Cathex Salisbury to Canterbury Sat 29th Aug

Cant see an individual thread for this, so here goes.

Is it running? no times on RTT yet, and the outline departure times on the Steam Dreams booking page have disappeared.

 

And unable to book since states " Refer to booking office" . Yesterday it was still possbile to book in certain classes. Looks like it has been cancelled or postponed.

 

Would agree,from the SD website certainly looks like its cancelled.

 

Seems to work ok at present.

 

UK Steam shows it as cancelled.

Bank holiday approaches but only two mainline runs now, both from Vintage Trains.

 

Too many engineering works?

 

As mentioned above, just two charters this weekend from the eight that were advertised. <BJ>

 

It seems to me that advertised tours are, to use a fishing vernacular, just ground bait. In this case eight? for a single weekend? clearly that was always going to be far fetched with the available resources, even if we could field a full shed of working locos.

 

I am booked on this and have just rung Steam Dreams. They said the tour is running! Timings received from NR were not considered acceptable and it has been requested that they are changed. That is why no listing on the NR system yet.

 

The plot thickens.

 

Pleased to hear that it's running. From UK Steam just now, SD better let them know then.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sat 29-Aug THE CATHEDRALS EXPRESS - [CANCELLED] (26/08)
Salisbury-Canterbury [wcrc]
61306: Salisbury-Clapham Jn-Canterbury East, Canterbury-Willesden
[Postponed from 08-Apr]

 

Uksteam now updated to show that the train is running. <BJ>
THE CATHEDRALS EXPRESS (26/08) Salisbury-Canterbury [wcrc] 61306: Salisbury-Clapham Jn-Canterbury East, Canterbury-Willesden

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

From Steam Dreams:

Salisbury to Canterbury Locomotive: B1 61306 Mayflower

Saturday 29 August 2015

Please be aware that we have not yet received confirmed timings and details for this trip. We are currently awaiting confirmation from our train operating company, West Coast Railways and Network Rail on the steam sections on this trip, as a vintage diesel is likely to feature on a section of the journey. All passengers have been sent a set of tickets without timings, and once the final details are confirmed, we will forward these to passengers by email and add them to this webpage.

 

Good, nice to get some good news.

 

Great that its running,however how nice it would be if the diesel did only "feature on a section of the journey". It seems to be increasingly rare for anything steam to move south of the Thames on the mainline without one on the back all day,and I don't think this tour will be any exception.

 

Just received these timings from Steam Dreams:



Somewhat pedestrian!

 

Detailed timings now on Steam Dreams website:

http://www.steamdreams.co.uk/executables/GT410WebContent.exe?ActionCode=Timings

Interesting route, not the usual Canterbury Circuit.

 

I wonder how long it would take a really top notch cyclist to get from Salisbury to Canterbury by the most direct route.

Ooh, I know just the thread on Nat Pres where I can ask.

 

In my serious racing days, around 6.5 hours Now.....6.5 days

 

Going via Staines adds an hour to the journey.