Steam Dreams 2021

Here is my take on proceedings.

 

It's much more fun saying what should and shouldn't happen from my sofa here in Surrey!

Strikes me as a rather strange trip from the start though - a steam train trip to Wales that features no steam in Wales (apart from the Marches)!

 

Kemble & Gloucester footage

 

Are the Scotsman tours later this month off? No trace on Steam Dreams website?

 

61306 Mayflower and 45596 Bahamas seen leaving Shrewsbury

 

Footage of 61306 doing all the work up the grade from Wrenbury, along with a shot of the diesel leg at Waverton.

 

Times for the trip from Kings Cross to Great Yarmouth on Saturday.

Outward (via Acle):
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U63259/2021-09-11/detailed
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U63260/2021-09-11/detailed

Return (via Reedham)
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U63258/2021-09-11/detailed

From this the train pulls into Norwich on the outward leg and not on the return, so the diesel will lead Norwich to Yarmouth?

 

My effort of today's Hereford - Paddington leg of the Welsh Special. Crossing the River Wye, leaving Hereford.

 

Delayed by around 30 mins at Gloucester. Any ideas why?

 

Now over an hour late.

Sent from my I3312 using Tapatalk

 

Here’s my video of the pair running along the Severn Estuary at Gatcombe and departing Gloucester in the dark

 

A couple of views from Shropshire of Day 5 as the temperature rose to 29 degrees for the second day in a row.
Looking across the county to the Wrekin, some occupants of the third coach appear uninterested in the imminent views of the Long Mynd. And passing the 1873 signal box at Bromfield level crossing.

When did a B1 last haul a train on the North and west I wonder ?

 

Quite agree - it's bad enough for a one-day trip when this happens but when it's the end of an extended trip such as this one and the passengers have been on the move since 10am (albeit with a couple of hours break at Hereford) it's the last thing you want. It would really take the gloss off the trip for me. I wonder how the passengers felt about it - the enthusiast community are generally fairly understanding about these things and will always come back for more. But for non-enthusiasts how many will say "never again"?

Would be interested to know what happened if anyone knows. Looks like things started to go wrong at Gloucester and got worse after that, with the Milton Jct water stop taking over an hour.

 

When they ran one of these before, I though the return was via Birmingham and the Chiltern Line, instead of the Marches.

The return was advertised as Bahamas only. Did they take water at Gloucester? It so the issue might have been watering 2 locos.

 

An audio record of the event from Sapperton, with some interesting slow shutter speed effects!!

 

With the promise of two steam tours returning up the GW main line within 12 minutes of each other, it was a shot that promised much. It would be dark of course, one up the Main, one up the Relief, would need to be after Slough to get them as close together, the line now being a bitch to film with OHLE and ML platforms with suicide barriers. Iver was chosen because of its good lights and the ability to lean over the barrier..

Of course it all went to Rat Poo with the Welsh Dragon sliding backwards faster than an Italian advance. Anyway 46100 came sliding through, clearly doing nothing more than lubricating its cylinders. Then Tango men turned up to rip up the platform with a petrol saw, and the TFL supervisor warned me I would be kicked off the station in 15 minutes.
And then the dragon, by now over an hour late, got lost after Slough. Due on the ML, it suddenly occurred to me that nothing had gone up that road in nearly an hour, and there might well be a block on it dawned on me it might well have switched, and grabbed the camera from its set up to move. And then this happened. Possibly the most visually dramatic night shot I have ever taken.

 

Originally advertised as Bahamas only but it was decided a while ago that it would be double-headed.

Must have taken water at Gloucester as it hadn't had a drink since Hereford. There was a stop scheduled for just before Severn Tunnel Jct but as the train was running late it was missed out. May have been a pathing rather than a water stop.