Tornado to haul certain timetabled trains on S&C: Feb 14-16

The consist is Tornado with seven coaches plus a 67 on the back. Four are reserved and three are unreserved aimed at the regular travellers. Northern have said that this is a service intended as a reward for the locals who have endured the inconvenience for some considerable time. How will the locals feel when they cannot board their regular service train as usual due to over crowding? A great idea looks like it could become a PR nightmare...

 

Really not sure what could have been done as the organisers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, possibly one of those lovely ideas where its appeal has actually made it somewhat unmanageable. Taking note of the publicity it will attract (rightly) I can just imagine Look North with pictures of a scrum at Skipton, cutting to little old Doris waiting to join at Garsdale to do her weekly shop in Appleby as she has done for 50 years only (musing about how it used to always be steam engines) to be told that the train is full when it arrives.

Lovely idea and hope it goes well, but what with the tone of much comment on here I hope Northern don't come to regret it!

 

Skipton is not a very big, but rather busy station as well.

 

Perhaps they could organise the queue at Skipton through the subway and into a human chain to assist with the clearance of the old Grassington Platforms ( which Embsay&Bolton abbey are wanting to use). On a Plus point with a Snowy backdrop and no feelings of guilt whatsoever for not contributing to the cost of the Train could be a good do for the Photters.

 

Due to the shunting manoeuvres passengers have to detrain at both Appleby and Skipton. Guess folk could risk leaving stuff on seats but they wouldn't be guaranteed to still be there. Really Northern should have announced there would only be 4 reserved Carriages earlier and their system should have rejected booking on the specific trains. We wouldn't have bothered going if that had been the case.

 

....or it could be well organised and all go to plan.

Why do I get the feeling that some people on NP would be disappointed if things run smoothly?

 

Have to Sympathise with Shireman who thought that by making a bit of effort, going the extra mile (or 60)getting in early and actually putting some money into the local economy, might have a there and back run. The Northern arrangement does mess that up somewhat...

 

He said Garsdale to Appleby, not Skipton to Appleby. Fact remains that regular passengers at intermediate stations could be seriously affected.

 

The service train that Tornado is replacing is the 10.26hrs Skipton to Appleby.
This is our limited stopper on the S & C--calls only at Settle, Kirkby Stephen and Appleby.
So one can forget about folks at intermediate stations, the service train does not stop at Horton, Ribblehead, Dent and Garsdale.

 

Err. If it's running from Skipton to Appleby then Settle and Kirkby Stephen ARE intermediate stations. A bit like the facebook responses - in denial!

 

Yes, the several hundred who travel daily in the winter from Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Dent will be in for a bit of a shock.

 

You tell him Ralph

 

I cannot understand why anybody with any interest in steam trains can say anything against what could possibly turn into a regular event or provide spin offs and lead to more steam on the mainline

 

It's called a Risk Assessment and if one has been done then it is a poor one.

RTC claim Northern to be one of their partners on their tour guides up here. You would have thought that being close to the steam enthusiast market they would have considered the impact of a cheapie behind Tornado.

That said, I would be delighted if all the regular passengers secure at seat and the diesel assisted trip pleases the purists....

 

Some positive information for a change, the times for the ECS to Appleby are now on RTT

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U54829/2017/02/13/advanced

All after dark as would be expected

 

Diesel-assisted? In what way? The train heat is the only thing that's likely to be assisted by the class 67.