The Pride of Swindon 5043 to Carlisle via the S & C -16th October

They certainly do, its like listening to a symphony. Crisp, even barks - wonderful!

 

Once again thank you to all the people who have posted photo's and videos. I think I can safely say that your efforts are appreciated by all at Tyseley.
We put the show on but it's up to you guys to get out there and record it for posterity.
Just a thought, we only need Copy Pit and then we'll have the full set!!!!

 

I think the Southern should get a go. How about we send 34067 over the S&C before she comes back south ;-)

 

Some excellent photo's and videos of a superb run - thanks to all concerned.

My Garsdale/Ais Gill video, better late than never, now up at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtnDyxsA6D4

 

As a Present Kingmoor man I can shed some light on your question. WCRC have had the odd problem or two at this time of the year in the past and as a responsible TOC took the correct decision to provide insurance. The problem with Autumn is it doesn't matter how powerful your engine is if there is a build up of leaf mulch on the rail head your stuffed. The Midland has a few places renowned for poor rail conditions Birkett Tunnel, Armathwaite, Stainforth Crosby Garrett etc etc. Also Wilpshire bank can be leathal in Autumn as the 8F found out 2 or 3 years ago.

The Midland gets treated with the RHTT train every afternoon but still on occasions there are rail head problems.

The Castles load was closer to 13/14 with the dead 47 as Bob Meanley has said.

cheerio

Mike

 

I was just considering the coach load without the diesel for a side by side comparison.

 

Worth the wait, David. Stunning, even by your high standards!

 

Challenging conditions on Saturday but got lucky at Foredale with the Castle making a superb show here and later on the departure from Hellifield.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10257146@N05/5092856047/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10257146@N05/5093489708/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10257146@N05/5099266281/

Lovely some shots and video on here great to see it was a special day.

 

How many nights do you want us to spend in the support coach?

 

Shouldn't be that many Salty: Quite a few Hilton's in Scotland to choose from http://www.hilton.co.uk/HiWayWeb/ap...pageLabel=searchPortal_hotelSearchResultsPage
As promised - Bob will be waiting in reception in the morning - ready to settle your bill!

 

Have a look on uksteam.info at 70013's programme (especially GB3) in the first few months of this year a to see what you could be doing. Don't take it the wrong way (your efforts are much appreciated), but with most Vintage Trains tours starting and finishing in the West Midlands, you Tyseley lads do have it rather easy compared to some support crews.

 

All very well tearing all around the country, racking up piles of miles and lots of nights out for the support crew, but how much money are they making and what do the inevitable repairs cost? We have a life style which fits well with the people we have, but it is worth remembering that many of the crew are Tyseley Loco works staff who are running the trains in their spare time, and if we were to spend weeks running around the country we would be in a situation where there is a considerable daily lost opportunity cost in the works budget and the fees from tour operators would not cover that sort of loss. Financially it is not worth doing, and in consequence, why wear the engines out for inadequate returns?

 

Just what I was getting at Bob, the support crew at Tyseley are the same people who put in many hours of voluntary work preparing the engines for their appearance on the big railway.
Take for instance The Pride Of Swindon. We were in on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday up to departure time making sure that she was ready for the task ahead.
Then some of us travelled to Carnforth with her and stayed with her until she was put to bed around midnight on SaturdayNight/Sunday morning back at Tyseley.
So spare a thought for those of us that do this for the love of steam on the big railway. And remember that in most cases it costs us money to do it.

 

Had a fantastic day on Saturday,a really super trip,one of the finest i've ever been on. Certainly shut plenty of doubters up when we raced over Ais Gill and then roared over Wilpshire!

Thanks to Bob,Kevin and everyone else at Vintage/WCRC/Tyseley for such a great day out!


My vid (sadly made in Moviemaker as my PC with Pinnacle has expired) of the awesome climb to Wilpshire summit is now up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfRjASNZyPI

I'm sure you will agree that the loco made one absolutely fantastic spectacle!

Cheers,
Mark

 

.....

 

I can't get the attachment to open, could you try it again please?

 

Good post. A lot of people think it's an easy job getting steam on to the main line but have no idea of the long hours put in by a support crew.

 

Not read the whole thread but that helps me a lot Ralph re the comments on the performance. No doubt the details of the run will be published before too long and presumably an estimate will be made of the effective trailing load. Which from the above comments will come in somewhere around 11 cars? Not totally satisfcatory for 100% steam men like myself, but under the circumstances, with such attention obviously being giving to how the box impacted on the performance, then a fair enough result. With praise for the Copper Top seemingly well deserved, (I'll comment further on that when I see the log of the run|).