The Lickey Rambler 7/11/15

Dear all

I have have found some timings for this tour but is Not going up the Lickey?

Can someone confirm this??

Outward:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50713/2015/11/07/advanced

Middle journey:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50714/2015/11/07/advanced

Return
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50718/2015/11/07/advanced

Really dissapointing if not going up the lickey incline.

 

How many times have we said not to take RTT for gospel?

We haven't accepted any times as yet.

 

I got a letter today that the trip is cancelled due to gauging restrictions at Barnt Green Station

 

What's wrong with other pannier ? Couldn't the castle be used instead ! I reckon the above posted timings for the Old Hill return would of been acceptable as a replacement, instead of canning the whole thing. Hopefully some answers are forthcoming, though I fear we've all heard them before !

 

Both the Castle and Hall are out of gauge to pass through Barnt Green station, had a letter from VT explaining the situation, NR offered the schedule to return via Old Hill bank but VT didn't feel it was a sufficient substitute and cancelled the trip, me myself would have preferred them to have accepted the alternative rather than cancel it.

 

Grrrrr - was so looking forward to this trundle round the Midlands

Complete incompetence by NR yet again - what on earth is the matter with them and why do we put up with this.

Really feel for Vintage Trains; hope that people realise where the issue lies and and do not blame VT - they must be more frustrated with this than we are!

Lets stick with it and support the railtour operators through this folks - they do a great job along with the loco owners keeping steam on our main lines and will always get my 100% backing.

 

To be fair, It's about time the movement took a united front to NR about gauging, as it's getting increasingly ridiculous with either "paper only" restrictions or contractors not following some group standards as they should, it's starting to get to the point where it's unworkable for a tour promoter to promote virtually any tour without some issue that wasn't previously there and making the trip far less appealing.

Certainly at the moment with this and the furore around window hanging, I currently have 0 steam tours booked and am unlikely to book any anytime soon if there's a 90% chance of having to remain seated throughout and either curtailed steam sections or rerouting over a duller route, thank god for class 37's tours run under DBS/DRS where there's less of this tomfoolery.

Hate to say it, but for an enthusiast, linesiding is likely to bring far more enjoyment than travelling currently, worrying scenario to be in as such tours need bums on seat to run.

 

Network Rail is supposed to be the guardian of our rail network. They should be ensuring that they have the information and systems in place to accept or decline requests for the running of special/charter trans at the point of the initial request. They should not be leaving it until a few days before a tour is due to run to advise that the route or motive power is unacceptable.

In most of other lines of business in this country, this would be considered totally unacceptable behaviour and recompense sought.

My sympathy lies with the locomotive owners and tour operators, they must be incurring significant financial losses as well as potentially declining demand for their products as the public loses faith in their ability to actually provide the tours they are advertising.

 

Very unsatisfactory as other posters have said. The GWR big two-cylinder locos have always been suspect but to find one is "disqualified" from running through a platform on a straight main line is astounding. Back in BR days one somehow reached Sheffield without knocking anything over. Every time there is attention to the track there should be certification that is has been restored to gauge. It amazes me that we have these coping-scraping panics at the same time that there is such concern about the gap between train and platform!

 

The really worrying thing is it's not just Halls/Manors/Kings anymore, how many times has the Duchess been allegedly too big in 2015 ?.

 

I think another good question would be to question whether the platforms have changed or not.

 

Certainly 4965 and 4936 have been up the Lickey and through Barnt Green a few times in the past, so it wasn't traditionally out of gauge, and I don't think Hall were uncommon towards the end of steam either after transfer to the Western Region.

 

Interesting that much of the GWR system was built to accommodate these beauties - but now much standard gauge stuff won't even fit...

https://www.facebook.com/1614216472...421647218065/1230647210295498/?type=3&theater

Give it 25 more years and I suspect that the Ravenglass and Eskdale will be fitting OTMR equipment to their locomotives as they will be the only steam that fits on Network Rail.

 

We share in everyone's frustration.

We were faced with a very difficult decision. If we went via Old Hill, we would have lost enough passengers that the train made a significant loss. I know this from the emails we have received in the office from very disappointed and frustrated passengers saying that we made the correct decision as the main attraction for the tour was the Lickey incline.

For Old Hill fans, we offered to transfer passengers to the longer and more expensive tour to Oxford 2 weeks later via the North Cotswold (and hence Old Hill) at the same price.

To say that 2015 has not been the best year for us is perhaps an understatement!

 

But if you're thinking of the same one, it did then hit the platform edge at Penistone and was impounded at Hillhouse shed while they worked out how to get it out of there!

 

It was a Grange - from recollection she returned home via a very tortuous route to avoid interface with further infrastructure!

 

Found it

'Nottingham Victoria was the farthest north that Great Western locomotives ventured down the Great Central, except on rare occasions. One of these occasions took place on 15 August 1964 when engine No. 6858 Woolston Grange working the Poole to Bradford/Leeds train, and which normally would have come off at Leicester or Nottingham, managed due to an oversight by control, to reach Huddersfield. However, en route, it had hit the platform edge at Berry Brow station between Penistone and Huddersfield. The loco was quickly removed to Huddersfield shed where it languished well inside until it was towed to Crewe as an out of gauge load two weeks later.'

 

Good job 1964 was pre-Network Rail days. With their standards of speed & efficiency it might still have been there now.