Six Lochs Land Cruise

1960 Season

The table shows only the known tours. Those marked with an asterisk * I wonder if the two trains joined together?

No.	Date	From	Direction	Type
1	Mon 4 Apr	Balloch Central	Clockwise
2*	Mon 11 April	Johnstone	Unknown
3*	"	Gourock	Unknown
4	Mon 18 April	Westerton	Clockwise
5	"	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
6	Mon 2 May	Grangemouth	Unknown
7	"	Lanark	Unknown
8	Sat 14 May	Lanarkshire	Clockwise	Three-car Class 120 (51784 + 59682 + 51792)
		Photographed in the bay platform at Callander. Michael Mensing. Another image, taken at Crainlarich, can be found on page 96 of the January 2006 Railway Bylines magazine.
9*	Wed 18 May	Blantyre	Unknown	One of the two this day was a Class 120
10*	"	Wishaw	Unknown
		Image of one of these two: "Diesels on the Regions - ScR" Tom Noble, OPC, page 165 at Killin
11	Thu 19 May	Possil	Unknown	Three-car Class 120
		The image shows the DMU during the layover on the Killin branch. This image also appeared on p96 of the January 2006 Railways Byline magazine. WS Sellar. A similar image appears on page 39 of the book "BR Diesel Traction in Scotland" by George C OHara.
12	Sat 21 May	Paisley	Unknown
13	Mon 23 May	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Unknown
14	Sun 5 June	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
15	Mon 6 June	Johnstone (High)	Unknown
16	Sun 12 June	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
17	"	Ayr	Unknown	Two 101 twins and a 105 twin
18	Sun 19 June	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
19	Sun 26 June	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
20	Sun 3 July	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
21	Mon 4 July	Grangemouth	Unknown
22	Sun 10 July	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
23	"	Ayr	Unknown	Class 126
24	Mon 11 July	Grangemouth	Unknown
25	Sun 17 July	Glasgow Buchanan Street
26	Mon 18 July	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Unknown
27	Sun 24 July	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
28	Sun 31 July	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
29	Sun 7 August	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
30	Sun 14 August	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
31	Sun 21 August	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise
32	"	? maybe the Buchanan St relief
		Two images of these can be found on page 97 of the January 2006 Railway Bylines magazine. One shows two Cravens formations side by side in Callander station. Although the captions states one is a clockwise service, both have the reporting number (one 150, one 151) and no tail lamp, so both seem to be anti-clockwise trains. This was not unusual and is seen in the series of images Sid Rickard took on 15 April 1963. The second image is at Crainlarich, taken from one train at the Junction as the other ascends the spur to the Upper station.
33	Sun 28 August	Glasgow Buchanan Street	Anti-clockwise

The regular Glasgow Sunday trains were normally formed of four Cravens twins (supplied by Hamilton). Their popularity in the summer meant that even in bad weather a second train had to be provided.^[1]

On 12th June a tour operated from Ayr picking up at stations to Dalry. It was composed of two Met-Camms and one Craven twin. This apparently was not to the liking of a few enthusiasts who expected one of Ayr's Inter-City sets which mainly sat idle on a Sunday^[2]. At one of the stops they asked the inspector that was on board why they’d used a Hamilton outfit instead of the new Inter-City units. “We didn’t use an Inter-City because it doesn’t have such big windows for the passengers to see the scenery.” It was pointed out that the comfort factor of the Inter-City seats far outweighed the difference in window size and he agreed. ^[3]

On Sunday 10th July the tour from Ayr was repeated, this time using some of Ayr's Swindon DMUs.^[2]

Other Land Cruises

The brochure also shows there was a regular Sunday afternoon DMU excursion from Buchanan Street to Callander from 29 May to 28 August.

The Largs and Ayr Land Cruise from Queens Park on Monday 18 April (see page 5 of the advance information brochure) was operated by two Swindon Cross-Country sets.^[4]

The Loch Linnhe Day excursion on Tuesday May 10th (see page 2 of the advance information brochure) involved two sets travelling from Glasgow Queen Street to Crainlarich Upper then dividing, one set to Oban and one set to Fort William. The passengers would travel by steamers between the two locations to do a circular tour, half in each direction. The Oban portion is seen in approaching Taynuilt formed of a three-car Swindon Cross-Country set carrying reporting number 241. Michael Mensing.

References

1. ^⋏ p380 October 1960 Railway Observer
2. ^{⋏ a b} p265 August 1960 Railway Observer
3. ^⋏ Notes from Bill Hamilton supplied to the Swindon Diesel Preservation Society
4. ^⋏ p161 May 1960 Railway Observer

The Railway Observer is the journal of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society