70000 - Welsh Borders 05/08/20

Yes ...basically: The overbridge and signalbox visible in the far distance are the site of Dorrington Station, so I was just outside there.

Ah, the Unitied Reformed Church I take it (well, became URC in early 1970's, so a bit after Brits regularly passed by alongside!) - the nearest spire visible as the loco heads across.
...looks as if NR could do with clearing some of the undergrowth off the side of the viaduct again before too long.

Thanks.

 

Four locations from yesterday in rather poor conditions for August but no complaints, my first outing for main line steam for a while. Locations are; Penpergym, Craven Arms, Stokesay Castle and Pontilas

 

It's interesting that you mention the train stopping midway through the Severn Tunnel. As I was waiting at Bristol Temple Meads in the evening for Britannia to be turned an announcement was made that the 2C93 Cardiff to Exeter service had stopped in the tunnel and would not continue west. Although the 1B32 Padd to Swansea service was running to time it was held in the area and eventually arrived at Newport 120 mins late. The following two services between Bristol TM and Cardiff were cancelled.

In hindsight it appears that the charter may have been delayed but escaped a serious delay. <BJ>

 

The unit failed with an air leak in the tunnel I believe. The other line was also blocked whilst the crew dealt with the problem. Not a pleasant spot to have to deal with that. With regard to Britannia and the charter, having stopped for a couple of minutes, the 47 notched on and compressed the buffers but 70000 wasn't for getting going so D1935 was called into action to bank us out.

 

Nonsense. I was onboard last week's tour and Coach A was empty all day. Coaches B and C were for dining and D was non-dining.

Also, may I ask (as clearly you weren't travelling) why you were on the station platform anyway? I'm surprised the gateline staff let you through the barriers, given people are only meant to be on a platform to catch a train. Seems a little silly to be on the platform during a pandemic. It'll only take a few photos of a crowded platform full of people like yourself to go viral online and then people will start questioning why steam charters are running during the pandemic.

 

Reading elsewhere, I get the impression that most stations are happy to welcome enthusiasts again, subject to them being sensible, keeping away from passengers and wearing masks in enclosed spaces etc.

The one exception appears to be Carlisle, which won't allow any non travellers, and even travellers with return tickets are bundled onto earlier trains if their booked one is a while off, as some spotters have apparently discovered.

 

Also, may I ask, where the original poster said they spoke to someone from LSL on a station platform?

The original post simply said they'd spoken to one of the LSL crew members that evening. Well I know people who work on loco support crews, I know someone who volunteers to steward on mainline charters as well. I'm capable of talking to them in an evening socially without needing to go to a station in order to do so. The original poster made no indication of where or how they came to speak to someone involved with LSL, simply the time of day they spoke to them.

 

Blood hell, someone's got out of bed on the wrong side today.

You'll be pleased to know that the Saphos railtour to Plymouth tomorrow is fully booked. The Lakelander tour on 15th is also fully booked as is the White Rose on the 22nd.

The staff at the barriers at Bristol Temple Meads are very accommodating to photographers. I always ask politely if I may enter the station, something that doesn't appear to be in your nature.

Rail enthusiasts are the eyes and ears of the railway. https://www.networkrail.co.uk/commu...sts/guidelines-for-taking-photos-at-stations/

As for being a crowded platform, at 10pm on a Sunday evening I and a station staff member were the only people on the platform as Britannia ran slowly through the station after turning. What a sight to behold.

Happy days. <BJ>

 

They weren't all that friendly at Shrewsbury station. I travelled on the steam train, but although Platform 3 is open to the public, a group of us were turned away when we tried to take photos of 'Britannia' after arrival, and later while waiting for the return train I went down platform 4 to take photos of service trains passing the Foregate - although I didn't go past the notice a jobsworth told me to go back down the platform. I'm all for safety, and don't go off the platform, but this was just unnecessary bullying.

 

If you have a valid ticket to travel just ignore him.

 

Agreed, but some of us were brought up to kow-tow to everyone - must find my mojo!

 

They have never seemed friendly to railtour passengers there. At the moment I am surprised they were prepared to allow you on a platform you were not travelling from.

 

I investigated this after I had an encounter by a jobsworth at Vauxhall and a station is a public place where you are free to visit any part of providing you have authorisation and a valid travel ticket is authorisation for that purpose.

 

Also, the return steam special was leaving from platform 4, the same platform as I was standing on trying to take a few shots of service trains in the 20 minutes or so before my train was due to leave. I was not wandering around lots of platfrorms!

 

I'm afraid there are a some staff at Carlisle who behave in a ridiculous manner. When I was there in early Feb on a CME, a large number of spectators were waiting for 46115 to be detached. Everyone was waiting quietly and behind the yellow line but a railway personage took it upon themselves to stride up the side of the train shouting in an unpleasant and aggressive way for people to keep behind the yellow line (which they already were!) It was just so OTT and totally unnecessary. The whole station was then treated to an threatening PA announcement that people "would be thrown off the station" is they did not "obey staff instructions". It left a really nasty taste.

You would think that given Carlisle handles probably more steam charters than almost anywhere, staff would have a modicum of knowledge of how to handle large crowds of enthusiasts/spectators in a reasonable and effective way. And by the way,I would be the first to defend rail staff against some of the crazy behaviour you can sadly see from enthusiasts but this was NOT the case on this occasion.

 

Come to think of it, I experienced a little of this in May 2019, having arrived behind Britannia on their Lakelander trip Waiting for Leander to arrive with West Coast's CME, just as it arrived a BTP bod with a voice a town crier would be proud of strode down the platform bellowing "Behind the yellow line" which as far as I could see, everyone more or less was doing. Didn't exactly spoil my video, but could have done without it

It's at 2:40 in my shamelessly plugged video below for anyone interested

 

I'd suggest that's a recent thing. As you say, platform 3 (and bays 1 & 2!) are freely accessible without barriers and usually the staff couldn't care less how many people are there with tripods to see steam charters. Even after they introduced the barriers on the tunnel to platforms 4,5,6,7 there was usually a staff member alongside and if you said you just wanted to see the steamer they'd wave you through without needing to have a ticket to show (not sure if it's still like that, generally I rarely go to the station unless I'm travelling - photos are limited and usually a lot of bother with lots of others all there for the same reason! These days if I do head to the station it's platform 3, where certainly last year staff were no issue)

 

Three shots from the 5th August, captured at Craven Arms, catching a fortunate bit of light at Dorrington and charging up Llangvihangel (spelling?) at Pandy foot crossing.



James

 

Llanfihangel? Or even Llanvihangel!