The Great Britain VII

Anything but the Fives ! Dominated last years tour. A 8F would take ages to get up North with been limited to 50mph and your asking quite a lot from a loco that hasn't run for nearly a year. My guess would be Braunton. The rebuilt seemed to be in good nick yesterday. What about Tornado or SNG, or would there be to many gauging issues ?

 

Are any of the A4s available and "approved"?
34046 would be welcome back to the North West as well.
The GB trains seem to have bad luck each year with otherwise very reliable locos having problems at very inopportune moments. This ambitious programme deserves better fortune.

 

60009 is on Fife Circle trips on the Sunday, so rules that out. 4464 is at the Moors. 60007 is going for tyre turning at Ilford at some point before it goes back north, so may not be available either.

 

Depends what stock is used, WCRC have air, vac and dual, though the latter is most prudent for such a multi loco tour

 

It was originally planned to be a 'Brit' on this leg was it not? So perhaps 70013, back in action on the GCR recently.

 

No. 70013 only entered service last weekend I believe, and the 5305Ltd group have stated interest in gaining more GCR based run-ins before venturing back out onto the mainline.

 

Thanks Jonathon. Shame, as she travelled most of the route as recently as 30 November 2013 as far as gauging goes.

 

Can anyone tell me what happens between St Austell and Falmouth please. Perhaps I'm dense but the time in Falmouth is not long.

 

Looks to me like DL leads from Par to Falmouth with the steamers on the London end, then straight back the way they came. There's 10 mins at Truro, which is probably where the DL is dropped off. Very similar to the way they tackled the Newquay branch last year.

 

Not necessarily, though at least one other vac-only loco is taking part - 46115 on Tuesday.

 

Thanks Mark, quite logical but no hint on any timings of this.

 

Info I received this afternoon gives 44932 Bristol to Grange throughout . Watering at Preston 15-31 to 16-09 with the arrival time at Grange being 16-55 .

 

Very disappointing replacement for all involved Steve. Was planning to follow day 2 all the way up from Wales to the Cumbrian Coast and stop over in Grange O S for the night. I guess it's a difficult predicament for RTC Being let down so close to the tour.

 

This the sort of thoughtless comment really makes us wonder why we really bother.

You have no idea how difficult it has been to organise a suitable replace loco, following the failure of the 'Duchess', and then expect NR to do the necessary amendments to make it possible, at a couple of days' notice. I certainly won't bore you, either, with the effort required to lift the Dawlish resignalling block, on Sunday, nor reworking the arrangements, when St Blazey turntable became unserviceable.

And I have no doubt there will be more - along with everything else we sort out for charters, day in, day out.

 

A pity, as I, along with many others I presume, was hoping that Sutherland would be repaired in time. Potential fly in the ointment? When Cromwell ran up the North & West back in November, the diesel was pushing all the way up Llanvihangel, a real shame if such was repeated.

Cheers

Alan

 

I'm just speaking out loud for the paying passengers who have stumped up thousands of pounds and fully understand the difficulties which have been caused by the failing of the Duchess. And yes a Black Five is better than nothing, and yes RTC Deserve a medal for getting a steamer on the front last minute. Obviously your quite content with 44932 been shoved up North all the way by a rusting 47. I'm not blaming anyone for the issues that have surfaced, but just voicing a disappointing opinion for those who are involved in the trip.

 

I daresay the paying passengers can speak for themselves. Inference from your comments is that you are a frustrated linesider and therefore in no position to voice disappointment that your day has been spoilt by the substitution of one Stanier loco for another. JS has every right, on the other hand, to express his exasperation that the monumental efforts on the organisers part don't meet with your full approval.