The City of York. Wednesday 3rd April.

If it was a 60mph timetable the 8f would have to be worked hard to keep time. Daresay it was not the first choice loco but the Carnforth cupboard is a bit bare just now. Alternatives also in short supply.

 

Sadly, if there's any dry vegetation around, 48151 will find it. 60009, 62005 and 61994 managed just fine on Saturday. The 8F has "previous" on this, too.

 

Anybody heard from anyone who was actually on board this one? Sounds like a nightmare trip from what's been posted on here, if they were marooned in a yard a York for 3+ hours and then getting back to Crewe when - after 2am? I imagine many of the Joe Public on baord won't be going to risk another one. Surely there has to be a better way to handle these kinds of incidents? De-train the pax and get them back by service train or buses?

Plus of course NR aren't going to impressed by all the delays and cancellations caused on the route. No wonder they want the £5k compensation cap removed.

 

absolute nightmare from all reports, although we still haven't heard from anyone on board (probably still asleep). Organisers must be thinking ' why oh why didn't we hook a diesel on the back. This event has proved MASSIVE support for taking one round with you.

 

Please don't start that old chestnut again.

 

Pretty hard to argue against it in this case, much as I'd rather not see it. If there's no other way of rescuing a failed train in a sensible time frame, then you've got to take your recovery loco with you.

 

Its a tough one. I feel deeply sorry for Compass as their customers tend to be non enthusiast day trippers so won't put up with this kind of treatment. I also feel that they have been messed about by the operator West Coast Railways. They have already had steam replaced by diesel on their other advertised tours due to lack of an available loco.

I do wonder what they were thinking after the two fires caused by the same loco on Monday. The loco was being worked hard and in this situation other than diesel assistance - they could have taken it easy, accepted loss of time and being regulated and put less pressure on the 8F.

 

The only people against diesel insurance are the steam enthusiasts whether travelling or watching. We are a minority and have no powerful reason to object, sadly. In an ideal world solo steam would be great but the real risks of no back up are all too apparent. Foolhardy even.

 

This is a real shame and something I witnessed first hand, myself and another two photographers putting out a lineside fire immediately after the loco had passed Howsham. There is no doubt the loco was being worked hard, but as others have said, unfortunately this loco has a history of this. It has been a dry week and the issue is the amount of dead undergrowth that Winter has left behind. I spent the day up on the Moors and the line has the same issue. The ground is still damp but the mulch of dead Fern which hasn't been replaced by new growth had dried out.

Funnily enough there were two Yorkshire Coast Expresses in North Yorkshire running yesterday. Here is a shot of the NYMR version


langtree photography-9476.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr

and here is the WCRC version two hours later


langtree photography-9525.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr

A full selection of the day can be found here NYMR Easter week - a set on Flickr

Cheers

Duncan

 

The first part is not correct actually Ralph as I know the Koyli volunteers involved and they did go the the NRM and prep the loco, but they were stood down at 1850 as 37516 was then the preferred option and already on its way.

Cheers

Duncan

 

To me this begs the question...

What was WCRs contingency plan in the event of mechanical failure out on the mainline?

Given that...

The nearest available vacuum braked diesel loco was Carnforth.

 

But were any "delays and cancellations" caused to NR? Surely the train was caped at York having run on schedule. This was obviously a nightmare for Compass and the passengers but we don't need to make out things were worse than that

 

Line was closed - bus substitution on route according to web. Don't know if any cabling damage etc.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/10331442.Fires_on_York_to_Scarborough_line_bring_rail_disruption/


So let's not stick our heads in the sand OK?

 

Sorry,my mistake,I didnt know that. Agreed,just what we didnt need right now,with the discussions on the cap ongoing.

As others have said,this does seem to be a bad call by W Coast given that 48151 had started fires on Monday.

 

So another load of normals have there day spoilt, not by the promoter, but by the operator.

Getting a bit like a stuck record, who did the FTR???, the same bloke who did 777's prior to the ECML fiasco????

Feel really sorry for Kevin at Compass, he has been badly let down by the TOC.

 

It also started fires on the Scarborough line last summer and was substituted by a class 37 then, luckily the diesel was already available at York on that occassion as they have a standby loco for the summer season SSEs, and it was simply a case of swapping locos over at York for the evening Leeds Circular part of the day.

 

Well up to your normal standard Steve, still scratching my head as how you managed the three locations with all your gear and setting up etc. It was in deed an interesting trip but also enjoyable despite the delays.

 

Cracking shot Phil thanks for sharing

 

A couple more shots of yesterday showing the hard work the 8f was putting in and one of the fires which we put out after ten minutes or so. It was reported to Kirkham Priory box from the farm crossing phone, who sensibly blocked all trains whilst we dealt with it, and he told us he was getting reports of other fires. Hopefully just a bad day at the iffice for WCRC, as our prime steam operator we need them to have a good ongoing relationship with Network rail.


langtree photography-9522.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr

One of the "issues" yeserday


langtree photography-9532.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr

Cheers

Duncan