Clan Line Farewell 30th June

They announced on board the latter half of 2016, but that doesn't account for any surprises that might pop up which will only come to light during the overhaul.

 

I was on Doxey Marshes myself!



Not the group in view in your shot, I was nearer the trees that lie beyond them.

As you say, we were a bit unfortunate to be partially bowled by the Voyager, but had the DB-S up freight train not been held, it would have been far worse!

 

Interestingly the turning move at Chester is showing cancelled on RTT, although it clearly took place - despite the brake not being the rear vehicle as per the SA.

 

Hi, really quite a typical Clan Line trip - on time, nothing spectacular needed despite load=13 and plenty of 70ish or a bit more running.

Personal opinion is that the crew from Victoria to Rugby weren't having an easy trip - witness the clag at Cheddington and the climb out of Northampton tailing away after a promising and quite noisy start - the Warrington driver I spoke to who came off at Rugby clearly had fire risk in the back of his mind but also implied that as soon as he pushed the engine, boiler pressure fell back which is not the '28 we know and love. Again my personal impression was the crew who took over at Rugby found things worked for them better and we certainly made light work of the climb out of Stafford. The rest of it was easy.

Apparently there was a whistle swap just before the run - this is repeated heresay from one of the support crew - and whatever was screwed to the boiler sounded like it had been dropped on its end first - fairly horrible really.

All in all, a great day out in fabulous weather and UK Railtours should be complemented for first class service. Can't wait to see the best of the best back from overhaul.

Best wishes to all,

Mike

 

Beeston Castle on the return

 

A couple from yesterday from me. End of platform attraction at Rugby and one of Clan Line running in to Chester at the end of the day.

 

Couple of real human interest photographs. Many thanks.

 

Being the cleanest, loudest and most melodious whistle on any current loco, I would suspect it been removed for safe keeping to prevent it going walkies during its storage and overhaul.

 

Or maybe Wayne uses it as his alarm clock when on an early shift! LOL!

 

Just to expand that slightly, one of the MNLPS people said that the Society's CME has his own whistle, which he likes to have fitted when he's on that run, but that someone (himself or someone else?) had dropped it the night before. We should be grateful that the loco didn't fail FTR because of that not very effective whistle.

I agree with all that, except that many of us on the train would have preferred it considerably cooler.

Edit: During the loco change at Crewe I asked one of the kitchen staff "Is it hot as Hell in there?" He replied that he couldn't say, having never been in Hell, but that it certainly was hot.

 

Thats a hell of a 200psi teasmaid he has by his bed then


Edit - hope the certificate hasn't expired!

 

Big Al said..
Onwards to Northampton where we blasted up the 1 in 230 to Long Buckby - the nearest we got to a Roundwood equivalent that day. In the low 50s but speed eased back near the top as we were gaining time and this part of the world didn't need to see any rockets in the countryside - this was the specific reference from the driver where Clan Line wouldn't maintain boiler pressure and was dropping back into the 180's so he had to ease off - but as you rightly say we were picking up time and it is dry in Northamptonshire and...
Just a quick postscript that perhaps illustrates how DBS and NR can find solutions to problems. On the way back there was a track failure near Colwich that put us 25 late. After a conversation, we were routed via Weedon and a Rugby stop was lost bringing us back into Euston early when other services were less lucky. Clever stuff - I rather got the impression the driver had a hot date to get to!
Both Bulleid as original designer and Jarvis in charge of the rebuilding would have been rightly proud of their work yesterday

 

...and thanks for your kind remarks.

 

Smashing video and photos of the last run (for now), and fascinating to read travellers reports. I fell for Clan Line as a very small lad when I saw it for the first time, at Dilton Marsh in 1974, when my late father John snapped it (his picture pasted below) - the loco worked a special to and from Westbury - turning on the triangle.

I look forward to its return to the main line again.
Paul

 

A great shot there. You'd have to say Clan Line has aged rather better than the cars in that shot!

 

A couple of images taken at Daventry North Junction as she passed DIRFT. I was quite surprised to see the the amount of photters that turned out at that location! Then a gentle drive up the A5 to Grendon near Atherstone for my second effort!
The light was horrible by that time though!
http://rickeborall.zenfolio.com/p187872304

Regards to all..........Rick

 

The light was better on the other side of the line and just a little further east. I've not edited my video yet, so can't post anything ATM, but I was quite pleased with the results at Grendon. There was a glint on the boiler, and a few moments of thick black smoke. I guess the driver closed the regulator briefly. I think perhaps he'd sighted yellow signals ahead, since a container train was a few minutes ahead. The smoke soon cleared again, though.

 

During the loco change at Crewe I asked one of the kitchen staff "Is it hot as Hell in there?" He replied that he couldn't say, having never been in Hell, but that it certainly was hot.

I did notice a lot of black smoke a few times when the engine was not working. The video from Cheddington shows one instance. What's going on there? If the blower is on it should be much the same as with the regulator open. If the regulator is closed without the blower going on, there shouldn't be much of anything coming out the chimney.