The Bath and Bristol 24th March 2012

Evening chaps, nipped over for this before heading off to the Mid Hants. Surprised about the failing, she seemed in pretty fine form this morning. Video and photos follow.

44932 with the 'Bath and Bristol' - 24/03/2012 - YouTube

Steam tours in 2012 - Railway Galleries

 

The Black Five in Bath.

44932 Black Five in Bath - a set on Flickr

 

So how do the passengers get home then? Can't see Three Bridges an easy place to get to from Salisbury by service train. If it was TPWS, isn't a bit drastic to cancel the train?

 

No Three Bridges isn't the best place to get to from Salisbury. But as I've seen yesterday and today coming home from the MHR you can get a service train from Salisbury to Clapham Junction and then change for a train to Three Bridges, Haywards Heath, Preston Park etc that passengers boarded at.

 

Black Five on the way out of Bath heading to Bathampton Junction and the Avon Valley.

The Bath and Bristol Black Five leaving Bath 24th March 2012 - YouTube

 

Certainly doesn't sound like a TPWS problem to me from that video!

Here's my effort from Bedhampton this morning.

The Bath & Bristol - 24th March 2012 - YouTube

I was waiting at Warblington this evening when my friend phoned me, thanks Slash, to pass on the bad news that the train had been terminated at Salisbury. Fingers crossed 44932 isn't too bad.

 

Sorry to hear the tour has been terminated. It didn’t sound good as it started the climb of Scudamore but it got up OK, I think the comment about a the drain cock being stuck open sounds correct, not serious and all too common on LMS engines.

Video from Oldfield Park and the start of the climb to Scudamore:

44932 Bath and Bristol - YouTube

 

Certainly sounds a bit sick. :-( Sounds like it's blowing 'straight through' on one cylinder; valve head damaged, or valve rings broken....hope the liner is not severley scored.

Alan. :-(

 

You know more about it than me Ian, I was just hoping it was TPWS rather than anything more serious.The TPWS came from another gen group so I just passed it on.

 

I bet the passengers wouldn't have been moaning about a diesel on the back if it meant they could've got home last night.

 

Quite simple. It's a rule book issue. Depends on what the fault was. If both AWS and TPWS were defective then why would you think it's ok to run forward with that isolated?
The rule book doesn't differentiate between a modern train and steam

 

Isnt that the argument for having a diesel on the back? In the past there would have been a spare loco at Salisbury and definetly at Westbury but even Westbury would be short of spare locos nowadays as its the centre for engineering tains.
Its pessimistic to plan for a failure but they happen. What time did the passengers get home last night I wonder??
Its a fact of life there are not a supply of spare locos to help out, a diesel following would cost extra for the path pushing the already high prices up further.

Lets hope 44932 is ok.

 

Great video.
44932 sounds very sick there. You can hear the problem starting in the Oldfield Park shot. I'm surprised they kept her going to Salisbury with that kind of noise coming from the loco. I hope the damage isn't too bad and the passengers all got home okay from Salisbury.

 

If the loco was in trouble, and as I have said im no expert but it does sound off, why didnt the support crew or Traction Inspetor stop the train at Westbury to avoid the slog up to Upton Scudamore and maybe more damage to the loco???

 

You could hear the loco long before Westbury. I started the track on video when you hear the loco open (I guess) when through Westbury station. Given the load I would be very surprised if the crew took on the Climb if the problem at that time was more than a stuck drain cock. Given the slow start 44932 did very well on the climb and could be heard accelerating well when over the top.

 

Please don't let an occasional failure like this become an argument for sticking diesels on the back of trains. If you want to cater for every eventuality you would end up having one there every time and some of us would just give up going on steam tours. Failures can and will happen that's the risk you take.

What I'd be interested to know is how RTC deal with a situation like this - Steam Dreams generally deal with it well, offering some form of compensation or a discount off future trips. I have heard though that RTC are not so accommodating. I hope at least they paid for people to get home.

 

It sounded like it was panting. Out of breath kinda.

 

This is how it sounded at 06:30 saturday morning with the empty stock.
44932, with the Bath & Bristol ECS. Wandsworth Road 24/03/2012 - YouTube
Wandsworth Road, as seen from Larkhall Rise.

 

That's fine Nick, wasn't having a dig at your post so no drama's about my post )