Christmas Cheshireman, 28th November

Yes Ian that post rather put things into perspective. Even so two 5s would have been better for us pure steam men who perhaps still yearn for the real days of steam in our youth.

 

If two 5s had been on the front I might have got a bit too excited! My missus had to deal with a 33 year old school kid all day as it is!!! Hehe

 

What can I say? Your post was refreshing and maybe brought some of us back to the real world.

 

Anyone know the times of 45407's return North today?

Cheers,

Alan

 

If 407 is going back to Bury what is going to work the RTC trip this Saturday? Is Tangmere ready and ORR approved?

 

Good point G.D.

 

Well if Tangmere isn't ready in time for the Bath Xmas Market on Saturday, then at least we could use Mayflower as a replacement.

 

Pretty much echo BillyReopening's comments. Despite the external circumstances, it was a good trip overall, with 45407 given plenty of work to do. Acceleration at improbable rates from most of the stops suggested diesel assistance, but this was only to be expected when a single 'Black Five' is expected to handle a load initially allocated to a Class 7 locomotive. However, the diesel was eased as soon as it was evident that 45407 was into its stride. I wasn't aware that the 'incident' involved stowaways, as I thought the unscheduled stop after Ludlow was because passengers who wanted to get off there had failed to do so. Also happy to have got the 'difficult' Stoke Gifford east curve done southbound- meaning that a fairly rare stretch of track on my steam map of Britain has now been done in both directions.