The Great Britain VII

37516 doing the honours this morning, top marks to whoever got it to Inverness in time for a 6:30 departure. Yes, I know it is a diesel but much more preferable than a road coach!

 

I though it might be a road coach , so well done West Coast.

 

I don't think the praise could go high enough to West Coast really.

For anybody who is not aware, Class 47's are now banned from the Kyle route due to the RA. Previously, they have ran there on exemptions but as far as I am led to believe, that working has been halted for now. That has meant that WCRC has been reduced to running the Royal Scotsman Classic Tours to Kyle with double headed/top&tailed 37's. Due to the RA, I am sure there are only 3 37's fitted with RETB in WCRC's fleet thus available for covering that route.

It seems, that as soon as the issue was reported at Cadder Yard sometime around 7:20pm, West Coast tore 516 from the Scotsman at Perth. From there, the 37 was run to Craigentinny Depot in Edinburgh for refueling, before returning North to Inverness ready for the 05:59 ECS off Milburn Yard.

To arrange all that, at the last minute, is nothing short of brilliant work from West Coast. The highest praise towards Network Rail, West Coast control and the crews affected last night and this morning to provide the punters with a train to Kyle.

 

Any news on the derailment yet?

 

seen on Scot Gen the 2 black 5's could be heading back to Bury later today

 

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/O95569/2014/05/02/advanced

 

How will that affect tomorrow?

How are Trains A and B working for the passengers - as they cover similar routes on differing days, do some passengers so each piece of track one way and others the other, with a change over at Kyle/Mallaig today?

Thanks

Steven

 

So, what about tomorrow? Will the 37 take the train to Aberdeen or will 60009 be moved up to Inverness today?

 

The A4 is already in Inverness. It hauled the Aberdeen to Inverness section throughout yesterday. While the path for her returning to Aberdeen to haul the Southbound section isn't until 0509 tomorrow so cannot comment for definite, I would have suspected that because the A4 is already available for hauling the Black 5's section, surely it could?

 

45407 is having a rough go at things this year.

 

Reported on Scot-Rail as 44871 involved in the incident, blocking 45407 and POB's in rear. Not sure how accurate that is however.

Edit : Looking on a facebook photo, the departure consist looked to have 45407 in lead.

 

Just a couple from the Cumbrian coast Tuesday.

 

Thanks for the info. - I assumed that the A4 had already gone back to Aberdeen. Having told my cousin to watch out for steam at Inverurie tomorrow I was worried that I might end up with egg on my face!

 

Word on the train is A4 planned for all the way tomorrow.

 

Ok, I admit to being acronym challanged, and at only two letters I'm struggling on both the guess work and googling to work out want on earth an "RA" could be??
The best I could come up with is "Right Away" signals for sending trains on their merry way from stations, but this doesn't seem dependant upon the type of loco.

 

Route Availability

 

Ah right - thank you!

 

For further understanding; in BR days all routes were numbered in the range 1 - 9 with the highest being the most restricted; all locos were then allotted a Route classification and no locomotive with a higher Route Number (Greater Restriction) was allowed to work trains over the route. At this distance in time I understand that such movements WERE allowed but under strict control.

I recall that Hymeks were officially banned from the Taunton - Minehead line but, as they were operated over the route on a daily basis towards the end of their working life, the Diesel & Electric Group expected the running of their preserved example over the WSR to be a formality. The Railway Inspectorate rejected the request on grounds that the Hymek route availability was greater than the Route Classification for the WSR and, when advised that this had happened in BR days, replied that the workings had been operated under "local arrangements" that were no longer applicable.

For more current examples note that the A4s on main line duty have "RA9" painted on the cab-side - their BR route restriction classification.