Steam Dreams 2019 - New Summer and other tours

No. It is out of gauge for that route. Won't clear the Bridge at Bromley South.

 

Thank you. Reason for asking is what will be No9's first duty out of Southall this summer after arriving there on Sunday following the Kingswear trip on Saturday.

 

Thank You. Should have remembered reading that the VSOE had to run diesel hauled every time it went to Kent as the FS was out of gauge during its period filling in for Clan Line.

 

When they went to gauge Scotsman they found there was 3cm. clearance under bridge at Bromley South and the cab roof.

 

Boy that's tight. Do you know what happened to the Duchess on the Harrogate line in 2007?

 

It's cab scraped a bridge.

 

You have the trip to Bath & Bristol on the 20th, that may be a trip for 09, as no loco is chosen yet, but obviously might be the b1 or black 5 of course.

 

61306 through Clapham RT with the evening Surrey Hills rounder. Sounded good. 47245 still on the rear.

 

Thank You. Slightly off topic but does anyone know what is planned for Flying Scotsman in Scotland next year? Would love to see it go to Aberdeen.

 

Chertsey,

 

Short video from Redhill tonight...

 

Vauxhall, Wraysbury, Clapham Jn, Egham and Byfleet during yesterday's runs.

 

Here’s some footage of it around London and Surrey yesterday!

 

IMHO Steam Dreams have missed a trick here, lots of potential with these but only being one way and on a weekday people are unlikely to book off in isolation means they're massively limiting their own market, trains (bar the evening one) all looked pretty empty to me. Still there we go, an interesting idea which hopefully is refined over time.

Some photos and video below;





More photos at https://railwaygalleries.smugmug.com/MainlineSteam/Steam-Tours-in-2019/

 

Some nice images there. But you may need to explain to me about SD missing a trick. I am not sure what else you could do with the Windsor trip which is aimed squarely at the tourist market.
It will never greatly appeal to the enthusiast market (although if I still lived in London may do one just to change the colour on my Quail Map for Staines to Windsor to that for steam haulage) and it is highly likely to be a crawl along the Hounslow Loop behind a late running stopper.
There really is no other way to get there by making the trip a little longer, and anyway that would probably curtail three trips. It may prove not work as a business model but I guess the aim is to give departure options coupled to the novelty of a mainline steam trip to get to Windsor.
I would think if people wanted to take a day of work for a steam trip there are many better destinations and with the option of on train dining.
Good on SD for looking at something new and at 26 miles 26 chains not too far adrift from a long Heritage line fare, although a long way from the value of a WCRC Santa fare.

 

Offering a return trip would be an obvious one, currently they are one way only so making the customers buy an SWR ticket back to London. It might be that it's valid on a later train but seems a weird one. Also it's too late for this year but Mondays or Fridays feel a more obvious fit.

 

I recall reading that platform occupancy at Waterloo is part of the driver for that; by offering outward tickets only, it means the train can be cleaned on the way back and be ready for boarding as soon as it arrives at Waterloo. If my memory is correct, it strikes me as quite a nifty way of fitting in that number of trips on a weekday.

 

The journalism may be a little predictable but the Merchant Navy and crew shot makes up for it.

https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/...-anniversary-full-steam-ahead-on-the-express/

Of course compared to a peak Hex ticket at £25 for a much shorter one way trip the Windsor trip is a bargain.

 

Certainly not interested in the Windsor trains but could be tempted to do the evening run. It would be better if it ran about an hour earlier though since at the moment it means a 2300 arrival back at Waterloo which means home around midnight (not ideal for those of us who have to be a work next day) and furthermore by the time you get to the interesting bit (Surrey Hills) it's getting dark. I doubt that an earlier departure would work though as it would mean leaving Waterloo in the middle of the evening rush. Good luck to Steam Dreams for trying something different anyway although I have my doubts as to how successful it will be. How widely advertised is this? It's even hard to find these trains on the Steam Dreams website.