GCR East Coast Weekend 15th & 16th January 2022

I se the GCR are making user of Tornado with a weekend tribute to East Coast services featuring Tornado, 73156 and Deltic 55019
https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/eastcoastweekend/

Neil

 

Call me stupid, but what did the Standard Fives have to do with the East Coast?

 

https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=96181

One of a few shedded at 50A. Others at Hillhouse and Holbeck, so not that rare at Scarborough I guess.

 

Thanks!

 

I was thinking similar re Deltics and freights -55019 on more in a weekend than the previous 60 years of its existence ?

 

I thought that I had seen a couple of pictures of Deltics on freights back in the 80's.

 

Also, isn’t 73156 a Doncaster-built Standard 5?

 

https://www.brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=locodata&type=S&id=73156&loco=73156

 

Thank you, had a feeling it was one of a batch of Standards that were built there.

 

Quite fancied this and am able to go on the Sunday but what a terrible timetable, the 55 totally underused on goods and a DMU drag, very prototypical ECML

 

There is one passenger turn for the 55 on Sunday at 12.50. Saturday has it used 4 times on passenger turns. Quite an intensive timetable on both days.

 

One thing to note about the posted timetables is that they also show the pre-booked Dining Sevices on there - Stock D - which do not normally have any accommodation for the Proletariat on them, so that removes three round trips on the Satrurday and one on the Sunday from the published operation.

 

Tempted to come up to this, anybody know if rake A will be 8 coaches? Seen videos from the Deltic 40th Anniversary and today of 8 coach rake, 7 was a rarity on the GCR before!

I agree the timetable is a bit odd, not knocking the railway, but Tornado on 2 Goods trips plus Dining train on Saturday?

 

Unless you are staying into the evening on the Saturday, the 1110 round trip from Loughborough is your only chance to ride behind it on a passenger service that day. That's certainly going to be my only option (apart from LBO-Rothhley on the 1710, assuming its leading that run rather than trailing.....
I've got to build my activities for the day around the 1110 trip, and I expect there will be others doing the same!

 

More I portantly no mention of griddle car on the services from what I've seen so will have to either remember to pack something or plan a break in to stop of at Quorn.

 

I hadn't spotted that - It's usually Coaching Set A, but with the Winter Gala a fortnight after, plus the fact they were struggling to staff the thing at the Autumn Gala last year, they may have dropped it for this event. That's normally my first move of the day out of Loughborough, but it won't be this time as I've got a new exhibit to drop off at the Mountsorrel Heritage Centre first, so will be starting/finishing at Rothley this time.....

 

Last weekend it was only drinks that they were serving for the Deltic 40th anniversary due to staffing and no griddle car sign on the timetable for next weekend. Must have taken the decision early not to disappoint people on the day.

 

A couple of photos from todays Brass Monkey extravaganza.......



The Deltic missed its morning run on the vans as they couldn't get it to start, so it's first run was on the 12.50 passenger service from Loughborough. The one and only round trip for non dining/fish & chip prebooked visitors behind Tornado - the 11.10 ex Loughborough - was very well loaded (ie standing room only in some coaches), but my over all impression of the event was that it was hurriedly put together once they knew Tornado would be there and it showed, particularly the timetable being operated. Unless you took up residence on the one rake of coaches being used and just rode back and forth on that, there was too much hanging around waiting for other services (The DMU).

Weather wasn't very good and after the fog had cleared during the morning, it all closed in again soon after mid day, so I ended up giving up and coming home a good 2 hours earlier than planned .

Cetainly an event I'd rate at the bottom of the pile from all the ones I've been to at the GCR over the past 30 years.......

 

Thanks for the pictures Johann, shame that you were disappointed. As you say though - all a bit last minute.

 

I knew before going that the time table wasn't great as there was only one set running for passengers other than the DMU and the pre-booked dining services, but it was a chance to get out when very few other lines are up and running yet. I think that with advertising it as an event it probably gave the impression that there would be a full gala scale time table especially as there were 2 steam, 1 diesel and the DMU running, but unless you looked before hand to see that actually the loco's would be alternating on just the one set a little disappointing. That said I had originally planned to hang around most of the day, but by lunch time I was too cold with the freezing fog and icy platforms.

My video clips of the day: