Tornado to haul certain timetabled trains on S&C: Feb 14-16

No humble pie is required. If people only look at these events through the myopic prism of their small world, THEY lack the humility to see the potential impact on the normal population. They lack an awareness of others.

Whilst everyone who has an interest in steam on the mainline thought this a great idea, that enthusiasm was tempered in some by a genuine concern for the locals and regular traveller who may have been affected. That was not in the small pond of this discussion site, but shown outside on social media. Having the concern for others is a virtue.

In the end, those concerns expressed beyond here resulted in some contingency being applied. An extra coach was added. Additional service trains were added. This assuaged the concerns of those looking at the impact on locals.

That said, further back on this thread, it was posted that very few people travelling regularly were aware of the steam offerings. After yesterdays widespread media coverage, many more people are aware. Given that we are in the middle of half term, the prospect of these services now being swamped must run high. Hopefully the contingency, allied to the spare capacity noted yesterday will be able to cope. Fingers crossed.

 

Problem is Fred I still work and busy at moment

 

Q.E.D.

 

My sons in school this week in Cheshire, so not sure which schools half term it is.Looking from the train yesterday, Settle school kids ain't off, all in the play ground waving like mad at the footplate crew. Wonderful day for our railways, great to see Network Rail/Northern/DB Cargo/A1 Trust & S&C helpers all working together

 

Having just seen a reply from the one usual suspects, you're absolutely right.

 

You have demonstrated nothing...

 

Schools around here all closed. Half term is spread over two weeks in February across the country. Not all schools are off on the same week. It follows that there may be kids on a break in the Lakes and Dales with family from lots of parts of the country at this time.

 

No, you have. Does it take a lot of practice to be that pessimistic or is it a gift you are born with? I had reservations about what would happen as Northern's can do attitude is not typical of the rail industry but they have pulled it off and it has given rail and steam in particular a great deal of publicity with quite a long feature on all the national TV news stations last night.

Knowing how the A1 Steam Trust work I would think there was a leaflet on every seat on the train explaining that they are building another loco. The railway heritage movement does work in a bit of a bubble sometimes and most outsiders have no idea how vibrant this section of the general heritage industry is. If it opens the eyes of more of the prevebial Joe Public then it can only be for the good.

 

I'm still waiting to see the indigenous locals thronging the platforms at the intermediate stations as they queue for a seat on what they expect to be their usual Sprinter.

Dave B

 

No, that honour goes to you. You were all doom and gloom no matter how much you wriggle now. Yesterday went much better than you feared. Let's see how today and tomorrow goes shall we?

 

Didn't you see them on the telly? Must have been 150 at least.

 

I note little comment on the response from Northern Rail's GM who, when asked about further steam operations in a similar vein, responded that a couple of workings per year was under consideration; there are some tasty routes for steam traction within the NR's operating area such as Newcastle-Carlisle. Cumbrian Coast, S&C, Harrogate Circuit, possibly even the WCRC test train circuit - although the latter is not a full service timetable.

 

I have never criticised the opportunity to widen interest in the general heritage industry. I have only expressed concern about the potential impact on the regular users of the S&C Service. Some of the comments on here implied a God given right to travel and showed no concern for the locals. There were even posts indicating that they had a God given right to stand and window hang despite Northern making it clear there would be no standing. That precipitated a rather unsavoury exchange about fatalities.

That seeing steam on the mainline has made national news and raised awareness is positive. But it is no less than what we have seen regarding FS on the news last year.

Northern responded, not to posts on here, to the concerns on social media from non enthusiasts. You can keep your enthusiast blinkers on if you like, but I like to think of the wider world. An extra coach behind Tornado and additional service trains served to mitigate many concerns. It is not unreasonable to have voiced those concerns and the outcome so far has been good.

 

K

Keep your selfish blinkers on then...

The fact that Northern responded by adding another coach AND running additional service trains shows just how out of touch you were. I however commended them on their changes.

 

Just to add to the 'debate', kids are off in most of north Lancashire this week but Cumbria next week - I cannot wait!

One thing that has been nice to see is the extent that WCRC have been publicising these trips via their social media channels.

 

Meanwhile back in S & C land I see that the first train from Appleby was running 11 minutes late at Blea Moor following a 7 minute late departure from Appleby. Also the path for the extra service from Skipton after Tornado leaves has not yet been activated.

Dave B

 

Got to enjoy a NP thread that descends into a slanging match!!!!

A well done to all who have taken the time to take video or post photographs, again the A1ST and its partners get steam into the national headlines for all the right reasons.

School half term around here is next week, if was done next year in half term, I am sure you would need 20 coaches, maybe that's why they are building the P2???

 

If northern can get through three days without the service falling apart it would be an enormous achievement and beat their normal record, perhaps they should outsource all running to steam and DBC, couldn't be any worse than their normal record.

 

Graeme Bunker was spoken to in the BBC report, and when asked if it could happen again and how often, he said yes and once a year. I think he suggested East Anglia and Scotland, but need to see if this is online to check.

 

Graeme Bunker did an interview on TV yesterday indicating that yesterday was just the start, more in the pipeline, different routes, different parts of the country, etc. Great, bring it on, yesterday was fantastic, it all seemed to go well and it just showed that it can be done successfully.As for the videos and photographs........keep em coming lads, I enjoy them all. I can't/won't criticise/praise etc, I'm not a photographer but I'm grateful to all the folk who are.
A great event, let's have more.