70013 to Yeovil - Sherborne Christmas Cracker 14/12/17

My offerings from yesterday!

 

Steam leaking out of every joint doesn't mean the steam heating was working well. I can assure you it wasn't working very well inside the train.

Andrew

 

At least Cromwell was working hard but too much diesel help for my liking. As you write, "avoid these trips if it matters to you.".

 

My picture of it at Sandhill Crossing, Virginia Water. I see the driver has taken the precaution of using the sanders past those trees, I think the official railway leaf fall season finishes on Sunday

 

There is a small shunt move of the stock that the diesel undertakes at Yeovil Junction once loco and support coach have been removed. We are probably only talking one or two coach lengths but I suspect it is too lengthy/difficult using the steam loco to do it, plus reduces servicing time. I suspect it is down to fouling track circuits somewhere, but I am sure there are many more knowledgeable than me. I joined at Salisbury to see some of my steward colleagues and help out and Yeovil (as most of the stewards get off at Sherborne to help the passengers) and the steam heat was not good. The Pullman liveried coach had NO heat whatsoever. Luckily the train manager had managed to reseat those passengers elsewhere, luckily there were some spare First and Dining seats on this trip. I travelled in said coach with from Salisbury to Yeovil and with a shirt, sweater, fleece wax jacket and gloves I was frozen. Of course the 33 has no ETH, a strange decision in December? Cromwell also did not come back on the train until about 15 minutes before departure, so in nearly 3 hours standing at Yeovil all the other coaches were quite cool as well.
Still most passengers seemed happy, it ran basically to time, there were a number of chances to see the loco at water stops and got back early I see (unlike my two service trains from Salisbury back to Wareham!)

 

Too powerful to be held to account by orthodox market forces?
Cue a barrage of loyalists politely () "requesting" that shortcomings are not discussed ........

 

Saw her at Brookwood after business meeting in London. Minor point, but I just love the attention to detail at the front end i.e. correct SR route disks!!

 

Thanks for report, I always find your posts interesting. Possibly the length of the train required the diesel shunt move, as I am sure there have been recent unassisted trips to Yeovil Jn.

I had no idea the 33 had no ETH, why on earth would WCRC turn it out for this trip given that? Also the unheatable pullman coach seems tough on RTC as they have to take the ire from the passengers(although it was fortunate there was space to reseat people).

 

I had to travel from south west London home to Exeter yesterday so deliberately did it at a pace that coincided with 70013's journey west, which was great fun.

On the point about diesel assistance - South Western had terrible problems all week with various infrastructure failures and dramas and everything out of Waterloo was disrupted to some degree yesterday morning. 70013 was held up in those delays and then ended up holding up service trains that had got back on time but were losing ground again due to the steam tour ahead (the one I caught from Hook after seeing 70013 come through was made late by being stuck behind it at the Winchfield water stop, and as a result I only just made my connection at Basingstoke onto the Exeter service that then lost time following 70013 closer than scheduled to Salisbury). In those circumstances, a bit of acceleration help seemed very sensible to me. Conversely on the climb out of Gillingham in a brief hailstorm, I didn't spot the 33 giving any help at all. So just from the few places I observed things, it seemed that logical pragmatic decisions were being made.

More controversially, for me I'm much more likely to book on a steam tour (and to go out to photograph it too) if there's going to be involvement from a heritage diesel too. In my eyes that's two classic locos for the price of one and I was really pleased to get chance to see a Cl.33 back on the Waterloo-Exeter yesterday even if all it was doing was a bit of banking and shunting. I was expecting just a Cl.57 so when I saw it was something with a proper heritage connection to the region and that had been a big part of my childhood on the back, that prompted a proper grin and made the day even more enjoyable for me.

 

I believe the coach is a 2nd class Met Camm Pullman, formerly part of the SLOA train. If these are like the 1st Class Met Camm cars (and I have no reason to think they aren't), the heating is via 'blown air', with the steam heat radiators being in ducting under the floor. The steam heats the air and then fans blow this into the saloon - I suppose a sort of simple 'air conditioning' that can blow cool air too. The problem is that unless the radiators and surrounding air are well heated before the fans are turned on, then cold air is what they blow even on a cold day!

Steven

 

Well that is a maintenance issue that needs to be addressed. But with other costs of converting coaches will it happen?

 

Let me get this straight.
You don't want a diesel even though it's needed for shunting,but you want it for Eth.
There's no pleasing you.

 

A couple of quick shots from me at Quidhampton and Lenthay Road. I hope you enjoy!

 

A couple of images from Salisbury and Yeovil

 

Not wishing to upset anyone BUT we have to stop thinking like this. 70013 DID NOT delay anything. It was just as much a victim of the earlier problems as every other train on that route that day. Trains were not operating to their normal schedules. NR were doing their best to slot ALL services in the best way they could to ensure all of them ran. It was an abnormal schedule. In the normal schedule 70013 had been allocated sufficient time. So ALL trains were affected. We have to stop singling out Steam as the culprit and accept that sometimes other things cause delays and charters are just as much the victims.

 

Heres my couple of shots of the train.. Home gig for me as weather wasnt great so just Sherborne for me today.. I see more bleating about there being a diesel on the back.. after the problems SWR had this week,wet and icy over the last few days Id say it was needed. Plus shunting.. and as for not booking a trip if diesel booked .. well just watch the number of trains diminish if there no passengers.. I would much rater see a steam hauled train with no diesel but its a fact of life nowadays if the TOC decide it needs one.. get used to it..

 

Don't know who your rant is aimed at. BUT, if the steam heat works, a diesel could run LE to perform its duties and at the same time provide insurance. DB do this very well. OK there is an additional cost but split amongst 100s of PAX it would be marginal.

 

Videos posted on this page don't seem to show many steam leaks :-/

 

How much extra would that cost? Ticket prices are high enough as it is without adding this cost..