Tornado Railtours - 2019

Must be a really difficult job driving the diesel with very obstructed view. What are the rules in such cases, I take it they have constant phone contact with the driver in front.

 

I don't see why - its a double headed train like any other. The guy in front has control of the brake and therefore control of the train. With a diesel loco behind he can shut of it's power if necessary by dropping his brake so there is no real safety issue. Double heading has worked well since the earliest days of railways and this is little different.

Peter

 

In the USA, with UP844, the driver of the Steam Loco, also has a duplicate set of controls, to have ultimate control of both engines, as in the US, a mainline UP steam excursion is almost always shadowed by a Diesel.

Would not expect this to happen in the UK, ever, but just shows another way, check out the UP4014 videos, and a cab tour on UP844 shows the details.

Same is being done to UP4014, ready for next year.

 

Very little noise from either engine this morning, the first day for weeks without wall to wall sun.

 

They can't fake it. Same with Leander today.

It just looks like the steam loco is being pushed and is getting in the way of another train that has caught it up.

 

Over the South Devon banks in the early 60's, photos from that er, and my experiences in 1961/2, shows many double head steam/diesel combinations with steam at the front. At Newton Abbot the attachment or detachment of the pilot locomotive is simply to deploy. With the diesel on the front, it requires a time consuming shunt.

 

I had a day out with friends arranged, they wanted to see the RAF100 aircraft, none of us wanted to go anywhere near the mall. I wasn't fussed about filming a show pony train, disappointed by the lack of vision of getting a Battle of Britain class on the Great Eastern line under the flypast route,


So after about three hours research pouring over route plans, OS maps and Google Earth I found a spot where I hoped we would see them, (planes not train) get a good walk in, and have lunch in a pub.

The chosen location was Beacon Hill at Kelvedon Hatch, Met at a nearby church, parked cars, had a good walk ending up at chosen location on a hill (with a view from Chelmsford to the Canary Wharf towers) to wait and see if my calculations were a delight or disaster.

With much relief I knew it would be good when the chopper contingent formed up about a mile away, then circled over us and departed for the mall, followed at various intervals by the entire circus, right over our heads at about 1000 feet. The Tailing arrows even did a test smoke at our location.

Then it was a 30 minute drive for lunch at the Barge at Battlesbridge.

Our friends are now in deep awe at my map reading and planning skills. Didnt dare tell them I tried something similar a few years back and was 5 miles out.

 

Do you have a video to post?

 

Damn it no, Wasn't confident enough to take a video camera with me . Taken with my phone.

 

Unfortunately I was in the wrong part of the country but, stopped at Sutton Scotney services (A34) just before noon, I saw a rebuilt 'Battle of Britain' (Sir Keith Park?) heading south. This was shortly followed by a lone Spitfire flying over.
Both very appropriate I thought.

 

No real surprise, but had an email stating that the circular tours have been cancelled with weather preventing test runs. I suspect it would have been tight in any case.

 

Cooler but still dry weather for the next couple of weeks so The Mad Hatter and even the Golden Expresses look far from certainties. I'm sure we don't want them to run as show pony trains.

 

Would like to think the circular runs from Darlington are re-scheduled, once the weather abates, and all testing has been completed.

 

I would be quite happy with a re-run in October etc.., or even over xmas, although that may clash with maintenance.

Lets hope for a re-schedule of the circulars.

 

Latest news on the repairs and recommissioning ...

https://www.a1steam.com/2018/07/16/tornado-repair-update-16th-july/