CATHEDRALS EXPRESS LONDON - YEOVIL - WEYMOUTH 9 JULY

A fairly recent Steam Railway magazine said that Mr Bunker would like a rake of Mk1s in SR green

James at SVN

 

1814 through wareham. Am now going to chase it back to London.
Was going very well. 66 on rear idling (supposed to come off at Poole).

Was nice to see 34070 in steam at Swanage today,and 33111 on 2 coaches.

 

went out at 5.30pm to drive from here (just outside Dorchester) to Upwey bank to watch her go past but due to the traffic chaos due flooding A35 and A37 roads closed i could not get anywhere due traffic gridlock!!!
hopeless!! hope they had a good day in weymouth...

 

Am sat on my unit waiting for a platform outside southampton watching diners being served their main course....

 

Ontime at Southampton, closely followed by a freighliner 66+ wagons and then LE 66070 ( which was on the back of 35028 earlier).
next stop Basingstoke for me.

 

Chasing in a car ?? or motorbike (sitting on unit ) ??? or Electric ??? or Helicopter ????

 

Just passed 35028 north of Eastleigh, stopped at red in loop. (it is sharing the loop with the freight liner 66 and train)

Would you believe despite the weather there looked to be a trackside fire just ahead of Eastleigh station.

 

By rail, 1835 from wareham, 2015 from Southampton and 2055/2109 from Basingstoke to Waterloo

I have noticed its only a hardcore out today, assume the weather and roads has put off the photographers

 

Just went like a bullet through Basingstoke, about 2 minutes late?
freightliner 66 has gone off towards reading several minutes behind clan line.
even the unit non stop following wasn't going as fast

 

35028 passing New Malden in the rain.
35028 Clan Line passing New Malden, 9th July 2012 - YouTube

 

Going by tweets from Steam Dreams and 35028's twitter feeds, and posts on gen groups it sounds like today was an absolute belter of a run! Well done to all!

 

Just flew through Woking on the up fast with whistle wide open - brilliant and heard station staff say "never seen a steamer go that fast before".

IT HAD THE WOW FACTOR!

 

Clan Line climbed Parkstone bank in super style earlier this evening and once over the top of the bank accelerating well and noisily towards Branksome.
Still can't come to terms with it being 45 years ago that i was on last normal steam working from Weymouth as far as Poole!
DH

 

Here is my video from tonight, captured at Ashurst (two cameras), Northam, St Denys and Shawford Jc. 35028 looked wonderful and sounded even better. I understand she is out next Thursday as well, covering for 34046 on the CathEx to Canterbury.

The link to my video is here: 35028 - The End of Southern Steam Cathedrals Express 09-07-12 - YouTube

Please do not hesitate to comment and subscribe

James at SVN

 

seen tonight at Byfleet and new haw on the return run https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AD4bdEP8mU&feature=plcp

 

Was a stonking site at Basingstoke. Topped off my impromptu afternoon out nicely.
i can say I've never seen a Bulleid going like that before, except in 60's videos.

Will sort out some pictures tomorrow, see if I can get a video up.
Understand from the driver at Waterloo, the footplate crew was a father and son combination today.

 

Having been a regular on Steam Dreams 9th July runs for the last few years, I think today tops it. With a Merchant at the Helm full Pelt through Basingstoke, Woking, Surbiton and Wimbledon at was a magical end to a day we really didn't think was going to happen. Not only did we get to Weymouth, it was dry and the sun attempted to poke through too! All that let us down was the signal check between Clapham Jn & Queenstown Road to switch us from the UMF to the UW(whatever they call it these days).

I'm told that the diesel had to assist on the climb to Bincombe bank, as we dropped below 10mph, and I certainly noticed a sharp speed increase through Upwey platforms. But nother than that a magnificent day!

(Although I do miss the Sunny South Specials behind 73096, they will always hold a special place in my heart)

Was it me you spied?
http://instagram.com/p/M3slKol-eq/

 

I'd recognise that chicken leg anywhere

Have to admit, my day was very impromptu, I had a meeting canceled at 11am, and suddenly the train times all stacked up in my favour..l my only food was a big mac at 11am, at waterloo, before heading south as far as I could get, then a chocolate chip muffin at 8.30pm...on the way back.
when I was on that unit in your picture waiting outside of southampton station watching your main courses being served up... Well it was a good job they were electric doors keeping me in

still fantastic day watching 35028, I had a few hours to kill at wareham and so went to Swanage to see 34070 turned out with the Devon belle coach, got a ride on 33111 (brought memories of my youth.. Only 20 years ago when I spent summer in wiltshire and probably rode behind 33111 to Weymouth and on to Swanage when they were only running industrials to Heston halt.)

Nicely accelerated through Southampton, coasted through wareham, stormed Basingstoke and finally saw it at the buffers at Waterloo, not bad for day 1 of my network railcard that I bought this morning..364 days to go.

As a youngster heading to my 40's today gave me a good feel for what 1967 was about, roll on 2017... And 50 years Will it be a Bulleid feast ?(35009,18,27,28 an who knows 34016,46,67 and 92 all in mainline ticket ?)

 

Brilliant day. Enormous thanks to all who made it happen.

So many highlights!

A very rare for these days Southern Region even time. Earlsfield -Overton start to stop, (a very quick operational stop at Earlsfield), which included a rather nice climb up from Woking until we had to slow for the slack after Milepost 31. And again climbing from Basingstoke to Battledown summit.

Wonderful running and very noisy hill climbing where traffic conditions allowed between Salisbury and Yeovil.

A superb climb out of Weymouth with help from the box kept to the minimum needed.

Another great climb, out of Poole this time, after leaving the box behind.

A lovely run from Bournemouth to near Totton, (when signal checks started), right up with my best from the 1960s.

And a superb finale from the stop in the loop near Shawford. With an eleven car train that was not much off the weight of a 1960s 12 car train, just over 68 at Roundwood summit from the Shawford re-start, followed by more than 45 miles straight off in the 70s! Racing through Basingstoke and Woking at or close to the maximum speed allowed these days was an exhilerating experience. And very nearly another even time to a stop near Queens Road, after almost 8 minutes slow running to adverse signals.

My group of 16 "old timers" loved it, even if they had to suffer me sometimes reading notes I had pinched from big brother Don's bash book from the last few hours of steam in July 1967: he documented all those happenings in grand style! Thanks Don!

And today Clan Line looked and sounded superb. Doing what she has always done best. Racing up and down the old LSWR lines from Waterloo. A real credit to the MNLPS.

Thank you Steam Dreams, and all the loco crews, support crews and MNLPS, and all those in todays railway who played their part in allowing a re-creation of events from 45 years ago.

And as for the earlier comments made here about the colour of the rolling stock.............. Rolling stock colour? Frankly my dears, I didn't give a damn!

Cheers,

Bryan, aka KentYeti


PS. And we even went through YetiMinster at one point! LOL.