The Auld Reekie

Mnachester Victoria to Edinburgh and back, return leg hauled by 70013. My ticket came this morning.

Date? You tell me.

uksteam info has it Friday 23 April. The info sheet the RTC sent me says Saturday 23 April, which does not exist. I have rung, but not had a reply to the message I left as of yet. It is bad enough having to get to Man Vic for stupid o'clock, without turning up a day too late!

 

they put to carlisle return on the waverley tickets, then had to send a note to everyone, to correct their mistake, for me they run the best tours, and this years schedule is excellent but they seem to have a habit of making these silly errors for some reason, a bit like the duke of sutherland.

could you please inform me of the arrival time back in manchester, i am thinking about doing this tour but depends on time for onward travel, thanks.

 

Friday 23-April, dep Edinburgh 14:48, arr Carlisle 18:58, Preston 21:40, Wigan 22:02, Bolton 22:38, Man Vic 23:04

David

 

thanks very much, although looking a bit late especially if its running late, but anyway shall have to see what happens.

 

Two shots added here of 70013 passing Lancaster with the 'Auld Reekie' tonight:

http://andrewstransport.fotopic.net/c1803491.html

Cheers

AN

 

Nice shots Andrew. Saw this approaching Shap Village about 5 minutes late; for once a steam train was on the tail of a Virgin Voyager which passed me about 5 minutes before 70013. That said, as the Voyager passed I could hear Cromwell in the distance - spooky! Looked like a good performance up Shap - doing maybe 45mph approaching here, with 12 in tow.

Strange time of week to see steam on Shap, but a great end to the working week nevertheless!

 

a clip of Ollie racing through Lancaster last night with two whistles, yummie:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7iTZgMI2sU

 

I had a great but tiring day, 06.22 start, back on time just after 11pm.

Took the time to go to North Queensferry & back, never been over the Forth Bridge before. Then a walk around a rainy Edinburgh, dissapointed to see that the Scots are rubbish at St George's day for some strange reason.

We dragged both a 37 and a 47 back as far as carnforth, then dropped the 37 off when we took water. I had a peep in the tender when we got back, one of the crew told me there was just enough to keep the fire lit as she was dragged backward to Carnforth by the 47 - she was due back at 10A by 2am, so a longer day for some.

 

I stand corrected! As you say, they dragged the train into Waverley, as we never stopped anywhere we could get out, and because I saw them again later, I never realised we'd given them the slip.

A shot from near the rear of the train, as we went round the curve at Carstairs.

 

Thanks for the kind words Linesider.

Here is a shot of 47760 passing Carnforth with the outward Auld Reekie. It had 37706 on the rear.

http://andrewstransport.fotopic.net/p64449453.html

And here is one of 37706 at Lancaster on its way to Man Vic to pick up the ECS and 70013 (which ran in reverse). They reached Carnforth about 0200.

http://andrewstransport.fotopic.net/p64449455.html

Cheers

AN

 

Possibly because St George is the patron saint of England; the patron saint of Scotland is St Andrew who is celebrated by a rather large square opposite Waverley station.

 

It seems that everyone celebrates St Patrick's Day, but I think that has more to do with Guiness promotional budgets than anything else. I expect that if Marston's or Timothy Taylor's (for example) were to promote their wares in Scotland on St George's Day, they'd get a lot of interest, as would be the case if Deuchar's did the same in England on St Andrew's Day.

St George is a popular saint, adopted by many cities and countries, including Ethiopia, Greece and Russia, according to Wikipedia.

 

My effort of 70013 approaching Shap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixafp1thCpE

I'd hoped for some warm evening sun and some sort of glint (fool!); it wasn't to be and all I got was murk, murk, and more murk. Not much clag either but she was going very nicely.

 

A very nice sequence with adequate contrast despite the murk - which I didn't think too obstructive. I suppose the problem is that photographers are either too critical or not critical enough - in this case as a viewer I think it a good effort. Well done !

 

If you'd ever lived in Scotland, you'd know they would never celebrate St George's Day, unless it was contructed to involve anti-english celebrations. I doubt even free Marstons would tip the balance if it was marketed as English. In general, the way the Scots see the relationship with the English is completely different to how the English look on the Scots. Using football as an example, when I was a lad growing up in England, I'd support England first and then any of the other home nations second. In Scotland, the Scots support Scotland first and then anyone else who is playing against England. I often reckon there are more people out in the pub to anti-support England than there are people out for a Scotland game. It's a very negative 'chip on the shoulder' kind of attitude and is something I think is a shame. In many cases, it goes way beyond healthy banter. Having said that, many of my Scottish friends reckon the Scots just like a fight, and if it wasn't the English, they'd be busy fighting amongst themselves, i.e. east-west, sectarian, etc.

 

So true. Friends of mine in Glasgow regard 'East Coasters' as English!

 

When I was in the Western Isles, they welcomed me as an Englishman, but weren't so friendly to my 'lowlander' pal from Edinburgh! It takes a bit of getting used to

 

And we East Coasters consider the border starts at Polmont - west of there and you're in bandit country ! Having lost my front teeth at Eastfield in 1970 I certainly keep my car door locked mow when passing through the territory and I prefer touring the Firth of Forth to risking touring the Firth of Clyde.

Perhaps that's why I never saw many Ayr Crabs !

 

Thanks Fred; I've been spoilt with unseasonal snow and sun of late I guess, so it's only the law of averages doing what it does best.