I have learnt from experience that any railtour that has Martin House Children's Hospice as its nominated charity is the signal to keep the date free and debit card poised, ready to book at the first opportunity (although on this occasion it was booked for me). There is usually something to cater for all tastes, from locomotives that have never hauled a passenger train, through to new track to delight both those that like to go to locations not on the passenger network and the avid microgricer with TRACKmaps in hand. Additional 'surprises' also add to the enjoyment of the day which often catch out those who, for whatever reason, choose not to book these rather special excursions. You need to pay close attention!

Eschewing weekend grandad duties and the attractions of the Magic Weekend at Elland Road or playing Masters Rugby League somewhat nearer to home, I headed for Derby on the Friday evening courtesy of South Western Railway and East Midlands Railway. One ritual to observe on arrival at Derby is a visit to the 'Viceroy' for an Indian (other eateries are available). Then it was off to the hotel and the luxury of a lie in. (No 6am alarm for the Cooling Tower Choppers tour, unless you were one of our Society stewards.)

For me, the main interests of this outing from Derby to York was travelling over secondary routes that I only travelled along infrequently over the years, the provision of two of the venerable English Electric Type 1 fleet that have a long association with transporting coal to power stations around the country and the anticipated 'beyond the gates' visit to Ardagh Glass at Monk Bretton. All my interests were duly delivered on the day, with a couple of unadvertised additional 'surprises' that added to the interest.






We all got the hump at Doncaster Belmont Yard as a result, plus haulage off a multi-shed lashup for 49ch or thereabouts. It was something novel while train crews took a breather before carrying on to Monk Bretton. Class 66s are not my cup of tea (or 69s) but many of the participants enjoyed adding new numbers into their haulage books. I tolerate the locos in the pursuit of my railway pleasures, as it is very rare for heritage locomotives to be used these days. So, I appreciate it when heritage traction is used.

Having travelled between Sheffield and Leeds or York on numerous occasions in the 1970s and early 1980s, it does feel strange when running over the remnants of the route those trains took to access the now single track Ardagh Glassworks branch. Not that you can see much these days from the train windows, such is the level of greenery enveloping the railway infrastructure. Quite a contrast from the industrial landscape of old, coal mines, coking plants, slag heaps and four tracks. Now tours stop on the old main line but one did reach the gates years ago. This time, we did the glassworks branch properly, turning right at the site of Cudworth North Jn, passing the site of Cudworth West Jn, through the gates at the NR boundary, over the hopper and to the buffer stops. It was the first tour to do so since it ceased to be a through line (to Barnsley) in 1958. Rail traffic is sand from Middleton Towers near King's Lynn; trains run round in the loop on the former main line, propel in to bottom discharge at the hopper, then haul the empty wagons out. Thus, even the loco on a freight train doesn't normally reach anywhere near the end of line. The sand trains are GBRf operated and it was no coincidence that our tour was as well.

The last surprise took place during the reversal at Sudforth Lane Sidings as a trio of DBC class 66s backed onto the train to replace the two Class 20s. The 20s went off to take up their position at Drax Power Station for some planned festivities, including a photo shoot that Saturday evening.

Sudforth Lane and Drax were to become very familiar next day because of those planned festivities but that's another story to be told by someone else. The total number of locomotives that hauled the charter was upped from the expected three (2 xClass Twenties plus a Class 69) to ten. That kept most happy!

Then, all too soon, the charter arrived in York to end the day. A good day was had, finished off by a visit to a Japanese restaurant before retiring to the hotel near York station. In this day and age, it is still a joy to witness the cooperation within the rail industry (of which at one time I was an employee) going above and beyond, to make trips like these so enjoyable for participants and raising a good sum for charity too.