Cathedrals Express 09 October 2010; 6233(?) Euston - Chester t1009b

Excellent run on Saturday. The climb of Camden was made to look easy despite the load. Although in the 12th coach we couldn't hear much, it seemed a very smooth ascent, it was only by seeing a video on youtube later that I realised she had slipped! We felt nothing at the back end. The slips were expertly caught, without the loss of momentum or causing any jerks. ( Who was on the handle at the time?)

The return was well worth waiting for. The climb to Madley was brilliant with plenty of music from the front end and even blowing off whilst ripping into it; superb.. After that there were quite a few 'full noise' accelerations to keep the fans well pleased. About 10 late back into Euston after a longer stop outside Northampton than planned.

All in all, a brilliant tour and money well spent. As usual thanks to all involved. Hurry back 6233.

A few clips to give a flavour of the day.

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

Alan.

 

Had a fantastic day on Saturday,the arrival back at Euston been the highlight,nothing short of magical as we rolled all the way in under green signals to then have a burst on the regulator into the platform and a good old whistle to signal Stanier's finest arriving back into the station where one was last seen 46 years ago.


My photos (Including Euston at night) are now up at:

http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1906202.html

Cheers,
Mark

 

The photos from Alisdair of Duchess at Euston are absolutely BRILLIANT> Back to the 60's indeed. One question.. I didn't think steam was allowed into Euston, I'm sure an engine has been taken off before the station before, was there a change of heart for this one ?????

 

Steam has run into Euston quite a few times recently. 6201 did in July and 60163 did in May. I think the only restriction is that it uses one of the platforms that HSTs used to use.

 

I heard that there is an extract system, for the platforms that HST'S use to use.

 

Thanks for the kind comments on the photos - much appreciated, and glad they have been enjoyed.

Cheers,
Alisdair

 

Hello All,

A couple of photographs of Class 8P "CORONATION" 4-6-2 6233 DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND hauling "THE CATHEDRALS EXPRESS" have been added to my fotopic site.

Link here;

http://preservedrailwaylocomotivephotosbyrichardsmith.fotopic.net/c1906989.html

One was taken at Euston Station and the other at Harrow & Wealdstone Station.

You are most welcome to view and hopefully enjoy.

Best regards SteamHawk216.

 

I am surprised how easily pleased some people are.The schedule to and from Crewe is not exacting.The journey to Crewe could with a bit of planning be acheaved an hour quicker.I suppose that if you have paid to go then you are entitled to your oppinion but I wont be travelling as at an average of just under 40 miles per hour to do the 158 miles just does not seem worth it to me.

 

I'm surprised that you are bothered as I'm sure you weren't on the trip, or are you just trying to do a bit of trolling.
As a matter of interest what was the last trip one you were on?

 

If you think any tour is going to get the fast line south of Rugby in future then im afraid you'll have a very long wait.

 

Cambrian,
Firstly what is trolling,I am just putting my point of view nothing more nothing less.As I said before 4 hours to Crewe is not worth the money or effort.If you look at my posts you will find that I commented on the A1 trip to York in August and yes I was on it.
David 1984,
I dont expect to get the fast line south of Rugby just to get something on the slow that has been thought through and not stuck behind a stopper.It could be done if some effort was put into looking for some gaps.We never get anything through Weedon so it will have to be Northampton which in effect is the slow.I seem to remember that the previous Chester was sent on the Fast from Milton Keynes to Euston when Hart/Morrisson retired.Am I correct.

 

I don't think that is a troll.

If I could have been fairly certain of a decent schedule to/from Crewe I would have booked on it.

But I'm just not interested in very long schedules over old steam main lines.

So that means my last trip was behind Clan Line in May when I knew there was a good chance of getting the fast 07.17 slot out of Waterloo. Which we did, and the run gave me my fastest heavy load start to stop Waterlo to Woking run. Despite the slow platform 19 start.

And yes. That limits me to a very few real main line steam trips every year, plus some on secondary routes where I fancy a particular loco for haulage. Putting me in what I thought was a minority of 1. But it now turns out it puts me in a minority of 2. LOL!

 

It's only recently that Virgin introduced their high frequency timetable, which in turn has relegated almost everything to the relief lines on the WCML, so there's still an awfull lot of London Midland & Freight traffic to contend with even on just the slows, certainly the two runs i did with 6201 on the WCML this year and viewing 60163 & 6233 seemingly stuck religeously to the Slows if 350's capable of the ton have enough trouble getting onto the fast then i doubt a tour limited too 60MPH or 75MPH will, as for via Weedon, that's effectively the fast while the 'Northampton loop' is considered the slow, via Weedon is a lengthy stretch with nowhere to go inside or out the way, i seriously doubt a tour running at 75MPH all the way could get between Rugby & Wolverton that was without checking a couple of 125MPH expresses in the process.

Long story short, Virgin pretty much own the fast lines since VHF came in.

 

Yes - I think the slow lines were closed for engineering work.