VT Shap, S&C Double-Header with 5043 and 6201 - March 10th 2012

Thank's Bob and all the other's involved on a very good day out.

 

Great stuff Ralph, brought back happy memories of the Earl's first run up Shap, though we were in the posh seats! Fantastic effort by 5043, crew and the support guys, nothing quite like the perfectly tuned 4 cylinder beat of a Castle going well.


Edit: missed the important 'crew' and of course a capital 'C'!

 

It certainly was an eventful day yesterday, but very enjoyable all the same. A storming run over Shap and down to Carlisle, 'Lizzie' failing at Carlisle and 5043 going it alone on the return. The water stop at Appleby cut short causing us a heated sprint back to the train! A great climb of Wilpshire, an extra water stop at Mill Hill then low coal at Warrington; eventful just about sums it up. As usual thanks to the hard working support crew, who where at the rear on the return and had the long hike to the front, the footplate crews and VT.

If you've not had enough video footage, some clips from on-board:

Shap, Settle and Carlisle - YouTube

Alan. ;-)

 

Thanks a lot, much appreciated, can't believe I had the place all to myself!

 

Somewhat incorrect, There were actually 3 84E firemen on the footplate, but only one of them actually fired it and that was Alastair. Unlike the exhibitionist antics of two firemen on engines with gargantuan grates, it is perfectly easy for the right man to achieve the firing rates necessary to get this sort of work out of a DC Castle, and when Alastair is doing it we have all learned to stay out of the way, it goes better that way! I do have to confess to working the firehole flap for him however, but Dean came along for the ride!

Bob

 

Stand corrected re 5043 - on that date I was in Cornwall photographing 30120 on the Bodmin & Wenford hence 5043's exploits not noted in my records.

 

Thanks for that 5690, it was one of our more interesting days! We had obviously estimated fuel and water based on two engines, where each uses considerably less of both commodities when double heading; 5043 for instance used just about 2000 gallons between Carnforth and Carlisle, which really infers that you might just do Crewe Carlisle on a tankful with such a combination. Obviously once you put 5043 on to 11 on its own over the S&C everything changes with that assessment. Our immediate concern was the gap between Hellifield and Crewe which was do-able with both but a close call with one. It has to be declared that we were in close contact with Manchester control who had been made aware of the situation and concerns, and they have to be congratulated on doing everything possible to resolve the situation. We got to Appleby early, filled the tank (1500 gals Carlisle to Appleby) and departed so as to keep the 25 minutes gained up our sleeve. Others have commented on the run over the S&C - no doubt the anti Swindon sceptics will have difficulty swallowing this large helping of humble pie as I don't believe that there was a diesel on the back, and the improved time does rather indicate that 5043 was having an easier time than on its last visit to Ais Gill as the load was only equal to 11 this time. We took water at Hellifield, but having managed to arrange for Charlie Hicks to keep his tanker at Mill Hill having just tanked 70million, we arranged to leave Hellifield even earlier to try and beat the local at Clitheroe so as to get to Mill Hill where we knew that Charlie would be able to completely fill the tank. This would also help at Crewe where we know that the hydrant is currently very slow. In the event it was also becoming apparent that the coal in the tender would have got us to Crewe but would have been insufficient to get us from there to Birmingham with a diesel pilot. We therefore jointly decided with Andy taylor at West Coast that we would fetch the diesel up from Crewe to Warrington, and pilot from there. Whilst this made us late from Warrington, we were able to get back in path from Crewe where we departed right time as we didn't need water, in the event the coal lasted out and we used about 2300 gallons of water from Mill Hill to Tyseley. A fair amount of effort went into achieving this minor miracle by a whole team of people, Andy Taylor and James Shuttleworth at West Coast, Tim in WCR control, The Route Control Manager at NR Manchester, Jon Tippler of NR LNW zone, the signallers on the S&C particularly Hellifield and Horrocksford (who passed us on for what some claim to be the first time in living memory!), Charlie Hicks, and last but not least our support crew. The Loco crew were Driver Gordon Hodgson Carnforth to Crewe, Ray Churchill from there to home, Bill Warriner on the diesel, Alastair on the shovel Carnforth - Carlisle - Hellifield and recently passed Tom Allen from Hellifield to Tyseley with just a bit of guidance from uncle Dean.

Regards
Bob

 

A superb performance from 5043 yesterday - and 6201 on Shap. When I heard the train approaching at Mallerstang, I thought 'going very well, as planned' - it came as something of a surprise, therefore, when there was just the one loco on the front. 5043 does it again - a superb loco which is starting to look very much at home in the fells

My video at: 5043 & 6201: The Shap, Settle And Carlisle, 10.03.12 - YouTube

 

Goes to show how easy it is to take one event out of context and misconstrue events, even innocently, on here. Seems a day of decisions, decisions, and arrangements. Excellently documented, Bob, plenty to learn from your summary and clearly if you and your 'team' weren't on the ball, --- well, difficult to imagine. Many congratulations to all for the massive efforts. (and to the loco; what a star)

 

Thanks for all the kind words they are very much appreciated. And a big thank you to Vintage Trains for a very memorable day.
Regards Phil.

 

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Well that was an interesting day. Bob has detailed the events of the return already; nothing to add.

Thanks to all at WCR, NetRail, our crews and volunteers and to our passengers who seemed to enjoy themselves despite the many modifications to the original plan. It took an amazing amount of fast thinking and co-operation to get us back home bang on time.

I must reiterate that putting the 47 on the frount at Warrington was absolutely the correct decision.

6201 spent the weekend at Appleby where repairs to the tender axle-box are progressing. We expect to have “Lizzie” back at Tyseley in the next few days. We anticipate her to be in tip-top shape for the run in two weeks to Bristol, returning up the Lickey assisted by our two Panniers.

 

Ralph, I am so sorry. One of these days I will recant some of the other issues we had with this trip. Just as we left Crewe and started assembling the bacon rolls, I realised we only had 60(ish) foil bags. Then we ran out of tin foil as well! We had lots of bacon and lots of rolls, just nothing to serve them in! Lol

Arggg!

Even a frantic search of the support coaches revealed nothing useful to wrap the offending items in.

It will NOT happen again!

Also, I'm thinking about offering baked potatoes with various fillings for the return journey....what do you think?

 

Adding to my post. If anyone is interested full details of this are at Six Bells Junction web site. Look at 1st October 1967.

 

Had a good chat with Charlie Hicks the water tnaker driver at Mill Hill after I got off the Brit tour. He was only too pleased to be helping out with the castle. He lives near me in North Cumbria and we often meet up in other walks of life. I asked why he didn't mind hanging around for another loco on a Saturday evening? Priceless reply...... "it sort of gets in the blood all this steam stuff doesn't it". I'm sure his boss was over the moon with two for the price of one tanker service, but Charlies response just about sums up whats great about this movement.