The Bard of Avon - 23/03/19

Has a steam charter ever set off out from the bay platforms at Man Picc in the past on preserved mainline steam excursions does anyone know on Nat Pres or is the Bard of Avon a 1st?

 

Congratulations to the crew and everyone who made this tour a success. Tornado certainly looks and sounds on top form again.

 

I'm right with you on that Dave, typical Manc opinion, thankfully not official !

 

Couldn't give you even a vague date but I once arrived there to find Olton Hall/Hogwarts Castle simmering away in Platform 10. So yeah.

 

Tornado passing the flashes to the south of Sandbach on saturday morning.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/167082436@N06/47402214402/in/datetaken-public/

Phil

 

My collection of images can be viewed by clicking on this link........ http://rickeborall.zenfolio.com/p1011994985

Hope you enjoy.......Regards to all............Rick

 

Apologies if I’m a bit late to the party with this one, but here’s my account of a typically no-nonsense, determined performance (welcome back Tornado). Plus I could only stick around for the outward journey so a rather short-lived version of events than I would have liked.

The opportunity to sample steam in and out of Piccadilly was too good to miss and the proposed routing of the ‘Bard’ singed the deal for me to place a booking very last minute. 60163 certainly made a fine sight poking out of the overall roof on a largely overcast morning. Load 10 wouldn’t make this dignified young lady break into any sweat but the addition of the genny would still make its presence felt on the likes of Wilmcote and Shifnal.

So, positioned in the ninth coach and 1L we were off, and very determinedly at that! Levenshulme and Heaton Chapel being passed at 49 and 56 respectively. Slightly exceeded our stay at Stockport but managed a quick sprint to 65 at Cheadle Hulme before picking up more passengers at Wilmslow. Left there 1L and it was here that my GPS decided to throw a real tantrum and kept losing signal for no apparent reason! Still, it gave me chance to see the Cheshire countryside whizz pass. Progress felt very quick and the weather was picking up nicely. After the usual signal stop outside Crewe we rolled into Pl5 still 1L and with a GPS back to full health!

Always interested in timing the Crewe-Shrewsbury road with its saw-tooth profile, add a 37min start to stop booking and it makes good timing material. Departing Crewe RT we reached 54 on the downgrade to MP3 where the brakes came on, presumably for a late opening of the gates at Nantwich. Through the station at 50 we now had the 1 in 97 to tackle, topped this at 49 with snatches of some very nice sound. 58 was reached at the top of the 1 in 158/184 and we made use of the dip to Wrenbury which was swept aside at 62. Our next minimum was 52 after a mix of 1 in 110/107, now a dash to 65 at Whitchurch and 70 at Prees. Wem was passed at 68 and Yorton 69 before tackling the last bit of 1 in 155, which we crested at 66. The start to stop time was 38mins 3secs; I looked back at Galatea’s leg of the Great Britain a couple of years ago on this route and she posted a time of 41:06 with the same load, but I would imagine with a slightly less gross weight. It puts it into perspective just how brilliant 45699’s effort had been!

After a stop short of twenty mins, we left Shrewsbury RT and took a leisurely run to Cosford, which we reached a good 5E. Now the rise out to beyond Albrighton to tackle, I didn’t end up recording this but wish I had done as it was a very entertaining and noisy climb, no shortage of noise that’s for sure! We had left the up loop at Cosford 14L but a pathing stop at Watery Lane was no longer necessary and we sailed past and made lively progress through the Birmingham suburbs to reach New St bang on the dot. Not much else to report on but a nice trundle on the North Warks line (has 60163 travelled on this line before, can’t seem to find any previous runs listed) ended with a satisfying 6E finish at Stratford.

Very enjoyable run and really nice to have Tornado back in the fold, gutted I couldn’t stay around for the whole day. Even more so when I saw the videos of the climb to Wilmcote! Incidentally, does anyone know who the crews were, I thought I saw Keith Murfin in the driver’s seat from Piccadilly to New St but unfortunately didn’t catch any of the firemen or other drivers. Any details would be greatly appreciated. My thanks go to everyone involved in another super day out with the current baby of the mainline steam scene.