Tornado Paddington/Penzance 29/05/17

Evening all,

I'm still struggling to come to terms with what I bore witness to on Bank Holiday Monday...I'm not sure that I could find the words that would do the tour and the performance justice.

From the noisy departure out of Paddington to being greeted like a rock-star on arrival at Penzance - I'm just glad to say I was one of the lucky and privileged people to have been on this tour.

I've travelled behind Tornado quite a few times before but right now she appears to be performing better than ever.

To all involved - thank you for a simply stunning tour - and fingers crossed for plenty more of the same as the years go on.

 

It was pretty tasty wasn't it. Only my second run behind Tornado so only the run to Darlington on her inaugural main line weekend as comparison. From a sound recording point of view the Penzance trip would seem to have been the better of the two. Sparkling acceleration - albeit with a lighter train - and some stunning hill climbing. As an aural treat, the climb from departing Par to the summit at Burngullow was superb. Apart from the slack through the platform at St.Austell, Tornado was hard at it for nigh on a quarter of an hour. Worth every penny of the fare for that alone.

 

This was my fourth tour behind Tornado this year and I have to concur with dublo6231 that she is performing better than ever. The North Briton, Heart of Midlothian and The Talisman were all very good performances, but this one for me was the best. The excellent run from Paddington to Reading, what seemed like effortless climbs of the banks without over exerting the engine made for a superb trip. Also her rate of acceleration at times seemed too good to be true and there were one or two occasions when I wondered if the 59 had sneaked up and was giving us a push! All in all an excellent run which couldn't have been achieved without the hard work of the A1 Trust and her support crew, the DBC crews, NR for a decent path and the onboard staff who must have had nearly as long a day as the support crew, and not forgetting the staff at UK Railtours who act as the booking agents. Thanks to everyone for an unforgettable day out.

Dave B

 

Ray Churchill used to deal with this by running as slowly as possible down to Totnes to try to ensure he got a green signal. He always maintained that Rattery was worse than Dainton

 

He got caught out on the trip I did with 70013. Was a little faster at Totnes than was the norm and we saw a red. It didn't clear until we had all but come to a stand so we started the climb at a distinct disadvantage. A flange oiler didn't help and '13 slipped to a stand. Superb enginemanship finally got us on the go again but not until after several bouts of slipping. Made for a great sound recording though.

 

Thanks for the Par DBHP.
A friend of mine doesn't enthuse over Tornado as it's "too quiet." He must be going deaf is all I can say. OK, not so loud as a Brit for example but she's definitely not quiet when she's on full song.

 

On the right line and with the right load you'd be amazed how much noise a reputedly quiet loco can make.

Clan Line is good example. There have been some superb videos posted on this forum of 35028 taking the pullmans up the bank from the water stop at Shalford to Gomshall which dispel any myth that she's always quiet, although if you really want to hear a good racket, put September 13th in your diaries and head for Walmer or Martin Mill in East Kent when this heavy train will be lugged up a 1 in 74 bank. In May 1995, I went to see it on the Canterbury circular, which was a regular route for Clan Line and the pullmans at the time and you could hear it coming for miles - right from the start of the incline south of Deal station platforms. Up with the noisiest of them all on that occasion!

 

The late and much respected driver/inspector Bryan Dudley Ward always took it easy down to Totnes, sometimes at an absolute crawl, until he could see the green before tacking Rattery. The only time this did not work out, to my knowledge, was with a V2 60800 which in awful wet weather and with Bryan on the footplate, had to stop at the foot of the bank against adverse signals. The train just about managed to get over Rattery but it was a close run thing. There is a video around filmed from the footplate at Totnes and the crew quite evidently thought there was little chance of getting up the bank to Tigley from comments they made. That they did, was a magnificent tribute to the V2 and crew.

 

If anyone's interested, my logs from Paddington-Reading; Reading-Newbury and Newbury to Exeter Riverside Yard are hopefully on the links below. Most of them seem to make sense. Quite a lot of MPs missing or I just didn't see them back to engine in Coach H. the bear and his minder were no help either!!!!

 

I keep an eye out for gradient posts and there seemed to be a fair few of those missing unless they switched from up side to down side at random intervals.

 

And here are the Exeter Riverside Yard to Plymouth and Plymouth to Penzance bits. Only recorded whatever mileposts/landmarks I could find on these sections.

 

Tornado storms to Penzance 29 May 2017

For the first time an A1 Pacific was setting out for the farthest reaches of the old GWR, to coincide with a visit to the Bodmin and Wenford Railway. Out of Paddington we were up to 55 by Old Oak Common, 60 by Acton Main Line and 70 by Ealing Broadway. We stormed on in the mid to high 70s through Slough and Taplow, passing Maidenhead within even time at 76. Despite slowing severely from Sonning, we came to a stand in Reading 16 seconds inside even time from Paddington, start to stop.

The running to our next stop at Newbury was also lively: 49 at Southcote Junction, 60 at Calcot, 67 at Theale and 70 at Upton. This speed was maintained until Thatcham when we began to slow for our water stop. Afterwards we were up to 66 by Hungerford and 70 by Bedwyn and cresting the summit at Savernake at 69. We quickly flew up to 75 at Wootton Rivers and after a severe speed restriction through Pewsey we were back up to the mid 70s by Patney. On we pressed, passing Clink Road Junction six minutes early, topping Brewham summit at 64, hurtling through Bruton at 77 and Castle Cary at 76, then passing Taunton eight minutes early. After 52 at Norton Fitzwarren and 65 at Wellington we entered Whiteball tunnel at 47. Within three miles of the exit we were up to 76, and continued in the 70s until Rewe, where we started to pick up signals on approach to Exeter Riverside, our next water stop. Another piece of epic running by Tornado.

We reached 66 by Exminster but moseyed all along the Dawlish sea wall at about 60 before being held at Newton Abbot for other trains to pass. From that standing start we reached 44 by Aller Junction but the climb of Dainton brought us down to 20 on entering the tunnel. Through Totnes at 58 the Rattery bank also took its toll, causing us to slow down to 19 at Tigley before recovering to 42 at Rattery and 50 at Wrangaton. We enjoyed a final hurtle down Hemerdon, reaching 76 before slowing for the approach to Plymouth.

From there on I confess I was more interested in looking out of the window at the Tamar estuary, the magnificent Brunel bridge at Saltash and the beautiful Cornish scenery, last seen 37 years ago. Clearly Tornado was still performing splendidly on the twists and turns, ups and downs, viaducts, cuttings and tunnels of the wonderful Cornish railway, but I sat back and enjoyed the spectacle (and the amazing soundtrack) rather than recording all the figures for posterity - sorry!

All too soon we were at Penzance, then heading back to London behind a freight diesel, so all there was to do was to eat, drink and reflect on another exceptional 'first' with Tornado.

12 photos are at http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com/p939480031

Peter on a warm June evening in Manchester
http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com

 

Thanks very much for those excellently detailed logs - you are far more diligent than I and you have filled my total information void for the run west of Plymouth. I'm relieved to find that your figures confirm mine in most cases - further confirmation of what an excellent run it was

Peter on a grey damp morning in Manchester
http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com

 

Pleasure Peter. Done the route so many times the scenery doesn't distract me too much. Besides, there really wasn't a bad section on the whole tour though the Newton Abbot thing badly affected Dainton. The great shame was DBC couldn't persuade anyone to do a run from Penzance to Bristol to get 60163 there for the first Torbay. To my mind the return is the more challenging, especially in Cornwall, and who wouldn't want to 'do' Hemerdon with 10? and 75 into Whiteball?? Somerton and Bruton ... Back in the day - and the day has sadly gone - Pathfinder would done it like a shot. What a wasted opportunity for a great rail tour.

 

The level of detail shows true diligence.

 

60163 crossing Hayle viaduct

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10257146@N05/35037724886/in/dateposted/