61306 Mayflower - Cathedrals Express (Sapperton Return) 24-09-15

I'm sure the tour promoters will be devastated to learn that.

 

Lovely eloquent post - thank you for sharing - this is why steam inspires the majority of us as a hobby and makes us happy (although it seems to bring a peculiar degree of misery to many).

 

If a class 7 hauled 10 coach train needs to be shoved up to Sapperton by diesel in September then I guess the halcion days of preserved mainline steam may well be behind us we will know tomorrow

 

Sounded fairly boisterous when it went through Selhurst on the down slow(?), sounded like accelerating from almost stationary after signal checks. Certainly woke me up as it went past the office!

 

Can you explain, because I don't get it, why this was a "brilliant moment"?

 

And when one considers how much footplate crews were discouraged from making excessive smoke in steam days perhaps it wasn't such an odd request to make.

 

Trust me. To see two uniformed Network Rail officials despatched to the concourse with their tails between their legs was a joy to behold and indeed a brilliant moment especially when they were told the smoke was going to last 45 minutes! They just didn't get it. It is a steam locomotive and they smoke!! They really didn't take taht comment too well and it almost landed me with a red card and escorted off of platform 2.

 

Driver Spike told Network Rail that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He should know!

 

Wouldn't be the drivers role anyway - more a question of managing the fire effectively. With a train due to be towed out and back to depot, there was no need for further steam after arrival so the old practice would have been to stop firing early enough to ensure just enough steam to get in and then back out to the stabling point - and thereby avoid making smoke in the confines of the station. That also saved coal - which goes back further to coal bonuses.

That said in this day and age, crews don't have the day in day out practice on a route and loco to be able to readily judge the point at which its safe to stop firing, and with delay penalties you can understand them erring on the side of too much fire than stopping short of steam and having to be dragged/shoved the last bit.

 

Very well summed up. The fire clearly had been run down but it didn't stop the smoke. It was almost as if the blower was on such was the thrust out of the chimney. During the 45 minutes stay at Platform 2, there were two or three occasions when the odd shovel of coal was put on the fire. I am no expert but I know that they know what and why they did so.

 

May well have had the blower on a bit - with two hours before getting back to Southall for disposal they'd not want a fire clinkering up through not burning through properly if they just left it to die out (not least because they might need some steam later for lubrication and maybe moves on shed). Again this is different to old steam days when you'd be in, unload, carriages pulled off by the station pilot and then straight out to the stabling point for water at which point you'd be able to clean the fire a bit and start preparing for the next run. I've no doubt handling a steam loco on the modern railway involves some new challenges. Anyway its probably time the fire alarms at Victoria had a proper test!

 

Not too much assistance from my vantage point, except the obvious need up Sapperton. At my spot the B1 had to come to a stop before Ashchurch due to an issue with the level crossing. There was reports of a car trying to jump the lights & getting stuck between the barriers ! Then with the need to make up 11 minutes, the box helped out, which was understandable in that situation.

 

I think Spike Edney used to play keyboards and additional guitars with Queen back in the day! Amazing to hear he can drive steam locos too!

Spike Hodges maybe?

 

Thank you for explaining, but I must decline the invitation to "Trust you". You obviously enjoyed the encounter and are proud enough of it to have shared it in a public space, but it seems to me to be a very peculiar and loutish way to behave toward railway staff who had legitimate concerns. The consequence of triggering the fire alarm at Victoria requires station evacuation (Central and SE sides) which pushes every one onto the streets outside - including at that time of night, thousands of passengers in or boarding trains, the drunks, the concession operators, and they all have to stand around until the Fire Brigade have attended and given the all clear. Meanwhile the stalled incoming train service backs up to East Croydon and Bromley South. That is what the station staff were trying to avoid. Instead they got you, intervening - with some deliberate and carefully chosen hostility - in a matter that was no concern of yours. Good effort!

 

Not at the SR London terminals back in the day in my experience. Knowing many of the loco crews back then I think that request could have well ended with the fireman putting in a requisition for a replacement shovel. And the member of station staff hobbling away from the loco looking, from some angles, a little like a triffid.

 

Tripod?

 

Will yes, one of those as well. But triffids did hobble about whereas I'm not sure tripods can walk.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffid

 

A bit late, here is a photo from Crowthorne last night where there was quite the turnout - of all ages.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davestubbings/21523975118

 

What an incredible photograph! Astonishing interest from one and all. Nice one David.

 

Wow! Its almost like the queen is arriving in town on the royal train! Was chatting to some people on the platform at Sandhurst in the morning, and the event had been in the local press.