Six Lochs Land Cruise
1959 Season
Unlike later seasons when I've been able to find an "Advance Information booklet" which lists most of the tours, I've only been able to find a few notes about the occasions that it ran in 1959. It would probably have run with the same frequency as later years.
| No. | Date | From | Direction | DMU Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon 30 March | Glasgow Buchanan Street | Anti-clockwise | 105 (four 2-cars) |
| Images: two at Killin on p39/40 of "BR Diesel Traction In Scotland" (George C. O'Hara) Also p93 of the January 2006 Railways Bylines at Crainlarich Lower with the reporting number (402) on the buffer, on p94 at Callander and two at Killin, another two at Killin on p95. The same Crainlarich Lower image was also on p405 of the June 1959 The Railway Magazine. |
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| 2 | " | Glasgow Buchanan Street (relief) | Clockwise | Two 105 twins and a 101 twin |
| Image: at Crainlarich on p289 June 1959 Train Illustrated | ||||
| 4 | Sat 20 June | Strathaven | Clockwise | 105 (four 2-cars)[1] |
It would run for the first time in the 1959 season on Easter Monday (30 March). WGG Baird was one of the travellers on the train and a detailed report of his outing that day appeared in the June 1959 issue of Trains Illustrated[2]. The round trip fare was 10s. The scheduled anti-clockwise train was formed of four new Cravens twins, their first day in passenger use. Two more sets had been brought to Glasgow as standbys as the advertised train had been fully booked by Easter Sunday, so an additional train was arranged with the standby sets. There was an exceptional response, and the four cars proved insufficient, so it it was strengthened by the Met-Camm twin that arrived at 8.57am on the 6.57am service from Thornton Junction (its return working, the 11.38am departure, was steam worked). Despite there now being two trains carrying a total of approx 800 passengers, several hundred more were left dissapointed.
Mr Baird travelled on the additional train, which departed at 11.00am. The route it followed was on the main line to Sighthill East Junction where it took the short stretch to Balornock East Junction. There it reversed, with wrong-line working and the points specially secured, on to the Possil line. This took it through Maryhill and Crow Road to Partick West Junction, at this point it took the right hand fork to join the line from Glasgow Central Low Level to Balloch which it followed to Dumbarton. It then followed the banks of the Clyde to Craigendoran taking the West Highland line and the climb up through Helensburgh Upper, believed to be the first DMU to do so (the two 1958 tours both ran in an anti-clockwise direction so only descended this stretch). The train was noted as handling the gradients with ease, mostly in third gear but dropping to second on the odd occassion. In the final stretch from Whistlefield to Glen Douglas 41mph was reached. During the nine mile climb from Ardlui to Crainlarich third gear was again maintained most of the way.
The passengers had one hour at Crainlarich for refreshments. The next stop for the passengers would be Crainlarich as Killin was skipped "owing to occupation difficulties". The anti-clockwise train had arrived at Killin at 2.28pm, the four Cravens sets ran empty to Killin Junction to form the 2.46pm branch train back to Killin. The additional train arrived at Callander at 3.45pm and the passengers were allowed 3 hours to explore before the 6.45pm departure. It reached Glasgow Buchanan street on time at 7.58pm, the Met-Camm would work the 9.00pm service to Thornton Junction, the Cravens presuambly returned to Hamilton.
April: An image on page 123 of the book "BR Diesel Traction In Scotland" by George C. O'Hara on an unknown day in April shows a Cravens in Callander station.
References
- ⋏ p254 August 1959 Railway Observer (Railway Correspondence and Travel Society)
- ⋏ "M.u's on the West Highland" p291 June 1959 Trains Illustrated