The EACH Express 2 Tour
After last weeks
allegedly insane day out with the Class 68's I had opted to spend
another whole day with these machines. This time it was for a really
good cause in the form of a Rail Tour organised by Greater Anglia and
ably supported by Direct Rail Services. The charity in question was East
Anglia's Children's Hospices and the money raised going towards a new place for
the children called The Nook.
I began the day at Lowestoft
boarding a Class 153 to Norwich, where around 09.55 our transport for
the day arrived. We were being treated to the pioneer of the class 68001
with the newest one 68034 and 8 yes 8 Mk3 coaches which is (nearly) a full
Intercity rake including a DVT !
The first leg took us to
Ely albeit at a not too fast speed and I did see that all along the
route there were pictures being taken even at Shippea Hill ! There we
had about half an hour to get some snaps before we returned into a
medium monsoon, which set the tone for the rest of the day weather wise,
sun,rain,sun,rain!
Back at Norwich it was another quick
scramble for snaps and food this time before we rumbled slowly out of
the station until they opened up the big Cats and then you realise what
power there is.
As with last years tour that used Class 37's we caused a
bit of a stir as we raced through various stations with people
wondering what all the cameras were for and why didn't that train stop ?
As we got to Liverpool St again heads turned and I was asked a couple
of time "is that a special train"
A quick look around was
all we had time for because at 16.24 we set off and the DRS crew were
hoping as they had done the maths to do "Norwich in 90" but alas a crawl
at Stratford and slowing for Ipswich tunnel put paid to that, but it
still was a non stop run achieved in 105 minutes which I think they were
proud of. All the way back you could hear the power being laid down and
it was smooth too. There was a raffle for one of the headboards, a trip
round Crown Point Depot and 2 First Class tickets....but your
correspondent won the same as usual lol.
Arriving back in
Norwich we congratulated the crew and learned that the day had raised
about £12,500 for the charity which was a nice end to a long day.
Cheers, Tim, and don't think this is the end of your reporting career! Glad it all went well and a decent amount was raised.
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