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Your greatest ever steam locomotive spectacle

Discussion in 'Steam Traction' started by KentYeti, Nov 17, 2010.

  1. Spamcan81

    Spamcan81 Nat Pres stalwart

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    That was a remarkable experience to be sure. The stand out moment of an outstanding event.
     
  2. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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    Possibly how you interpret spectacle is for me one factor. I have to say that whilst I in no way decry some of the wonderful clips etc that are upthread, the memories that linger for me are those that are unexpected and involve what I'll call the 'general public'. I am thinking now of near the end of steam and a particular day when Roy Sloper (an Eastleigh man) took charge of the 1730 Weymouth to Waterloo, due in at 2051 (that's the old 2040 arrival retimed to accommodate all the tsrs that were on the SWML). He had 35030.

    The spectacle I am thinking of is not the run up from Southampton - that, in itself was something else. An extended tsr up to Roundwood, but that was not before we had topped 72 uphill through Winchester, This was followed by another tsr at Farnborough on the fast bit, but not before we had hit 97 near Fleet. It wasn't even the fact that we came to a stand at the buffers about 15 min early in a little over 81 minutes or 72 net. It was what happened next. As the public wandered up the platform, it was the number of them who looked at the time and stopped at the loco where a small group of us were talking to the driver. It wasn't just the enthusiasts who had recognised that something unusual had happened. It was one of those moments when ordinary people acknowledged that two men had brought them to London rather more quickly than normal and that was something to be savoured, and even deserving of a word of thanks to the crew.

    Nowadays, the driver on the unit has usually disappeared before the passengers get to the front as there's no real effort needed. Fortunately, the spectacle of people at the loco on steam charters is still with us and, in my view, keeps alive that relationship between man and machine and the simple fact that we enjoy what we enjoy through the efforts of people.
     
  3. Smokestack Lightning

    Smokestack Lightning Member

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    Two memories for me..

    Back in the day - 11th Dec 1965 to be exact - 45697 over the S&C, followed by 60528 on the Waverley to Edinburgh. Then 60034 Edinburgh to York and finishing off with 60886 to Chesterfield. A magic day, now over 50 years ago, that I will never forget. I think I may have some standard 8 of it, although I'm not sure where I've put it.

    In the modern era it has to be the Tyne Tees Streak. Sheer adrenalin. I won't say what speed came up on our GPS.

    Dave
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2016
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  4. mrKnowwun

    mrKnowwun Part of the furniture

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    Spectacular for me? Trackside, fast platform at Taplow at silly o'clock in the morning as Bittern thunder towards me at 90+mph on its first "fast" test run.


    Weybridge this year, spectacular because it had been a crap steam year up to then, Tangmere had been a mainline PITA all year and this really wasn't expected



    Greatest steam moment tho was not spectacular in any way, but surely the most poignant, taking hold of the same regulator my old man had used some 60 years earlier and driving Britannia, albeit 60 mph less than he did!
     
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  5. Smokestack Lightning

    Smokestack Lightning Member

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    I'm jealous! :(

    Dave
     
  6. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    The most impressive moment for me was watching 92203 pull the heavy stone trains at Merehead Quarry during their last open weekend some years ago. I never thought I would witness one of these fine loco's working that hard in Preservation . Awesome is a bit of an understatement for the display of power witnessed at this event. The ground shook and the bark of the exhaust went right through my body as she passed.
    The other moment that has stayed with me is walking into a packed Great Hall at the NRM and seeing the six A4's around the turntable. Lump in the throat moment for me.
     
  7. Smokestack Lightning

    Smokestack Lightning Member

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    Good one. How could I have forgotten about that moment. Especially as seeing 60008 was on my bucket list. My fourteenth (and last) A4, which I never thought I would get to see.

    Dave
     
  8. ady

    ady Well-Known Member

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    At the moment, the best moment.

    April 2009. City of Truro. Hauling a freight with me in the front brake van. In the Dark. Going up Berwyn bank. Including the tunnel.

    Magic.
     
  9. threelinkdave

    threelinkdave Well-Known Member

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    This incident happened at the old Euston in the early days of dieselisation. I was spotting on the end of platform 2 and 3. A very gruby tender loco was station pilot, probably an Ivat or BR class 3.

    An anouncement was made that the so and so train was running ten minutes late due to loco failure, and without taking breath, was now approaching platform x.

    Sorry I cant remember the detail as it was 50 years ago

    Down the bank came two ex works Ivat or BR class 3s and a good length train. The pilot manouvered itself on to the now empties.Crows from the rear were repeated at the front. From the off you new somrthing spectacular was going to happenThe exhaust from the pilot was vertical to the roof. The train accelerated rapidly. All three locos must have been in full gear as the train engines, now banking, shot past with similar vertical exhausts. The trio must have got the train up to 40mph yet they continued up the bank until out of hearing. The sound and spectacle of steam lifting a train out of Euston in the autum of steam was my momorable moment
     
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  10. steamvideosnet

    steamvideosnet Well-Known Member

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    I've got three favourite spectacles that I won't forget...

    This video of 46115 at Kents Bank on the GB7 back in 2014 was/still is my favourite shot I've ever taken - a favourite engine, in a beautiful part of the world, with near perfect weather conditions...



    The second was a ride behind 35028 at the Mid Hants on the Friday evening. Now, for those who don't know, Clan Line is my favourite locomotive and having never been behind her before, it was one of my highlights of 2014. The noise as she was opened her up out of Alton loop was something that I don't think I'll ever forget.

    My final favourite spectacle was when I was invited up to Stewarts Lane back in June to see Clan Line being prepared for her final main line run. Although I had previously visited the 'Lane' back in 2013, Clan Line was undergoing her winter maintenance, and so wasn't in steam. This time, Clan Line was in steam and it was a truly fantastic experience meeting some of the people involved in keeping her on the main line, while one of the giants of main line steam was readied for the train to Chester.

    James
     
  11. Spinner

    Spinner Member

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    From Oz, NSW to be a tad more precise... 8^)

    It is hard to pick the most stupendous experience.

    Enthusiast trip. In June 1986, I had a cab ride in 3102T up Morrison's Hill. "Big woop' I hear you cry out. Well, Morrison's Hill starts from Cootamundra and is basically 10 miles of 1 in 75. It took us 1½ hours from starting off at Cootamundra to stopping just over the crest of the grade. Details of 3102T here http://www.australiansteam.com/3102T.htm

    During the period 9/1988 to 9/1989, we were extremely privileged to have custody of 'Flying Scotsman' in Australia. It was run extensively in NSW and Victoria, and a little elsewhere. Anyway, over teh Easter Weekend in 1989. The 'cade over the four days was quite an experience. There are a couple of standouts from this trip to Dubbo. On Friday night, 3113 + 4472 + 3801 triple headed the train from Penrith to Katoomba. Just a mild grade here, many miles of 1 in 33 with some steeper pinches to make sure that the three crews were paying attention. To see the triple header struggling with their 500t+ train from various vantage points. traffic on the adjoining Great Western Highway was reasonably busy, expecially when the fact that it was after 10:00 pm when the train hit the grade. A few hours later, watching 4472 + 3801 climb the famous (in NSW) Tumulla Bank was an experience, especially since 4472 had 'laid over' and only 'came on song' more than halfway up the few miles of 1 in 40...
    Look at youtube here


    and here for Tumulla Bank.



    Regular service. The South Maitland Railways (SMR) were all steam until 1983. They used a stud of 2-8-2T locomotives. Some deatils here http://www.australiansteam.com/smr10.htm
    SMR details here http://www.nswrail.net/library/smr.php

    Back to Caledonia Bank. This is a lengthy 1 in 40 grade approached by a reasonably tight left hand curve. The 10 Class locos were doubleheaded in the last 8 or so years, hauling Government bogie coal hoppers, a loaded train was approaching 1,200 tonnes, right on the limit for teh 10 Class to handle. They would charge at the grade, reaching perhaps 40 mph at the bottom. By the time that they reached the top you could count between each stentorian blast from their chimneys. it was magic to stand beside the line watching a train tackle the grade.


    Cheers

    Brett
     

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  12. 46118

    46118 Part of the furniture

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    The noise created by a "J94" 68xxx 0-6-0 tank climbing the 1-17 of Hopton incline on the Cromford & High Peak in the early 1960's.

    Each slow exhaust beat was like gunfire. Never heard anything like it since.

    ( Memo to self: Must visit the Foxfield Rly sometime...)

    46118
     
  13. baldric

    baldric Member

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    Mat not be a spectacle but I would say for me firing the GWS's steam railmotor on it's first trip as a complete vehicle all the way up the Langollen with not issues, knowing I was the first person to do this for about 80 years. It is a close thing to the next spectacle of the SRM on the Looe branch, particularly the second weekend up the climb in to Liskeard.
     
  14. Johnb

    Johnb Nat Pres stalwart

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    You should have been there for the last run with the Brake Van special, a real scrum with parked cars blocking the road completely trapping the local bus in the process.
     
  15. Johnb

    Johnb Nat Pres stalwart

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    Mine must be the memorable night of 26 June 1967, one of the days I decided rather than go straight home I would travel down to Basingstoke to come back on the 18.35 Weymouth Waterloo, something I did quite regularly then to the puzzlement of my mother and girlfriend? When the train pulled in I was pleased to see a MN on the front (35003 Royal Mail) and even more pleased to see the driver was Fred Burridge one of Nine Elms "speed merchants." I knew this combination would mean a good run but I wasn't prepared for what actually happened.

    With the normal 7 coaches behind the tender acceleration was electrifying but regular travellers were used to that. By Hook we were really flying and then somewhere near Winchfield my somewhat inexperienced efforts at train timing made the speed 103mph and my mate standing in the vestibule with me got 110. A subsequent log in Railway Magazine gave an authenticated speed of 106mph. This run has now gone down in railway folklore and I feel privileged to have witnessed it, my only authenticated 100mph run with steam. I think my good friend, Chinese Pete got it right as we walked down the platform at Waterloo when he said "I think we've seen history made tonight" ( he wasn't really Chinese, it came from his name, Peter King- P King - get it!).

    There were other times travelled on that train where the magic ton was or was nearly reached but that one was something exceptional.

    I was also on the the last 02.45 Bournemouth Mail when another Nine Elms driver, Gordon Porter overran Christchurch by a considerable margin in an attempt to get his last "ton."
     
  16. worldsteam

    worldsteam Member

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    At a slight tangent, I'm busy clearing my late mother's house where part of my railway archive has sat for decades. I'm sad mice have had a feast on bits, but more distressing is that thumbing through 50 year old notebooks or rail tour brochures, I have really have zero memory of much of it. There's some astounding logs of steam runs, but alas, not a brain cell recalls them. Ditto those remarkable railtours in the early/mid 1960s that covered almost the entire country on a long day out! Or just a list of numbers from the platform end at Retford in the late 1950s - I was there, so my notebook tells me.

    I seem recall better discovering or doing something unique, even if it wasn't anything that special. Such as the Saturday during the last year (I think) that Holbeck's Jubilees went through to Glasgow. I was on the overnight and went through to Glasgow with 45593 (I again think - not found that notebook yet). I knew there was an unbalanced relief to Euston Saturday morning (via S&C, steam to Crewe) and pondered what it could be and bingo, it was 45593. Possibly the last Jubilee to arrive Crewe on a normal service? Or the Liverpool - Nottingham football special that was a Black 5 throughout, but this when the Midland was devoid of steam and even if a Black 5 departing Liverpool was a possibility, it going all the way was quite a surprise. Again nothing dramatic on the steam front, but I was glad I was there to do it.

    Ditto overseas where 'discovery' sticks in my mind more than specific steam events. I think we knew 03s covered Aachen - Moenchengladbach passenger, but less was known on the freight and Herzogenrath seemed worth checking. If I discovered this I know not, but the coke/coal trains were banked, with the block loads of coke hoppers taking 4 x 52 class 2-10-0s (or one could be a 55 class 0-8-0), two front, two back. Then Cuba was a whole new country to discover and the thrash staggering!

    David
     
  17. guycarr360

    guycarr360 Part of the furniture

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    Nothing beats putting your hand in your pocket and supporting a locomotive by doing an experience day.

    Have been lucky to do 5 of these, in order of enjoyment :-

    1. 71000 at East Lancs, after IR Black 5 was failed, the 71000 team kindly brought her back to life for an afternoon of top memories, she was like a swiss watch.
    2. 4472, running in BR livery, at Tysley, a while back, you did get the impression even then, she was been worked all day to maximum financial reward, sad really after what was to follow.
    3. As above 2 years previously, more relaxed, Roland Kennington and Bob Meanley on footplate with us, a great day out.
    4. 40145 at East Lancs Railway, although a diesel, we were all happy campers come the end of the day.
    5. 44222 at East Lancs Railway, a blindingly hot day, on a red hot footplate was a eye opener as to how fit enginemen were in the day.

    Have not done one of these for a while, still think they are good value, and the footplate crew we met were always great people.
     
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  18. dan.lank

    dan.lank Member

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    For me (born in '82 so long past the end of BR steam) it'd have to be a couple of cab rides on the Puffing Billy railway in Australia. Incredible 2ft gauge line, trestle bridges, amazing scenery, locos working hard. First time was on their Garratt in 2007 in the rain-just pure power. Second time was a year ago on one of their NA class Baldwin 2-6-2s. Can't remember which of them, but these are the locos which have always worked there, doing what they always did. Rode the second section which is mainly 1:30 - just amazing!

    [​IMG]

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  19. Western Venturer

    Western Venturer Well-Known Member

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    I was about 7 years old when my mother and I went to Brettell Lane Station to take two cases which were to be "Delivered Luggage" to our B&B in Dawlish the next week,what a great service that was.As we were walking away along the platform I can still see it in my minds eye, an 8F blasted through on a freight up the bank towards Round Oak. I know it was an 8F as the porter wrote the number down for me!!I dont have many memories of railways before then, althoughholidays in Dawlish were in theresomewhere ,so maybe this is the spark that set me off on this wonderful hobby...everytime I go passed the site of Brettell Lane Station I think of that day...
     
  20. allison_p

    allison_p New Member

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    Waiting on the platform at Paddington with a rake of chocolate and cream coaches with a castle up the front, with my green flag ready to give the "right away" to the Cheltenham Flyer.
     

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