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

Parni lokomotiva dobry!

https://johnleyland.smugmug.com/CD/Czech-Steam/i-FcvTZBh

 

Just gotta love those big Czech 4-8-2s.

 

Not forgetting the Waverley!

And not forgetting that for those of us with a memory longer than three years, steam in Jul and Aug is inherently risky.

Given capacity and line speed and layout constraints and marketing considerations I wonder what the best options might be for Plandampf 2. Could Plymouth-Penzance be feasible for example?

 

At 12.30 mid-day today, this feature was Number Three in the "most watched" rankings on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-39020181

In terms of content, it may not break much new ground for most regulars on this forum. But as a kind of tailpiece to a thread that has now attracted a massive 57.000 views and 700 replies in five short weeks, its a fitting tribute to the success of this whole exercise in communicating with and reaching out to a much, much wider population. On the basis of the kind of optimism and positivity that is reflected here by Northern, A1SLT and FoSCL, who knows what the future might bring!!

 

Indeed. With the additional capacity, the services managed to carry over 5000 passengers. That has got to raise the awareness of mainline steam and leave many wanting more.

 

Have to say this is a very sensible, post, yes, as everybody glories in the 3 unforgettable days, it could be easy to get carried away.

Much better moving the 3 day event around the country, and as others say, what happens when the ground conditions are tinder dry, cancelling something like this could undo good work.

Has to be said, everybody has come together to make this a fantastic success, and A1ST again shows how a group, can maximise publicity to the benefit of everyone, a big well done from me!!

 

Hmmm, not easy to post times 'visibly' for the trains.
The Appleby-Kirkby Stephen Times should be in the pdf file below. As it was produced in Word I have no idea if it will be readable. Anyone want to have a go and try to download and read it??

 

Downloaded and opened. Perfectly readable here: thanks for taking the trouble!

 

Likewise in all respects. Looking forward to further instalments.

 

Got numb fingers at moment!!! Done the outwards - will convert to pdfs later. Won't be as much detail in part 2 after Ais Gill Summit or down the bank to Horton and Settle. Then in the final part there's only really Bell Busk worthy of note due to the 45 mph speed restriction.

 

Apologies for the varied timings on the Kirkby Stephen-Settle-Skipton table. My main stopwatch went seriously on the blink off and on and the new one played up too! Also as it was a Service Train it wasn't very polite to ignore one's fellow passengers, especially those who had no idea where they were on the line so some of my time was spent chatting.
Mileposts were difficult in the rain and poor light, particularly on Bell Busk. Didn't have milepost seats that often - it's obvious when I did. Still it was fun. Pity there wasn't enough room in the vestibules but there were often 2 stewards in each so no room for GPS/Clipboard/Me and stopwatch.

 

Remember I don't know enough though (not that I'm one to hold a grudge...)

To benefit the communities most that it operates in, it'd be best to do it out of season but when there is chance of sufficient numbers to ensure success - so February Half Term / Whitsun week / October Half Term stand out IMO. Avoids the main summer season, when as you both say the weather could cause disruptions but also as many people are already enjoying days out etc. Also ensures the novelty doesn't wear off, as just doing 3x days or 1x weekend has greater chance of success than 5/6x days over 5/6x weeks. This isn't looking for the next Jacobite, but offering something different on lines that are suitable for the proposed operation.

We've seen Northern take a chance, and I would say 5,500 is a good result. Now it'll be interesting if Northern decide they want to do it again, plus if any other TOCs decide it's worth a punt. There could be some interesting times ahead.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-39020181 when you think someone high up had the bright idea of wanting to close this railway, it makes you think! Well done everyone involved you all deserve a huge pat on the back for making things happen. Right Abellio can we please do something similar on the Bittern and Wherry lines please?

 

Alex Hynes who is head of northern rail is leaving to take over running the ScotRail Alliance so possibly a repeat in Scotland.

 

Glasgow to Carlisle GWSR route or the Stranraer line, if a suitably gauged air braked steam loco could be procured?
Tyne valley line has to be a good candidate too. Not quite in Scotland though.

 

Many of these suggested routes have nowhere to turn the loco at one or both ends. I know they manage tender-first running on the Jacobite and they managed last week with Tornado, but it's far from ideal. Which routes would be short enough to be conveniently worked by tank locos?

 

Apart from the Panniers, there are no mainline registered tank loco's, but maybe Std 4. 2-6-0's could be considered !

 

According to today's press the three trains carried @5500k people........if all of them paid £17 a head that's quite a nice earner.............................

 

Nah they didn't all pay £17 a head. There were numerous old codgers with Senior Railcards that only paid £11.20 a journey as did other railcard users. Some people I talked to did a round trip for £9.90 on the line's rover ticket after queuing for the 1457 APP-SKI and 1715 SKI-APP. The normal return was only £17.70 return tickets.

 

If 5500k people did actually pay £17 each, then yes it would indeed have been a "nice earner" (5,500,000 * £17 = £93.5 million!).

Assuming that you actualy mean 5,500 rather rather 5,500k, and also bearing in mind that 5,500 is probably the number of single journeys made rather than the number of people (1 return = 2 single journeys) then, even if everyone did pay £17.70 return (which, as 1020 Shireman says, was not actually the case), the total income comes to less than £50,000 which is not a when you deduct staff wages, hire of stock, etc. I would be very surprised if Northern made any profit through fares for the Tornado trains alone, although I'm the publicity value was certainly worth it and you can also add on the revenue from people travelling to/from Skipton etc by rail, together with any future revenue from people attracted to a trip on the S&C when it re-opens fully.