35028 Clan Line to Exeter - now 10/08/19

I heard they Put it on a diet of best Kent ale, Rumours that they added 3rd rail pickups with traction motors under the tender are false

 

And in all fairness Al, what I've heard about him has only been positive and reading his articles in the MNLPS magazine, this is clearly shown to be the case. The transparency in those articles show he has the best intentions for Clan Line and everything that happens on the loco is passed onto the membership. It makes you wonder as to why another society or other societies can't be like this?

 

Just imagine one day, standing at Weymouth and watching Clan line and BIL coming off the Yeovil line, tender first and backing down on a charter returning to Waterloo , and the 47, uncouples, and follows light engine leaving the two merchants to flatten the bank

 

That needs to happen.

 

It won't!

 

Following-on from my previous ramblings, l have put together a few comparisons of this year’s Atlantic Coast Express to previous trips l have been on. In essence it is comparing Clan Line with… well… itself: The Waterloo Sunset and the ACE from 2017. The exception to this is the Bath & Bristol (B & B) Steam Express with 45407 (plus 10 carriages) from March 2017.

As all journeys had differing stopping patterns, or had to wait at junctions etc. I have selected parts of the journey where there are better direct comparisons. The attached file ‘Comparisons to Previous Trips.pdf’ is the result. Although completed a few days ago l was in two minds whether to post this or not. Anyway: here it is.

The sections are as follows:
1 - London Waterloo to Woking
2 - Woking to Winchfield
3 - Overton to Laverstock North Junction
4 - Salisbury to Templecombe
5 - Exeter St. Davids to Cogload Junction
6 - Westbury to Salisbury (Vs. 45407 with 10 [Bath and Bristol Steam Express])
7 - Woking to Clapham Junction
-SC-

 

Thanks to SC for creating and posting the comparisons and for your previous contributions - I have them all saved for posterity and I don't have to attempt the same from my own data! I personally find speed v distance graphs much easier to interpret than traditional logs - I guess the advent of what is essentially computer based logging has made this much easier to achieve. The next challenge would be continuous estimation of draw bar horsepower. This would help analyse the impact of train weight variations. The similarities are very interesting eg. Overton to Laverstock North Jcn but it would be interesting to know if the engine was worked harder to Whiteball for the 2019 trip.

I was on all three excursions and what a way to experience the thrill of express steam travel. Long may continue and thank you to all who make it possible. Back in July 1967 I could never have dreamt it would still be possible 52 years later!

Mike

 

Who could? There are so many steam railtours now that we're in danger of becoming blasé about them, but we should make the most of them because we can't tell how long main line steam will continue or on how many routes.

 

I meant to post this here some time ago: my record of the August ACE:

 

You did: post #170. I thought it looked familiar. But thank you anyway from one who was on the trip.

 

Proof that my wife is right: I'm losing my marbles . . . Ta.