Waverley closure tribute among Pathfinder’s early-2019 tours

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FIFTY years to the day after the closure of the ‘Waverley Route’ on January 5, 1969, Pathfinder Tours is organising a Deltic-hauled train to Tweedbank to mark that sad anniversary.

Famously, the penultimate passenger train over the whole line 50 years ago was hauled by No. 9007 Pinza, and it was subject to a series delays caused by protesters demanding a reprieve for the line.

Pathfinder’s anniversary run will traverse the part of the Waverley route reopened to great acclaim and public support in 2015, and will also feature a ‘Deltic’ – in this case No. D9009 Alycidon.

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There is little in this image to suggest it was taken in 2018 and not the early 1980s as Nos. 50049 Defiance and 50007 Hercules take the Yeovil line at Castle Cary with Pathfinder’s 05.41 East Midlands Parkway-Weymouth charter on September 8. MARK V PIKE

Starting from Birmingham New Street, the train will pick up along the West Coast Main Line to Carlisle, running over Beattock to Edinburgh and then through the lovely scenery of the Borders to Tweedbank.

After a photo stop and leg stretch, a second diesel locomotive will haul the train back to Edinburgh (running via the Suburban line) for an afternoon break of around two hours in the Scottish capital.

At around 18.00 the homeward run via Carstairs will begin, taking the train back via the West Coast Main Line.

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