Steam Dreams 2013 & 2014 Archive

And the Canterbury trip you can do without any reversal at all: from the GWML via Acton Wells and down the West London line.

 

I wonder what will haul the Canterbury trip on the Sunday 27th April since : -

34046 and 34067 are listed as hauling GBVII to Devon the previous day ( 34067 is also shown as hauling the Golden Arrow)
70013 is listed as hauling GVII on the Monday from Cardiff.
34067 is listed as hauling GVII Bristol to Cardiff on the Sunday.
What will haul GVII over the Devon Banks to Truro with 5029 ( since 4936 does not fit past Devonport or is it Dockyard? ) either 70000 ( which is hauling a Cath Ex. from Sailsbury on Thursday) or 70013?

I suspect the likely options for the Canterbury trip are : -

70000 ( if support crew available - since they might be too busy with 34046 & 5029), 34067 if it does not haul GBVII or 35028?

 

Hmmm....

Maybe a 60 mph dash if it was an H15 4-6-0, which was my first run ex Waterloo, would be good. August 1960. 9.54 local to Basingstoke. Even then we reached 68 mph at Esher.

But a Black 5? Would be very sad to see that creep down the main at 60mph Al.

I wonder how many of Steam Dreams Mainline trips on "fast" routes will end up this year with them having no choice but to use a Black 5.

 

Even in more recent times, fast line Basingstoke-Brokwood behind 44932 on a Swanage-Waterloo trip in November 2010 was quite an experience. We shot past a class 450 on the slow line at Farnborough. When I asked the driver what was the maximum speed we had achieved, he said "61 mph". I was very surprised, as it seemed like we were going a lot faster.

 

Letter received from Steam Dreams : - The Bluebell Railway has asked Steam Dreams to postpone the trip from Sheffield Park to Cambridge and Ely as the railway "found that the trains( Charters) threw up issues they would now like to resolve before allowing any further charters to start from Sheffield Park". New date either later this year or possibly next year.

The letter mentions a new trip on the 5th July - Horsham to Canterbury, so the Alresford - Sheffield Park must have also been postponed.

 

I hope this is not going to be a 44932 disaster in the making.

 

Pardon?

 

I never got a footplate ride in or out of Waterloo itself Al. You did well there. My nearest was on the up mail when I had to get off 34101 at Surbiton. Big brother Don once had a ride on the footplate on a 2 hour express from Southampton non stop to Waterloo. Roy Sloper driving, now in his 90s I believe and I am told still pretty fit.

I reckon Sid Burton was tempted to give me a ride out on a '54 local once. He got me up on the footplate at Waterloo operating the blower and a few other controls, and if I had been going beyond Woking he would certainly have taken me up on the footplate from there.

OOPs. going off, topic! Be in trouble. Again................

 

I wonder if someone suddenly thought of the consequences of 250 or so cars in our car park all day from the charter passengers, before even a single Bluebell passenger turned up later in the morning!

Horsted Keynes is rather more convenient for stabling a train overnight, but has relatively limited parking. Sticking 12 coaches or so at Sheffield Park overnight would be impossible, unless you left the platforms blocked (not ideal when we run a daily service at that time of year) or moved lots of our own stock up to HK. So you can see how starting a charter at SP, especially in mid summer, would lead to a lot of operational inconvenience to the railway, without necessarily leading to much financial benefit.

Tom

 

The best time of year to run one would probably be Midweek Late November/ December when there isn't a service. Steam Dreams ran 9 trains in this period last year.

 

I read elsewhere steam dreams have a vacancy going for a toilet cleaner, expenses only.

 

You can get six coaches in the Newick siding, and another six in the carriage yard headshunt (albeit at the expense of blocking access to the carriage shed). But generally midweek, the Newick would be used for storing the first service set, so you are effectively committed to running the service set up to HK before the charter stock arrives, and then bringing it back after the charter set goes. Allowing for the fact that the charter stock arrives the day before the actual day of the charter, and would presumably goes the day after, that is effectively three days when the station is all bottled up. Possible, as you say, midweek during the off-season, but it's a lot of disruption. I wonder if the Bluebell would want to charge over and above for the two ECS movements it would require that would not otherwise be needed?

Midweek off-season looks a possibility, albeit awkward. Having one on a day when we are actually also running our own service looks very problematic, in my opinion. Probably the best bet would be to store the stock at HK overnight, and run it down to SP first thing in the morning. That may actually be the best thing even if running on a day when there wasn't a regular Bluebell service. Everything would be simplified if the Crompton did the early morning and late evening ECS moves to save time for the steam crew, but that then incurs a hire fee payable to the Crompton's owners, quite apart from any fee payable to the Bluebell...

I think embarking and disembarking would also be problematic. For departure, to keep the loco inside the starting signal, you get six coaches in the platform and six off the platform, so the passengers have to funnel through the train. That's probably more problematic on arrival back at night. Assuming things ran similar to the Oliver Cromwell / Braunton tours, the front of the train would need to stop with maybe five or six coaches beyond the platform. In the dark (if you assume a tour running during the off-peak season), there would be a possibility of a passenger trying to disembark from a carriage where there isn't a platform; I assume the safety case might require door stewards on all the carriages that would end up beyond the platform.

Tom

 

There is usually at least 1 steward to each coach.There are stations of the network where the platforms are too short and train have picked up and dropped such as Slough.

 

As I say, it's certainly possible - the charters we have already had show that. But short platforms and limited siding space certainly add to the challenge fun - especially for a service originating / terminating at SP.

Tom

 

I am led to believe that stewards are required in lieu of central locking, the doors being manually locked between stations.