4464 - Western Streak - 18-10-14

A wonderful departure from Bristol this evening, powering straight into the climb to Horfield and Filton.
Not a hint of any assistance from the diesel, well done.
My young grandchildren reluctantly agreed to tag along with me to see the train but were so excited as they
witnessed steam action at its very best. They were amazed by the fact that after the loco had passed it appeared
to rain for at least 60 seconds!! They talked about the event all the way home.

Thanks to all concerned. <BJ>

 

Super stuff. Not a lot of rear assistance at all in that sequence.

 

Nobody "screwed up bit time!"

The timings were sent to us at VT last Friday. I asked them to reconsider putting 4464 on the train at Didcot as the revised length of the train would fit inside Didcot platforms and it would give the passengers a chance to take photos.

NR kindly obliged, but due to a couple of folks being out it took a couple of extra days to get the times back to me.

The TYS > Oxford remained the same. The BTM > TYS remained the same.

Quite why Real Time Trains had it wrong I have no idea (and I'm not that bothered to be honest), but as far as I am concerned the folks at NR did a stirling job whilst short staffed, and they get a big thank you from me and all the passengers I spoke to.

It was a cracking run up the Lickey and another first for steam....an A4 setting down passengers in New Street.

 

A couple of high speed shots for you, didn't bother with that night time malarkey on the Lickey !

 

Video, of Bittern accelerating through Bromsgrove at the bottom of the bank. Looked to be going about 50.

 

I'm so glad I didn't book on this. I really fancied this train having done the Lickey with an 8F with no banker, the Halls with 7752 as banker, a 5110 with 80079 as a banker, 5690 with no banker, and once sadly 6201 with a diesel banker - but we did have 12 coaches. My pet hate is that the advertising said nothing about any assistance but we all know by now that if Tyseley's Class 47 is needed to take the train to the start of the "steam hauled" section, it will stay with the train all day. But seriously. what a copout. Not trusting an A4 over the Lickey with only eight up????? It's been a really bad weekend for steam. The Duchess had a Class 47 on the rear over the S&C with only 10 coaches, as did 70013 with 11 on the Dartmouth and it assisted my window hanging friend informed me sadly. What on earth is happening to Steam Haulage and WCRC as a TOC for Steam Hauled trains??????????

 

To be fair, the 47 was idling up the Lickey, So the A4 was pulling at least 11, in theory. So I think the passengers got a good deal, and if you have seen the video of Bittern on the Lickey, you could say it was a bit of a slog. I was expecting a Duke of Gloucester, run up the hill, while being pushed hard from behind. Though I can't understand the Duchess needing a diesel on the back, That was strange.

 

Quite possibly. I forgot about that slight issue it had on the Lowlander.

 

My video of 4464 thundering up the Lickey at Vigo Crossing, as well as a quick shot at Bristol Parkway.

James

 

What you moaning about, as far as I can tell the '47 did next to bugger all that trip, and the soundtracks I have heard from the Lickey was nearly all A4 steam with little diesel, made a damn fine noise. And as my clips from Thursdays Ely run show you, the '47 was nowt but ballast behind a fast charging Brit.

 

Totally agree. My own view is that if the risk of having the photo "pinched" is too high, don't post it online. Rather than ruin it.

 

Sorry to be a party pooper., but I would suggest that there is no way that an A4 could possibly have pulled the equivalent of 10 coaches up the Lickey without assistance. It is just impossible. The diesel must have at least taken its own weight but more likely to have given a shove at some point.

I saw some old 60's footage of the trains over the Lickey the other day and all trains over 6 coaches had a banker. In fact a Jubilee with only 4 coaches on, had a GWR 0-6-0 84XX tank on the back.

Please please. let us not delude ourselves.

 

My footage of yesterday's run. At Shrivenham, Narroways Junction and at Vigo Crossing on the Lickey.

 

For reference, I did 5690 up the Lickey some years ago on a tour that was meant to be banked by 4965 but wasn't in the event, luckily as we were only load 6 it was decided it was safe enough to "have a go", I think it was something like 55MPH at Bromsgrove and 19MPH at Blackwell, which suggests a single loco on load 8 would be pushing your luck, add in a dead 47 then your really asking for trouble, here's an onboard of 5690 (from a very crappy VHS tape!) for comparison:

 

An A4 (167 tons) + class 47 (112 tons) plus 8 coaches (say 280 tons, @35tons each) gives a gravitational pull back down a 1 in 37 of about 33,800lbf. To that add rolling resistance etc. Make of that what you will against an A4's nominal Tractive Effort, but I'd suggest an A4 "pulling 11" up that gradient is improbable, bordering on impossible. "Pulling 8" with the class 47 taking at least its own weight would still be an impressive feat ...

Tom

 

In my my previous post I stated that the A4 could not have taken 8 coaches plus a non-working Class 47 up the Lickey unassisted. Just impossible. And here is the evidence of the Class 47 giving the A4 a shove. The speed of the train approaching Vigo Crossing would be nothing like what we witness here, if the A4 was doing it all on its own. But then, in our heart of hearts, we knew that this would be the case as that is the main reason is was on the back in the first place as no one could afford the A4 stalling on the wicked and demanding 1 in 37 climb.