2010 'TORBAY EXPRESS'

Hundreds of passengers on the trip who paid towards the tour will have the answer I am sure!

 

I thought apothecary was to do with pharmacy and/or medicine. Is there a link to the topic? <BJ>

 

I don't think today's punters will be too disappointed. With 12 coaches in tow the departure from Bristol was simply awesome. As for Whiteball, what incline? <BJ>

 

As most people on the Torbay are joe public i doubt they would of noticed the second engine Tornado looked and Sounded superb this morning great light again in the South West today.

 

Headed down from Gloucestershire and got 7 views of it today including Whiteball in both directions (Northbound was an absolute blitz), and a great chuff up Torre, topped off by a brilliant high speed run through Yatton. All that and I managed some body-boarding down at Bantham as well!

 

rather disappointed with the westbound effort over whiteball in the morning,for this engine appears for most people it seems, to be the great god amongst present steam locos!!!!!!even free2gice was panicking at whiteball in case he missed it in rather lovely light.but in the evening even i was impressed with 60163's approach to whiteball and on to the tunnel,to use a word that appears frequently simply 'awesome'!!!but where were all of you who admire this loco so to witness its 'awesome' performance over whiteball in the evening? there just 5 other,locals it looked like beside my mate and myself.

 

Luckily the light did hold on at the morning Whiteball! And for the evening one, my brother, dad and I were there... I took a long distance across the fields shot whilst the other two were just walking down to the road bridge in the village... when it came!

Also, here is Yatton on the return leg (Only a phone video but still impressive!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKCH6PlrPxo

The day's shots http://philip-wiseman.fotopic.net/c1901311.html

 

60163 provided a fitting climax to the ‘Torbay Express’ season yesterday. I was out with my younger son on the lineside in the morning and the loco looked stunning at Brent Knoll and Westford (Wellington bank).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRBEM6MesE0

Joining the train at Exeter for the return proved well worthwhile as 60163 put on a Tour de force from there to Whiteball summit, passed in 19 min 38 seconds. That is 40 seconds slower than the masterful displace from 71000 last week but ‘Tornado’ was hauling an extra coach (37 tons). Both climbs fall into the ‘outstanding’ category.

As we sat blowing off in W-S-M I said to my son, looks like we’ll be ‘going for it’ on the final climb to Flax Bourton, and indeed we did. Usually the departure from W-S-M is subdued, expecting delays at Worle Junc, but not last night. I think we did catch signals briefly approaching the junction but soon the loco was working hard and had to be eased to keep to the speed limit over the junction. The regulator was soon open wide again and ‘Tornado’ accelerated the train away with spine tingling noise. 76 mph was achieved at the foot of climb, which fell away to only 72 mph at the summit. Not the fastest (‘Tornado’ had the full 75 mph on the finale last year) but the extra coach is significant and a very entertaining conclusion. Big smiles all round.

So another season comes to an end. In my view these trains really are the very best in mainline steam. A superb route, mixture of fast running, hills, scenery etc. etc. The DBS crews have given us some excellent performances and sound tracks. 6024, 71000 and 60163 have given great service and the on train team of stewards are the best in the business. Thanks to all for another great season.

 

Pacelweb's Dad here !! Videos to follow when I get a chance to edit and upload! Apart from Yatton there seemed to be relatively few gricers on the road for the return run - at our 4 spots we were alone except at Yatton - great for us though............... What a splendid day out chasing "Ian's Birthday Express"

 

I managed to join the train at WSM on the return (only just - my head and the door frame of the coach have the dents to prove it!). I wish I'd made the effort to get down to Exeter now, after reading Nigel's report. Second fast climb to Whiteball in preservation (after last Sunday) and 65mph into the tunnel, is that correct? I've deleted the text with the details!

 

sorry folks i got some great picture's of 3 steam loco's at barton hill on sat night but dont seem to be able to up load them will carry on trying ;there two night shots and 3 day shot just before tornado was pulling out for the last torbay express;

 

The King, Duke of Gloucester, Tornado .... they are all superb locos. At the end of BR steam in 1968, who would have imagined it possible to witness a
brand new steam locomotive hauling 12 coaches up a 1-80 incline at speed on the main line, and in glorious sunlight. Some people are never satisfied. <BJ>

 

That is correct! Fastest with 12 coaches. Sounded supurb leaving Exeter:

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

 

Two questions:

Does anyone know the tonnage behind 71000 and 60163 on their Exeter - Whiteball runs of 19th and 26th Sept respectively?

Did anyone catch that part of 71000's day out on film, from on-train or lineside? YouTube draws a blank so far, and it would be a pity if such a record has gone unrecorded.

 

396 tons (11 coaches) I believe

 

Hello All,

A few photographs I took of Class 8P 4-6-2 71000 DUKE OF GLOUCESTER hauling the "TORBAY EXPRESS" down past Dawlish Station on Sunday 19th. September 2010 have been added to my fotopic site.

Link here;

http://preservedrailwaylocomotivephotosbyrichardsmith.fotopic.net/c1906894.html

Your most welcome to visit and view and hopefully enjoy.

Best regards SteamHawk216.

 

Very nice photos, thank you. We booked on the TE trip where the Duke :sick: failed its FTR and we got dragged down and back by a diesel. Nice to see what we should have had! Will try and see her on the VSOE trips in a couple of weeks time.

 

Loads for the two record runs:
71000: 11/395/414
60163: 12/436/469

 

Have finally got around to producing my first video for "the Tube". Quality not as good as i had hoped (original on my machine is A1 quality - am testing to find best settings for uploading to tube but for now its at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZolX7ZtwJYI

 

Nice clip!

Regarding quality, I see it's on YouTube with a max resolution of 360p, but I'm guessing you shot it at a higher resolution than that. The thing is to get your video editing software to save/export it at its original resolution before you upload - YouTube does keep 720p and 1080p versions available if you upload at that resolution, so I am assuming your uploaded file is 360p. Check the options when you make and save the final versions. Feel free to message me if you need any help with that.