Shakespeare Express 2009

Although the two engines are in the same class, they are completely different animals. 5043 has 4 Row Superheaters and improved Draughting (double chimney etc) and tends to produce steam far better than 5029 which only has 2 Row superheaters and a single chimney.

Give me 5029 any day though!

 

Why's that then?

 

4953 Pitchford Hall pulling the Shakespeare Express this Sunday

 

Your welcome to it.....................

 

Pitchford Hall looked & sounded good on todays SE, will try & capture her again tomorrow.

graham

 

4953 booked to haul the SE on 6 September.

 

Did 4953 pitchford hall run on the shakespear today?

 

Pitchford Hall did run 6 September, first run was excellent.
Second run was somewhat curtailed by a preceding train stopping all stations due to industrial action by London Midland employees.

 

I don't think you can call it industrial action when Sunday working is entirely staffed by voluntary overtime. Instead of negotiating new terms for scheduled Sunday working, LM and its predecessors have fudged the issue for years.

I'm no leftie, but if my employer abandoned double time payment for Sunday OVERTIME, I don't think I'd be inclined to volunteer either. I thought the way the BBC phrased it last night on the news was extremely biased

 

Err... it's not "industrial action" not to volunteer for optional Sunday work.

Not sure which report you heard, but the Radio 4 bulletins on Sat and Sun described the situation very clearly.

 

That's a really lovely shot in great light. :smt023

 

In which case I'm glad to hear at least one section of the BBC is still working to reasonable standards

It was either the Midday or 6:30pm BBC1 news - they put forward the opinion that 'in this day and age' (I'm pretty sure that section is a direct quote) you should expect your working week to include Sundays. This was delivered in a tone of voice that was intended to imply that the LM employees were being unreasonable

 

Yes I saw and heard that also on the 6:30p.m. news,and it was certainly said that Sundays' should be included as part of the working week.

 

Apologies for the digression

If staff join a company on the basis of a contract of employment that does not include Sunday as a normal day of work, then that cannot be changed without an agreement between the company and its employees.

If the company relies on voluntary Sunday overtime to run its services and then effectively halves the remuneration for that extra work..........what did they expect would happen ?

 

I have to agree with the basics of both these quotes, from D1059 and from Sidmouth, Sunday is now just another day of the week, and very few people get paid extra for working it, but if a company relies on staff to volunteer to work Sundays then they are asking for trouble if they try to change the manner in which staff are paid.
Anyway really good to see the Shakespeare Exp is running well.

 

What is it with this forum?
Try to answer a question and someone picks up on some use of language that is considered "incorrect"
OK, there is a dispute regarding Sunday working arrangements. For LM to decide to withdraw almost all Sunday trains, the "volunteers" may have organised, with the assistance of a union, in some way to not volunteer in sufficient numbers to prevent LM running a service. As such, it may be considered as similar to other forms of organised "industrial action" such as working to rule. I am not prepared to enter into any discussion regarding the rights and wrongs of the dispute and is a public forum with members using any name they wish, the correct place for such a discussion?

As a result of the withdrawal of LM services on 6 September, passengers enjoyed an extended stop at Henley.

 

A phot of 4953 on the evening run at Tyseley: http://david1984.fotopic.net/p60808300.html

Not much inclination to go far for it after dashing round the country in the last fortnight im afraid.

 

The light was pretty much bang on for that shot, no editing whatsoever, if only ever trip out produced results like it...

 

A few of 4953 under reduced speed due on the final trip on Sunday Sept 6th.

http://michaelsgallery.fpic.co.uk/c1738114.html