The Great Britain XII - April/May 2019

The 12th Great Britain takes place between the 27th April and 5th May...

Day 1, 27th April: TBA London Paddington - Didcot - Bristol - Taunton - Kingswear - Exeter
Day 2, 28th April: TBA Exeter - Taunton - Minehead - Taunton
Day 3, 29th April: TBA Taunton - Bristol - Welsh Marches - Shrewsbury - Chirk - Chester
Day 4, 30th April: TBA Chester - Shap - Carlisle - Beattock - Edinburgh
Day 5, 1st May: TBA Edinburgh - Aberdeen - Edinburgh (Optional)
Day 6, 2nd May: TBA Edinburgh - Stranraer - Ayr
Day 7, 3rd May: TBA Ayr - Dumfries - Carlisle - S&C - Leeds - Scarborough
Day 8, 4th May: No train
Day 9, 5th May: TBA Scarborough - Doncaster - Derby - Birmingham - Oxford - London Paddington

Locos set to be used include 46233, 60009, 61264, 45690, 45699, 60103 and a Black 5.

www.railwaytouring.net/travel-tours/the-great-britain-tour-xii

James

 

On the RTC website no locos have been advertised as working certain sections of the tour, reason is likely to be because there are certain engines that they want to have working certain parts of the tour or they are still in the planning stages of the tour and dont want to give away stuff yet.

I can see them wanting to have the duchess on next years tour after being absent for the summer and most of this year because of her overhaul and Scotsman because well she's one of the most famous steam engines. Im provisionally planning on seeing the tour on hopefully 4 days.

1. Mon 29th Apr (Day 3 of 9), Taunton-Chester.
2. Tue 30th Apr (Day 4 of 9), Chester-Edinburgh.
3. Fri 3rd May (Day 7 of 9), Ayr-Scarborough.
&
4. Sun 5th May (Day 9 of 9), Scarborough-London Paddington.

The locations where I go to are yet to be looked at.

 

Be cool to see the A4 on the Edinburgh - Aberdeen leg ! Who knows about the black 5...WIBN if 44767 is ready by then!

 

Ii will be interesting to see the DSR leg to Kingswear.

 

I think you'll be lucky to see 44767 ready in time for GB15 if the rumours of its condition at Butterley are to be believed - basically everything removed from the loco and dumped in a container or two without any labelling. Good luck putting that back together!

 

Stranraer by steam looks rateable - ought really to be Black Five territory, perhaps with a Brit too, if we're going to be greedy? Fond memories of riding the boat train back in 1966.

John

 

I agree don't think 44767 will be ready for this tour. I think one of Riley's fives might do it

 

Most likely, outside bet might be 44932, the boiler work recently reported to have [re]commenced so might reappear in 2019?

 

If it was intended that the folks who dismantled it and put the items in storage would be the same ones that took the bits out of storage to reassemble it, what does it matter whether the parts are labelled provided the storage is suitably segregated?
Obviously the contract has not been concluded as first let but whoever takes the overhaul on from here will be competent enough to work out what's what, I'm sure. Incidentally, unconfirmed reports that not Mr Smith / WC as new owner, but an associate who has currently got another 5MT being overhauled at 10A.

 

Interesting Danny?Will Ralph know

 

I think Ralph might be the source Henry .........

 

What's the latest on the Ferryhill turntable? Could be crucial for the day trip to Aberdeen. As an aside, I hope SRPS is planning some "last hurrah" tours with 60009 next year on the Aberdeen route.

 

I doubt it will be 44932 as that's undergoing an overhaul with no date set for when it will steam again let alone return to the mainline. Scots Guardsman im told could be back anytime as she's not far from completion now so she could be used on the tour next year and with the double chimney 5XP/6P due back soon she could be sent out for the GBXII provided she's mainline approved for then. Id love to see Leander & Galatea double heading again though over Beattock aswell as Shap but they will either swap locos at a certain point in the trip or they could even pick something else for those sections of the tour.

There's no dates up yet for next years 2019 "Jacobite" trains but it's likely that 44871 + 45157 (45407) will be sent north for these rather than working the GBXII. If not that just leaves 45231 & 45305. Would be good to see the K1 work some of the special but again it depends if it's free from Jacobite trains which it should be as only 1 runs per day by then I think. 45212 Could be free for the trip provided the K1 isnt out of ticket for overhaul.

What does annoy me though is I asked RTC about standard class seating for just one-way day trips on the tour who could find their own way home and although RTC said they'd look at it it's not gonna be happening now unless day-tickets open up in first class.

 

The Jacobite is likely to run during the Easter hols and then from 2nd or 3rd week of May, as in recent years. If so, that might leave one or both of Mr Riley's Fives between engagements. I've no inside information, but I wouldn't rule them out (if indeed they are booked for The Jacobite again next spring)

 

I thought the GB was normally First and Dining without any standard class seating (although I think a buffet may have been added mid tour this year)

 

As like previous two years, the Easter season has signaled the start of the season, therefore there has been no gap between Easter running and the previous usual start of mid May. If that was to continue in 2019, it would be safe to assume that The Jacobite season will commence from Friday 19th April and run daily (on weekdays, with weekend and afternoon running mid May-mid Sept) until end of October.

The K1 is leaving the Fort within the next two weeks, bound for Carnforth to commence it's ticketed '7 Yearly' overhaul as far as I'm aware. If the work isn't completed and the K1 present for start of 2019's season, it'll most likely require two Black 5's from Ian Riley's own fleet.

 

Thanks for the update, have you any info regarding 2018 Christmas Jacobites and why they seem to have been cancelled?

 

While I have no idea why they have been cancelled, I did notice during last year's services that the three weeks were quieter (perhaps due to the local schools were still in) than the week between Christmas and New Years. I've no ability in knowing what West Coast's view is in what passenger numbers are required to make a venture profitable or not, nor am I saying the trains were quiet (far from it really). I would leave that entirely to James Shuttleworth and his colleagues at West Coast to comment on if appropriate and if it affected their choice.

While not wanting to cause a thread drift, Ian Riley has also announced over on The Works that he plans to begin promoting his own railtours in partnership with WCRC. The first of these will be in November of this year over Shap and the S&C (Clockwise and Counter Clockwise tours on 8th and 10th respectively). It may be a sign of a first step for both WCRC and Ian Riley to expand their market by utilising both their assets to their fullest, and perhaps the Winter Jacobites have unfortunately been postponed for this venture to be explored.