WEST HIGHLANDER 3RD-6TH SEPT

Saw in the good old 'Beano' yesterday this trip was cacelled! Gave me a nasty turn I can tell you, as I'm on it. However, a quick call confirned all is still on. I gather 46115 has had a few minor problems of late again and wondered if this is why it's been pulled for 5690? It does appear to be running others.however. The absence of 62005 does appear to give us an extra loco in Scotland.

 

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West Highlander Steam Express
Please note that the West Highlander Steam Express tour running from the 3rd of September to the 6th September is running as normal as advertised here and in our brochure. Steam Raitway Magazine are indicating that this tour is cancelled, this is a mistake on their part.

Please accept our apologies for their mistake and for any worry this may have caused customers already booked on this tour
Thank ou for your understanding.

 

Another mistake by SR? Surely not!

Should be a good tour,shame no Scot and we have the black 5 out of Oban vice K4,could be interesting on a wet rail?? Looks like K4 to stop at Crianlarich till return??

 

Outline times for Friday and Monday are on UKSteam.info already. 6 loop stops on Friday adding up to 255 minutes.

Monday's leg is routed via Irvine and Newton-on-Ayr to Mauchline Junction, not via Kilmarnock. My old Ian Allen gradient profiles book does not include Newton-on-Ayr to Mauchline Junction. Can anyone help me with a brief description of the gradients, speed limits, etc, please? Is this section single track? TIA.

I expect the Black 5 will run tender-first to Oban, chimney-first back. My guess is that having two locos removes the need for a run-round at Crianlarich, as well as giving time for the K4's fire to be cleaned. The K4 might have been marginal for coal, too, if it had to do the whole trip.

 

Far more appropriate to have a black 5 out of Oban as these locomotives were the staple power of the Oban - Glasgow trains [running via Callander and Stirling of course] for 2 - 3 decades up to the end of steam. K4's did not work to Oban. Reports differ as to when the last black 5 departed Oban. I believe steam finally finished in that part of the world with the introduction of the summer 1963 timetable although much of it had gone before then. Some sources suggest a "stray" black 5 may have reached Oban in 1966. If anyone has any accurate detail maybe they could post it. Whatever, it is 40+ years since one last visited Oban so Sunday 5 September 2010 should be a day that goes down in history.

 

Not that i am argueing against having the Black 5 for authenticity,just as an LNER fan its a bit of a kick in the teeth......

Obviously i do like the black 5,but nothing for me personally can compare with a 3 cylinder beat in the highlands (well other than the sound of hard working 12CSVT powerunit) Ducks for cover!

Seriously looking forward to the climb from Oban as it will make an amazing noise and am also looking forward to the 5 on the Mallaig line,second journey to Mallaig first to Oban and scratching another loco in Scotland which means i will have had 45231 in England,Wales and Scotland Judging by the noise 231 made on the climb from Betwsycoed last year it will be something to remember!

Of course my favourite bit of the tour once again will be the K4 on the West Highland line and then we have the G&SW to look forward to so all in all should be good.

 

I am reasonably certain that no Black 5 has been to Oban since the end of 1962. Oban shed closed in June that year, although servicing facilities remained in use for a while after. The last regular booked steam passenger turn was the summer Saturday morning train from Stirling (with sleeping cars from Euston) returning that evening on the 6.35 from Oban in 1962. The last Black 5 I saw shunting in Oban was on Sat 8th Sept that year (I was 11 at the time) which was the last day of the summer timetable. They certainly continued to appear, mainly on freight, sporadically for the rest of the year but this seemed to have ceased by the year end.

Some years ago The Oban Times published a historic picture of what it claimed to be the last steam loco to leave Oban shed - 46460 departed light engine for the south after some months in store in March 1963. Since then it is unlikely that anything came west of Crianlarich, although steam used the Callander - Crianlarich section right up until its premature closure in September 1965 in the guise of the Killin branch school train. Indeed the very last steam movement over any of the West Highland lines was on Tuesday 28th Sept, the day after the Glen Ogle rock fall, when the Killin loco, 80093, worked its way home to Stirling via Crianlarich and the West Highland line. This would have been the first steam movement over the West Highland since the infamous Jacobite railtour of June 1963 and its associated loco movements, so it can be said with some certainty that there were no steam workings into Oban after the re-routing of services via the West Highland line.

I hope the above is of interest - 45407's visit to Oban on Sunday week will be the first Black 5 there for almost 48 years.

Peter James

 

There is nothing wrong with a bit of private research and study to discover this for yourself, rather than expect it to be served up just for the asking.

One of the weaknesses of the internet age is that people expect instant advice from the cyber world, and then believe what they receive.

If what you seek has been properly self researched and then erroneous information appears - you - then have the authority to discern right from wrong because you have discovered it

The "last ever" steam train on the West Highland went into history for reasons not entirely unknown today - you will enjoy finding out.

 

Sites such as this are great for instant updates on evolving issues such as tour delays etc, which is where the internet excels, but that does not deny the validity of what I wrote.

Self researched information is worth any number of instant gratification cyber world responses, and proves a contributor has the determination and originality to discover their own information, its history and the reasons why what happened took the form it did.

The information may well be on the net - but it is in written form in the histories of the line, railtour records etc.

The chase can cause much interest in itself - its up to you.

 

As we are on the tour, in cattle class - particularly because we care where and what we eat, rather than middle of the road aceptable to the majority fodder in premier - we have had concerns about Saturdays breakfast, given 06.00 away from the Glasgow hotel, and suspect a juice and croissant "in room" offer. An email to the Crianlarich hotel has confirmed that they serve brekkers until 10.00 a.m. and would welcome visitors.

We are scheduled in Crianlarich from 09.20 to 10.36 all of 100 yards away. Looks like a no brainer to me. Just email them.

 

Frank

On last years tour the majority of standard class was booked into the Premier Inn nr Glasgow Central and a cooked breakfast was available from 5.00am.Virtually everything was available. An excellent service was provided considering the time and the number of people requiring breakfast at the same time.

I just hope they are not using the Best Western in Fort William - some people waited 45 minutes for a breakfast.

 

Best Western in Fort William is being used.

Dave B

 

Friday - Agricultural Arms at Penrith, and the Deli just down from the station, assuming an in platform stop - Is the evening the chance we have been waiting for to try Roganos?
Saturday - A quick bite at Glasgow is still is still three and a half hours from Crianlarich - then Mallaig for Cullen Skink and Fish n Chips - and The Grog for the evening
Sunday - Breakfast appears to be a gamble if the above is repeated, but the green shed on Oban pier will suffice until Glasgow and its restaurants
Monday - Stock up at M & S before boarding

 

Sorry for not elaborating earlier on this Al. The SLS ran a double headed tour from Glasgow to Mallaig on a glorious hot sunny Saturday 1st June 1963. Given the weather it was a well photographed occasion and was advertised as the last steam train over the west Highland line - normal steam working had ceased some months earlier. It was worked by "Glen Douglas" piloting a J37 as far as Fort William and another pair of J37s took the train on to Mallaig.

Alas, by the time Mallaig was reached the programme was in tatters. The first J37 was taken off at Rannoch with a hot box and an NB Type 2 assisted "Glen Douglas" on to Fort William. Then both the releiving J37s had also run hot by the time they reached Mallaig. The very late running return leg was diesel hauled all the way back. Even "Glen Douglas" was failed at Fort William with a collapsed brick arch while out on Rannoch Moor fires were started which smouldered for some weeks in the dry peat.

The details above are from memory and not checked out for accuracy but as you can gather a tour that started out with such promise turned out to be a bit of a nightmare for all concerned.

Hope this is of interest

Peter James

 

The Jacobite tour was covered in Steam World, some years ago, and, as Peter says, was well photographed, many pictures having subsequently appeared in print.

A couple of years ago, I saw a fascinating 8mm colour cine film of the train and the return light engine working of 'Glen Douglas', filmed, I think, by a local FW man, who obviously had friends on the railway. Unfortunately, I don't think that one has ever made it to You-Tube.

JS