1984 Summer Sunday Harwich Boat Train

Having run almost unchanged between Harwich and Sheffield on Summer Sundays from the end of May until mid September for four years, 1984 saw some significant changes. From Sheffield the train was extended to terminate/start at Manchester Victoria. Routing from Sheffield was via the Hope Valley, Romiley and the Ashburys - St. Philips Park link. A locomotive change took place in each direction at Sheffield as a consequence. Also the dates of opertation were extended so as to be throughout the Summer Timetable. The locomotives used on a few Sundays are not known, please contact Peter Hall if you can help fill any of the gaps in the records.

The Harwich - Sheffield - Harwich leg was again the domain of Stratford allocatted Class 47's, however they only appeared on half of the Sundays. Class 47's from other depots featuring on seven weeks, most notably Thornaby's 47302 on 9th September. March allocatted 37084 was used on 3rd June with the Summer being book ended by 31420 on 20th May and 31404, which had replaced 47008 at Peterborough on 30th September.

The Sheffield - Manchester Victoria - Sheffield leg was dominated by Class 45's although at least four Class 47's put in an appearance, most notably Thornaby's 47319 on 12th August.

The formation was almost the same as in previous years on most weeks being TSO, TSO, TSO, FK, BSO, TSO, TSO (7).

Train	1M74 07:17 Harwich PQ - Manchester Victoria	1M74 07:17 Harwich PQ - Manchester Victoria	1E87 15:18 Manchester Victoria - Harwich PQ	1E87 15:18 Manchester Victoria - Harwich PQ
Leg / Sunday	Harwich PQ - Sheffield	Sheffield - Manchester Vic	Manchester Vic - Sheffield	Sheffield - Harwich PQ
May 20th	31420	47202	47202	31420
May 27th	47135	45139	45139	47135
June 3rd	37084			37084
June 10th	47056	45106	45106	47056
June 17th	47122	47197	47197	47122
June 24th	47122	45010	45010	47122
July 1st	47115	45138	45138	47115
July 8th	47278	47284	47284	47278
July 15th	47199	45004	45004	47199
July 22nd	47296	45126	45126	47296
July 29th	47052	45145	45145	47052
August 5th	47142	45040	45040	47142
August 12th	47003	47319	47319	47003
August 19th	47097		47097
August 26th	47108	45137	45137	47108
September 2nd	47605			47605
September 9th	47302	45102	45102	47302
September 16th	47003			47003
September 23rd
September 30th	47008 (A)	45101	45101	31404

(A) - 47008 replaced at Peterborough by 31404

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