Torbay Express 2016

My guess would be a leaking superheater, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the engine restarting on Whiteball.

Cheers Dave

 

Nor did I realise it was you, James. Nice to put a face to a name.

 

Its pretty obvious it was a simple issue, surprised none of you spotted it. Its obviously the wrong colour. Everyone knows that if you want an loco to perform flawlessly in the first week of July, it needs to be painted red.

 

Royal Scot on the Torbay 3 July 2016

The first run of Stanier's rebuilt 4-6-0 No 46100 Royal Scot on the Torbay Express was not to be missed, and at 7 am Bristol Temple Meads station was bathed in beautiful sunshine.

We made a punctual and steady start along towards Bath, my first time with steam, and reached 55 at Keynsham and 56 before the Twerton tunnels. After Bath we turned south into the beautiful Avon valley and reached 57 under the Dundas Aqueduct and continued in the 50s until the Bradford on Avon stop. Our progress via Trowbridge was more leisurely and we were five minutes late into Westbury.

Out on the main line the running was brisker, reaching 51 by Clink Road junction and running on in the 60s, apart from a drop into the 50s as we approached Brewham summit. Then we were into the 70s soon after Bruton and through Castle Cary with a maximum of 74 around Charlton Mackrell. Speed slackened as we approched Taunton but we still arrived twelve minutes early.

We had expected that on leaving, No 46100 would put on a sprint ready for Wellington bank, but not so. 49 was the maximum we managed after Norton Fitzwarren and then our speed dropped right away to 39 at Wellington, 35 at Westwood and 18 at Beam Bridge. We came to a halt at Sampford Arundel. After a pause for a blowup we set off very surefootedly, entering Whiteball Tunnel at 13 and leaving at 21. Then we roared downhill in the 60s and 70s, reaching 76 at Tiverton Junction and not slowing until after Stoke Canon.

We were 12 minutes late through Exeter and reached 57 at Exminster bbut then our passage along the coast was designed for sight seeing rather than speed enthusiasts, with a maximum of 60 at Dawlish Warren. We were 13 minutes late through Newton Abbot at 25 mph, but then accelerated to 46 at Aller Junction, and our speed over the top only dropped to 36. Arriving 14 late in Paignton we took on the local crew who nursed the Scot expertly up to Churston without a slip.

After watching the shunting at Kingswear I took a ride on the local service back to Paignton. Sitting in the Devon Belle observation car with No 7827 Lydham Manor barking up the bank only feet from your face was a knockout!

On the return with the Scot, the 1 in 50 climb from Torre was at a minimum of 18 but the speeds round the coast to Exeter were only in the 40s and low 50s. This performance continued until we were looped at Tiverton Junction to let past the trains we were delaying. The stop must have helped the crew bring the boiler round,, as we topped Whiiteball at 40 and then whizzed on to Taunton in the sixties,,hitting 70 a couple of times. Despite this we were soon advised that the loco's problems were not over: it had been declared a failure and a diesel loco was to be brought a couple of miles from Fairwater yard. By this time we were an hour late and I had a four hour drive home to follow, so I jumped on an XC HST and reached Bristol in half an hour.

I love the Scot and she has had some good runs, but overall this was not one of them. I hope that, whatever its problems may have been, they get sorted soon and she does better on the next two Torbays.

28 photos are at http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com/p682188947

Peter on a changeable morning in Manchester
http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com/

PS To see details of my visit the previous day to seee the Merchant Navy on the G-WR, go to
http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com/p739108072

 

Over the aqueduct? Blimey, that's shifting. <BJ>

 

Thanks. forgot Christian Name. Senior moment ....

 

No thats Flying!

 

Ha, ha ha! Sorry, no powerboats involved! tewxt now corrected, thanks

Peter on a grey Manchester afternoon

 

This is the quote on the Icons Faceache page yesterday:

Firstly a big thank you to everyone who travelled with or came out to see yesterdays Torbay Express Ltd to Dartmouth, we hope you had a great time.

We are however very sorry for the disappointment and inconvenience caused by our direct return to Bristol, rather than via Westbury and Bath. Our team are making every effort to establish the cause of yesterdays problems and ensure that Royal Scot is fit for service again very soon.

How refreshing to see from a loco operating group.

 

Update on the Icons Website News Section:

Torbay Troubles
It won’t have escaped your notice that Royal Scot was a little troubled on the first Torbay Express of the season, with the train having to return directly to Bristol from Taunton rather than running via Westbury and Bath as planned.

Our team have spent the last two days working on Royal Scot to establish the cause of the weekends problems. We’re pleased not to have found anything distinctly wrong with the locomotive and are working to rectify a few small issues that may have contributed to the difficulties we experienced. We’re pleased to say that measures are now in place to prevent a repetition of the weekend’s difficulties and we’re still planning for Royal Scot to make her planned appearance on next weekends journey to the English Riviera with The Torbay Express.

 

Reading between the lines - we've given it the once over and nothing was wrong except a few bits and bobs. We've tightened everything up and it's ok.

My great uncle always said that scots and jubilees were a pile of junk if over fired and sometimes the best thing to do was shut the firehole doors and let it burn itself through and get rid of the cold fire - he said that sometimes even experienced crews would get caught out with this..

I suspect if why my great uncle says is true, they tried just that but the over firing at Taunton made the fire too dirty for that to work!

Again, I might have no idea what I'm talking about but I thought I would mention it

 

Whilst talking about insurers, will this weeks TBE have the insurance of a box on the back or maybe shadowed by one?

 

Hopefully these ''measures'' that they have put in place don't include a diesel for backup. Tbh, I can't even recall ever seeing a diesel on the Torbay.

 

Has happened before, but due to fire risk rather than performance.

 

IIRC a diesel pilot during a period of fire risk but never one on the back, apart from when trouble has been encountered on the PDSR but the train is no longer under DBS control after Paignton.

 

Also I think a diesel has accompanied DoG after some reliability issues.

 

UK Steam has Tornado on duty this Sunday. Don't think A1 Trust will be happy as it states LMS A1 Class!

 

If thats true why when you look at timings does it say Tornado?

 

Looks like a typo.