BR in the 1980s - The Alan Harrison Collection Part 2 Inverness (British Rail Scotrail Trains)

[@DPTrains]

This just shows how well the railways worked and how much character there was. Now look at the state of it, boring and cheap unreliable stock all over the place. Thank you for sharing this amazing video!

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks for the great comments DP. Really glad you’re enjoying the collection. I couldn’t agree with you more about how much character UK railways had back in the 80s. For me,this was the heyday of British operations. It could be argued that the railways are actually more reliable now, with modern equipment, improved infrastructure, cost savings from standardisation, increased availability of stock, improved revenue return, higher passenger loading (pre COVID!) and reduced underutilisation of assets. But, as you say, so much of the character and interest has been lost.

[@martinl8268]

I was the driver of that train. Really enjoyed driving it.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Which train Martin?

[@k333vrr4]

A great bit of footage....the 37 shunting the 27 around then dragging the 27. 👍👍

[@peterowbottom6640]

It's a 26.

[@ChangesOneTim]

Brilliant video! Reminds me how much variety there was kicking around back in the day and the men who operated it all.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks for another great comment Tim. Having spent so many weekend chasing 37s around Inverness back in the 80s, this is actually one of my personal favourites from Alan’s collection.

[@paulcresswell1843]

Great video👍 Brings back many happy memories catching the sleeper with my dad. Unfortunately we didn't get up there till the early 90s. Still a good selection of engines, but sprinters had started to replace locos on the far north lines. Had a few trips down to Kyle behind "dutch" 37s. One trip up there 47702 came out of the shed freshly repainted in NWSE toothpaste colour. We've a pic of it with the Inverness TMD sign in the background. Long trip up from the peak district. Back then I think I went for a pound as part of the rail rider club🤔

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks for the brilliant comment Paul. Really glad you’re enjoying the collection and that the vids are bringing back such fabulous memories. Wasn’t the old Rail Riders club brilliant? We would travel on a family railcard, even though the adult in our group wasn’t our parent - that didn’t matter. The adult (over 18) paid half price and all the under 18s paid just one pound, irrespective of the length of journey! And if you had your book of Rail Riders vouchers (like a cheque book - cost one pound for five pounds worth of vouchers if I remember correctly) then you could pay your fare with a single one pound voucher. Wonderful! I’d love to see the photo you have of 47702 at Inverness in NSE. 47702 is a special loco for me, but I only realised a few days ago that it worked Waterloo Exeter services in the early 90s in NSE livery whilst still carrying its Saint Cuthbert nameplates. I was watching a fabulous KZbin clip by a guy called Soi - I’ll try to send you the link.

[@kartwheelkarl]

This is Soi’s vid at Waterloo. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpSlp6mhjbSGeMk

[@dangerousbrian1508]

Brilliant video, captured some amazing history there

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks Brian. And to think, Alan didn’t think anyone else would be that interested. Am I glad we convinced him otherwise?

[@genesis070365]

Just found this gem!! 👍 Glad I grew up with this rather than the Bogcarts we have now 🤪🤣

[@kartwheelkarl]

Welcome to the collection Hugh. How lucky were we having all this variety around when we were younger? Happy days indeed.

[@Laticity]

Good stuff. Shots of the old bridge before it washed away in '89.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Absolutely Andrew. Went up there after the bridge was washed away to see the 37s that were stranded north of the river. Amazing how they managed to maintain a full service with them.

[@alexwilliamson1486]

Born in Inverness and spent many a summer watching the 37s/26s running up the Kyle Line, I used to fish at Clachnaharry, as a 15 year old by the swing bridge and watch in awe as these huge machines slowed way down to cross over. I was 15 when this was filmed, now I’m almost half a century, seems like so long ago now, before everything got so complicated!! A great piece of history captured for posterity! I wonder if there’s any more out there?

[@kartwheelkarl]

Really pleased that Alan’s films have brought back such great memories for you Alex. I was 17 when this was filmed, but whenever we could afford it, my friend and I would head up North for a few days. We loved the 37s. I wonder whether I ever saw you fishing?

[@johnwyldbore73]

Can’t understand why 4 morons have disliked this video, it’s fantastic. All this loco hauled traction and BR Blue rolling stock, simply amazing, I love it. 😀👍🏻

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks for the great comment John. Really glad you’re enjoying the collection.

[@TheDaf95xf]

How on earth did they think a X2 car sprinter could replace a X6 carriage train 🙄 I had happy memories of Inverness in the 70s as my late Dad took me on a merry maker rail tour from Manchester 👍🏻 BR used stock at weekend for trips all over the county and I had fantastic day trips out for cheap 😆 I joined the Manchester City supporters club so I could go on footx specials too away matches as they used old MK1 coaches and usually Old locomotive like class 40s hehe 😂 I visit Inverness with my job now and often go to the station. The most interesting thing at the moment is the two West Coast Railways class 37s on the timber train. Hopefully it'll be successful and keep going keeping lorries off the busy A9 👍🏻 Cheers Stevie 😎

[@kartwheelkarl]

Wow Stevie! I went on a lot of Merrymakers from Manchester. They were indeed great fun. I never knew they’d ever gone as far as Inverness. What time did it set off and get back? I love the fact that you joined the MCfC supporters club so you could ride on the footex trains. Being a Stockport County fan, we rarely had footex specials, although there was one memorable occasion when we played Burnley at Wembley. BR put on a special from Stockport formed of a pair of 31s with twelve mk1 coaches. Because of possessions, we were diverted around the Birmingham suburbs - great fun but we arrived at Wembley so late that we almost missed kickoff!

[@TheDaf95xf]

Kartwheelkarl Railway, Railroad, Trains & Travel . Hi. The Inverness trip was overnight starting at Stockport. It came round the old Reddish Denton line. My late Dad booked it as he loved trains. We caught it from Manchester Victoria. Class 40 to Preston. Loco change. Think it was an 86? To Mossend. Loco change but I can't remember what it was. Stopped at Aviemore. Coach to Aviemore hotel for breakfast. Coach trip to Loch Ness then continued to Inverness for the rest of the day. The train continued ECS. Then we returned home. I remember it being a very long day out and stood at the window all the up. I was knackered coming home. That's my recollection of that train trip. Yours sounds great as well. Cheers Stevie.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Stevie Athers. Sounds fabulous Steve.. I'd have loved to have been on it. And I bet it was for a bargain price...Merrymakers were incredibly good value. If only they were still running now eh?

[@TheDaf95xf]

Morning Alan. I was a little boy back then so a trip of that magnitude was absolutely fantastic. My Dad looked at the Manchester evening news every week looking for any trips advertised. I worked for BR in the 70s at Timperley station as a porter and relief at other stations for overtime. As a BR employee we got the merrymaker notification 2 weeks early. £5 a trip lol 😆 I couldn’t agree more that some train franchise should do then again. A day trip to Brighton was always good and the mystery trips. I did Hastings via Wakefield Doncaster EC main line then some freight lines Ashford the Sandwich happy days. Had lots of cab rides and spent many hours in Skeleton junction signal box when it was really busy with all three lines in use. Have a lovely day stay safe. Cheers Stevie.

[@ianmitchell1594]

Went to Inverness in the late 70s on a train tour from Newcastle we had a great day out lots to see. As I’ve previously mentioned the Alan Harrison collection is a fantastic collection of the BR blue era 👍

[@kartwheelkarl]

Inverness was one of my favourite destinations during the eighties Ian. My friend and I would get the overnight from Crewe at about 11pm on a Friday. A sleeper birth was well beyond the reaches of our saved up paper round money, so we would bed down underneath a table in the leading day coach!! Saturday would be spent riding behind 37s on the Kyle or far north lines, and we'd return South on Sunday. Happy days indeed.

[@ianmitchell1594]

@@kartwheelkarl That’s the same as me and a couple of mates used to do on sleeper trains, Friday nights and we would go everywhere Newcastle- Bristol- London-Newcastle was one example which we would do. The good old day’s using platform tickets if no conductors were around 🤷‍♂️🤣

[@127cmore]

Imagine Inverness station when the roundhouse was still operating ?😢

[@madtrainspottermacrae6744]

I can remember that

[@kartwheelkarl]

Happy memories I hope MTS?

[@geofftibble5897]

Superb memories🙂👍

[@kartwheelkarl]

Absolutely Geoff. Glad you're enjoying the collection.

[@capitallines]

Marvellous

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks Steve. Glad you’re enjoying the collection.

[@craigymac5386]

The good old days, a variety of British built locos and rolling stock, and semaphore signals. The days before health and safety went mental.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Absolutely Craigy. And the depot staff at Inverness we’re always happy to let a couple of young lads have a look around. Got some great night shots in there.

[@2H80vids]

Some great stuff there. The 37/26 combo wasn't that common, nice to see it. The 47/37 was pretty rare though, probably a failed 37. The 37/Deltic was a million to one shot, the 55 was returning from a BR Open Day at Inverness. Sad to say, virtually everything in the video has been greatly altered, rationalized - they called it. There's 5 signalboxes missing from the scene now, just around the station, not counting Clachnaharry. I wonder though, if I had told Alan in 1986, that old southern region ED 73s would end up working the sleeper - what would he have called me?☺

[@kartwheelkarl]

Class 73s in the highlands! I don’t think any of us saw that one coming 2H80. Glad your enjoying the collection.

[@PerthMRC]

A great video from 1986, Inverness seems busier than I would have imagined. Mind you they way they shuttle the 37/26 combo back and fore is perhaps why there are so many moves. Have seen discussions on RMWEB about whether or not the inspection saloon where used for public use as an observation coach. Have seen so many photos and video of it in the line North of Inverness I do wonder if it was deployed as an observation coach for a while. Maybe the engineers felt it needed a lot of inspections! Thanks for posting these. 1986 is my favourite year and I look forward to viewing all of them.

[@andythebud]

I believe it was an observation coach to temporarily replace the ex-LNER observation coach before the class 101 conversion was in place

[@flymajj]

There were definitely passengers in there at 32:09, so it would certainly appear to have been used for passengers. I shall be modelling this!

[@kartwheelkarl]

It was indeed an observation coach. What a step backwards it was when the converted 101 was put on. Still better than sprinters though don’t you think?

[@sandrapowell-m7z]

Wonder what the deltics would have looked like in the large logo br blue, if they had survived long enough.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Now there’s an interesting question. I’m sure someone must have painted a model to find out! I just hope no one tries it with a preserved example!! Mind you, despite all of the protests when the CFPS repainted 40145 in large logo, I actually thought it looked really good. Now, how’s about a deltic in Inter City livery?

[@sandrapowell-m7z]

I reckon there are quite a few locomotives that could have received large logo livery and look good. Class 71? Did the 86/87 ever have large logo.?@@kartwheelkarl

[@kartwheelkarl]

I agree about the 71, especially considering how good large logo looked on the class 73. To the best of my knowledge, no class 86 or 87 ever carried large logo blue and yellow in real life. Lima produced a fictitious version of 87022 in large logo (I have one and it actually looks good!) and, during 1984, 87006 carried an experimental version of large logo in dark grey. 86235 Novelty perhaps got closest to large logo - it had wrap round yellow ends but not the actual large logo! @@sandrapowell-m7z

[@kartwheelkarl]

Here's a thought - what would the class 52 westerns have looked like on large logo?

[@douglasperkins2851]

AMA river cruising

[@douglasperkins2851]

AMA cruise 😅

[@adamw2911]

So I wasn't imagining things when I went to Inverness as a kid in 1985. An early MK2 that was a mix of 1st and 2nd class. Built as standard or modified?

[@kartwheelkarl]

I used to travel regularly on a Glasgow and Edinburgh to Inverness trains Adam. The standard rakes used on these services always had one of the coaches I think you’re referring to, namely a pressure ventilated Mk2 corridor coach with both first and second class compartments (CK or corridor composite). We would always make a bee line for these coaches because the second class compartments were effectively declassified first class compartments. As far as I’m aware, the coaches were built as FKs (corridor firsts) but were later converted to CKs, presumably because there wasn’t enough demand for a full first class coach on these services. I’d have to do additional research to offer any further detail though.

[@adamw2911]

@@kartwheelkarl sounds very plausible. Declassified seating has always been out there. The Chiltern trains units had their first class removed in the late 1990s, however the actual seating remained for a few years. To be honest it wasn't that much better than the standard but most people headed for it.

[@kartwheelkarl]

@@adamw2911 I grew up near Manchester Adam. As built, the class 304 four car emus had three first class corridor compartments, complete with a toilet, in one of the centre trailers. These were declassified in the late seventies when all local services became second class only. It was a real treat for my friends and I to travel to Crewe on a Saturday morning in those compartments. Sadly, the units were eventually converted to three car sets, with the removal of that coach!

[@douglasperkins2851]

Ama river cruise ship

[@127cmore]

Sad watching this now. How much Inverness station has been downgraded from the 80s

[@kartwheelkarl]

Absolutely cmore. I haven't been to inverness for quite a while but the station I remember from the eighties was an incredible place. Glad you're enjoying the collection and thanks for the comments.

[@127cmore]

@@kartwheelkarl Sorry, just seen your reply after months. Yes, brilliant footage you have. At one time their was manufacture of steam engines too at this depot.

[@kartwheelkarl]

@@127cmore I’m guessing that was by the old Highland Railway Company was it cmore? Would it have been the ochre coloured locos ?

[@AndreiTupolev]

A great deal of shunting about, not for very much productive purpose it seems

[@kartwheelkarl]

I shunt around on my layout just for the fun of it. Maybe the depot staff did the same!