VT - The Cornishman - 28 April - Update

Years of experience?

How is that possible when you just got your first Hornby Live Steam for your 12[SUP]th[/SUP] Birthday a few weeks ago? (Happy belated Birthday by the way!)

Which one did your parents buy you anyway? Oh wait – don’t tell me – it was Flying Scotsman!

 

It's a gem of a machine Bob, and you are so right in so many ways. Back in the 80's, I tried out mainline steam and it did nothing for me - a lacklustre trundle from Oxford to Stratford and back behind 5051 made me think that the Castles were totally over-rated, and I never touched mainline steam again until a certain bunch of professionals in south Birmingham teamed up with Mark Hopwood to put up posters all across the FGW network advertising a rerun of The Bristolian. My 12 year old son and I made our way to Temple Meads with no idea of what to expect as we boarded one of your Pullmans - and you left us astounded and grinning from ear to ear. The romp over the Badminton cut-off was superb, but to swoop down on Wootton Bassett 10 up and then blast through Swindon and down the Vale with no sign of stopping was simply fabulous (the rest of my family came to the crossing at Steventon to see us go by, and all they saw when they arrived 20 mins early was a tail light rapidly disappearing towards Didcot in the evening sunlight) - then to overtake Turbos at speed in the Thames Valley and finally to overtake an HST between Reading and Sonning, and then again at Slough was astonishing. You opened our eyes and hearts (and ears!) to an entirely new experience that was quite simply unbelievable to someone who thought that the unimpressive running of the Castles in the 80s was as good as it got.

And then you did it again on Saturday - as I said to you on the platform at Plymouth, it was a cracking Down run. But the Up run was even better - the climb to Whiteball was quite simply fabulous, and the descent was truly exhilarating. I remember reading a quote that O S Nock used in one of his RM articles from someone who was on 7029's 1964 Ian Allan special. He wrote: "During the climb to Whiteball the roar from 7029's chimney became so colossal that even shouted conversation was all but impossible. The individual beats had merged into one continuous roar - I have never experienced such a thing before in my life. I had ceased eating tea and sat back and tried to capture it all, realising that I should never know such a thing again. The scene with the coach crowded with fellow enthusiasts, the light becoming dim as the cutting deepened, the lineside objects flashing by, the pandemonium of sound, the dash through the tunnel....and then the breathtaking rush down the other side - it was electrifying.". I quoted that to my brother, son and nephew as we tore up the hill past Cullompton on Saturday - I never expected to be able to live the same experience, but thanks to you, Alistair, Ben and the whole team, you allowed me to know exactly what it felt like for real 48 years later. Absolutely superb - thank you for a wonderful experience (and please can we do it again soon?!).

David

 

Ben,

Firstly I watched and enjoyed the footage. However I think this should be a 'one off' as I'm sure that 'pacing a steam train' whilst driving on a motorway is a bad idea and quite possibly illegal (driving without due care springs to mind) whilst stopping on a hard shoulder for anything other than an emergency is a definite no-no. There is a lot said on this forum about 'staying on the right side of the fence'; in the same way I think it would be wrong to in anyway encourage a standard of road use and driving that might compromise the safety of others.

 

But Ben wasn't driving, he said there were three in the car - one on the microphone, one on the camera and one at the wheel?

 

And may their springs rest in peace

To be fair, you need years of experience to be able to run one of those!

 

ok LNER4472 where was your years of experience then? I'm sure we would all love to know...

 

I'd suggest anything built in Germany tends to be more of a hazard on Motorways given their 'market' or buyers.

 

David,

I am sure I speak for all at Tyseley Loco Works / Vintage Trains when I say we are humbled by your praise. We are extremely proud of the Tyseley Rocket Ship, aka 5043! One of the reasons this “flogging” nonsense is so apparently that – nonsense.

There are many people that donate their valuable spare time to make these trips possible; they all deserve words of thanks.

As for the next time; Vintage Trains might not see the “Banks” again until the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of Clun’s record run in May 2014. We still have a bit of work to do to get the star of the show ready by then, but we will do all we can!

Double-headed double-chimney Castles over the Banks? Why not! 96mph might be a bit out of reach though.....

 

[video=youtube;UdWI-ZS3FSk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdWI-ZS3FSk[/video]

My efforts from Saturday & Sunday, along with 34067's & 70013's leg of The Great Britain V

 

Dear Mr (Miss??) LNER4472,

I really doubt you were on the train. I have checked the passenger roster and there was no-one called LNER, 4472, or any combination thereof. I even checked to see if there was a Mr N. Gresley onboard, but I am sure he would have had a lot more class than you displayed to date.

Maybe you were a stowaway? Not likely – Henry would have seen to that!

Maybe you were Support Crew? In which case (Alan Sugar impression coming up!) – YOU’RE FIRED!

So I surmise your identity will remain your dirty little secret. Next time you want to start spouting rubbish, at least have the decency to use your name, or some identifiable derivative, so I can take you off the Christmas card list.

Kindest Regards.

GWR5073

PS – You did manage to polarize the whole forum – I haven’t read one post that agrees with you! Well done for that!

 

Ben

Please check this carefully, if he was on the train, I want to know how someone with such a deplorable standard of literacy managed to get through the passenger selection process.

Bob

 

Hi Mike,

Being motorcyclist (I don't own a car) I am well aware of the dangers on the road (more so than car users I dare to say) and I would never dream of driving, holding a microphone and camera at the same time or indeed doing anything else that would cause a danger to others. As Ralph mentioned, we all knew what a steam loco looked like and it was no surprise to us to see it roaring alongside the motorway. David kept his eyes firmly on the road (travelling at the legal speed limit), unlike the drivers in the many cars we passed that were looking at the train.

Cheers

 

Oh do shut up. With yon fella spouting nonsense and now you, it's getting a bit tiring. He wasn't driving.:mod:

 

And I would be glad if they also shut up.

 

Bob,

LNER4472 was not listed as a passenger on the train under that name in any class, however, I have it on good authority that some people on this forum might occasionally use an alias! No concrete proof yet – just a hunch!

I will, however, be forming a committee to investigate our current passenger vetting procedures with an expectation of receiving no sensible and many unworkable recommendations that will do nothing to avoid such a travesty reoccurring in the future.

Initial “leaks” from potential committee members include the following recommendations (I must add that I do not agree with all of them!)

• Passengers must disclose not one, but ALL their past, present and future usernames on NatPres! (I was shocked to learn that people had more than one!)
• No passengers from hamlets, villages, towns or cities that begin with a small “b”.
• Passengers must be able to spell the following words correctly; “Passenger, Vintage, Train, Great, Western, Brunel and Yacht” (Not so sure about Yacht)
• True or False: “GWR Castles cannot climb hills?”

I am sure the Edgcumbe Inquiry Committee will come up with some genuinely foolhardy and impossibly expensive recommended authentication procedures when they are good and ready (and the Hob-Nobs have run out!)

Regards.

Ben

 

Me, I never trust anyone with a pretentious hyphenated surname

 

I think the lner man actually has potential S&D roots...but age at least half that of the last time Templecombe saw steam... Leaks not me.

But lets pretend he is a Doncaster man... Can you belittle him after all the GWR did take gresley up on the offer of a challenge of an A1 vs a Castle from kings cross... And won....

Maybe Tyseley should consider a rematch and take 5043 out of the cross and do it again ?

 

Evening all,

Some great footage from the castle's run on saturday, a superb loco. Was great to see, or more so hear 5043 making its presence known in the south west in style. The climb of Hemerdon was truely spectacular and is something i wont forget for a long while.

Please see my contributions from both Dawlish and Hemerdon on the return.

Dawlish
All sizes | 5043 - Dawlish | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Hemerdon
All sizes | 5043 - Hemmerdon | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

All i can say, is that im looking forward to my run behind her to scotland in a few weeks.

Cheers
Oli

 

Considering the crap weather down there I think you did a brilliant job with those Oli.

Ben, I have no idea what you mean!