VT - Marylebone Flyer (Inter-City) - Re-scheduled for April 6th

NatPres members supporting the diesel haulage of a steam charter? I think I'm going to go for a lie down...................... :faint2:

 

[video=youtube;IH0fdbEUaWA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0fdbEUaWA[/video]

My footage from yesterday's run, seen at Ardley (with fire!) on the outward and Saunderton on the return.

 

Yes another great run from The Earl that thinks its a King. Slow start, I guess deliberately to try to avoid catching the 954 Marylebone in front but we still caught it at Leamington and Aynho Jct. Superb climb of Fosse Road bank and some very fast running everywhere we could. Caught the 1047 Aylesbury at Beaconsfield but this was put into Platform 1 at Gerrards Cross to let us past. Net time about 107-108 minutes for the 111.5 miles, quite superb again from Vintage Trains and Ray Churchill. Pity about the fires and DL haulage by 47.245 on the return

 

Not sure where to put this, but weather/rain related. I have an app on my pc, also a Chrome extension called "Rain alarm" which shows the current rainfall & its progression over the UK. It scans a period of around 4 hours. At the moment there is nothing except in the North of Scotland & a bit in Southern Ireland. It has been like this for days now with no more showing in the immediate future. What has happened to the April showers?
This app is also available for Android & Apple devices.

 

What is the "immediate future" ?, is that two days or a week or what ?.

As the the further into the future you go, the less accurate the forecast is, while it's dry now, It would be extremely unlikely there won't be a few showers and warmer weather before mid May, a heavy shower on May 10th would be ideal.

 

The last clip would have been good without the Class 47, plus some smoke/steam. At least I practiced 180 degree panning without kicking the tripod!

Dave.

 

Should of clarified, it's in real time & tracks the rain from around 2 hours previously. It is done by satellite in conjunction with the Met Office.

Rain Alarm
Rain Alarm for the Web

 

Super footage Kris.

Looking at how parched the line side veg is on your film it's no wonder it caught fire.

Dave

 

I thought I was on the wrong forum for a moment, meteorological forum not a steam railway one!

My shot from just south of Leamington Spa on the up train.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe Marlyebone Flyer (The Inter City) Leamington Spa 6th April 2013 - YouTube" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Very relevant with what's been going on lately.

 

My STEAMLESS efforts at Banbury on the outward and Saunderton and Budbrooke on the return. It was still a nice day out in the sunshine!

RICK EBORALL PHOTOGRAPHY | THE MARYLEBONE FLYER 06.04.2013

Regards to all.........Rick

 

Ardley Line Side Fire - a set on Flickr

Set of photos of the fire and damage at Ardley yesterday. Attempted several times to upload them onto here but the photo uploader just isn't having any of it! Even after re-sizing, using different browsers etc.

 

Non-stop to Marylebone 6 April 2013

Vintage Trains was seeking to extend its list of long-range, high-speed non-stop runs by running from Birmingham to London in about two hours, just like the Western Region's named train "The Inter-City" used to do in the 1950's. For some strange reason (surely not copyright?), VT named their train the Marylebone Flyer, but it was good to see the authentic WR headboard on Castle 4-6-0 No 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.

The run would be facilitated by Tyseley's own General Utility Van, fitted out as a bulk water-carrier and beautifully finished in GWR brown, like the old Siphon Gs. This and seven coaches were hauled into Birmingham Moor Street by the Tyseley 47, with No 5043 at the other end ready for its journey south. At our departure time, the loco-hauled Chiltern Mainline service was only just leaving, but we followed it two minutes later.

Driver Churchill started her gently, but we reached 60 at the M42 just after Widney Manor and 66 at Dorridge. By Lapworth we were up against our 75 limit, but soon after we were slowed to 55 at Hatton - had we caught the Class 67? Speed rose to 74 at Warwick Parkway, but we were slowed after Warwick and went through Leamington Spa at 28. Again we soon worked up well into the seventies, easing back momentarily to 73 through Banbury, by which we were almost back on time. We pressed on and up again until the brakes came on at Kings Sutton and we crawled through Aynho Junction at 17.

We stormed away uphill from this further slack and the high speed running continued right through to the outskirts of High Wycombe, where signal checks began to alternate regularly with further bursts of high speed running, reaching a peak at Denham. From this point on, the fireworks were over as we crept along to a red light beyond West Ruislip, which cleared as we were down to 2 mph. A final burst of speed to 73 at Wembley Stadium was the last shout before an eight minute late arrival. We had achieved a non-stop run with some exciting bursts of speed, but the busy suburban railway had defeated us as we neared London and we stopped at Marylebone eight minutes late, 129 minutes for the 111 miles.

As the afternoon wore on, there were more and more reports at Marylebone of delays and cancellations due to lineside fires, so it was not exactly a surprise (although a great disappointment) when our train returned with a West Coast Class 47 in front of the Castle. The return run was diesel hauled as far as Tyseley station, where the 47 came off to allow the rest of the train to fit into the platform at Moor Street. It was left to our favourite Earl to bark us along to the buffer stops at Moor Street, where as always she looked magnificent, despite the disappointments of the second leg of the trip of two halves.

12 photos from my iPad are at Zenfolio | Peter Hewitt's Transport Pictures | Non-stop to Marylebone 6 April 2013

Peter, at the end of another bright cold day in Manchester
Zenfolio | Peter Hewitt's Transport Pictures

 

Bloody stupid title to the video. Does it not occur to anyone on here that claims to be a steam fan that this sort of sensationalism can do nothing but bad??

 

Yes indeed Ben. We don't want another Lamiel situation.

But what superb double chimney roar in the first clip-orgasmic or what!! We could even hear it on the train from 7 coaches back and the windows shut. What an engine.

Don

 

Changed the video title now, didn't mean to cause any trouble!

 

Why give in because someone doesn't like it?

 

It is a real shame that this tour had to be piloted by a 47 on the return. I can imagine that the VT staff had to work really hard to ensure 5043 was turned out in such a fine condition. I must admit that I decided to go out and see it later on having not read this form first. I was of course dissapointed to find the 47 on the front, but can completely understand the decision - just a shame for the people at VT that the Castle couldn't make the return run. On initially seeing the 47, I thought that 5043 had failed at some point, so am glad that it should still be OK for the tour this coming Saturday.

Surely this issue is becoming a real concern now? I have only a basic understanding of steam locomotives, but I would have thought that given the (almost) 50 years that have passed between the end of WR steam and now, some improvements/modern technology could be used in order to improve the temperature when leaving the chimney? I am unaware of anyone that has seriously looked into this, but maybe it is about time as this isn't the first (and certainly wont be the last) tour to have been affected by this. With the addition of TPWS, and then OTMR, steam has had to constantly keep evolving to survive on the big railway, so I dont see why any additional research should be discarded - in fact, I think it maybe the only way to keep locos like 5043 going.

 

That brought many memories back for me for which I thank you. I was born in Leamington Spa and used to spend many hours in Harbury cutting watching trains pass by.....in summer regularly igniting the grass.......never seemed to be a problem then....no panic, no hi vis etc ...it just seemed to burn itself out.......again many thanks ....halcyon days..innocence of childhood.......