Cathedrals Express - 5th December 2015

RTT times suggest destination is now Appleby instead of Carlisle:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50520/2015/12/05/advanced
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50521/2015/12/05/advanced

 

Fingers crossed there's a locomotive at Carnforth, which is O.R.R approved, or otherwise we're looking at a single five & the usual addition of a 47 on the rear !

 

Maybe unconnected but 5407 returns north tomorrow, 4871 at Bury ... 2+2 ... or could that be 5+5?

 

The SD website now states that it will be hauled by Galatea, not the Scot.

James

 

It is obvious as to which loco of the Carnforth pool has been in the best condition.

 

Nobody likes this
Mike Dabo is straight likes this

 

Yes indeed 45690 by a mile .

 

I don't think Leander has done 20+ tours this year Stephen
The 2 Jubilees though are indeed

 

Hoping this trip is going to be 4th time of asking after all of the pitfalls its been through over the last 18 months.Can anyone enlighten me as to whether a passenger pick up is still
at Northampton and that the trip is still going up shap and down the S&C. Real time train site says different .
Cant wait to go behind Galatea. Last time I saw this engine was in bits at Tyseley .

 

Service trains to/from Rugby for Northampton passengers, see SD web site:
http://www.steamdreams.com/executables/GT410WebContent.exe?ActionCode=Timings

Still north over Shap and south over S&C but not going into Carlisle.

 

Ticket letter from SD says, "due to engineering works on the East Coast Main Line, extra trains are being diverted though Carlisle and Network Rail will not give us a platform to stop there with our train."

"If you particularly want to visit Carlisle, please let us know by Friday 4 December before 12.30pm and we can make arrangements for our staff to escort you from Preston to Carlisle to spend some time there. This will give passengers who particularly want to visit the city approximately 2 hours in Carlisle before travelling to Appleby to re-join the train and head South over the Fells to London. "

We'll be giving that a miss even though my wife wanted to go on this train for the Christmas market - well done Notwork Fail!

 

Seems reasonable to me - the line from Newcastle to Edinburgh is shut on Saturday and diversions are running via Carlisle which obviously restricts paths - should NR have prioritised a charter instead? Incidentally I note that there is a diesel charter stopping at Carlisle on Saturday on the way north - presumably causing less disruption due to leas occupation time and no need for manoeuvres.

 

Good points Alan, maybe JS will enlighten us with the back story.

 

Good luck with that then.

 

He sometimes does post to explain why certain operational decisions have been taken / forced upon WC. The points Alan raises might merit a reply but breath not being held.
Looking more like only WC owned / managed locos prohibited now with 5043 out yesterday and 46233 confirmed for its run on Saturday. Will WC have an unprohibited steam loco on Saturday?

 

There are Saturday East Coast diversions through Carlisle every autumn, so this Saturday's situation might have been foreseen.

Andrew N

 

As is well-known on this forum, promoters can propose 'ambitious' itineraries, which usually form the basis of their initial promotional material and can remain 'as is' or unaltered, despite evidence from subsequent events. Al is quite correct in stating that previous experience with CMEs has shown that the path only works via Weedon; even with electric haulage, Watford Junction has now had to be dropped, as margins are simply too tight.

Promoters (and their TOCs) usually do their Rules of the Route checks to ascertain whether chosen routes are open and clear of engineering, well in advance of submitting their proposals. In this case, the chosen routes would have been shown to be clear, although whether other routes and engineering works, further afield, were checked is probably unlikely (where does one stop?). Even if the diversions were flagged up, the actual detailed re-planning of access to Carlisle station platforms would not necessarily be available until much nearer the time; the final revision has to take into account all operations stopping or passing through Carlisle, on the day.

As has happened in the past, sometimes charters can be accommodated, sometimes they can't, as has proved to be the case, this time. The options were discussed with the promoter and Appleby was the revised option.

 

Thanks for that James,saves a lot of rumour building