RTC 2022

I hear that the Liverpool - York 'York Yuletide Express' planned for 3 December has been cancelled due to low bookings. It is not listed on RTC's website now - presumably it was at one time.

 

Paths are up for the Lindum and disappointed to say it looks to me like the diesel will be going, no separate path back to Southall

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U64370/2022-12-03/detailed
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U64364/2022-12-03/detailed (out)
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U64368/2022-12-03/detailed (back)
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U64371/2022-12-03/detailed

Only fourteen minutes in KX in the morning, not much chance for a look at the Duchess

 

DL not needed. Another one bites the dust

 

Based on previous winter trips with RTC using WCR stock, I suspect steam train heating might be a problem. The Christmas Cheshireman last week ran with ETH. Of course in that case the diesel was necessary because of the loading.

 

Timings for the Sherbourne Christmas Carol are now up:
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...6/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=WR

 

It was aimed at you, and it wasn't a joke. I will pick over-engineered and fit for purpose every time over aesthetics because, just to reiterate - the Big Railway is there for a purpose and not as a pretty backdrop for some antiquated toys. I don't give a damn what they do abroad, when I travel by train I want to get there and not be at the mercy of badly-installed OHLE.

 

Will probably arrive late at Winchfield because 2P98 is booked over Woking Junction in front of it at the same time, 0944.

 

There is a company based at Maidstone with an ex fire engine with two fast pumps like Bells and Twotones. They were used on the Bahamas trips but even so 10 minutes is hopelessly inadequate, nearly five minutes had gone by the time we had the hoses connected up

 

IIRC, Bahamas on the Swanage trip had 20 minutes at Winchfield, arrived 2 minutes late and left over 15 minutes late, so 9 minutes is exceedingly optimistic, especially if as John said, they had the faster pumps.

 

Yes, but over-engineered, by definiton, is over-expensive, and not necessarily any more fit-for-purpose than more slender OHLE which uses far fewer raw materials and costs far less to erect. Continental high-speed railways (and our 186mph HS1) seem to do very well with slender equipment (whether you give a damn about it or not), and I would far rather have a system like that which can both be afforded and which has a proven record of reliable use, such that the planned electrification can actually be finished rather than abandoned part way through as the GWR one was! The appearance of it is a very long way down my list of priorities, but it is not to be dismissed entirely.

 

Did the Duchess not stall on the flyover on a Lincoln trip when they got diverted due to an incident onto the Hertford Loop and a diesel had to be called for. Year before Covid possibly?
But you are correct you can shunt without a diesel at Lincoln (or at least could as I have not been there since 2014).

 

It's actually only nine at Winchfield - very odd to schedule the unachievable - I suspect there has been an error. It's also shown to be planned for 75mph after Salisbury, but it won't be with 44871!

 

Was that a York train? I also notice that ithe train needs to do more than just shunt at Lincoln as it is out and back via Spalding so will need to turn as well.

Andrew

 

HS1 has nothing like the traffic density for starters and now let's factor in additional costs like delay minutes and repair costs.

Aesthetics is a really rubbish argument.

 

If the OHLE fails, then the heavier the traffic the more trouble there will be. But why would adequately engineered OHLE (like that on HS1) be any more likely to fail than over-engineered (like that on the GWML)? And forget the aesthetics: some on here may get hot under the collar about that, but it makes no difference to the passengers or freight, only to the lineside photters, and some of them manage to get perfectly decent pictures regardless.

 

Fascinating though it may be, I feel the OHLE debate belongs in a different thread. Mods, can you oblige, please? Ta

 

There tends to be a relationship between aesthetics and fitness for purpose - good design tends to deliver both.

The issues with ECML catenary are not aesthetic but more to do with the excessive spacing between masts and the overuse of headspans, not helped by under maintenance as it aged - hence the improved performance of recent years as NR got to grips with their asset management. The same basic catenary design works perfectly effectively north of Weaver Junction in such benign locations as Shap and Beattock.

Meanwhile that on the GW is ugly as sin and the project to deliver it utterly failed to get to grips with installing it efficiently.


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Looks like heavy weight seems to be becoming the norm, albeit this seems a bit lighter than the GWML spec? https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2022/1...etween-church-fenton-and-colton-junction.html