Great Britain VI

This tour is around 9 months away. Any proposed details at this stage must be treated strictly as a 'declaration of intent' not set in stone. We do not even know individual locomotives availability as the actual tour date draws closer so may i suggest that we leave all this pointless speculation until after the New Year.

 

Both 48151 and 48773 have taken load 11 south with very little issue.

 

Agreed. RTC appear to be especially guilty of advertising all their tours many months in advance when details are highly likely to change. I can understand with the Great Britain they will want to make it clear they are running another one in 2012 by releasing an outline of the planned itinerary and costs, but to publish as much detail as they do, and so far in advance just serves to encourage the speculation and rumour addicts. When the inevitable changes are made later it must just cause frustration and disappointment for those expecting the originally announced itinerary, making them cautious of booking a steam tour in advance in future.

 

We can comfortably say that what is advertised today regarding GBVI, and what appears at the head of the stock on each day is going to differ quite a bit.

However as a starting point for what they propose, it looks good.

 

It does indeed, and so long as you don't take it too literally at this stage, provides a nice appetiser and potential for a few good daydreams.

 

What would we talk about for the next 12 months if they didn't advertise it?!! This will be the sixth one to run, so I think we all know the routine by now! To be honest with any railtour the loco allocation won't be set in stone until a few weeks before running date. With what is in effect 8 or 9 separate tours we can forgive RTC some changes. I don't see any issue in advertising an intention so long as we all recognise there will be changes to what is advertised.

 

Looks like a great itinerary to me! shame it's not going via sapperton this year, but Bristol to Swansea with 5029 sounds great!

 

I do agree that with a week long tour like the GB, some advance advertising is fair enough to give people time to get the money together, book holiday etc, Also, seats can be secured on payment of a deposit so if the final details don't suit they can bale out and not loose the full ticket price. In order to properly manage expectations however I still think details like loco allocation / timings and routes should be held back until they can be firmed up. Actually this should apply to day trips as well in my view.

 

It's after the New Year now ;-)

I'm still wondering what RTC are intending to do on Wed 24th. The on-line brochure describes an optional day-trip to Aberdeen and back. An A4 is mentioned for the outward run, but the motive power is carefully not mentioned for the return. Given the lack of turntable or triangle at Aberdeen, this probably means a diesel for the return, and the A4 returning light, tender-first later. I suppose there's a possibility of another loco (e.g. Ollie or 6233) running light to Aberdeen beforehand, but that would involve a lot more tender-first, light-engine running.

 

Not if you ran the engine move up the Highland Mainline ( via Inverness ) then across to Aberdeen.

 

The plan is currently

Edinburgh to Aberdeen. 1 or 2. Black 5. They continue to Inv LE to work from there.

Aberdeen. To Edin. No 9

Quite a good plan.......

Btw. Edin to Yrk section now 60009 as many NP followers suspected.. source : ND who is on the telly tonight.......
something about dining on steam trains!!! Eat your heart out Orr!

 

The other issue is how the train is going to get from Swansea onto the Cenral Wales Llne.

 

I guess they'll have to run tender first to Llanelli, perhaps with one Black 5 on each end? The climb out of Swansea and around the south-to-west curve looks pretty fiercely graded: 1 in 60 and tightly curving, then 1 in 52 up Cockett bank! Let's hope they they've got a clear road to the top before they set off. It would be a shame if they had to come to a stand at the junction and then restart on a curve and across the turnouts. If the locos aren't warmed through when they set off, they soon will be!

 

Change of loco and route for day 1 - It's now Britannia over the LSWR main line to Exeter, with the two Bulleids taking over for the run along the sea wall. I guess I may be a bit biased being first and foremost a "Southern" man, but I have felt that it has been a shame that the RTC's Great Britain megabash has not previously taken in any former Southern routes. This change has made it a more representative tour of the best of Britain's railway network. OK the Southern doesn't have any routes as spectacular as the S&C, the West Highland Extension or the GWR West of England line beyond Exeter, but the LSWR West of England line is a lovely line and was one of the best "racetracks" in the country in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It's good that with the double tracking in the Axminster area that steam can now run all the way to Exeter again, even if there's no chance of repeating Clan Line's 104mph through Axminster in (I think) 1961.

 

I see from UK Steam that the Par-Newquay part has been dropped; anyone know why?

 

But Newquay - Par is still shown on Sunday morning, so maybe the steam locos are being left at Par to turn and be serviced while the train goes on to Newquay behind a diesel?

I also notice that the train only goes as far as Cardiff on Sunday night, so removing the difficulty of getting from Swansea to the Central Wales line on Monday morning. Now they just go round the Swansea District line and turn right. It will be interesting to see whether they change locos on Sunday afternoon, and if so where. Bristol - Cardiff doesn't seem like a long run for 5029. It should still be a good trip.

 

As I understand it there are insufficient paths saturday evening to get the tour into Newquay and then ecs back to St Blazey for overnight stabling. There are however paths available on the Sunday morning which will allow such moves to be done in reverse. Passengers are to be taken by road on Saturday evening from Par to their hotels in Newquay but will come back steam hauled on the GBVI on the sunday mrning direct from Newquay. Again as I understand things 3 paths are required one for the ecs into Newquay, then one for the train out of Newquay and finally one for the light diesel that has taken the ecs into Newquay. The GB does not normally have a diesel attached to the back if it can be avoided. Overnighting on day 2 is now in Cardiff not Swansea.

 

Glad that Par is reachable. Whiteball, Hermandon and the Seawall are things not to be missed.

 

The latest issue of Steam Railway has cast a little gloom over the loco roster for GB6. I know that SR don't always get their facts right, but on this occassion it seems to line up with what we already know. Specifically, they say that Oliver Cromwell, Braunton and Duchess of Sutherland will not be available. Ollie suffered a collapsed steam pipe, which needs extensive repairs. Braunton is still being sorted out at Ian Riley's works, and the Duchess's winter maintenance is not expected to be complete in time.

The same article mentions that Britannia, Sir Lamiel and Nunney Castle are expected to be ready in time. However, experience suggests that there must be a question mark over those three until they actually venture onto NR metals.
* Sir Lamiel appeared to be in good nick at the MHR and WSR galas, but hasn't worked on NR since Sept 2010, IIRC. Does she have the latest GSMR kit yet? In another thread, the RTC boys were confident that she'll be ready for The Atlantic Coast Express on 7th April, so we'll know soon enough.
* Britannia didn't go to the Bluebell last weekend and won't be ready in time to cover for Bittern next Thursday. Her next mainline booking appears to be a Cathedrals Express on Thursday 18th.
* I'm slightly surprised Nunney Castle was mentioned in the SR piece. Although UKsteam still shows her working Bristol-Cardiff on Sunday, I thought I'd heard elsewhere that Tangmere & whichever loco covers for Braunton would work right through to Cardiff that evening. SR suggests that her bottom-end overhaul is almost complete. Can any of the folks who work on 5029 confirm how acurate that is?

So long as at least 2 of 777, 70000 and 5029 are available to assist 34067, then the loco diagrams of the first 2 days should be covered OK. IR's Black 5 twins should work south over the Central Wales the week before and so be able to cover GB6 Day 3 OK. Then we're into the realms of speculation. An awful lot will depend on support crew availability, and arranging extra Light Engine movements.

Personally, I'd really like to see Tangmere and Sir Lamiel double-heading over Shap and Beattock, and then Tangmere working over the Highland mainline, but I'm not sure how realistic that is!! It might be more likely that 60009 will take a larger role, perhaps covering for 46233 and/or 70013?

 

Am I right in thinking the Newquay Branch still doesn't have a passing loop ?, considering it's length and high use in summer, it seems surprising.