Royal Scot with 6233 22nd May.

My photos from the tour are now up at:
http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1852489.html


Pity we were at the back all day,i never expect to be at the front all day,but there were many people complaining yesterday,some established long standing customers,it's not good for business. Especially as some of the people complaining were actually families and the like.

 

Great pics Mark from what was a very frustrating day all round. However, we managed through with all the usual humour so thanks again for that!!

It was just one of them days which you knew wasn't going to go as planned after the stock arrived top n tailed. It was inevitable that we would be at back all day and it only got worse from there onwards.

The other problems such as track circuit failure, brake pipe issues, diesel tour being put ahead resulting in late departure, looped near enough everywhere, getting back home at 1 in morning on return journey and with Bill Andrews not driving, diesel assisting due to fire risk and keeping sheltered from sun by using a newspaper on windows unfortunately didn't make it one of the most memorable trip im afraid.

None of this was PMR tours fault as they were given a take it or leave it offer by network rail on the trip running with diesel, and with the knowledge that if any loco started another fire that steam would be banned for summer we just have to say 'maybe next time' and greatfull that 6233 did buisness as usual. I respect that the train manager walked down train and apologised on behalf of everybody else invovolved as there was nothing else he could really do. When 6233 comes back we have his word that we can look forward to standard being at the front on outward journey, i just hope after saturday the many customers will still come back to support the great engine.

Cheers

 

Nice to also meet you again Ralph. We had good spells with the duchess on the coronation to ease the frustration, but would have been nice to hear her working over shap on her old stomping ground, but cant be helped from the cicumstances created out of PMR's control.

Glad your lunch was ok, didnt want to get something that made you ill.

An added thanks for lending your more advanced GPS compared to my basic one that many others have on these trips.

Cheers

 

In those circumstances Ralph, I agree there was little option left.

I've only been back on the UK steam scene for three years and this is the first hot and dry spell for me. Just as I broaden out from only linesiding to travelling and timing again. The hot weather immediately brings to mind the question of oil firing! I presume this has been debated to death in previous hot spells?

We did OK in Germany with oil fired 4-6-2 012 100-4 during the summers! Still oil fired as it was in normal steam days. And there lies the big issue in the UK I would imagine.

Interesting to be on the footplate of such a loco at speed and when being worked hard. You have to lean out of the cab to hear the exhaust beat as the constant roar of the blower drowns the exhaust noise in the cab.

Anyway, cooler weather is forecast, light snow flurries are forecast for the summit of Snowdon on Thursday afternoon! But not enough for me to be getting out my ice axe or sharpening my crampons! LOL! More's the pity!

 

I sympathise with you about your trip Mark, I had the same experience behind Bittern over the S&C two days earlier. One can understand why the diesel had to be attached, and used on the climbs, to avoid yet further fire problems.

But fire problems do not explain why you, and I, were stuck at the back of our trains all day, instead of getting a 50-50 chance of being near the engine. I have been on many tours to Carlisle and on every previous occasion the engine(s) have been turned BUT THE TRAIN HAS NOT. On both Thursday and Saturday, the diesel drew the whole formation back towards Petteril Bridge, then presumably the whole train went round the triangle and came back in in the same order but the opposite way round. Very easy operating for West Coast I'm sure, but I hope the train promoters will want to insist that their customers are kept happy by getting a fair crack of the whip near the engine in at least one direction. If this becomes an operating habit, many punters will, I am sure, walk away.

Peter, at the end of the Manchester heatwave
http://pjhrailpics.fotopic.net

 

Hi all
just uploaded footage from saturday on the link below ,thanks to Ralph for the updates much appreciated

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlQH_w8mgC0

Dave

 

After some superb years timing German main line steam excursions in the first part of the 21st Century, the illness that effectively claimed my lovely late wife saw me unable to travel to Germany and got me to return to BR steam for the first time since 1968.

I left behind a regime of front coach corridor in either direction, (whether stock was turned or not), always "reserved" for those of us who wanted to hear the loco. Aided by those lovely windows all down the side of the coach that pulled down to chest height and could take up to three of us at each on a very crowded day! Plus regular footplate rides and superb running. A gricers heaven!

I'd heard of the various goings on back in the UK on board the trains so confined my efforts to linesiding at first after my return in 2006. But tales of good running has slowly got me back onto the trains as well.

"Unauthorized platform area", (what bl..dy nonsense) and the inability to get near or hear the loco sometimes could have become a problem for me. Plus all sorts of operational constraints: one of our regular German trips involved a scheduled tender first return. But our usual driver for that run knew a triangle that went into an industrial complex near our destination was still active. So purely by an "on the day" arrangement with the local signalling staff after arrival at the outward destination he would get a pathway to go and turn the loco on it: can you imagine that happening in the UK!.

But I've decided now to just to concentrate on the miracle of still being able to travel behind, and time steam locos on the old SR tracks, (mainly). And not stress myself about taking photos or whether I can hear the loco. And leave behind those wonderful days in Germany until I feel able to go back, (my late wife and I spent a lot of time visiting many parts of that country during our 35 years together).

Defeatist I guess. But I'm getting too old to start getting myself worked up over actually being able to get a full days enjoyment on UK steam hauled trains. I'll settle for second best if that is all I'm offered.

 

You have pretty much summed up how many of us felt when we realised we were going to be at the back Peter. At the end of the day PMR, Steam Dreams, RTC...are all customers to west coast as much as we are, and if this turns out to be commonplace, people will just walk away. All we ask is for a fair deal of the sharings for what many have worked hard for. When West Coast says it makes it easier moving the whole train (when it is) and they sit in Carlisle station for an hour give or take after arrival while filling up diesel with coolant or whatever when 6233 could have run round or reversed stock out as nothing passed for ages is nonsense to be honest.

We will have to see how this turns out.

 

A mate of mine hasn't booked a main line tour for ages but decided to do this one. He was not impressed that he was at the back in both directions so there's a damn good chance it will be a long time again before he books another.
Last year I did two tours to Carlisle. With 46115 the stock wasn't turned but with 6233 it was. Luckily "peasant class" ended up at the front in both directions but on the 61063 tour the same day, "posh class" was at the front both ways so more unhappy bunnies on that trip. O for the days when the booking form had an option to choose "next to the loco for sound recording purposes." I just get the feeling that standard class pax who like to get a face full of thrash are seen as something of an inconvenience and operators would much rather have a train full of diners who stay put throughout the tour. Fortunately attitudes on the Jacobite seem to be much more "user friendly."

 

I have uploaded a photo of the Duchess clagging well on the climb up to Grayrigg on saturday at http://northwestrailphoto.fotopic.net/p65044828.html

 

6233 at Barrow Mill on the return Royal Scot
Dee D