Christmas Sussex Belle, 8 December.

In for a penny, in for a pound! Ticket arrived today, and 34067 is confirmed for this jaunt. Serendipity has located me in London at the same time as this and the Lindum Fayre, so as you might guess, I'm doing both of them- it would be rude not to.

 

Booked on this during the Black Friday sale. At £39 each it would've been rude not to!

However, tickets have still not arrived here so will have to give RTC a call tomorrow and see if they can e-mail.
That's assuming, of course, that it's still running after Tangmere's failure yesterday.

 

ML Steam in Sussex , about time, Does anyone know what the timings are?
i assume it runs Redhill to Eastbourne, Via Lewes, then gets Diesel hauled to Hastings then steam to Sevenoaks via Tunbridge wells

 

The return is http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U63936/2015/12/08/advanced

Cannot find the outward trip on RTT or OTT.

 

Thanks, so my hunch was right so about 1500 at SLQ, to Watch it come in, then a quick trip to battle to see it come through, whats likely to be hauling it if 34067 isn’t fit,i assume she will need to be worked back to Southall before the tour, don’t give much time does it, what’s available at Southall?

 

61306, but is support crew available and has it been gauged for the route?

 

So it could be top and tailed 47's

 

Based on the the runs its done so far this year, I think you could slip it through the eye of a needle!

 

Just been posted on RTC website

DUE TO A FAILURE WITH THE LOCOMOTIVE 34067 TANGMERE THIS TRIP IS NOW CANCELLED, PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES FOR ANY DISAPPOINTMENT THIS WILL CAUSE.

 

Drat. :-(

Still I knew at the time I booked it was probably only a 50% chance of it running as booked.

 

I've just seen Tangmere languishing at St. Philips HST depot, Bristol. It ain't going anywhere.

OTMR kit says 'no'. Looked good in the sunlight though. <BJ>

 

Well done to RTC for cancelling and refunding rather than just spinning it out for a few hours and then claiming it was too late to contact passengers,and running diesel-hauled - a practice not unknown by "other" railtour companies. This will have cost them money but ultimately makes me more likely to book with them in future.

 

Unfortunately, I phoned up to ask about transfer to another tour (slightly more expensive) and they wanted the full price difference, so I took the refund option instead!

Given the amount of shenanigans that we've had in the last year, no way I'm putting money down for a tour six months in advance that stands a strong chance of being cancelled or amended.

 

Sad newes - the only main line steam we get in this part of the world. RTC will have taken a hit here and one can't but feel sorry for the company - it has had a rotten time in 2015. However, I couldn't help thinking at the time that the return of 45407 to Bury last week was a bit premature. With both SD and RTC offering pretty intensive programmes in December in the London/South East area, a standby engine a Southall would have seemed a sensible precaution.

 

What happens in these situations,? does Carnforth send down fitters with the kit to replace the OTMR kit, and they do it at Bristol, or does Tangmere have to be towed,or roaded back to Southall, or Carnforth, assuming that of course anything is moving north of Rugby .

 

Wait and see, like the rest of the world!

 

Could just be the battery but who knows