Great Britain XVIII: 18/4 -25/4/26

45407, 44871, 34028 and 34067 are now confirmed by RTC.

 

Have they said which days are being done by what? I believe 34028 is on the first two days.

 

Guessing 34028 will lay over at 10A from Chester day 2 and maybe take the train back to London from Newcastle on 25th April?

 

I had heard Days 1/2 34028, the rest a Black 5

 

Will the excursion day 22nd April be different if the Jacobite hasn't commenced by that stage? Or would the GB stock be used in any case?

 

Has anyone as yet seen any timings for this? Its not that far away now and nothing can be planned until the timings are up.

 

Its over 3 weeks away, rare to have timings out that far in advance.

 

Timings came out for the GB 8 days before last year so I doubt they’ll be out for a week or 2

 

Plus I see little in the trip, if anything, that could be "cloned" from one of the regular itineraries, unless on the free day it ends up using the existing Jacobite path. So all 8 days likely will need to be planned on the intensive network. The Whitby trip was only put on the system a couple of days before, although I do know from the stewards the times were out earlier than that.
I suspect the reason the Sussex Belle timings were out so early were due to it being a rerun of something a few months back with little or no timetable changes since. Way easier to plan than something from scratch.
Of course at the end of the day, all that is needed is a departure time from Paddington on Day 1 and arrival time back in London on Day 8, for those who are actually travelling and need to organise connections.

 

Thats fair, but its now a week tomorrow and nothing at all on RT.

 

The times for UK Railtours' trip from King's Cross to Liverpool yesterday didn't appear on RTT until shortly before it was due to leave. Other tours have been very late as well, but some have appeared weeks or months in advance.

 

According to latest newsletter from SLL about 34028:
18th April Paddington to Penzance
19th April Penzance to Chester [No mention of layover location but Carnforth seems likely I suppose], then
25th April York to Euston [RTC's website: ".. leaving York for an energetic run along the ECML to Doncaster then changing lines for Sheffield, avoided by taking the Barrow Hill line past the preserved Barrow Hill roundhouse, through to Chesterfield with its curious crooked-spired church. The Great Britain rumbles ever-southwards through the Erewash Valley to Trent Junction, then onwards to Loughborough, passing through the peaceful rural reaches of the East Midlands, diverting via Melton Mowbray and Corby to join the Midland main line at Kettering. We leave the main St Pancras line at Bedford, taking the Marston Vale line through to Bletchley where we join the West Coast Main Line. The final leg of the Great Britain's journey involves an exhilarating fast run up the West Coast Main Line to London Euston, your final destination."].

 

Currently Tangmere Chester to Carlisle then Black 5’s in Scotland and back to York.

 

Well its now 3 days until this sets off and STILL no timings anywhere! I think unless these come through today I will have to stay at home as it will be too late to plan anything at all, and with fuel at an all time high I wont be going out on spec.

 

If it helps attached are timings for Day 1.

 

Although the luggage instructions make no mention of what do do with luggage there. I guess they may have had a separate communication, but unlikely the van would guarantee to be at both Reading and Newbury as almost certainly some will be later at Padd than 06:40.

 

Looks like a long water stop in Riverside yard at Exeter.