The Great Britain IX

And cut off at least 40%!

 

Ray Churchill will be in charge on the Thursday as far as Crewe he's told and this could be his last trip as he is retiring next month, Ray and Andy take the train over from Exeter on the Tuesday and are in charge till Plymouth they then take the locos down to Penzance later and are both doing the Penzance to Bristol on Wednesday. Over the years I've been on just about every train Ray has driven and have never had a bad trip with him, in fact they have all been wonderful and some stunning performances in some adverse conditions weather and loco wise, he will be very sadly missed.

 

Here, here - couldn't agree more. Another true master of the footplate lost.

 

Duchess heading to Crewe on Wednesday

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50730/2016/04/27/advanced

 

Ray was Traction Inspector for EWS in the days before WCR, I have a video of him taken in 2000 as Inspector on 80098 on the shuttles between Newton Abbot and Exeter

 

I've always found Ray to be such a nice chap to speak to. Invariably the conversation takes place at the end of a station platform. It's always good to hear Ray enthuse about the locos and the various climbs but he is never one to exaggerate or boast. A true gentleman. <BJ>

 

Well, that's the kiss of death then!!

 

After my previous tongue in cheek comment, here is some footage I shot of Ray at Reading preparing to depart for the West.

 

Ray didn't have to retire he chose to, WCR and several others tried to persuade him to stay on, he said the main reason was the long extra miles and hours he had to travel to get to the jobs, and sometimes under difficult circumstances, last year there were at least 4 times that the train either broke down or signal trouble, once he had to change trains twice to get to Taunton from Birmingham and once he had to get a taxi arriving just 10 minutes before he was due to take over. Having said that I think if it hadn't been for the latest WCR suspension he would have stayed on because last summer he said he was going to do another year, then in March he told me he had decided to retire after all it seems the extra long break he had between Christmas and the April restart sealed it, he seem to enjoy not having to travel all those long and sometimes frustrating trips to get to the steam job.

 

Yes, goers as they were known as in steam days weren't particular liked ,after all what fireman wanted to go to work at say 2or 3 in the morning, or any other time at that, to shovel more coal just because the driver liked to blaze away, and probably get held at signals later.

 

Is Ray still involved at Severn Valley ?

 

I remember speaking with the EWS boys at Eastleigh when they were told they lost the Steam Dreams work and expected negative comments. But oddly enough, most said that they welcomed the reduced work stating steam work was beginning to overtake their diesel work and with it the long hours. A couple of times, I took Bryan Dudley Ward to the local Alton Hotel around midnight after a "Green Train" returned home. Bryan was well and truly knackered as was his fireman. They had been out on the road for a very long time. Not that they didn't love their steam work, I guess there comes a time when it is all simply too much and spending days in the garden on warm sunny days, mowing the lawn and watering the plants, is a more attractive and less stressful option.

 

There's a post on the LE thread that 44871 has failed.

 

Well according to the gossip mill the Black 5 has failed on its way down and is being sent back home, ECS is coming down by Diesel. If so it means that day 1 and day 2 will not be double headed. I had planned to chase this thing down to Penzance and then up to Bristol, if its not double headed I am not doing a 650 trip with overnight stay. Luckily I have till 12:30 to cancel my hotel booking.

 

Gutted :-(

Was really looking forward to the double heading without shoveage on first 2 days

And that's from someone who is travelling on it ;-)

Wonder what'll now do day 3 ?

Hopefully nothing too serious with 44871 and it'll be fixed to take us to wick

 

Yes sadly the black 5 has failed and the GB is now Royal Scot with diesel inside for day 1 and 2 and day 3 is diesel all day.