The Hadrian 7th March

I Know that but RTC are being a right pain in the royal backside as it's still saying Leander & Galatea on their website. I Still haven't even had notification by either an email or letter about the motive power change, and part of me is now wishing that I had booked the Red Dragon with 4965 now as it's not what I had planned, and what does worry me is the timings down the ECML as the route has not only the class 91's but also the HST's and also the route is much more busier than the WCML.

 

Is the Brighouse stop on the return likely to be in the station ?
RTT show's a 30 minute stop there, it might be a good place to leave the train for those of us living in Yorkshire ??

 

Like Ralph mentions its 45407 and 45690 with 5690 at the helm been told .

 

At the risk of incurring the wrath of god, how difficult can it be for RTC, which works extensively with WCR to have conversations along the lines of "we're putting our winter/spring tour programme together and want to use 45699 in January and March - will it be available?".
Assuming the answer is yes, a few months later RTC might enquire "you know we booked 45699 for those tours in January and March? Are we still on because we are advertisng it now?".
Then in January, "is 45699 ok after its steam test and will it be fit for our couple of jobs?".
Welcome though admirable substitutions are, you have to wonder what foundation the brochure "future promise" of double headed Jubilees had. From WCR point of view it makes little sense to rush to get 45699 ready for a single job in March then have it idle for the next couple of month, so I wouldn't blame them for not having it ready because they probably never planned to, given the queue of workshop jobs they must have.
RTC is commendably adventurous and imaginative in its offers, its just a pity some of it stays in their imagination and neglects to involve the TOC / owners that will make their, and their customers, dreams reality.

 

RTC may well have been down this route with WCR, if a loco has been requested and agreed, including dates, this must be the basis on which RTC build their programme, it sounds as if you are happy with the WCR position but, it may well not be any fault of RTC. 45699 has been through a winter maintenance programme, so we are told, I would have thought culminating in the successful ? steam test, so the lack of a test run leads one to believe that no heavy repairs have taken place ? Something does not add up !

 

I think the fact that 45699 has not worked since last October and Carnforth have had this long and still nothing magical seems to have appeared speaks volumes and numbers enough!

 

Thanks for the information Ralph, I'll make plans to leave the train at Brighouse

Is the water supplied from a tanker on the overbridge at Brighouse ?

 

The trick is not to set your heart on a particular locomotive or think before you book. I've long given up that game with 34067, and have made just covering a particular route by steam my goal. If it runs as advertised, then its a bonus, as there's so many hoops and hurdles for the various parties to overcome even before the locomotives and stock depart from Carnforth. Its not exactly RTC's fault the pairing won't take place- these things happen. They probably have a third party in charge of the website, so only tour-critical changes can be posted. Furthermore, it might not have been confirmed to them yet because WCRC are still officially negotiating terms of use with Riley?

Seriously, its pointless throwing toys out of the pram; just be thankful we still have steam for the majority of the route. In any event, after Brighouse, the route is mostly downhill in any case as far as Manchester, so I should think 45690 might be able to manage on its own.

 

Fire hydrant just off the main road, so watch your step in the dark...

 

From Brighouse the Calder Valley line climbs for about 18 miles to Summit Tunnel.

 

Admirable sentiments BP. Its a bit like booking for the theatre - theres always a chance one of the big name lead actors might have to be replaced by an understudy. You still get to see the performance.
The question of the basis upon which bookings are taken is another matter, if its known the leading actor will be sick but the billboard says otherwise..

 

Speaking for myself, I booked for the route behind steam rather than any specific type of steam motive power, as I have yet to cover the Tyne Valley line. The fact that there might have been two Jubilees was neither here nor there and thus did not figure in my reasons for booking. Anyway, up until this Sunday, there wasn't any clear evidence that the pairing wouldn't take place- only rumours and speculation. Not only that, but at one point, the rumours suggested that 45690 was the problem locomotive. It was only a quick conversation with Ralph on the 'Tin Bath' that suggested there would be some sort of change of plan, so this has been a very recent development- furthermore, there was no mention of Riley at that point.

 

Aren't we rather jumping to conclusions here? What you have to remember is that 45699 didn't run for nearly 50 years and was bought as a source of spares for Leander. Even though it has been in service for nearly 2 years now there may still be previously unforseen problems being encountered. 99% of steam locomotives are getting very old now and maintaining them is by no means straightforward...

Although this is the case it's only really once the line reaches Hebden Bridge that any meaningful gradient is encountered; up to there the steepest gradient is 1 in 298 as it runs through the Calder Valley.

 

Yes, I know it's not Shap or Ais Gill, but still 12 miles uphill to Hebden Bridge followed by 6 miles of 1 in 182 or steeper to the tunnel. My reply was to Bulleid Pacific who said the route was mostly downhill.

 

With my gradient profiles in the car, I was generally thinking about the 20-25 miles or so after Summit when making that comment.

 

The downhill run from Summit tunnel to Manchester Victoria is about 16 miles.

 

Ok, so to be pedantic 'nearly half the route between Brighouse and Manchester is downhill, with some reasonable gradients between Brighouse and Summit for 45690 to contend with alone'.

 

I'm not having a go at anyone....just stating facts, that's all.