maintenance Engineers and if I do see him I'll try his memory about the things. They were nice to ride in but were something of a nightmare for the M&EE staff who had to keep them working.

[jonny777]

I saw W56289 at Exeter St Davids in Aug 1968. According to my fading notes of the time, it was in a 10-car dmu formation working on the Barnstaple/Ilfracombe service, but may have included some stock positioning.

 

The other 9-cars were a mixture of 117s and 118s.

 

I wonder if it was normally paired with W55029 which I saw a week earlier at Dawlish, working with W51388 and W51351. That formation would appear to be somewhat over powered even for South Devon gradients.

[Gwiwer]

"Matching" numbers of SPC and DET vehicle when coupled were coincidental so far as I can determine. In other words 5502x didn't always run with 5628x. The SPC could be anywhere but the DET of course relied upon being attached to a powered vehicle for movement.

 

10 cars on the Barnstaple / Ilfracombe would be exceptional certainly as late as 1968. By that time Ilfracombe was often a sparsely-patronised 3-car set though often quite busy to Barnstaple. Though as you say your sighting may have been a stock balance move.

 

Reading-allocated 123's were used in 4, 6, 8 and 10-car formations until the buffets were withdrawn after which time the former buffet units were reduced to 3 cars meaning 7 and 9-car rakes could be seen. The 2-car unit was simply half of a 4-car split in the middle and could be found as the leading or trailing 2 cars of a 6 or 10-car rake or in the centre between the 4-car units.