ScotRail Steam

Then the natives can't be very Christian if they look to another country to channel their sporting activities.

 

Cancelled by ScotRail in April according to Steam Dreams FB page.

 

Having switched to DBS for operations, the loco pool available for use on the West Highland Line is practically nill.


Curious to hear what's happened about the K4 with through air piping being on their books.

 

Going off topic, but I would question the practicalities of through air piping in the Highlands. To be useful, the rescue loco needs to be able to drop on to the front of the train. If a failure occurred on a single line section on the outward journey to Kyle, Mallaig, etc, the through piping would be no use unless a rescue loco had been sent ahead "just in case". I suspect that attaching a rescue loco to the rear of the train would not be without its problems as, if the failed loco remained on the rear, it would be unbraked ... probably not ideal on some of the gradients in the Highlands! The only option might be to uncouple the failed loco, take the coaches away and then come back for the loco later. I guess this may be partly the reason why, when DBS operated the K4 on the Kyle line a few years ago, they hired a dual braked Class 37 from DRS (or possibly HNRC) and stationed it at Inverness.

 

At least we can still get our fix of West Highland steam as SRPS is showing the end of season double header on 24th October ...

 

Its a good day out, but 06:10 is a wee bit too early for getting to Polmont from anywhere else but Polmont, particularly as I'd stay in Edinburgh, and wouldn't have the car. Whilst the 05:18 gets you there by 05:44, there's no fallback if something goes wrong. This is what put me off doing it last year.

Alternatively, there's the 07:15 ex-Edinburgh, which would allow you to chase the special to Fort William, arriving at 12:08 and giving you 20 minutes before returning to Polmont steam-hauled.

 

There's also 04.50 seated sleeper to Dumbarton Central, giving just over an hour's connection ...

 

Scotrail's blurb for the September and October Edinburgh to Tweedbank runs doesn't inspire confidence, referring to an A4 as a "steam train" - see attached!

 

Not so sure about 6 locomotives of the class still in the UK though; perhaps someone failed to notice the 2 that were returned last year via Liverpool.

 

Yes, but then they call it a train in the same breath - that was my point.

 

Withstanding the information about 6 A4s, it looks very reasonable to me. "The train" is the title to the paragraph, and thus presumably refers to the whole consist (loco + coaches) which travels between Waverley and Tweedbank. It then goes into detail specifying that the "locomotive" is 60009 - what's incorrect about that?

 

Only the part which says : "this steam locomotive is one of six remaining LNER A4 class steam trains in the UK". It's not overly important, but it always grates when the media (and even railway operators!) refer to locomotives as trains.

 

Apologies - I (somehow) missed that and presumed you were referencing the title!

 

Now the dates for the reopening steam specials have been announced, are any mileages available for the new line?