So far it had been a very civilised weekend. It started a day early, with an early Friday morning dash to Crewe in order to meet the positioning move. There was a little frustration as a lack of reserved seating and some fairly anti-social railtour passengers meant that things got a little fractious. However, it was soon sorted, and I was able to enjoy the run down the West Coast Main Line into Euston. The weather was fine, and I broke my walk to the hotel to enjoy coffee in an old haunt near Kings Cross. The walk to my digs for the weekend took me to the heart of Clerkenwell and the edge of Bloomsbury - and it was both good to be back and frightening to grasp the pace of change here on the edge of the City. I retraced my steps early this morning - the tour didn't in fact leave until 08:18 - a very civilised hour for such things - but there is something special about wandering around London on a chilly but bright spring morning which I've missed. Lots more coffee too, before assembling with the usual crowd inside a chaotic Kings Cross. The renewal work here has made the place confusing and difficult to use - but it still functions, and soon after having managed breakfast and coffee, 57601 hummed into view with the stock. A piper - a genuine Royal Scots Grey I'm told - struck up, and things were underway. This was going to be a little bit special...

The premise was a simple but emotionally charged one: its fifty years since Deltics were introduced, and thirty since they were retired from service on the East Coast Main Line with HSTs taking on their duties. This still seems to cause some chagrin among the older enthusiasts - but there's always a question for me about whether the HST would even exist without the Deltic - a proving ground for the concept of sustained high speed diesel running. In any case, 55022 had been spruced up for her 50th - a fresh coat of paint, bringing her into the livery she was sporting on her last runs on special trains. The job had been done beautifully, with grills and pipework picked out in silver, and the engine sparkling. Things began as they were due to continue - a fast departure and some thunderous running north. Then the sun appeared too, even the weather seeming to sense the occasion!

So, 55022 did exactly what she was designed for - she sped along the traditional route (changed of course only at Selby and Penmanshiel) managing what are reported to be some quite considerable speeds. There were no diversions up curious branches or routings via less-trodden byways today. Delayed slightly at Grantham we passed Pathfinder's Norwich-bound charter with a pair of Class 20's and a 37. Normally I'd have been torn, but not today. Underway again we soon made up time and arrived in Edinburgh on the button. Another piper greeted us, along with some former regimental colleagues of Royal Scots Grey, who collected funds and chatted with the crowds happily.

With the stock off to Craigentinny for a run around, grabbed some lunch and wandered around the always busy and interesting Waverley station. Chatted to folks from the tour a little and met a fellow blogger. Before long the stock was heading back into platform 19, and we were ready for departure southwards. If anything, the return run was even more impressive than the outward. Long periods of sustained very high speed running, despite a switch to the slow lines south of Peterborough. We were consistently early, and it seems who ever was playing trains in East Coast control today was a Deltic fan, as we were allowed to depart swiftly. Thus we ended up keeping pace with the 'real railway' admirably, and it was tempting to imagine what would have happened if perhaps the Deltic's hadn't been taken out of service thirty years ago?

Arrival back at the Cross was an impressive fifteen minutes early, on admittedly the usually slack railtour timings. The sense of occasion in the crowds milling around the engine was palpable. Even the notoriously impassive and enthusiast-unfriendly staff were sneaking out their 'phones for a picture of the gleaming workhorse which had just marked a bittersweet anniversary. As for 55022, well she'd done what she used to do every day - and made it look like it was still an every day occurrence.

A very special day on the railway - which reminds me why I got involved in the first place.