Railways of the 1980’s | A Day at Carstairs Jct | Freight | Passenger |

A day spent at Carstairs Jct where you get the WCML traffic through, split trains for Glasgow & Edinburgh from the West Country and more freight from all over!
Date was 25th & 26th July 1989

[@mt5144]

This is how I remember Carstairs in the Late 70's & 80's loads of Class 47's hauling MK2 Carriages to and from Edinburgh & always some decent Scotish Class 47 in the sidings, the place was a hive of activity, I now pass there quite often heading South by Avanti Pendolino & there is no longer nothing to be seen there at the station, oh they were the days, Love the class 85 heading through with a freight North in the video, Brings back many memories, well done.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Wish I could go back, was a fantastic place

[@somervillearron]

​@@yesterdaystrackstotal shithole now my dad used to say it was a great place

[@derekoconnor693]

Thank you for sharing, such fond memories of Carstairs at this time, amazing👍

[@craigymac5386]

Excellent video and better days. How shite it all is now 👍😔

[@yesterdaystracks]

Aye I can’t bring myself to go and stand for hours waiting on one freight train now for it to be a 59 🥴😅

[@walsteadgreen405]

Those were the days!! Oh, to be able to turn back the clock. Great to see 87009 too

[@yesterdaystracks]

Wish there was more preserved electrics but I see the problem running them 🤣

[@ianjones4116]

Cracking vid, so much going on. The lean as they come off the Waverley line, bet that spilt a cups of tea in the cab . Crew leaping off moving loco's, obviously to go make another brew. The 37 propelling for miles,, heads out of all windows, straining to see past the ballast cleaner. The 86 with a Black headcode box. Varying arrays of jumpers on the front of the 86s. 85s on freight, claggy 37 on tanks.loads of Shunting. Glad you showed the shunter hooking on. Dirty bloody job. Excellent video. Thanks for posting. Ian ex BR,, son of a 44yr Driver. 😀👍

[@yesterdaystracks]

Thanks Ian, glad these videos are giving so much enjoyment , content runs out in middle of March tho , no more tapes 😭

[@ianjones4116]

@@yesterdaystracks oh no !!! You will have to put them on repeat. Bit like the BBC in the 80s 😂 All good things come to an end. Good things come in small packages. But these vids will make it to the Saved File. Not a 66 or Pendolino in sight, excellent. 👍

[@yesterdaystracks]

Thanks Ian 😁

[@DavidPeacock1972]

Alway liked the INTERCITY livery with the full yellow ends.

[@paulnolan1352]

never mind leaning loco's or health and safety, what about the statuary white socks worn by all the drivers and second men at that time!, great video, many thanks.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Fashion criminals 🤣🤣

[@yesterdaystracks]

🤣🤣

[@ianjones4116]

You leave my White Socks alone,, I'm 60 now and still wearing them 😁 Too old to change. Me that is , not the socks . 😂😂😂

[@deltic7productions1982]

Cracking video. Miss those days when you could go out for the day and see 40 plus locos. These days you go out for just one or two things at best. Subscribed

[@yesterdaystracks]

Yeah couldn’t agree more, I’m looking forward to the SRPS railtour to AVIEMORE this month so I’ll be filming that as much as I can , 37403 for haulage after a 2 yr overhaul , should be amazing Likewise subbed your channel too, looks awesome , looking forward to checking out your content 👍

[@deltic7productions1982]

@@yesterdaystracks nice one. Thanks and hope all goes well on the SRPS tour.

[@davidkirby2434]

Talk about lean on the bends lol

[@andrewmartell6155]

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT 😀. Thanks again for uploading this treasure trove of nostalgia. Main highlight for me was at 11m 36s. You've only gone and filmed the "Speedlink-Structure Flex" trial BAA steel wagon 900160 in a northbound consist. Got photos of this but never seen it on film 👍👍👍. Absolute Gold.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Oh wow!!, I’m away to watch myself again 😅

[@ianjones4116]

Eyes like a Sewer Rat,,, I was too busy drooling over the 85 😁😁

[@spartan1171926]

Fantastic video!! Thanks for posting this. My Dad used to work at the depot at Carstairs. Brings back a few memories. Real shame that the old station building has gone. Great to see the old BR rolling stock.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Thanks Andrew , yeah I heard it’s just a shadow of its former glory, Glad it’s given you some memories back of the old place

[@stewartatkinson4179]

Thoroughly enjoyed the video! Unfortunately I’m not old enough to remember these days at Carstairs so this footage is a real insight into the railway hub Carstairs once was.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Thanks mate, appreciate you taking the time to watch 👌

[@jimdieseldawg3435]

Jeez, all that superelevation is giving me vertigo 😆 Excellent video. Didn’t think that I’d ever miss Classes 85/86/87 but here I am, getting nostalgic for the roar. Thank you so much for sharing 🙂

[@yesterdaystracks]

I only wish I had recorded more 81’s back in the day, the roar is amazing !!

[@ianjones4116]

Super elevation,, you must have Pway in your blood . 😁👍

[@eight-two]

Wonderful video and takes me right back to my childhood. I was 8 when this was filmed and I remember trains splitting/joining at Carstairs.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Thanks Darren 👍

[@markwebster7128]

Brilliant video. Wish i was up Scotland up in those days bashing loco hauleds

[@bigal5791]

Started my railway career here nearly 38 years ago as a porter then a shunter .Now signal trains through here from the WSSC . All getting ripped up and remodelled next March . 39 mins Jim Lothian the wheel tapper and Derick Collins (RIP) shunter , I would have split the train probably as that was my shift 😊

[@yesterdaystracks]

Always great to hear stories like this which make it so personal , thanks for commenting Big Al 👍

[@dieseldave3879]

9:20 Driver's tea spills over the cab! 🚂👍

[@stephenpowell5912]

Classic Vid , Absolutely amazing Locomotives before Privatisation ❤️Proper Trains also ❤️

[@yesterdaystracks]

Thanks Stephen 👍

[@andrewjgordon1372]

Having been born there just across from the station ( from a railway family ), now many moons ago, its great to see the old station as it was not as it is today a box on the platform...I remember also the whole junction was covered by 5 signal boxes....many day was sat on the platform on summer holidays...

[@yesterdaystracks]

Aw I’m glad it’s given you some happy memories, only wish I’d visited more often

[@spectrumanalyzer3093]

Great to watch, thanks a lot.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Glad you enjoyed it 🙏

[@dafyddthomas7299]

Superb video

[@going2thedogs]

Some fantastic footage. Thks for sharing, I have just subbed.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Appreciated 👍

[@stevem-h3562]

..... the amount of times I travelled through there to and from home and my posting north of Aberdeen in the 1980s..... many many many times.

[@ianjones4116]

HSE would have nightmares watching this lol. How I remember the railway. British railways at it's best. 👍😎

[@yesterdaystracks]

And nobody was injured or killed in the day to day job 😆

[@ianjones4116]

@@yesterdaystracks I will even go as far as to say, I'm pretty sure we were happier in our work then too. Today its about pleasing the guys upstairs and helping them get there Targets met. Rather than Pride in your work or even being happy at work. Maybe I'm just getting old and cynical. Lol. British Rail was more like a family, than all of the different Toc's . Thanks for the reply. 👍😎 Ps,, excellent channel content. Big Thumbs up. 👍

[@Tom-Lahaye]

Nice action, the counter inclination coming from Edinburgh though, supposedly this was done to get the right inclination in the curve of the mainline.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Yeah, was some camber for the non stop trains!

[@fatwalletboy2]

This is peak Carstairs.......today its totally changed with little of interest. Any footage of the splitting and joining operations??? I can only find one clip of the final Caledonian sleeper joining up in the pitch dark......

[@yesterdaystracks]

There’s footage of a 47 coming to take the Edinburgh portion but I didn’t record any of the coaches being split

[@James47298]

Excellent

[@davidkirby2434]

Yeah them were the days back then 1980s / 1990s

[@SteveSmithRailways]

Got any more of these gems hidden away? Great memories

[@yesterdaystracks]

Hi Steve, weekly until mid April mate, then it’s all I’ve got unfortunately until new HD preserved content comes on , SRPS tour to Aviemore for example 😀

[@PerthMRC]

Another great video. The normal sequence for south bound portion trains (one portion from Edinburgh Waverley and the other from Glasgow.Central) was for the Waverley portion to arrive first into Plt 2. It ran through and sat in a siding just North of the station. The Glasgow portion would then arrive into Plt 2 and the Waverley portion would shunt back into it. Presumably the reason the Waverley portion at 1:40 used Plt 1 was that arrived late and the Glasgow portion was already occupying Plt 2. The more typical sequence is seen later. The 37 with the PWay thing. I saw it shunt then presumably use the triangle to turn, I then expected it to depart South with the 37 leading, but the last we saw was it heading North with the 37 on the rear. Couple of interesting things flying past, a DVT the "wrong" way round at the rear of a South bound express and a full brake NSE livery coach at the front of another South bound express.

[@yesterdaystracks]

This had to be my favourite day at Carstairs!, So much went on that day 😅 Yeah the movement with 37025 was odd wasn’t it and quite rare to see it in Grey, now back to large logo and refitted boiler 😀 Loving the notes you’ve made here , I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the video, did you see the driver shunting 47470 forget to apply the brake? 🤦🏻‍♂️ Keep subscribed!, loads to come in the coming weeks!!

[@PerthMRC]

@@yesterdaystracks I knew at least one 37 was in that grey livery but had not realised it was 37025 until your video. I missed 47470 leaving it brake on but a great excuse to watch the video again. I was never at Carstairs in the 80s, would have been a great place to be with lots of loco hauled passenger and freight

[@yesterdaystracks]

It certainly was superb!, thanks in most parts to my mate Gary Hamilton who knew all the best places to go.

[@edwardsalmon5658]

I really enjoyed that

[@iainhardie3543]

We did 47006 all day on Carstairs runs, lost date but between 30th June and 20th July

[@PadisherCreel]

This is excellent. Any more from the 1980s?

[@yesterdaystracks]

A couple more gems from back in the 80’s to come from Mossend

[@kevanhubbard9673]

I don't think any London trains stop at Carstairs Junction anymore except for the overnight sleeping train from Edinburgh/Glasgow?I've been off there from the sleeper and walk to Carstairs to get a bus to Lanark pretty forlorn place as I recall.It's just called Carstairs now although Carstairs Junction and village are separate places.

[@yesterdaystracks]

Aw that’s such a shame , was always great seeing the two trains meet there

[@martinsmith1538]

Fantastic thrash

[@aljonflavin6760]

Action.

[@oddities-whatnot]

Why are they leaning so much ? Im not a rail expert, just curious if anyone knows why the lines on those bends are seemingly not level. Thanks.

[@bonty427]

Wednesday 26th July 1989 was a rail strike, so almost certainly 25th

[@yesterdaystracks]

My camera clock must have been out 🤣

[@westerleighwerek1493]

Any ideas what days in July 89' this was? You got the 12.47 to Plymouth twice! I may have seen in Bristol! Thanks

[@yesterdaystracks]

Just found the date to be either 25th or 26th July 1989

[@westerleighwerek1493]

@@yesterdaystracks Saw 47520 on a Plymouth about 19.40 near Bristol on the 25th July, ironically found out Scottish rarity 47644 worked the earlier Glasgow Penzance from Brum which I just missed at Bristol Parkway! Never had it for haulage.

[@Tokaisho1]

Why did we ever stop making trains in the UK

[@yesterdaystracks]

@@Tokaisho1 same reason we stopped making steel, cheaper to import & cheaper labour 😭

[@FocusWRC8]

Absolutely dreadful ‘Rambo’ on film, if you know, you know!

[@yesterdaystracks]

😅

[@BenDover-ln6ns]

Imagine covering the portions an ending up with 627 for several of them. Great to see all the workings though, All the shunts etc, seeing the senior conductor etc going pass in the duff back to Waverley. Is this Garys channel?

[@BenDover-ln6ns]

Was he the senior conductor? Thought i saw Skeletor too.

[@FocusWRC8]

@@BenDover-ln6ns No, Carstairs infamous shunter.