But first, a little reflection. Plans for the Valley Lines timetable of October 1987 presaged a 'Sprinter Revolution', with the trusty Class 116 slam door trains to be replaced by a fleet of shiny new Class 150s. Alas, at a late stage, Regional Railways HQ severely cut the allocation of new trains, necessitating retention of ten 116 diagrams.

In accord with the political diktat of the time ('three cars good, two cars better') the centre trailers were withdrawn, but over the ensuing months the power cars gradually failed and were replaced by a motley of cast-off 101, 108 and 118 cars salvaged from around the country. Modernity came at last in 1992, with an influx of Class 143 Pacers; not ideal, but it seems likely that service cuts would have been the only alternative. And with growth in traffic, eventually these were supplemented with Class 142s, drafted in from late 1999. It was fitting, therefore, that our 4-car farewell tour featured one of each class: 142082 plus 143605.

Our initial manoeuvre took us across the long ladder of west end crossovers at Cardiff Central to the train cleaners' platform on Canton Depot Road 18, before slowly creeping west onto the Taff Vale Siding (singular) which is incorrectly shown as 'HST spur' on TRACKmaps 3 p21 Jun 2018, returning by the same line into Cardiff Central P3. Reversal here preceded a run via the recently redoubled curve to Ninian Park, Up P2, to reverse and then crossover for a clear run to Barry P3, including Cogan Down Loop. The first of several fast stretches of the day provided a reminder that track improvements over the years have enabled the Pacers to shed once and for all the old 'nodding donkey' soubriquet!

Turnaround in Barry P3 was cut short due to the need to make way for a late running local train, but we had a clear run over the trailing crossover and via Cogan Up Loop, back to Ninian Park, crossing to Down P1 and then back to our starting point of Central P0 for a welcome 20 minute 'PNB'. From here we ran via the City Line to Taffs Well, taking the facing crossover into Down P1, noting the clearance work alongside in readiness for construction of the new South Wales Metro Tram Train depot here.

The next journey took us through Radyr P2, and then via Llandaf and Queen Street P3 and the rare crossover from the Up Llandaff (in the Down direction) to Central P4 for a quick crew change, followed by another run up the City Line, this time through Radyr P3 and into Pontypridd Up P3 to reverse, the south end trailing crossover here enabling us to return south to Radyr P2. It is fortunate that the most scenic section of the Valley Lines is between Radyr and Taffs Well, alongside the River Taff and with distant views of Castell Coch, as we were to cover this many times during this excellent tour!

Returning northward, we now enjoyed a run all the way to Treherbert, before clearing the North Ground Frame (23m 57ch) beyond the platform, and setting back to DMU Sidings Road 1 end of line. Reversing out, our Driver took us right to the headshunt stop block (23m 69ch), once part of the Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway through the lengthy Rhondda Tunnel towards Maesteg (Treherbert to Cymmer Afan CP 22 Feb 1968 when the tunnel became unsafe). An uneventful return to Pontypridd followed, with reversal in Down P2 and taking the facing crossover behind the derelict signal box; [until 1968 there was a direct curve here round to the Abercynon line avoiding Pontypridd station.]

Then a highlight, Up Stormstown Loop, the sole surviving track of a once extensive yard. Bearing left at Abercynon, we went to Aberdare station for a quick turnaround. Next, as a pleasant surprise, our train traversed Abercwmboi Down Loop, now very little used since the end of coal traffic from Tower Open Cast Disposal Point. The 'directionalist' sub-species of Quailites were also delighted to do the Up Stormstown Loop again, but now in the Down direction, en route to (yes, you guessed) Radyr P2, this time bouncing back up to Pontypridd bay P1, where the stop block was reputedly almost kissed.

Problems afflicting local trains meant that we were now 7 minutes late, so it was not possible to alight here, as we needed to depart again on time, taking the City Line to Ninian Park. Then, as an added treat, our tour ran through Canton Stabling Sidings Road 8 (so we did three of the six Canton depot entrance/exit routes) en route to Central P4 for another leg stretch. Away right time, we endured a very slow climb on 'single yellows' through Llanishen, to Caerphilly bay P1, followed by an exhilarating downhill run at or near line speed, back to Central P8. At this point, 8½ hours into the superb tour and with 4 to come, this reporter succumbed to travel-weariness (and a fear of Deep Vein Thrombosis setting in!) and regrettably abandoned the remainder of the proceedings, for others to report. Of note it was very unusual to run non-stop through so many Valley Line stations on a Pacer!

But I cannot leave without a final reflection, looking back on the wonderful work that has been done on Pacers since those early days, above and below the floor, including replacement of Leyland engines with Cummins, replacement of troublesome gearboxes with hydraulic transmission, and internal refurbishment including replacement of the awful 3-and-2 'Leyland National' bus seats with comfortable high-back 2-and-2 seats. It is a sad reflection of modern design that a tour of this duration in Standard Class 'ironing board' Class 800 seats would be a torture beyond endurance. Yes, a bright new future awaits the Valley Lines with the new fleets on order, but, never forget that the Pacers saved the Valley Lines; they have served us well for the past 28 years and, although this tour was billed as the farewell, they will still have to be around for a few more weeks yet, maybe months even, if PRM derogation can be secured...¦ [They still haven't been outpaced 6 months later, of course.]

Addendum: Since resignalling all Cardiff Central platforms are bidirectional so, after reversal in P8 at 16.57, we set off in the rare direction on the Down Llandaff in the Up direction to do the crossover at Queen Street South Jn, left, then through the relatively new P5 (Up Llandaff Loop). This was followed by an uncomplicated normal run to Rhymney end of line at exactly Milepost 24. The section of line we were on beyond the station lost its passenger service (to Rhymney Bridge on the 'Heads of the Valley line') as long ago as Sep 1953. Four stabling sidings face north here and we did No3 to the buffer stops at the south end, unsurprisingly the third one from the running line. Along with No4 it joins the north end of the run round loop here which was also covered in full during our visit in the evening sunshine.

Returning to Queen Street P2 there were passengers waiting to join the tour! The information screen showed us as the 19.22 service to Cardiff Bay. This had obviously been spotted by some 'normals' who were waiting hopefully (at the time of the tour the last public service to Cardiff Bay was at 18.48 with five trains per hour each way on a Sunday, the reason we had to wait for service to end before we could do the branch - and more importantly the associated connections at Queen Street.) It was agreed we would take the 'normals' (remember every 'normal' is a potential new member). At Cardiff Bay there were more waiting for the usually non-existent 19.35 departure advertised to Cardiff Central on the screen. Presumably they would have walked or used the bus had we not appeared.

What the screen didn't say was that the journey to Central actually took 50 minutes as it was via Queen Street P4 (OK, we did stop to let the 'normals' off) then back to Ystrad Mynach to reverse in P2, do Ystrad Mynach South Jn trailing crossover and then run through the lengthy Down Rhymney Loop.

On re-return to Queen Street we went through P3, so the tour had covered all the through platforms and connections here (it was not a coincidence). There was more to come, at Queen Street South Jn the facing crossover was used to take the Up Llandaff in the Down direction then through Central P4 and laddering right across from 170m 47ch to Line 'A', past the Wales Rail Operations Centre (thanks for your help, guys) and to the operational limit in Canton, Brickyard Turnback Siding. There was then no option other than to turnback for the final 57ch of the tour to end in Cardiff Central P0 at 20.41 after exactly 12½ hours on a Pacer during time which the virtually fully booked tour covered 224m 24ch - not quite as far as from London to Beijing then. More importantly thanks to the generosity of TfW and participants a splendid £12,734 was raised for the British Heart Foundation by our tour.

Particular thanks to David Clark (who impressed participants with his new healthy 'slim line' look on the day) who is senior timetable planner for TfW. David, our Society Publicity Officer, spent a very considerable amount of time and effort meticulously planning this tour that did so much at Baker, Quail and Bidirectionalists' levels. [Sorry, David, but you didn't tick the 'no publicity for winners' box...] It was all only possible thanks to the TfW, NR and BLS team effort and the TfW Sunday timetable then. (NOTE: Up Llandaff and Down Llandaff correctly have two 'f's each but Llandaf station only has one!)



















































Unless specified, all photos above are ©Geoff Plumb, our official Society Photographer, and were taken by authorised personnel only from a place of safety. There are more of the tour and detailed informative captions at https://plumbloco.smugmug.com/ Geoff's website. There are many other interesting historical and modern pictures here and it is well worth exploring.