'Welsh Marches Express' : 04/05/19

Let's not lower the tone and mention the 'd' word please.

As the photographs have shown, the sight of Braunton and it's immaculate coaches are a sight to behold. Well done to SLS.

Thanks for the report 1020 Shireman. It was a joy to read. <BJ>

 

Yes thanks for the comprehensive report Mr Shireman.

IIRC there is a slight dip at Dorrington and have recorded Taw Valley doing 57 there southbound on load 12, but need to check.

Glad that the climb to Church Stretton was slack free. Checks north of Craven Arns may have been for a tsr due to bridge condition. Was Wooferton northbound a clearance slack?

Anyway, glad to see there are far fewer slacks than was once the case and it was diesel free. Given the choice I'd rather have a Mk2F and no diesel to a Mk1 and shovage, although my preference is the early Mk2 non aircons with deep windows that are wider then Mk1s, and of course no diesel.

Will give Saphos a whirl at some point.

 

The lack of slacks was a pleasant surprise. No indication what Woofferton was all about Sean. Wrong side of train and higher windows don't help looking across for tsr boards. Great to do a 'proper' Marches and have booked a couple of others. Probably be Braunton again as there's an 86 mile run to/from the Hereford Water Stops. Seems they don't consider there is enough water capacity in the Brit and Scot's tenders for that far without a stop. Rumours are that the Brit is going to get a larger water tank fitted in due course. Saphos' diesel days do appear to be over now the Generator Car is there to provide ETH and power for the Mk2s.

 

As it was a decent day out with the Southerner I've written up both the outward and return runs with the timings I took. Not milepost mileages, but checked a few times on each leg of the journey to make sure they were as near as possible for the change of gradients on the climbs and to show accelerations from rest etc. Didn't get who the fireman was on the outward, and no details on the return. If anyone knows who they were, please post. got no contacts at LSL. Pity so much was going on that Saturday for photographers. Some excellent stills but little in the way of filming. Shame as there were decent climbs of Stretton both ways. Llanvihangel was good on the outward and it was a cracking climb on the return. First time I've not seen photographers in the field behind the church close to Llanvihangel Summit or on the other side for the return in years. All I can find is one excellent sequence at Abergavenny Station.

 

Thought it would be interesting to compare Braunton's climb of Llanvihangel Bankit with the one occasion that 5043 took 10+Reg up the Marches. The train was the return Red Dragon of 11th March 2017. It was pathed over the Marches on the return due to engineering work on the original route back through Gloucester and Cheltenham. It wasn't the best of days weatherwise and the Castle roared through Abergavenny Station at 55.3 but due to the damp weather wasn't driven hard and passed Llanvihangel Summit at 35.1. On the regular Welsh Marches Express on 25th March 2017 with 9 + Reg, the Castle roared through Abergavenny at 57 and passed the summit at 46.7, a quite remarkable climb to only lose 10 mph to the bank. For Braunton with 11 to be that close to 5043's best with 10 was quite something.

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=909407799398180

Apologies for resurrecting a dead thread, but, here's my shot of Braunton working up Llanvihangel Bank on the return run. As it's so long after the tour, I've posted it to my Facebook page, rather than YouTube. I had been sitting on this shot (and others from the day) as I wasn't particularly keen on it, due to to the jerky camera work and the light dipping which, in hindsight, isn't as bad as it seemed at the time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it