Castle Over Shap - Sat 20 Jun

She deffo had the 'WOW!' factor tearing through Lancaster on the 'up fast.' Awesome machine, beautifully turned out; well done to all those involved. =D>

http://johnleyland736.mediaobject.co.uk/p59066884.html

 

Was a lovely sight this afternoon at Shap Wells, great to speak to so many of you too

Footage to be uploaded over night including some shots of the new Pullman coach being unveiled on the KWVR.

 

Congratulations to all at Tyseley for a superbly turned out loco and tremendous work by the footplate crew. I think Great Western pride has been restored in the north. Got my final shot of the day at Warrington Bank Quay, absolutely stormed through, magnificent sight.

Great to meet Simon and Mark today at Shap Wells. My video will probably be up early Sunday.

 

went to Preston this evening, saw the Earl arrive, dead slow. parked up for half an hour, a BTP officer informed me they were having problems at Euxton, I think it was signaling, not sure, thats why trains were being held up. it arrived at Preston about on time.

 

The Castle sets out for Shap 20 June 2009

A grey and damp morning coupled with a lack of time meant I couldn't follow the Tyseley Castle into the fells on its way to Carlisle, but I made it to Crewe for a glimpse of this handsome machine before it set off to try and equal the Scot's fine achievement last month.

See 12 pictures at http://pjhrailpics.fotopic.net/

Peter, on a dank Manchester evening
http://pjhrailpics.fotopic.net/

 

Hi all,

Just returned home after a long day out on the tour today so shall share my thoughts too.

A truly excellent railtour which started well at Crewe, and the run to Carnforth went very smoothly. Leaving Carnforth on time after the booked water stop, we ascended the climb towards Shap. The beat of the locomotive was something to saviour. Shap summit was reached at 12.58 at a speed of 39 and a half miles per hour.

The return leg was pretty much the same as the outward leg, with 1 minor incident at Preston where we were stopped, due to a points failure at Euxton Junction in which service trains were being held up, so 5043 couldn't go anyway until all services train had got ahead. This resulted in an 30 minute delay. When we did get the green signal, in what can only be described as brilliant enginemen-ship by Bill Andrew & the fireman, we stormed through Wigan & Warrington & arrived back at Crewe just before 8pm.

An excellent tour for all, and well done to Vintage Trains for providing it. \/

 

Thats one heck of a good pic 60017

10/10

 

Some more shots from today at Greenholme http://philmetcalfe.fotopic.net/p59071382.html
on the return at Great Strickland http://philmetcalfe.fotopic.net/p59071383.html
and finally in the sun at Hest Bank http://philmetcalfe.fotopic.net/p59071385.html

 

Excellent photos everyone from a memorable day. my video with shots at Shap Wells northbound and then just after Shap Summit and Warrington Bank Quay on the return now uploaded to YouTube. Not convinced my 'train in the landscape' shot at Shap Wells worked as I intended , plus didn't pick the sound up too well.

Video at;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ol0rXVXZI&fmt=22

 

Austin,

Excellent videos. =D> =D> I tend to agree with your comments regarding the first 'train in the landscape' shot which lacks the necessary sound but the other two clips more than make up for it. Made the hairs on my neck stand up (and I'm 12,000 miles away!!) The sound on the final clip brought back memeories of "Castles" climbing through Stokesay and down into Craven Arms many years ago. We could always tell a castle before we ever saw them.

 

You're being a bit hard on yourself about the Shap Wells scene. How many of those guys we could see in the field only ever see the fells zooming and panning past the viewfinder? It's good to sit back and watch the entire experience for a change. It's not worse, just different, an alternative to the beat of exhaust and the thrash of the driving rod. Which you gave us plenty of towards the end in any case.

What an immaculately turned-out train though, engine and coach rake. Having praised you for your opening scene, I've just started imagining that combo on the S&C on a cold clear winter's day. Now THAT would be a great subject for long shot.

Well done Tyseley, though I expect some ex-Swindon men are going a shade of GW green with envy. Yes, pride is restored - until someone lets Scots Guardsman murder the South Devon banks, that is.

 

For info, 5043's move from Crewe back to Tyseley today has been cancelled. 5043 stayed on the train yesterday all the way back to Tyseley (with the Class 47 as pilot south from Crewe).

David

 

What a sensible idea!

Was 5043 allowed to do some of the work?

 

Some great pics and videos already posted, and perhaps it won't be too long before we see GWR power over Shap again after yesterdays successful run.
Here's my offering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGEte3kFi8A

 

I disagree it was excellent. :smt023

The presentation of the whole train was terrific as well and a lot of people must be feeling very proud.

 

Excellent quality video - thanks for sharing

Some very nice pics as well from everyone else.


STEVE

 

Well!!!

Hasn't this been an interseting thread?

First of all there has been a distinct silence this morning from some of the earlier contributors to this topic. I am not sure whether they are too ashamed to show their faces, having not studied past locomotive history adequately, or whether they are just too busy trying to digest a very large dose of humble pie. Hopefully they will be a little more careful with their predictions in future, and I hope that any which they do make are treated with a great deal of scepticism.

If there is a great locomotive works in the sky somewhere I would hope that messr's Churchward, Collett and Stanier are content with yesterday's procedings. Basically for those who have yet to see any figures, our company performance analyst ( a certain Mr Notley) informs me that both runs are within a few seconds of the Scot's performance last month with the same train consist. Now that isn't bad for what is effectively a frame design dating back something just over 100 years fitted with a larger high superheat boiler, and it very adequately demonstrates just how far Churchward was ahead of the rest. When all the figures are published and digested, there are a few people who are going to have to modify their thinking to something in line with what we have known for a long time, namely that Castles are actually very good engines, particularly with the large superheater and double chimney (incidentally fitted under the Smeddle regime at Swindon rather than Hawksworth's as stated elsewhere on this topic), and that they do have the staying power and constant steaming rates capable of attacking the more serious Nlorthern hills. For anyone capable of doing some basic homework, the evidence has always been there; even in single chimney days it could be suggested that the heavily loaded down Cornish Riviera was a serious test of constant steaming to run out of Paddington onto the Berks and Hants line. Added to this the evidence of the Launceston Castle loan in 1926 is plain for all to see.

5043 was in the charge of Bill Andrew yesterday from Crewe to Crewe, with Alastair firing Crewe/ Carlisle/ Carnforth, and me firing Carnforth/Crewe/ Tyseley. leaving Carnforth, the engine was never at any time thrashed. Once under way the engine was settled at 28% cut off and half main valve, with full boiler presssure and approx 200 psi in the steam chest. The exhaust injector was used constantly supplemented on the heavier sections by the live steam as well. Full boiler pressure was maintained throughout as can be seen by the feather from the safety valves on Shap. Very much as Swindon did on tests, the steam rate was maintained constant all the way up Grayrigg, down the Lune gorge and up Shap, cut off only being advanced to around 33% inthe later stages of the climb on Shap. Water level remained constant at the top of the glass with no "mortgaging" of boiler water level. We might have made an even better time for the northbound climb, had the engine not broken into a slip at Low Gill, which took at least half a mile to get a grip again, possibly due to a flange greaser on the rails at Low Gill. Similarly the engine was never "off the mark" on the pressure gauge all the way to Shap southbound.

So there you are, I feel that the Great Western's and in particular, the Castle's reputation has been fully vindicated and that no more will ever be heard from the ill informed souls who believe that Castles don't go up hills. All you need is to make sure that they are in decent nick and put people on them who understand that you can't get them to steam properly if the firebox is rammed beyond capacity with unburned coal.

Thanks to all who travelled, and to those who have commented kindly, particularly Mr 1984 for perceptive comments, and if I could ask, we would be most grateful if any of you would care to send us a photo or two, to vintagetrains@btconnect.com as we didn't have an awful lot of time to take photos!

Regards
Bob

 

Sounds like yesterday was a great success. Well done. It certainly seems that 5043 is a loco 'on-song' and when driven and fired properly can do a decent job on the hills. Now, if it can do that on Shap and Grayrigg, how about taking things to the next level and having a bash on the longer sustained climbs of the S&C?

 

It would be interesting to try the same route and load with an unmodified, single chimney Castle.

 

Thanks Jack - very kind of you to say and, coming from you, I take it as a huge compliment