34067. 'Capital Christmas Express'. 17-11-2012

34067 “Tangmere” TnT with 47786 working 1Z93 London Paddington to
Weymouth reported down Basingstoke 19:54, 3 mins late.

Thanks to "The Basingstoker". <BJ>

 

Not only that but the preceding service train came to grief in the same spot so it's nit just steam locos that have had difficulty today.

 

Hmmm,so a loco that has a regular history of slipping to a stand as soon as it sights an adverse gradient post slips to a stand today as soon as it sees an adverse gradient post (and its Autumn...) and the fact its Autumn and the loco is rather light on its toes is discounted in favour of some random act of sabotage?

And it's not 'broken down', it just has been stood in the same spot for an hour whilst a rescue engine is attached to the rear.
I am quite sure the subtle distinction would have been lost on the thousands of people whos trips where delayed this morning, don't you think?
Even more bizarrely, SWT putting the fact it was a steam train that was stopping the job for hours is not just a statement of fact, but a TOC specific hatred of steam charters.
As much as I enjoy seeing steam on the mainline, its all a bit of a flimsy defence really?
Seriously.....

 

That's rubbish and you know it.

 

Indeed it's not, but it's a lot harder to restart a heavy steam train in those circumstances as we've seen, hence why it would have been helpful had the added insurance of a diesel, not been detached just a few miles earlier ! For me, this was the decision which caused the incident, and why this thread isn't packed with comments about about 34067's presumably fine performance, (we've not heard of any further issues), later in the day !

 

Nearly as rubbish as claiming its a nutter with a tub of lard. That's rubbish and you know that as well.

 

1Z93 a few minutes late from Eastleigh on planned timings.
Held to follow late running 2007 Romsey - Southampton - Salisbury unit and a RHTT unit leaving the works for a overnight circuit.
47760 idling on the rear of the train.

Cheers, Neil

 

Can you consider that statement carefully please?

SWT have put considerable effort over the last few years into facilitataing steam operations, particularly the 9th July commemorative runs. If you look back through Steam Railway over the last few years Steam Dreams have specifically referred to the help given by SWT train planners.

Replanning workings at a terminal station like Waterloo to accomodate one off trains is a complex and time consuming task. After checking platform reoccupation times the stock and crew workings have to be checked and amended to minimise changes. For routes with diesel traction it is even more important that units stay on their booked diagrams and therefore fuel capacity.

As frequently warned on another forum, you never know who is reading your posts. One unguarded remark could to start to harden attitudes and make life more difficult for steam workings.

Before you ask, no I don't work for SWT, but I have worked in train planning and in the background of organising special workings - including steam.

Regards, Neil

 

I did consider it when I read what another poster put online earlier, maybe the paraphrasing was a little clumsy.

What he said was "Typical ToC making bad publicity for steam! "A STEAM train" has "BROKEN DOWN".
Why mention steam at all?"

 

As I've said already, (though it appears to have gone unnoticed), the tweet mentioning the train involved was steam appears to have been removed, which suggests to me, someone at SWT, reviewed it later, and considered it inappropriate !

 

Well if you look at post 79, someone else claims it wasn't a tweet but was on the SWT website....

 

You may jest about my comment about oil but photographers gave been known to do that. Was on line side once at KWVLR when it was done but the idiot got away despite several of us chasing him to try and stop him.

The point I was making was don't always assume the obvious when the facts aren't known as there could be other causes than leaves. My guesses would put leaves at the likely end of probability yes, brakes rubbing/comm cord pulled a fair way second and other causes a long way third but those other things, including vandals with lard, do happen.

 

Thanks for pointing that out, must have missed it. I will review. That doesn't seem so bad to me as the tweets would have received a lot more exposure to those on SWT services at the time, and directly affected by the incident.

 

It may have escaped your attention but in your seeming blind rage he didn't actually say the original thing. And before you even think about it neither did I.

The farce is strong with this one, methinks. Especially as you hate SWT so much you even name yourself after their main workhorse...

 

Thanks for clarifying, I missed this one first time round.

 

Not been in a position to update before and have just read through the rest of the posts. I managed to get to St Osmunds Bridge at top of Parkstone Bank with a couple of minutes to spare this morning due to other committments. Due to traffic noise was not able to hear much of the climb coming upto Parkstone but did hear Tangmere slip very heavily at what I would estimate was on the curve just before Parkstone Station. There is a flange greaser in that vicinity and I have noticed some slips in that vicinity before, whether coincidence or not I cannot judge. Anyway that slip effectively robbed Tangmere of her speed and she slipped several times again before coming to a stand just beyond Sandecotes Road Bridge. Despite hand sanding of the track she was unable to restart and had to seek assistance. The railhead was wet from earlier rain and the cutting is wooded either side. Undoubtedly Railhead conditions played a part and they were not able to get going again. The point where she stalled is on a curve and just starting to curve back the other and the whole train would have been on the curve which would not help.

I have seen steam stall in this location before (A4 tender first last year on an ECS from TBEL trip in horrible rail conditions again) but they managed to restart somehow. The sand train from Wool has stalled here on at last one occasion in recent years, possibly twice. that had to go back back to Poole and try again on the occasion I saw it. Once the speed was lost from the first heavy slip that I heard she was always going to struggle.

I was surprised that the diesel was not booked through to Bournemouth given the time of year, leaves etc but to be fair to Tangers she has made some storming climbs of Parkstone Bank in past couple of years and in dodgy weather conditions. Load 11 would not have been regularly brought up Parkstone Bank without a banker in steam days and it was not unknown for trains to struggle to get away from a stop at Parkstone. Yes the Pines used to do it regularly but if things went wrong there was not a lot of margain for error and also help was usually available close at hand
DH

 

Just to add a brighter note - Tangers was through Branskome tonight at 2157 with the diesel at rear of train not helping. She was accelerating nicely and looked and sounded good and was within a minute of right time. Reports I have seen suggest that apart from the problems on parkstone bank Tangers was on good form and working well. DH

 

Despite the problems with Parkstone Bank this morning, I managed to get a few shots of 34067 through the day. The link is below. The locations I visited were the usual spots for me, Winchester (ECS working), St Denys (x2*), Shawford Junction/St Cross, Shawford station** and Ashurst.

* Somehow, both shots at St Denys had issues with audio. The first camera's external microphone failed to pick up any of the sound, so that audio has been replaced by one which sounded very similar, 34067 charging through Hook on the 15th August 2012. The second camera's external mic was causing interference with the camera, so had to be removed... How both microphones failed at the same time, I do not know.

** The shot at Shawford was taken from a public gangway. I have had comments before asking about this, and so should make it clear that I was in a safe place to film this shot... that said, 34067 was probably cracking 75 through there, and nearly sent my tripod flying!

The link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPCP-pzvH4s

Any, and all comments are welcome

James at SVN

 

Well it's quite fashionable to knock Tangmere in some parts but as you say, under the circumstances some insurance would have been helpful. Hindsight is 20/20 vision though.

 

Some nice stuff there. Thanks for sharing.