THE ROYAL OAK 10TH JULY;

Had a brilliant day on Saturday. Fantastic performance from 6024!

31.5 into Sapperton tunnel.

Cheers,
Mark

 

My photos are now up at:

http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1871065_1.html

Cheers,
Mark

 

I enjoyed this jaunt round the Midlands, too. Would have commented on it earlier, but my internet has been down for the last two weeks. Even for a Southern fan like me, the 'King' was evidently in fine fettle, and proved master of the task, with speeds in the latter part of the seventies at certain points. However, the outward journey was slightly marred by three hefty sets of delays that were beyond the tour's direct control: the first being the 22 minute-late departure from Paddington caused by the offending FGW Sleeper parked in Platform one. This meant that we arrived at our Banbury waterstop just seven minutes before we were booked to leave, leaving us at the mercy of pathing in this very heavily-used section of the network. It took 30 minutes for a clear path to be found. The next delay was experienced getting into Dorridge goods loop for a water top-up, which added a further 20 minutes to our schedule. Going round the centre of Birmingham between Snow Hill and The Hawthorns was surprisingly plain-sailing, and it was interesting to see a locomotive being prepared at Tyseley (was it Rood Ashton Hall? I felt the boiler looked a bit too big for a Hall (and I don't mean the boiler of 7029, either), and put it down as being Nunney Castle. Any help in this regard would be appreciated). The final delay on the outward journey was caused by a signal failure at Worcester Tunnel Junction, resulting in an arrival 1hr 18mins after we were supposed to.

However, the return journey more than made up for it. It was a barn-storming performance, particularly up Sapperton, and the final stretch between Swindon and Reading was sustained running averaging around 74MPH. All in all, a very enjoyable end to my weekend steam-binge, with an ambitious (in a positive way) route that filled in a vast chunk of my steam map of Britain and very decent clientele. Anyway, Happy Birthday 6024, although as a Southerner, I hope you don't steal too many VSOEs from 35028...!

 

Its took a long time but heres my video from Sapperton and after the Kemble water stop;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDhQIpZVtdg

 

What became of the headboard,Shirley in the 2nd.video?

 

It was the first prize in the raffle, and was removed at the Kemble water stop.

 

And very nice too. Worth waiting for.

 

Yes, for the lucky winner, the headboard was complete with some rather squashed flies! I personally wouldn't have liked to catch the Tube with that tucked under my arm...

 

Shirley wont be posting on here again but the questions already been answered.

 

Great Video Nick as for taking the headboard on the tube with the fly's on it i would not have worried it could have gone on the wall along side my other headboard the royal returns ;

ALL THE BEST
jane